The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep th

The argument claims that a business should only hire individuals who sleep less than 6 hours per night if it wants to flourish. Stated in this way the argument: reveals examples of leap of faith, poor reasoning and ill-defined terminology and fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is unconvincing and has several flaws.

First, the argument readily stated that the study consists of 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives. This statement is a stretch since the author provides research with a small number of participants. Clearly, those males and females could not represent the other. For example, what if there are some executives in Mentian who succeed but sleep more than 6 hours per night. The argument could have been much clearer if it explicitly stated that all successful people sleep less than 6 hours per night.

Second, the argument claims that executives who need no more than 6 hours of sleep per night gain profit margins higher and grow faster. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument does not demonstrate any correlation between the number of sleeping hours and personal achievement. To illustrate, the main reason could lie in personal talent and effective working process. If it is, personal improvement and learning how to work effectively would be a better solution. If the argument had provided evidence that showing direct connection between sleeping hours and personal success, then the argument would have been a lot more cogent.

Finally, the argument is still ambiguous in many aspects: Why does the study not proceed with numerous people in different areas in the world? Does the study come from a genuine source? Are there any similar researches that have the same outcome? Without persuasive answers to these questions, one is left with the impression that the claim is more of a wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.

In conclusion, the argument is flawed due to the above mentioned reasons and is therefore implausible. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts to support the conclusion that companies which want to grow should only hire people who sleep less than 6 hours per night.