How do books improve your leadership ability? Books can play an important role in developing people’s leadership abilities but probably not in the way you expect.
As someone who has written a bestselling guide to being an effective leader called The Leadership Book, you might expect me to say that people should spend all their time reading books just like mine. But while good books about leadership can be extremely useful, they are by no means the only kinds of books that can help you develop your skills in this area.
General James Mattis, the former United States Secretary of Defense and a retired Marine Corps four-star general, believed that reading was an essential use of his officers’ time, using the phrase “leaders are readers”. He himself is a voracious reader with an extensive library as well as a world-renowned leader.
The concept that leaders are readers is something I wholeheartedly agree with. Leadership is about increasing your impact by engaging others in pursuit of an objective. Human connection, planning and being able to focus your mind are all crucial elements to becoming a truly good leader and all sorts of reading can focus you in that direction.
I am and always have been an enthusiastic reader, but I don’t spend all my time reading books about leadership. I enjoy reading novels, adventure stories and any book that has people interacting in it. Books that I remember really making an impact on me include John Grisham’s The Firm and Stephen King’s The Stand. When we read, we empathise. It triggers emotions in us and a good book can leave you deeply moved.
There is a strong link between leadership and emotion, both understanding your own emotions and being able to connect with and inspire others. It doesn’t so much matter which books you read – if they involve people and human behaviour, they will all help you build your ability to understand and connect with others, whether you are devouring Shakespeare or something completely different.
One of the things I talk about in my own book is the OODA loop, a process leaders and organisations constantly use to make decisions. OODA stands for observation, orientation, decision and action. Observation is a vital first step in making any important decision and reading is one of the ways leaders can gather the information they need at this stage.
Good leaders need to step back and think and a large part of stepping back and thinking is being well informed. To lead effectively, you need to know what is going on in the world and the industry you work in. This means keeping up to date with legislative changes and political policies and reading the newspapers. But it should be mindful reading rather than naively accepting everything you come across. This means being careful about what you read and understanding the sources and any political bias they have. Proper reading isn’t about just looking at stuff on social media, where you can end up existing in your own echo chamber where your views are unchallenged. Instead, leaders should be getting their information from trusted sources and reading newspapers, magazines and books.
I also think it is a good idea to read the books which are in fashion, even if you don’t personally agree with them. You need to know what other people are thinking and saying so you can form your own informed opinion. For example, within the leadership space, there has been a lot written about the importance of vulnerability. I don’t fully agree with it but I make sure I keep myself up to date with the viewpoints of others so I can examine my own thoughts on the matter. I understand the concept that as a leader you should be willing to share, talk about and be interested in the emotions of others but I think you can take it too far where a leader becomes an emotional drain and is too needy on the people they are supposed to be leading.
As well as reading the broad stuff, both fact and fiction, which helps me understand the world around me, I also read a lot of books on psychology, anthropology, sociology and any other ‘ology’ that concerns human development and behaviour. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a great place to start, followed by Yuval Noah Harari’s books. These books provide the jigsaw pieces which allow a reflective leader to better understand themselves and others. Then there are the books on leadership, like my own book and the books by Simon Sinek. Reading focused and relevant books which answer your questions on a specific subject can really help you develop and grow.
However, the most important part of any reading is reflecting on it afterwards. If you simply read for reading’s sake and never think about what the words on the page are actually teaching you, there’s really no point. It would be like driving through an interesting landscape, instead of stopping and camping there. Leaders read to learn, grow and develop. To take the lessons of others. To let their heart beat a little faster when the central character in a novel finds themselves in a challenging situation and they question what they would have done if they had found themselves in their shoes.
Everything you read has the potential to expand your understanding of a specific situation, the world, others and even yourself. So don’t ever feel guilty for losing yourself in a pageturner at the end of a stressful day, it might just be making you an even better leader.
