Leadership Wednesday 23 - Reading and Leading

“Leaders are readers.” – Dave Ramsey

I can’t remember how many books I read in high school but I know it was a lot less than I was supposed to. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy reading, I just wasn’t disciplined enough to force myself to do it. It was difficult to sit down and read when there was always a show to watch, a game to play or friends to hang out with. This lack of discipline when it came to reading continued throughout college and even seminary. I was someone who read only when absolutely necessary and, when it wasn’t, I would play video games or watch TV.

Over the past year, however, I’ve begun to realize that if I want to be an effective leader, reading is always absolutely necessary. After meeting with one of our volunteers, I realized that the insights I had to offer were the same ones I had shared two months prior. In two months I hadn’t learned anything new; there were no new ideas influencing my thoughts so I ended up sounding like a broken record. As leaders we’re expected to bring something new to the table; if we’re not learning anything new, then we’re just going to keep bringing old thoughts and ideas. The world is changing, the contexts in which we lead are changing; we need to constantly refresh our minds in order to keep up with that change. I can’t rely on the knowledge I gained four years ago to help me navigate the world today; reading keeps that knowledge fresh and allows me to approach new challenges with a better perspective.

Gaining new knowledge through reading doesn’t supplant the old knowledge, it just fills it in, makes it more robust. Just because we read the newest book on leadership development doesn’t mean we have to forget the lessons we’ve already learned from Maxwell, Jesus and Macbeth. Reading infuses our brains with new ideas which we can then incorporate into older knowledge; with that broader knowledge base, we are better prepared to interact with the world and people around us.

Leaders are readers. I just hope that doesn’t mean I have to go back and read all those books from high school; A Tale of Two Cities was really boring.

What are you currently reading and what are you learning from it?