This is a question that leaders are often asked. I have never understood it. I guess it is supposed to help leaders focus on what needs attention in their organizations. I always shocked interviewers by telling them that as president of my institution I slept soundly most nights.
“Why?” they would ask. My answer was simple. I had assembled a solid team that at its height spanned the globe, or a good part of it. With hundreds of thousands of students and tens of thousands of faculty and staff, I was always sure that somewhere in my organization there was a problem. I was also sure that there was someone on my team who was addressing that issue, and that if necessary I would be briefed in the morning. No need to toss and turn.
I always reminded myself that my team was applying multiple points of view--and a lot of expertise-- to any problem, and that often my personal perspective was limited by my distance from the issue. Worrying all night was probably not the best use of my time. Besides, what sounds like a good solution to a problem at 3 AM often loses its appeal by breakfast. And a good night’s sleep is lost, as well. Meanwhile, someone on my team was already fixing things.
More to the point, worrying about solving the day-to-day problems was not my job—or yours—as a leader. Your concerns should be at the strategic level. If you are worried about the daily grind, you need to work on your team, not on the problems. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to assemble a good working unit. That’s the hard part. That’s where you should lose sleep. Once you have your team in place, your own time can be spent more productively.
So what kept me up at night were mostly things like world peace, climate change, or indigestion. Oh, and the dog at 4 AM.
