Leadership Thought #251 – All Leaders Should Aspire to Be Well Read and Informed

I am a strong believer that a leader’s role, especially in fast-growing or large organizations, is to think. In addition, to think effectively, you need to be well-read. You need to have a broad understanding of many things, including behavioral psychology and general business management issues. It is also important to be well informed of the market realities, including local, regional, national, and international trends that affect your business. Moreover, as a leader, you should leverage the experience and knowledge of past leadership figures and become a student of leadership behavior.

Leadership requires diligent work and study. Very few people can just show up and make it happen. You might be able to depend on your instincts and work ethic for a while, but eventually, these methods won’t be enough. The opportunities and challenges confronting the organization will be greater and more complex than your own personal experience (and capability to solve them). The stakes will get higher, and so will the risk. You won’t always find the answers easily, and at times, you may feel overwhelmed.

This is why I encourage my clients and colleagues to spend at least 1 hour a day getting smarter about their business and their role. This can be a struggle because our society values action over everything else. Thinking and reflecting are not always tangible activities. Reading about the leadership styles of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or Winston Churchill can seem like a luxury in a terribly busy and hectic schedule. Learning what Jack Welch did at General Electric, what Sam Walton did with Wal-Mart, or what Herb Kelleher accomplished with Southwest Airlines always gets pushed back to the end of the priority line. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung’s significant contributions are often overlooked.  Industry journals and newspapers stack up in our office, unread, as other things distract us.

The options for learning and growth are limitless, making it seem overwhelming. If that happens, instead of avoiding the challenges altogether, take the following small steps:

• Subscribe to an industry journal and read it.
• Review the front page of the Wall Street Journal every day.
• Buy a biography of a historical leadership figure that intrigues you and read it for 15-20 minutes before you go to bed each night, or listen to it as a digital audiobook while you drive around in your car or workout.
• As you become more comfortable with this learning dynamic, add a subscription to the Harvard Business Review and leaf through it on the weekends with your morning coffee or tea.
• Visit the library (yes, they still exist) and borrow a book or DVD explaining the basics of human behavior and psychology.
• Go online and watch TED Talks (www.ted.com) that intrigue you (typical time commitment is less than 20 minutes).
• Order DVDs/CDs of subjects that interest you from the Great Courses catalog.

All this sounds like a lot of work, but the time spent is marginal when considered in the vast scheme of things. The potential benefits of being actively informed are huge for your business and yourself. Understanding the world around you and the people who inhabit it is the primary reason all leaders should aspire to be well-read and informed.

Related articles

• HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership – Harvard Business Review (bjconquest.com)
• Self-Worth: Seasoning Your Age with Sage (leadershipmints.com)
• Leadership Is A Learned Skill (capacity-building.com)
• Leadership Theories (fhinzzcoepoe.wordpress.com)
• Top 10 Topical Leadership Books (psychologytoday.com)
• CEOs Don’t Come Pre-Made, Authentic Leadership Has To Be Learned (techcrunch.com)