DON'T read more leadership books

💌 218 words ⌛ 1 minute

Reading more leadership books doesn't make you a better leader. Only practical application improves your leadership skills by giving you real-world experience.

Why it matters: Learning from others is important. The problem is, it feels productive. But hoarding knowledge without applying it, isn't productive - only applied knowledge is.

Dig deeper:

• Reading is a great source to learn from others, but you must develop a habit of applying it.

  • Reading 10 books on the same topic is procrastination.

  • Create a note for each book and write down what you want to try.

  • Set specific goals to implement one or two key takeaways from each book.

• While it sounds cool to read 52 books a year it's rarely useful - you don't have the time to apply everything.

  • Read one book, apply what you learned and reflect on it.

  • Give yourself time to absorb what you learned. Sometimes a concept works in your brain for weeks

• Read wide.

  • Most modern leadership books are quite the same, and quite boring to be honest.

  • Learn from other fields. Read biographies, read philosophy, and psychology. And adapt what those people learned to your field of work.

  • Explore subjects that are interesting to you and add them to your own mix of knowledge.

Tell me, reply to this mail, how do you put your knowledge into practice?

— Daniel