Reading can be an amazing conduit to learn new ideas, to expand your abilities and to better understand rapid change. I believe that leaders who read consistently tend to be more responsive to changes in the business environment and open to new ways to grow their organization. Building knowledge and developing your own intellectual and emotional abilities will guide you better as you guide your team and your business through adversity, challenges and new opportunities.
Leaders with a focus on personal growth can equip their team in improving skills and understanding the world better. You risk being left out as the world and your market changes around you without growing your knowledge base. Recognizing and adapting to change are critical to leading a successful organization.
From my years as a young boy, reading books on adventure, American presidents, and technical subjects was a major part of my life. I was fortunate to have parents and a grandmother who encouraged reading. Reading provided a world of expanding my knowledge and insights since we lived in a rural setting with limited access. The library and book ordering through the program that Scholastic provided were my doors to new ideas. Reading the classic fiction works along with books on current leadership techniques will enhance your creativity and ability to think through issues affecting your business.
Here are a few areas to consider with instilling reading into your plan to develop your team and yourself:
- Learn new ideas and expand your creativity. I believe in reading in order to maintain a life philosophy of growth. A lack of growth will bring complacency and a lack of understanding in the world. New ways of doing business are emerging constantly. The market is changing and your target demographic is also probably changing faster than you think. You may have already considered how to target Millennials, but what about Generation Z? Young people who are a part of Generation Z are in college now, and they view the world even differently than Millennials.
- Reading can provide insight. Are you facing a problem in your business and don’t know how to approach it? Reading top books in the problem area can provide new techniques to consider in solving the problem.
- Provide a reading list to your team. Your reading list should consist of titles reflecting the basic tenets of your industry and market. The list should be a mixture of titles on leadership, technical solutions, problem solving and creativity. The books should encourage growth and a new thinking that aligns with the direction you have set.
- Seek out relevant reading lists. Find your industry reading list to be even more knowledgeable in your market. For general leadership, publishers such as Forbes and Inc announce reading lists for leaders and professionals often.
If you are a leader, then you need to be reading. It needs to be a part of your personal development plan and you need to encourage your team members to do the same. Leaders who read are much better equipped to understand change.
“A man only learns in two ways, one by learning, and the other by association with smarter people.” -Will Rogers
While serving in the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army (the most senior ranking 4 Star General in the Army who advises the Secretary of Defense and the President), always published a reading list to encourage development and to know insights. The list gets updated as conditions change, and as the Chief wants subordinate leaders to be prepared for the next challenge. It’s a great example to follow to consider for your own team. Click here to see the reading list as published by the Army War College.
Here are three books that I recommend that all leaders must read and can be found on Amazon by clicking the link:
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
- EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey
- Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz.
How has reading impacted your ability to determine solutions and embrace change in your business?
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Copyright 2016-Stephen McLain