Introduction: Skills Development: Strategic Reading Challenge
Skills development is a big part of the Read the World Challenge. Yes, we are reading books by authors born in countries other than our own. Yes, we are reading books written by people who are from a different generation. Yes, we are reading books from different genres. Yes, we are reading books that blend disciplines. And yes, the elements of the Read the World Challenge do not have to be mutually exclusive – choose books that satisfy several requirements. If the Reading Challenge is going to be a success, I need participants who actively participate – they are all in. For that to happen, they must have a compelling reason for doing so – how about a transformation that leads to more success in your personal and professional life.
This is a follow-up post to Enhancing Your Career: Read the World Challenge, we are drilling down and getting more specific. To remain competitive, you have to constantly update your skill set. No one achieves success by sitting on the fence doing nothing – that’s not a viable option today. Yesterday, I read an article from Business Insider that made me think. The article by Rachel Gillett talks about the book, The Paradox of Choice
. Having too much choice can be crippling. I love having a lot of choices, which is not necessarily a good thing for others. I had a conversation recently, and the person indicated that for the Read the World Challenge, she would find it very helpful, if I chose the books for people to read. This is very difficult for me, and for people who like choosing for themselves – but I am going to try to do that.
Related Post
Enhancing Your Career: Read the World Challenge
Choosing the Right Books: Read the World Challenge
For me to help you, you have to read, Enhancing Your Career: Read the World Challenge, and actually do the exercises – you operate in a different industry, so you have to choose which skills are necessary. There are several critical skills that are needed for success, so I will focus more on those skills in this post, while you decide on the skills you need that are critical to your job and industry. I was very intentional when choosing the books below. In this era, individuals need well-developed communication skills – both written and oral. You also have to know how to negotiate, generate creative ideas, curate the best ideas, blend disciplines, create products and services that people want to talk about, you want to be seen as a thought leader, and understanding and using business models is critical to creating the right products and services. These are the kind of skills that will set you apart from your peers.
Books to Read for Skills Development
- Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career by 99U and Jocelyn Glei
- How to Sweet-Talk a Shark by Governor Bill Richardson
- Talk Like TED
- 15 Minutes Including Q&A
- Business Model Generation
- Non-Obvious
- Social Physics
- The Misfit Economy
- The First 20 Hours
- Everybody Writes
- Contagious
Now the rest depends on you. To develop the skills that are unique to your job and industry, choose three to five of the top books, because they will give you most of what you need. Read the books at the same time in relation to each other. And only read the relevant sections – you have to change your definition of what it means to read a book – you will benefit more from the books you read for skills development.
