Nothing but his own anxiety: real or imagined; caffeine or other physical distractions.

Everyone who is sufficiently tired and not otherwise threatened with security concern will fall asleep and CEO or no CEO, there is no exception for after all, CEOs are humans too, or are they not?

Things that keep CEOs awake at night are not concerns that are unique to CEOs, but rather almost ubiquitous to all humans. The difference rather is not the concerns per se but the individual psyche makeup of the person in response to the concerns: real or imagined.

An effective CEO sleeps well because he knows he had led and managed his corporation or organization well and whatever concerns that are left outstanding are matters that are either beyond his and his organizational control and there is nothing he or his team can do about and no amount of worrying, including sleepless nights is going to help.

An ineffective CEO keeps awake at night worrying about things he might have overlooked at the office or worse still, plotting to destroy a competitor, company employee or company board member.

No effective CEO should need to keep awake at night, because he has kept vigil enough during the day. He is fully at rest because he knows everything that needs to be done for the day have been done and whatever worries outstanding are tomorrow's worries and he is not going to let tomorrow's worries worry him today or tonight.

In summary, nothing ought to keep an effective CEO awake at night, except his own ghost!

Learn more about this author, Alex Kee.
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