Overture | Reading - Wide and Deep

It's that feeling I love - when one can look back at a year just been, marvel at the speed at which it has seemingly traversed us, smile at our success and laugh at our iniquities. And then there's that equally satisfying feeling that you get to do it all over again. 

When January 1^st rolls around for another time, I have come to buzz with renewed energy and vigour. I become enthralled by the sentiment of fresh beginning and the air of opportunity. It is with this same enthusiasm that we approach the overture of a new year at the Bookclub.

It feels apt, then, to begin with an ode to the thing that is central to our existence. Reading. Hopefully you will see why we think reading is really important, and kind of cool, in the rest of this post. But to begin with, here are four reads for 2014 that we have hand-picked especially for this year with both leadership and manageability in mind: one ‘leadership classic’, one ‘self-help’, one ‘fiction’ and one ‘biography’. See if you can spot the theme…

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

The Power of a Positive No by William Ury

A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe

The Hubris Syndrome by David Owen

We hope you enjoy our recommendations. As usual, if you have any comments, would like to review a book (including one of the four above), suggest something for the bookshelf, or just share your ideas, get in touch at bookclub [at] fmlm.ac.uk

Reading - Wide and Deep 

Simply by the virtue that you have found yourself reading this blog, you probably don't need to be encouraged that reading is good for you. But just in case, I will try to convince you anyway - and if you do already read well, you can feel that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that you are doing something worth-while. 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines reading as an 'action or skill'.1 It is a complex cortical function involving both limbic and frontal regions of the brain, and has been at the core of civilisation for as long as we can tell. 

For such a seemingly intuitive function, it is extremely difficult to measure a person's reading skill accurately - what does it really mean to be told, whilst in primary school, that you have the reading ability of someone three times your age, anyway?

One way to gain some quantification of skill is to measure reading speed. According to Forbes.com, the most 'successful people' are those who 'inhale' information rather than merely read it.3 Apparently, in order to be a professor, you need the reading speed of around 600 words per minute (wpm) - twice that of the average adult at 300 wpm. This perhaps suggests that reading speed is an appropriate temperature gauge for the likely-hood of success, and that our information processing speed really does count.

Even if you cannot reach the dizzy heights of 4,700 wpm (the world speed reader record), reading at your own pace could still be fantastically beneficial. The Telegraph recently reported that the effect of reading a novel causes changes in the architecture of the brain - effects which last for days after finishing the book.4 Indeed, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that reading, amongst other leisure activities, could help to prevent the decline of memory and the onset of dementia.5 

Perhaps reading is good for your career, perhaps too it is good for your health - the sad thing is, reading is seemingly in decline. According to the office for national statistics, 35% of adults during the year 2011/12 did not read for pleasure.6  People, it would appear, just don't read like they used to. Perhaps it was just a bad year, perhaps the e-book will bring renaissance, perhaps not. In any case, given in the context of just some of the benefits of reading outlined above, this is quite the statistic. 

Reading is also vitally important if you want to be an effective leader. In a 2012 blog post for the Harvard Business Review, John Coleman suggests that 'If you want to lead, read'. His point is that reading catalyses 'insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness.' 

The difficulty comes with where to look for the appropriate brain fodder. Here are two principles which I would like to share with you.

Read widely…

Medical management and leadership is growing by a process of evolution. Ideas from across disciplines can impact on our view of processes and ideas and change the way we do things. Important lessons have been taken from the way airlines approach safety and car manufacturers approach efficiency. Reading across lots of completely different arenas or work, art, culture and others, allows ideas to cross-polinate and seeds to be planted. It is in the expression and sharing of those ideas that they become distilled and strengthened and may eventually cause change.

It is equally important to read different styles of writing. Reading novels may improve your levels of empathy, allowing you to deal more effectively with the people that you lead, whilst reading poetry may improve your ability to communicate and argue more fluently. 

Read deeply…

This one is not so easy, nor is it dynamic or exciting. In order to read deeply there is, unfortunately, no trick or shortcut. You just have to read lots.  

There are vast oceans of information out there. So much has been written and said about medical management and leadership principles and ideas. Not just information stored in the form of books either - there are blogs, opinions, journals, newsletters, lectures, seminars, all sorts. There is a plethora of information, and, as above, the best simply 'inhale' it.

Some of the greatest leaders were notably, not just avid readers, but vicarious readers - and yes, I believe there is a difference. It is said that Lincoln read a book per day, and Roosevelt read two! (Where they found time for all that other stuff I am not so sure.)

My approach to both of these suggestions is somewhat nerdy. I have started a yearly, categorised reading list which allows me to track the books I have read and those that I hope to read in the future. My list enables me to review where I am spending my efforts, how wide I am casting my net and just how deep in key areas.

In short - read, wide and deep.

References:

http://readingagency.org.uk/about/
http://readingagency.org.uk/news/reading-facts003/
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022252#t=abstract
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brettnelson/2012/06/04/do-you-read-fast-enou...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brain-function-boosted-for-day...
http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/08/for-those-who-want-to-lead-rea/
http://danblackonleadership.info/archives/2216
http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2012/08/03/why-leaders-must-be-read...
http://www.n2growth.com/blog/the-learning-ceo/