06/06/2026
I'll Just Say It: When I Don't Sleep, I Am a Terrible Leader.
Not "a little off." Not "slightly less sharp." Terrible. You don’t want to be around me.
My patience is gone. My creativity flatlines. My empathy the thing that makes me good at coaching leaders through the hardest transitions of their careers just… disappears.
I become reactive instead of responsive. Short instead of spacious. Present in the room but absent in the ways that matter.
I learned this training for Ironman triathlons and marathons, where the consequences of poor sleep were immediate and physical. Bad sleep meant bad miles. Bad recovery meant breakdown, not breakthrough.
But the leadership version is even more costly because you rarely feel it as dramatically as you do at mile 18. It erodes slowly. Quietly. Until one day someone tells you that your team feels disconnected from you. Or your decisions have been missing the mark. Or your presence in the room has changed.
Sleep deprivation is a leadership crisis in slow motion.
The greatest athletes alive figured this out.
Federer. Bolt. Serena. LeBron. Brady. Biles. Phelps.
They ALL made sleep a non-negotiable. So did I.
As an executive coach (MA/PCC) who has spent 20+ years helping leaders navigate transitions from senior individual contributors to C-suite, from one culture to another, from burning out to thriving I can tell you with certainty:
The first habit we always work on is sleep.
Not because it's easy. Because it's foundational. Because everything else your vision, your team building, your executive presence, your capacity to lead the future workforce is built on top of it.
Here's your challenge:
Decide on your bedtime. Block it on your calendar. Defend it tonight.
I do it. What about you?
→ Ready to go further? I am with you on this journey.
Susanne Mueller, MA/PCC | Executive Coach | Leadership Transition Strategist | 20+ years | Ironman | TEDx Speaker