I'm an ex-Clinton strategist turned CEO. I don't micromanage and love Chinese food and brain games — here's a day in my life.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mark Penn, the 71-year-old CEO and Chairman of Stagwell, based in Miami Beach. It's been edited for length and clarity.

My career spans 40 years in market research, advertising, public relations, polling, and consulting.

Before founding Stagwell, a global marketing and communications company, I served as an executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Microsoft.

I'm also the cofounder and CEO of Penn Schoen Berland, a market research firm that I built and sold to WPP, a British multinational communications company.

For six years, I served as the White House pollster to President Bill Clinton and was the chief strategist for his 1996 reelection campaign. I later served as chief strategist to Hillary Clinton throughout her Senate campaigns and 2008 presidential bid.

At WPP, I saw the ins and outs of big marketing and decided it wasn't people-oriented enough. I decided to establish a new company to address the problems I observed.

I was still at Microsoft, and I had been promoted to head all the advertising. The chief strategy officer, Steve Ballmer, came to me and said, "You know, that idea you've had? I like that idea, and I'll be your core investor."

On September 15, 2015, we started Stagwell with a single employee in a half-rented office.

Here's what a typical day looks like 10 years later with a team of 13,000 employees worldwide.

I wake up around 7 a.m.

Several people on my team are up for 4 a.m., but not me. I sleep until at least 7 or 7:30 a.m.

I'm, unfortunately, the type of person who picks up my phone as soon as I wake up. I don't spend the whole day on the phone, but I do like to check in periodically to see what's going on.

I'm on the phone between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. I'm watching a bit of TV to catch up on the news and shoot out a couple of emails.

I don't drink coffee, I skip breakfast, and I don't have a morning exercise routine. I have a core lounging period, then I shower at 8:30 a.m. and get dressed.

I leave for the office at 8:45 a.m., and it takes 15 minutes to get there

My goal is to be in the office exactly at 9 a.m., five days a week.

I go into the office depending on which city I'm in, as I visit our offices in Miami Beach, Washington, D.C., and New York. I only work remotely if I get a little behind during the day.

When I arrive at the office, I have a lot of meetings, but sometimes I also have interviews and TV appearances.

I've organized the business by corporate leadership and its divisions. I want everyone to have a clear understanding of what's happening in the company. I like my team to know and work with each other, even if they're no longer in the same place.

Coming out of Microsoft, I saw how Steve Ballmer had a huge team under him, but he would always manage to leave at 5:30 p.m. The answer was that he planned out his time well.

My chief of staff manages my schedule and who has access to it, and then there are one or two other administrative staff behind them — they sort things out once or twice a week.

I'm an eat-at-the-desk person unless I'm going to an external business meal in town

Generally, I order a Postmates lunch. I'm a big fan of steamed Chinese food, so I typically order steamed dishes with vegetables and hot-and-sour soup, and sometimes a sushi and sashimi combo.

I prefer not to eat during meetings; it's essential to remain focused on the people I'm meeting with. I squeeze in lunch between meetings.

After lunch, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., my schedule is jam-packed

Around 12:30 p.m., I schedule a half-hour catch-up, which could be spent with HR, marketing, a client meeting, or an ad hoc meeting for something that has come up.

There's no breathing room, pretty much from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., with lots of meetings. There are many PowerPoint presentations.

There's not a lot that could derail my day

I used to do presidential races, so that was constant, 'Oh my god, the candidate did what?' situations. We don't get as much derailment at Stagwell.

Sometimes things run long, sometimes things break down in some way, but it's pretty unusual.

I wish I knew the secret to maintaining high energy consistently. I drink sugar-free Snapple and Diet Coke; I don't drink much coffee or caffeine. I have a naturally evenly balanced level of energy.

There are days in an office, and then there are days on the road

The days on the road are more interesting than the days in the office, whether that means visiting an office, holding a town hall, meeting a combination of clients, or attending a board meeting.

My day is structured around meetings with relevant stakeholders, where I present either their current progress or their proposed plans, and gather feedback on their accomplishments and approval for their future initiatives.

All other stakeholders are always present, so that if they want to comment, they have the opportunity to do so immediately, and also so that everyone is informed about what's going on.

When people are siloed too much and don't understand each other, they'll never be able to collaborate or build a great culture.

I leave the office between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

When I get home from the office, I usually have dinner with my wife. We have four kids, but they're all older now. For dinner, I like a lot of protein, a vegetable, and a baked potato.

After dinner, I might catch up on the news. My wife tends to go to sleep a little earlier than I do, around 10 p.m., and I might spend some time catching up on the news, Netflix, or other things.

I read a lot of news and information, but I also enjoy watching science fiction shows. I can get hooked on a series and stay up to 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. — that can be disastrous.

The last series I got hooked on was Lioness on Prime Video. I'm watching the final episode of Foundation on Apple TV, which has been the most interesting show of the season.

I go to bed anytime between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Before I go to bed, I'll make sure I'm pretty covered on the news.

I like playing Neural Bridge when I'm having trouble falling asleep.

I rarely work on the weekends, but if I do, it's on a Saturday

I avoid working on weekends unless there's an emergency or crisis. I respect my employees' time. Occasionally, there's some Sunday night work, but my goal is to ensure every position is filled with someone who's really effective at what they do, let them do their job, and have them report. I don't believe in micromanaging people.

I encourage my team to shoot for the stars, and in a sense, they come back with a big, ambitious plan. I'd rather you reach 90% of an ambitious plan than 100% of an unambitious one.