“We know sleep is useful, but when you ask why we do it in the first place — why every animal, including insects and worms, go through it — there’s really no answer to that,” Bazil says. “All we can really say is that it’s important.”

Where would you put yourself on the accountability dial? Are you giving real-time feedback and asking enough open questions? Are you empowering and empathising with your team to help them solve their own problems? I invite you to connect the dots. Now . . . what will you do about it?

An employee comes to you and says, “I have a problem.” If you’re trying to be a great manager, what do you do?

Your initial instinct might be to roll up your sleeves. “Time to be the boss,” you think to yourself. You’re ready to step in, solve the problem and save the day.\

Or something like that. You just want to be helpful.\

In reality, your instinct is the opposite of helpful. Startlingly, when you jump in to solve a problem as a manager, it’s one of the biggest leadership mistakes you can make.

Images of computer programmers tend to be charged with stereotypes: the quiet nerd, the punk hacker, the hoodie-wearing loner. But what do we really know about the people who are, more than ever, shaping our lives?

It happens every year: With the turn of a calendar page comes a feeling of hope and opportunity, a renewed determination to tackle goals that have been on the back burner, plus some new ones for good measure. But then a month goes by, and then another, and that ambition slowly fades as you settle back into your ruts. And barring any huge change on the horizon, like a new job or a cross-country move, that’s likely where you’ll stay until a new year starts and the cycle repeats.