What is leadership reading? How can you use some key ideas to improve your business?
Introduction: About Leadership Reading
Turn the Page: Read Right to Lead Right
Sometimes we're stuck without even realizing it. And we need to find ways to get unstuck. Habits are great, and we need them to excel, but do they cause you to be stuck-in-a-rut? Do you read the same kinds of books or different books to shake things up? When was the last time you read a book from a new genre or even a new discipline? If you're like the average person, you have a ton of unread books on your bookshelf.
How much is it costing you not to use the information in these unread books? You bought the books for a reason. I want you to tackle your pile of unread books to get new ideas and perspectives. You’ll soon discover how leadership reading can help you. But first, what is leadership reading?
Definition of Leadership Reading
“Leadership reading is reading with a bent toward making the page impact our lives. It is more than just pleasure, although it can be immensely enjoyable. It is more than reading a lot of books, although it will certainly take us through many volumes. Leadership reading is the active, intentional devouring of the greatest writings applied with earnestness toward the highest aspirations. It is a lifestyle habit that is open to everyone but taken advantage of by only a select few.”
Formulate Questions You Want Books to Answer
I want you to do something that may be a bit uncomfortable for you. I'll be right there with you. But it won't be as uncomfortable for me, because I have been intentional about reading books from different genres and disciplines. However, I haven’t been intentional about it for a while now. Here’s what I need from you. I need you to set aside one hour when you won't be disturbed. If you cannot invest an hour, do 30 minutes instead. I usually recommend to my clients and readers to write down the questions they want a book to answer before reading a book. However, in the book, Turn the Page, the author Chris Brady says that questions can be specific to a book.
But, what is more valuable is when questions address important challenges the reader is currently facing in life, career, family, and business. Questions should be based on current needs. What are you grappling with? Here are two specific questions to ask.
- What are your top five leadership and business challenges right now?
- What are your top five personal, family, and life challenges right now?
Answers often come from unexpected places. Important ideas come from your own thoughts. Books will spark thoughts about issues that you're grappling with.
With the time I asked you to set aside, I want you to write down the questions, problems, and the things that are keeping you up at night. Write down a list of your leadership goals. Focus on books that take you closer to your goals.The next step is to get your unread books that possibly have answers to the questions and problems you’re grappling with.
After the exercise in choosing unread books off your bookshelf, I want you to either buy or borrow books from the library that are very different from what you would usually read. The intent is to diversify your reading while reading to achieve your goals and objectives. Below you’ll find some key ideas from leadership reading that you can use to improve your business.
How to Choose Books to Buy or Borrow from the Library
It’s important to diversify your reading, so you get new perspectives. You can talk to librarians from your public library to get book recommendations from them. And you could also get book recommendations from friends, colleagues and even your book. However, an interesting exercise to try is one in the book, Turn the Page. The author introduced me to the concept of bundling books. It’s something I did naturally, but didn’t know there was a name for it.
3 Types of Ways to Bundle Books
- Author
- Topic
- Title
I love Remington Kane and when I read the first Tanner book, I loved it so much that I continued to read them. I’ve read the 43 books in the series so far. And I’ve read all the books in some of his other series. The Sales Knowledge Accelerator is a prime example of bundling by topic. I read several books on sales. What I haven’t done is bundle by the variation of a title. Bundling by title is what I’d like you to do.
You have specific challenges you want to resolve by finding solutions in books. If you have unread books on your bookshelf that possibly have answers, the next logical step is to conduct research to find other books that have a variation of the name of the book or books you own. This is a fun exercise.
Example of bundling books by title:
- The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller
- The One Thing You Need to Know: . . . About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success by Marcus Buckingham
- One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Cooke
Another Example of bundling books by title:
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
- Get It Done: From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 Minutes a Day by Sam Bennett
- Get it Done Now!: Own Your Time, Take Back Your Life by Brian Tracy
Key Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Business
You have problems that you want to solve. And you plan to read books to find the answers to your problems. Use books to your advantage to achieve:
- Personal goals.
