Page 3 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

HOW I DID IT MANAGING YOURSELF
LEADERSHIP
HOW I DID IT
United Way’s
CEO on
Shifting a
Century-Old
Business
Model
by Brian Gallagher
Photography by Stephen Voss SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 39 140 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 141
UNITED WAY’S CEO ON
SHIFTING A CENTURY-OLD
BUSINESS MODEL
Brian Gallagher | page 38
In the 1950s the United Auto Workers
negotiated a plan that allowed
employees at the big carmakers to
donate money directly from their
paychecks to the local precursors
of United Way. For most of the
organization’s history, it had no direct
relationship with its donors. That
has changed. Payroll deductions still
play an important role, but United
Way is moving to technology-driven
engagement that allows individual
donors to become more closely involved
with the mission.
In partnership with Salesforce, it has
created a platform on which donors
have their own home pages; there
they can track all the gifts they’ve
made and all the volunteer hours
they’ve committed to causes and find
content or policy news or volunteer
opportunities relevant to their interests.
It has found that individuals who engage
with it online give more and continue
giving from year to year. Today some
25,000 people have each given more
than $10,000 to United Way; more than
600 have given $1 million; and 35 have
given $10 million or more.
HBR Reprint R1805A
Although experts recommend eight hours of sleep a
MANAGING YOURSELF
SLEEP WELL, glucose (the molecule that fuels the brain), night, many of us don’t get that. A recent study of leaders
and clear out beta-amyloid (the waste
product that builds up in Alzheimer’s
patients and disrupts cognitive activity).
By contrast, insufficient sleep and fatigue
lead to poor judgment, lack of self-control,
and impaired creativity. Moreover, there
LEAD BETTER are lesser-known secondary effects in across the world found that 42% average six hours of
organizations. My research shows that sleep
deprivation doesn’t just hurt individual
performance: When managers lose sleep,
their employees’ experiences and output
are diminished too.
So how can we turn this knowledge into
MANAGERS NEED MORE REST. HERE’S
HOW TO GET IT. BY CHRISTOPHER M. BARNES sleep-deprived leaders is to come to terms shut-eye or less.
sustained behavior change? A first step for
with just how damaging your fatigue can
be—not only to you but also to those who
work for you. Next, follow some simple,
practical, research-backed advice to ensure
HOW MUCH SLEEP do you get each night?
that you get better rest, perform to your
potential, and bring out the best in the
Most of us know that eight hours is the
recommended amount, but with work, people around you. damaging at the end of the three months research has shown that when leaders Insufficient rest leads to poor judgment, lack of self-
family, and social commitments often
consuming more than 16 hours of the day,
it can seem impossible to make the math
SPREADING DAMAGE
received scores 13% lower than those
Historically, scholars have depicted
work. Perhaps you feel that you operate just
as it was at the beginning. However, the
supervision as stable over time—some
fine on four or five hours a night. Maybe
in the control group. Why? Previous
leaders were completely unaware of the
you’ve grown accustomed to red-eye flights,
bosses are just bad, and others aren’t. But
all-nighter. You might even wear your behavior can vary dramatically from day Michael Christian, and I found similar good and therefore perceive the bosses as control, and impaired creativity. And the author’s research
recent research indicates that individual
evince positive emotion, subordinates feel
negative dynamic.
time zone changes, and the occasional
Lorenzo Lucianetti, Devasheesh Bhave,
sleep deprivation like a badge of honor.
charismatic. If we don’t get enough sleep,
to day and week to week—and much of
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
results when we asked 88 leaders and their
we’re less likely to feel positive and less
this variance can be explained by the
able to manage or fake our moods; it’s
Although the ranks of sleep advocates are
quality of a manager’s sleep. Indeed,
subordinates to complete daily surveys
studies have found that when leaders
very difficult to pull ourselves out of an
no doubt growing—led by the likes
for two weeks: When bosses slept poorly,
show up for work unrested, they are more
they were more likely to exhibit abusive
insomnia-induced funk.
a significant percentage of people, and likely to lose patience with employees, WHEN LEADERS SHOW behavior the next day, which resulted value of sleep can negatively impact not
of Arianna Huffington and Jeff Bezos—
Furthermore, leaders who discount the
U.S. executives in particular, don’t seem to
in lower levels of engagement among
act in abusive ways, and be seen as
less charismatic. There is also a greater
subordinates. When the boss doesn’t feel
be getting the sleep they need. According
just emotions but also behaviors on their
to the most recent data from the National
rested, the whole unit pays a price.
likelihood that their subordinates will
teams. Lorenzo Lucianetti, Eli Awtrey,
themselves suffer from sleep deprivation—
Health Interview Survey, the proportion of
Gretchen Spreitzer, and I conducted a
Sleep also affects managers’ ability to
Americans getting no more than six hours
and even behave unethically.
inspire and motivate those around them.
series of studies of what we termed “sleep
In a recent study, Cristiano Guarana
a night (the minimum for a good night’s
THEY ARE MORE
communicate to subordinates that sleep
Shazia Nauman, Dejun Tony Kong, and
rest for most people) rose from 22% in 1985 and I measured the sleep of 40 managers UP FOR WORK UNRESTED, In a 2016 experiment, Cristiano Guarana, devaluation”—scenarios in which leaders shows that sleep-deprived bosses hurt their teams
is unimportant. They may do so by setting
to 29% in 2012. An international study
and their 120 direct reports during the
I manipulated the sleep of a sample of
conducted in 2017 by the Center for Creative first three months of their assigned time LIKELY TO LOSE PATIENCE students: Some were allowed to get a an example (for instance, boasting about
sleeping only four hours or sending work
normal night’s worth, while others were
working together, along with the quality
Leadership found that among leaders, the
problem is even worse: 42% get six or fewer of these boss-employee relationships. We WITH EMPLOYEES, randomly assigned to a sleep-deprived e-mails at 3 am), or they may directly shape
hours of shut-eye a night. found that sleep-deprived leaders were ACT IN ABUSIVE condition in which they were awake about employees’ habits by encouraging people
two hours longer. We then asked each
more impatient, irritable, and antagonistic,
to work during typical sleep hours (perhaps
You probably already have some
understanding of the benefits of rest— which resulted in worse relationships. We participant to give a speech on the role criticizing subordinates for not responding along with themselves: They are more likely to mistreat
and the costs of not getting it. Sleep allows expected that this effect would diminish WAYS, AND BE SEEN AS of a leader, recorded those talks, and had to those 3 am e-mails, or praising
us to consolidate and store memories, over time as people got to know each other, third parties evaluate the speakers for individuals who regularly work late into
process emotional experiences, replenish but it did not. Sleep deprivation was just as LESS CHARISMATIC. charisma. Those who were sleep-deprived the night). In our studies, we found that
employees and create a workplace where people feel less

SLEEP WELL, LEAD BETTER engaged and may even behave less ethically.
Fortunately, there are ways to get more and better rest.
Christopher M. Barnes | page 140 These include sticking to a regular bedtime and wake-up
time; avoiding caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and screen time
before bed; tracking your sleep patterns and adjusting
your habits accordingly; getting treatment for sleep
disorders; and napping during the workday. If you make
sleep a priority, you’ll probably be a more productive—and
inspiring—leader. HBR Reprint R1805K
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