“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” ― Harry S. Truman Every leader has a mindset different from his followers. What happens in their mind determines what happens around them. And what’s in their mind comes from what they read, know and think about. I am yet to find any effective leader who is not a reader. Effective leaders read biographies of other effective and successful leaders. They are fired by what others are doing.
Two Quick Facts
Not all readers are leaders. There are several reasons people read. Students read for academics, professors mostly read to satisfy academic quest, workers mostly read newspapers and magazines to get abreast with current affairs. Amongst these varying reasons, most people read not to become leaders in their field of career but to know to just get by.
All leaders are readers. There are two ways a leader gets ahead of his people: One, in his mind and two, in his actions. You can’t get ahead of your people in your mind without actively pursuing reading. Bill Gates is the world’s second richest man according to Forbes magazine. You might be thinking that being a leader in the software industry as he is, he doesn’t read. On his personal website thegatesnotes.com, he promotes reading through publishing a list of insightful and life changing books
What To Do
Have you seen an expert who is not knowledgeable in his field? Not yet! The reason why we call people leading lawyers is because they have drunk deep from the wells of their subjects. Albert and Comfort Ocran wrote in their bestseller The More You Know, The Better It Getsthat reading is a cardinal habit of professional champions. You can start now by setting the goal of reading one book per month. This is likely to translate into 3 books by the end of 2012 and 60 books by 2017. This will make a leading “you” out of your profession.
© 2012 Eric Otchere
(My passion is to build individual
and corporate capacities through
knowledge-based services.)
