A variety of studies on leadership tout the traits of the most successful leaders, but one trait that keeps cropping up is reading – leaders are great readers. Regardless of whether or not you personally like/liked a world historic leader; or whether or not you like/liked his/her leadership style, you have to respect their thirst for knowledge and the way they feed their minds with books. Annual studies by Samsung Economic Research Institute reveal that CEOs read four to five books each month. How many books are you consuming each month? And are the books you are consuming nourishing your mind?
Leaders are Great Readers
- What All Great Leaders Have In Common: Mike Myatt at N2growth works with CEOs, and in his experience, the most successful CEOs are avid readers.
- For Those Who Want to Lead, Read: John Coleman who contributes on HBR’s (Harvard Business Review) blogs builds a case for anyone who aspires to lead.
- CEO Reading Habits – Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI): 2012 CEO Reading Habit, 2011 CEO Reading Habit, 2010 CEO Reading Habit.
If you aspire to become a leader, then you have to start reading more. How can you read more? To succeed at any project requires that you have a purpose, and reading more is no different. Why would you want to read more? Do you want to master a subject? Do you want to build your vocabulary? Do you want to add rigor to your thinking? Do you want to become more creative? Do you want to acquire more world knowledge? Are your seeking enlightenment? Do you want to solve a problem? Any problem you are facing, there is someone in the world who has faced and successfully solved that problem. These are legitimate reasons for reading.
How I’m Reading More
I have always been an avid reader, but I gave myself the challenge to create a Virtual Literary World Tour. My purpose for creating the Tour is to heal my heart and pay tribute to my mother who always encouraged me to read. I wanted to ensure that I added diversity to my reading by reading books by authors from around the globe. I also gave myself the challenge to read 30 books in 30 days as a way to ensure that I am successful with the Virtual Literary World Tour. Although it was not easy, I was able to read 30 books in 30 days, and even when some of the books were short, because of the content, you couldn’t simply whip through them. What allowed me to succeed is that I have purpose for doing it, and I kept track of my progress – some nights I had to stay on quite late to make sure that I was on track. In addition, I had to structure my paid projects a little differently, so that I could accomplish everything.
Are leaders great readers?
Get Started Here – I want to help you get started on your learning journey. Read The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge, then Join the Facebook Group for the Reading Challenge today, connecting the ideas from the books you read!
In the meantime, THANK YOU for your time… Thank you for sharing this post, and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest! What was your biggest takeaway from today?
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