Great thinkers have this in common: they find time to be alone and process their ideas, come up with new ideas, and work on projects that don't need other people involved. During the day, most of the time is taken up with working on projects that involve other people, and require conference call, or talking to customers, and there is little time to really brainstorm. Now we all know who the early birds are, and what they do, most because they like to remind us what time they got to the office and how much they got done. Night owls are different. They don't usually share what they've been doing, and don't talk about how late they stayed up (unless they're in college and are talking about the party they went to or the clubs they were at). Well, not surprisingly, lots of important people at various companies find that they're most productive time is at night, when it's quiet, they family is in bed, and they can just process and think. The lesson for leaders is this: you need to find time to think. If you're leading a company, or a team in a company, you need to have uninterrupted time when nobody will come to you with questions or ideas or projects, just to work on your goals and brainstorm for your company. All great leaders find time to themselves, whether for working, reading, or just thinking.