📚🤓 “Leaders are Readers”

 

Gifting these books to my team of engineers in our upcoming dept meeting this week. 

These are among some of my favorite books which have shaped, inspired and influenced my way of thinking, outlook in life, etiquettes at the workplace, interacting with people, as well as my approach in managing and leading the team. 

I was careful, too, to select books which are enjoyable and “fun read”. In addition to being highly informative and practical, I chose books which I felt are also an engaging and riveting read, and hence I refrained from books that may be informative, but are dry and feels like a chore to read - including the more business-y management or deep psychology stuff. 

The key to encouraging people to build good habit is to make it fun and enjoyable (in fact, that’s pretty much the whole theme of one of these books - “Feel Good Productivity”!). Don’t just read because “you have to” (that’s why many of us fail in starting good habits. Looking at you, too, Exercise)

For me, personally, reading wasn’t a habit that I’ve had all along. It was only a habit I developed in recent years (during COVID, to be exact). Before that, I had a terrible habit of buying books, but never actually reading them (beyond page 20 🤣). 

The key was in finding the right reading medium (e-books), setting a short window of uninterrupted time every day, sharing what I’ve read, and implementing what I learnt.

I hope that in my own small way, I get to spark more interest and drive to develop the reading habit - an increasingly tougher challenge as we sink deeper into the age of digital distractions of social media, streaming services and games. 

Harry Truman, 33rd President of US once said, “not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”.

Read any of these books? Any favorites? Any other awesome ones you recommend out there?

Do share 🤓