10 Rules Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah, and Jeff Bezos Follow for Relationships That Work

Years before  Mark Zuckerberg and his college girlfriend Priscilla Chan got married, they made an agreement to have at least one date night and spend 100 minutes together each week. Fifteen years and two kids later, the routine still stands.

After the tragic death of her husband Dave, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg opened up in a post about counting on others: "Until now, I have been the older sister, the COO, the doer and the planner. I did not plan this, and when it happened, I was not capable of doing much of anything."

Before Amazon, Jeff Bezos was a vice president at D.E. Shaw, where his wife Mackenzie was a research associate. One day, Mackenzie approached Jeff and asked him out to lunch. They got married six months later.

Like business, relationships must be ever-changing in order to survive. "We've had to change to really be co-equals," Melinda Gates told Fortune. "It's not something that immediately happens overnight, but we're both committed to it."

Tiffany Cuban doesn't always sit next to her husband Mark during Dallas Maverick's games. She says it saves her a few headaches. "It's a business to him," she once told NBC 5, "I can still be a fan and watch it from my seat."

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey never married Stedman Graham, her boyfriend of 31 years. "Marriage requires a different way of being in this world," she told Vogue. "Live life on your own terms."

After 40 years of building his Virgin Group empire, Richard Branson says it's the steady love from his wife Joan and their family that keeps him going. "Glitz and glam don't always lead to happiness," he wrote in his blog. 

Shark Tank judge Kevin O'Leary says having a supportive partner is key to a successful career. He's been married to his wife Linda for 27 years. He once told Inc.: "Which is easier to replace, your business or your fiancee?" 

Spanx founder Sara Blakely and her husband Marquis Jets founder Jesse Itzler find creative ways keep their relationship steady. "When we disagree, we Rock-Paper-Scissors, she said in a Facebook post. "If we get really mad at each other, we have a rule that we stop and slow dance." 

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, says ego checks are crucial to a healthy marriage. She's been married to her husband Raj K. Nooyi, president of AmSoft Systems for 37 years. "Leave those crowns in the garage when you come home," she told Business Insider.