Napping is supposed to be really good for you. Every few weeks you come across yet another study that shows how napping once or twice a week in the middle of the day can reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes or a different one that highlights that longer naps can improve cognitive performance. This might be one of the reasons some cultures have a tradition of afternoon naps in the form of the siesta in Spain, the Kalo Mesimeri in Greece and the Riposo in Italy.
Naps are however not looked upon kindly everywhere and especially not in the hard charging culture of corporate America. David Einhorn’s nap schedule made its way into a Wall Street Journal article discussing Greenlight Capital’s underperformance last decade. One of the more egregious examples of someone being called out for napping can be found in a two sentence letter an activist investor sent to shareholders of Harvard Illinois bank in 2014. The letter stated: