My favorite quotation (and yes, the word is “quotation;” “quote” is a verb, thank you) from Harry S Truman (and no, there’s no period after the “S,” because it’s not an abbreviation; “S” was his entire middle name – my goodness, I’m being irritatingly picky today!) is this one:
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
But my second favorite quotation from Harry S Truman is this one:
“Not all readers are leaders… but all leaders are readers.”
(Before I go on, perhaps I should point out that we’re talking about “leaders” here, not “people who happen to have the title of ‘leader.'” They are not necessarily the same thing.)
It’s a simple equation: if you want to be a great leader, you need to be a great reader.
In a wonderful article from StartUs Magazine, Dave Olsen outlines five reasons for leaders to be readers:
If at least three out of five of these reasons don’t excite you, then you have no business calling yourself a leader. That’s because most of these reasons are about growth, and if you’re not interested in growing, then you shouldn’t be in a position of influence over others. Period.
All of this, of course, begs the question: what should you be reading?
That’s up to you. But over the years I’ve developed a loose system for myself, and I invite you to steal it (or any part of it) for yourself.
My “system” is this. I always have a least four books going at any given time:
I’m not saying you need to be reading four books all the time. But if you want to be a leader, you do need to read. Reading needs to be a priority, and it needs to be scheduled on your calendar.
Because Harry S Truman was right.
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