- Solve actual problems.
- Answer pressing questions.
Key Idea 1: Practice Leadership Reading
Leaders read differently. They read to learn what they need to know. They search for answers to questions. To read for leadership requires you to think like a leader. They read to find truth and apply it to their lives. This means that you never read a book cover-to-cover unless it’s warranted. Only four to 11 percent of the text on a page of the typical nonfiction book carries any meaning.
Key Idea 2: Have a Plan to Work From
You know the kind of information you’re looking for, and possibly the books you want to read to get the information you need. If you have a plan, you can find information and principles in books to take you where you want to go. You set yourself up for success when you acknowledge issues and your life goals before reading.
Key Idea 3: Practice the Art of Reading
As you read, open up yourself to new and unexpected ideas and directions. Plan for what you want to get from reading. Act on your reading plan to achieve professional success.
Key Idea 4: Argue With the Author
When you're arguing with the author, question what the author says. What do you agree and disagree with? Why do you agree or disagree? Tests why you agree or disagree with the author? Are your arguments valid? Analyze what you're reading. Follow up with what you learn by taking action.
Chris Brady recommends that you read several books at the same time. I’ve tried this and the system doesn’t work for me because I end up not finishing any of them. See if the system works for you. I know several people who it works for. By the way, Brady says that people who read, who have five to six books to choose from every time they think about reading, typically read a lot more than those who have only one.
Key Idea 5: Elevate Your Thinking
The main point in leadership reading is to elevate your thinking and doing, and to get answers to questions and challenges you face as a leader. You'll get more out of each book by reading several at the same time. The focus is not on the actual books you're reading, but on the questions and challenges you're seeking to answer as you read them.
Key Idea 6: Make Connections Between and Among the Books You Read
Make mental connections between the books you read and make connections between important ideas. Read broadly on diverse topics. Vary the level of difficulty of the books you read. Above, you were asked to create a list of leadership questions you have. Read the classics and great books. Get a list of the great books. If you’re unsure where to start, ask a librarian at the public library.
Some Sources That I Reference to Find Classic Books
Using Rare Books to Inspire Learning Part 1, Part 2
100 must-read classic books, as chosen by our readers
A lot of the classics were written by white men, so do some research to find books written by people who have an alternative voice. This could include Black, and LGBTQ authors.
Key Idea 7: Study Books Like an Artist
What is the book telling you? What are you hearing? Learning is creation when you apply the principles.
“Reading a book, the way an artist reads art is one of the most important principles of leadership reading.”
Read everywhere. And whenever you get the opportunity to do so. Understand a book before you dive into it. Preview the book to test if it's worth reading. This helps you to connect at a greater depth to the information. When you connect with a book, you'll learn more. Love learning. Put yourself in a situation where you're excited and likely to read. Develop the love of reading. Read different books differently.
Key Idea 8: Read Actively
Active reading helps you to become a leadership reader. Readers are protégés and authors are mentors. But you must act on what you learn from the mentor. Making note of essential information is taking action.
Kay Idea 9: Read to Create
Creating something out of your newfound knowledge is one of the highest forms of learning.. This means that you'll use your newfound knowledge to create articles, e-books, speeches and so on.
Business Knowledge Accelerator, unlock your genius power, read like a leader, Do you have a habit of purchasing professional books you never read? Do you have an even longer list of books that are sitting right now in the ‘someday’ pile? You know you need the information in the books, but they keep gathering dust. This learned behavior limits your access to new thinking and innovative ideas.
Final Thoughts on Leadership Reading and the Key Ideas to Improve Your Business
We live in an age when too little time and too much information compete. If we are to succeed, we require new skills for processing and learning from information. Leadership reading can help with this since you’re reading to learn what you need to know. Reading books is a great way to build skills.
You focus on information that’s important to you. The ability to focus is especially important. Being able to focus intensely on the task at hand allows you to get more done in the same amount of time.
This post contains affiliate links and The Invisible Mentor® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
