In the past two days, I’ve had lunch with two very smart businesswomen. One is a leadership coach with her own business, and the other is a 24 year old entrepreneur and business owner who is definitely going places. Smart people; sharp business minds.
Over the course of two lunches, I asked both of them what they were reading. To my surprise, they both told me that they didn’t read, at least not books.
By the end of our lunch, I had given them the names of at least two books they needed to read this month, and I showed both of them the list of books I want to read (which includes The 360 Leader, Getting Things Done, The little black book of connections, How to be That Guy, Love is the Killer App, Re-Imagine, Speak and Grow Rich, Better than Good, 10 Ways to Make It Great, Essential Drucker, Good to Great, Magic of Thinking Big, How to read a book).
If nothing else, I hope they understand how much reading will impact their financial bottom line, let alone the improvement to their quality of life.
Be Excellent has an excellent post (ironic, eh?) up on this topic:
A recent book seller survey of American business people indicates that the average respondant reads .7 business books every three years! In sharp contrast, respondants that are executives at Fortune 1000 companies read 6.7 books per year.
Readers are leaders. Why?
Because most business books reflect current business trends and the everchanging leadership landscape. If you keep reading, long after you finish college, you remain a student.
As I always say, if you want what the successful people have, do what the successful people do. It’s that easy.
If you’re looking for a great book to read, check out Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, or Endless Referrals by Bob Burg. They’re both terrific business books which will help you make the last third of 2006 your best yet!
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