Page 7 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

MANAGING YOURSELF

SLEEP WELL, glucose (the molecule that fuels the brain),

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 BETTER lead to poor judgment, lack of self-control,
and impaired creativity. Moreover, there
are lesser-known secondary effects in
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 sustained behavior change? A first step for
HOW TO GET IT. BY CHRISTOPHER M. BARNES sleep-deprived leaders is to come to terms
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
Most of us know that eight hours is the potential, and bring out the best in the
recommended amount, but with work, people around you.
family, and social commitments often
consuming more than 16 hours of the day,
it can seem impossible to make the math SPREADING DAMAGE
work. Perhaps you feel that you operate just Historically, scholars have depicted
fine on four or five hours a night. Maybe supervision as stable over time—some
you’ve grown accustomed to red-eye flights, bosses are just bad, and others aren’t. But
time zone changes, and the occasional recent research indicates that individual
all-nighter. You might even wear your behavior can vary dramatically from day
sleep deprivation like a badge of honor. to day and week to week—and much of
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. this variance can be explained by the
Although the ranks of sleep advocates are quality of a manager’s sleep. Indeed,
no doubt growing—led by the likes studies have found that when leaders
of Arianna Huffington and Jeff Bezos— show up for work unrested, they are more
a significant percentage of people, and likely to lose patience with employees,
U.S. executives in particular, don’t seem to act in abusive ways, and be seen as
be getting the sleep they need. According less charismatic. There is also a greater
to the most recent data from the National likelihood that their subordinates will
Health Interview Survey, the proportion of themselves suffer from sleep deprivation—
Americans getting no more than six hours and even behave unethically.
a night (the minimum for a good night’s In a recent study, Cristiano Guarana
rest for most people) rose from 22% in 1985 and I measured the sleep of 40 managers
to 29% in 2012. An international study and their 120 direct reports during the
conducted in 2017 by the Center for Creative first three months of their assigned time
Leadership found that among leaders, the working together, along with the quality
problem is even worse: 42% get six or fewer of these boss-employee relationships. We
hours of shut-eye a night. found that sleep-deprived leaders were
You probably already have some more impatient, irritable, and antagonistic,
understanding of the benefits of rest— which resulted in worse relationships. We
and the costs of not getting it. Sleep allows expected that this effect would diminish
us to consolidate and store memories, over time as people got to know each other,
process emotional experiences, replenish but it did not. Sleep deprivation was just as

140 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018