Leaders are Readers

In my previous post I submitted that effective leaders are constantly learning.  I stated that leaders are readers and that I would cover that in detail in this post, so here we go!

The relationship between reading and success is well documented.

 

-- When asked for the key to his success, Warren Buffet is quoted as saying "I just sit in my office and read all day."

 

-- Teddy Roosevelt's reading habits are, if not a bit exaggerated, legendary.  It is reported that he read at least a book or two a day.  Whether or not this is true, the fact remains he was an avid reader and credited much of his success to reading.

-- When asked how he learned to build a rocket, entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is reported to have replied "I read books.".

-- Abraham Lincoln had only one year of formal education, yet, taught himself through reading.

 

Pulitzer Prize winning author David Herbert Donald in his biography of Lincoln relates:

Even more important was the ability to read.  Once he got the hang of it, he could never get enough.  "Abe was getting hungry for book[s]," Dennis Hanks recalled. "reading every thing he could lay his hands on."  He would carry a book with him when he went out to work, and read when he rested.  John Hanks remembered that when Abraham returned to the house from work, "he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn bread, take down a book, sit down in a chair, cock his legs up as high ad his head, and read." (1)

 

Donald goes on to describes in detail the importance of reading to Lincoln's eventual success. 

The list of successful people who attribute their success, at least in part, to reading goes on and on!

 

So, if leaders are readers, the question begs to be asked, what should leaders be reading to grow and improve?  What may seem obvious, really is not.  Intuitively, one may think that reading technical materials on one's profession is what it is all about.  Not entirely.  While it is important to stay current on your given field (most professions require continuing education), there is so much more.

 

 

New York Times best selling author and CEO Chris Brady shares that he has multiple books that he is reading at any given time.  He reads a variety of genres: leadership, history, economics, business, classic fiction (he shares that he read all of Tolstoy's War and Peace on his phone), personal development, etc.  Leaders do not limit themselves to one area of reading.  Effective leaders want and need to broaden their horizons by what they read.  As they improve, so will their team and their organization.

Reading is essential to the continuing development of any effective leader.  Leaders read to learn, they read to grow, and they real to lead!

 Next, we will delve into how a leader should read.  Reading as leader is different.  Stay tuned!

(1) Donald, D.H. (1995). Lincoln p. 30