Leveraging Circadian Rhythms and Chronotypes

It was Benjamin Franklin who once wrote the maxim, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” The words are typical of the wisdom he offered in his Poor Richard’s Almanack, a guide to industrious living meant for the ambitious founding generation of Americans. It has shaped generations since.

Throughout American history, it has been common for parents to extol the “virtue of early risings” to their children as they went off to college or started a new job. “The early bird gets the worm” has been quoted to the young for more than two centuries.

It may be time to question this wisdom—for some of us. A combination of scientific research, the benefits of our computer age and the remote work possibilities it has granted us, and the challenges of COVID have all left us realizing that not everyone works best by starting their day early. Some of us, if not most of us, work best by marching to a different inner rhythm.

Here’s a flyover of the science. We’ve all heard of circadian rhythms that govern a number of molecular processes in human beings, including sleep-wake patterns. The particular sleep-wake pattern each of us leans to is called our “chronotype” and is determined by 351 genes that express themselves in our brains, our retinas, and other body systems. You can read more about these scientific studies here.

Here’s what you need to know as a leader: more than half of all human beings are night owls—as determined by their genetics, not just personal choice. They are more effective if they are allowed to sleep later and work later than our standard 9-to-5 societal rhythm usually allows. We’ve had this confirmed by the “experiments” forced on us by COVID and the possibilities of remote work in recent years. The conclusion of both science and business is clear: people are more productive when they are allowed to adjust their work schedules to their chronotype.

Now, this is not always possible. Not all work can be adjusted to a personalized, chronotype-driven schedule. Yet when it can be, everyone benefits. Realizing this, a pretty stunning 76% of global companies are allowing “hybrid work,” meaning their employees can work when they want from anywhere they want. Will some employees abuse the privilege? Sure, and they’ll have to be sent packing. Yet the benefits of hybrid work are being discovered the world over.

I feel this keenly. When Bev and I are home together, I go to bed when she does—at about nine to ten each evening. When we are apart, I automatically revert to my night owl pattern and may work until two in the morning, sleeping until about nine in the morning. I wrote my first book between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am, because my children were young and I had a fairly intense day job. Clearly, though I am able to work a variety of schedules, my natural cycle is to sleep late and work late. This would have been dubbed lazy throughout most of American history. Now it is called wise and “science-based.”

The leadership art in this is to allow as much freedom as you can for your team to work when they are at their best. I understand that not all of you can do this given the nature of your profession. Yet to work with the grain of your team members rather than against is one of the arts of great leadership. Know the science, know your people, unleash their best. This is your goal.