Sleep to Succeed…..What?  That’s right, the evidence is in and all of us “Type A’s” or wannabees need to get at least one more hour of sleep each night to improve our effectiveness over time.  I know what you’re thinking -- “how can a person in M&A who is expected to put in 18-hour days running around with their hair on fire supposed to take sleep seriously?”  After all, we have come to worship the overachiever… not the sleeper.

So, here’s the deal.  A few days ago, my eyes were opened, or closed as it were, when I discovered James Maas, who was speaking about the business benefits of sleep and the direct influence rest has on performance.  So I had to ask, is this an appropriate topic for those of us in the M&A Community?

Mr. Maas is the retired chair of the psychology department at Cornell and recently moved his family here to the Dallas area.  Maas is a 75-year-old pioneer in sleep research and after years of study, he has applied his findings to teams like the Orlando Magic, and the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators.  In addition, he has dramatically changed the performance levels for multiple Olympians.

Jim Maas has a simple answer for employers who want to contain escalating health care costs and increase productivity, job satisfaction and creativity:  Encourage your workforce to get one more hour of sleep each night!  The documented performance improvements in athletic teams, sports figures and yes, in corporate America, have been outstanding.  Maas says that almost everyone is running on a 47 to 60-minute sleep deficit and that’s enough to create a Zombie nation.  But, just one extra hour will make a profound difference... in our work performance, relationships, safety and overall attitudes.

Sleep deprivation can be directly linked to things like:  hypertension, heart attack and stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity and cancer.  Then there are the issues of emotional health, and it all translates into higher insurance costs.  Add in employees who are experiencing slumps in creativity and alertness and those who are grumpy... you know who you are!   Younger members of the workforce, those under 26, are getting even less sleep (often caused by pressures to indulge in social media after a hard day’s work) but actually require a whopping nine and a half hours of sleep each night.  Anyone who’s observed the typical lifestyle of millennials knows that this isn’t happening.  It’s not the older of us who typically needs more sleep, it’s those under 45.

In my earlier career, I would be lucky to get six hours of sleep each night.  I will now try to get exactly eight hours and when travel interferes, I will insert a power nap.  Jim Maas coined the phrase “Power Nap” 38 years ago while consulting with IBM’s fast-track executive program.  At the time, the business buzz was all about “power lunches”.  He had a more powerful idea.

To improve our M&A performance, we need to get out of the state of perpetual jet lag.  Pick up a copy of Jim Mass’ book, Sleep for Success.    I’m taking his advice lying down... and feeling better for it!