Sleepless in CEO-Land!

A CEO never sleeps. IF there was ever a market for soporific drugs, then this it is. I stayed up till midnight to wish my friend a happy birthday on FB and see the BeachCherry’s CEO Vick Gandhi online. Now Vick like other CEOs has a one-track mind. He’s super-obsessed with work and it’s not such a surprise to see him online at that hour. He eats drinks and sleeps BeachCherry. This other time, I am woken up by the sound of dogs barking in the neighborhood. Can’t return to my blissful slumber so I turned to the next best thing and switch on the laptop to see what the world is upto. What do I see? The CEO’s online again.

Yet another time, I wake up early because I have a train to catch. No prizes for guessing he was online at 6am. Finally, I can no longer resist.

“When do you go to sleep?” I ask. Apparently, never.

I am fascinated by the CEO-insomnia and so I probe further. Here are some of the reasons we found out why they never sleep. I paraphrase Vick’s comments.

1.) Because a brilliant idea crossed my mind when I was about to hit the bed: I needed to write it down, make the outline and list out the benefits. I had to do it before I forget, so I mailed all and sundry asking for their feedback. Of course, no one replied until the next day but that’s ok as long as my idea got neatly documented.

2.) There’s always some part of the globe where a potential client is awake. No, seriously. Critical client interactions happen post midnight because of the rate at which the world is shrinking. The most promising time zones and my sleep hours are generally the same. I have to be a part of that call, it’s a deal-maker.

3.) You need more fire-fighters at night. Chances are that if there’s some pressing deadline that ought to have been completed yesterday – it just arrived in our inbox when we were going to call it a day. Or there’s some crucial trouble-shooting or major system malfunction or "fire" that to be fought. I think the CEO feels morally obliged and comes to the rescue like a knight in shining armor, only the damsels in distress are many.

4.) Is there life beyond online? Vick believes that “A CEO who’s not connected to the online world in some way, is not a CEO after all”. The craving to catch up on twitter, blogosphere, and your email is too persuasive. Vick will respond to a poignant tweet or argue out an interesting blog issue, even if it’s getting really late. Or better catch up on tech forums. Vick runs a virtual office when he starts is laptop, is constantly in run mode 24/7.

5.) Introspection: Bed-time is the preferred time for some introspection, for taking stock and going over the next day’s to do list. This is a vicious circle because work never really ends and before you know it, you start jotting down extra points and rewriting and re-doing and thinking again. And then it’s time to check mail again.

6.) While Vick may not sleep. He gets plenty of rest and power-naps albeit always with an eye open and keeping a tab on everyone.

7.) Because when Vick finally sleeps – the dreams are so bizarre. It’s like his worst fears are taking shape in his dreams, he’d rather not. His worst fears that a lot of his staff’s not performing to the best of their potential.

8.) In all likelihood he was a gaming addict and serious about the competition. “You’ve just got to beat your rival’s score tonight!”. He still removes his frustration on his Playstation 3, but it’s always combat games with a gun in his hand and looks to kill.