For years, burning the candle at both ends was worn like a badge of honour in business. Today, that image of the “sleepless elite” is looking far more outdated than aspirational, as both science and CEOs themselves shift towards seeing sleep as a strategic advantage, not a weakness.
Many high‑profile leaders still talk about minimalist sleep schedules, and their habits have helped fuel the myth. Elon Musk has said he gets about six hours a night, often from 1 am to 7 am. Apple’s Tim Cook is famous for waking as early as 3.45 am and sleeping roughly seven hours before starting his day in the inbox. Others, like Richard Branson and Victoria Beckham, have reportedly run for years on five to six hours, feeding the idea that if you really want to win, you should be up while everyone else is asleep.
But that’s only one side of the story. A growing number of equally successful leaders are now openly championing robust sleep as non‑negotiable for performance. Jeff Bezos has repeatedly said he aims for around eight hours a night because it makes him “sharper and more energetic”, arguing that the extra hours you “gain” by cutting sleep are an illusion once you factor in worse decisions and slower thinking. Bill Gates, who once saw sleep as laziness, now publicly regrets that attitude and tries to get seven hours or more, saying his creative thinking falls off a cliff when he is sleep‑deprived. Arianna Huffington has built an entire wellbeing brand off the back of her own burnout, insisting on seven to eight hours, a strict wind‑down routine and no devices in the bedroom.
The science is very clearly on their side. Research reviewed by sleep and leadership scholars has found that leaders who are short on sleep are less inspiring, more emotionally volatile and more likely to make poor ethical and strategic choices. Sleep‑deprived managers also transmit their fatigue down the hierarchy: when people see their boss glorifying late nights and early emails, they feel pressure to stay “always on”, which worsens their own sleep and engagement. In other words, one tired leader can quietly damage an entire culture.
What about the “elite sleepers” you read about, the rare people who seem to thrive on five hours a night? Sleep researchers acknowledge they exist, and genetic studies suggest a tiny fraction of the population can genuinely do well on less sleep without health consequences. These people tend to fall asleep late, wake up early without an alarm, and still feel alert, optimistic and high‑performing throughout the day. The catch is in the word “tiny”: scientists stress that elite sleepers represent a very small slice of humanity, which means most of us who copy their schedules are not hacking our biology – we’re fighting it.
In leadership circles, the culture is slowly catching up. Commentators from within the entrepreneurial community now openly criticise “hustle culture” for glamorising exhaustion and point out that the real edge comes from consistent sleep and recovery. Leaders who once boasted about four‑hour nights are admitting that the long‑term effects included foggy thinking, poor focus and fraying relationships, and that they only started making better decisions once they protected seven or more hours in bed. The message is starting to land: you can’t outsource clarity, creativity or resilience; you have to sleep for them.
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