Leaders are Readers

Across decades of working with leaders, one habit shows up again and again in those who keep growing: they read. Not just reports and inboxes, but books, research and ideas from well beyond their own field.

Reading as leadership practice

Reading widens the frame. It introduces other people’s hard-won lessons, other disciplines’ ways of thinking, and the kind of perspective that’s hard to find inside the daily rush of a role.

Make it deliberate

The leaders who get the most from reading treat it as a practice, not a luxury — a standing commitment rather than something that happens if time allows. They read across difference, take notes, and bring what they learn back to their teams.

How we relate to our staff, how we involve our staff, is crucial. People are at the heart of any successful enterprise.

If you lead people, reading is not time away from the work. It is the work.