The CEO Gets Up In the Wee Hours. Should You?
Some CEOs these days boast about how early they get up. How that impacts everyone else.
Some enjoy the solitude and time to reflect before starting the day. Others like to exercise and check messages before heading to the office. And more than a few take pride in one-upping their peers.
For many CEOs, getting up before sunrise is a part of the job—one they can’t stop talking about. The CEO of a software-communications platform, according to one recent story, awakens daily at 4:30 AM to “scan messages, emails, and texts.” Among leaders, the sweet spot seems to be between 4:00 AM and 5:00 AM. There’s a long historical record of CEOs citing that time as the start of their day.
There are reasons the pre-dawn hours have become a symbolic time for CEOs. Time zones and global operations are obviously a factor. Scientific studies show that people reach optimal performance at different times of the day, with many functioning at their peak in the wee hours. One famous study linked early rising with proactivity, arguing that people who wake up early are better positioned for career success. Jamen Graves, global leader of CEO and enterprise leadership development at Korn Ferry, says many of his CEO clients get up before 5 AM, when distractions are low. “Carving out this time gives CEOs a sense of control and agency over their overwise crammed and overscheduled lives,” says Graves.
Still, some experts say that broadcasting wake-up times can be a chest-pumping move that wears out others in the firm. Kevin Cashman, a vice president in the CEO and Enterprise Leadership practice at Korn Ferry, says it could signal to the executive team and workforce at large that they need to do the same to succeed. “People watch what we do,” he says. Dennis Deans, global human resources business partner at Korn Ferry, agrees, adding that there’s a difference between waking up early to exercise or pause for reflection and doing so because of a grueling workload or a corporate crisis. “The message is in the context and the why,” says Deans.
To be sure, it was only a few years ago that the idea of sleep as something that needs to be protected for mental health and wellness was all the rage. The fact that the trend is reversing dovetails with the current business environment, say experts. The drive for productivity, the push to return to the office, the flattening of organizations, and the rise of AI have all contributed to the “return of the grind” mentality. There’s also a competitive element at work among CEOs, says Cashman, noting that with roughly 85% of the population waking up between 5 AM and 8:30 AM , rising even earlier can be a separator. But, he adds, the habit could also hurt them—and their firms—in the long run. “While the early-bird routine works for many,” he says, “it may also represent a type of macho-heroic persona that is not helpful for others.”
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