Leaders Read

One thing that I noticed at my company, all the leaders of the company read.  I’d heard the saying that “leaders read” before but as I looked around, I noticed that Randy and Steve (our directors) as well as all the COOs and Vice Presidents are all readers.  They read business books and also read for pleasure.  It’s a pretty common discussion at the COO dinners to talk about the books you are reading or to talk about a concept you read in a book and how it applies to a situation.

I’ve always been a pretty avid reader, but lately I’ve been much more intentional about it.  One of the best and easiest ways to improve myself is to read.  I always purchased physical books but when I decided to start reading daily, I needed a different approach.  I work out each morning and will either walk on the treadmill or take a walk in my neighborhood.  I decided to combine my walks with my reading.  When I’m on the treadmill, I will read on my Kindle.  When I’m outside I can listen to an audio book.  Using this combination as well as just reading in my spare time I’ve been able to greatly increase the number of books per year.  I’m averaging about 30 right now.

A couple of Jim Rohne quotes I love:  “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job” and “Formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune”.

If you are looking for ideas of where to start, here are some of my favorite books.

Self Development:

The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy  – This book literally changed my life.  Really gets you thinking about how the little changes you make today add up to huge changes over time.

7 Habits of Highly Successful People – Steven Covey – A classic book on improving yourself and the way you interact with others.

Lean and Manufacturing:

The Goal – Eliyahu Goldratt – The seminal book that introduced the theory of constraints.  Great introduction to flow and pull in manufacturing and ties in well with the lean concepts.  Told in a business novel style that makes it an easy and fun read.

The Toyota Way – Jeffry Liker – A great introduction to the tools of lean.  Covers all the concepts and gives you good examples of each.

2 Second Lean – Paul Akers – A great introduction to the culture of lean.  Paul makes things very simple and the book is short and to the point.  Where all the other books I’ve read hint at culture, this book gives you actionable ideas on how to build it.

Business:

Good to Great – Jim Collins – Lots of great ideas in here.  This book was built by studying companies that had really outperformed their competitors in their market sector for a long period of time.  Jim did years of research and shares what common factors he found.

The Advantage – Patrick Lencioni – Not his typical business novel type of approach but this book summarizes the concepts from a lot of his other books.  Clear and concise with great insights.

Leadership and Management:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John Maxwell – A great book on the things that make a leader

First Break all the Rules – Marcus Buckingham – When I first became a manager, I looked all over to find good books to help me.  This book was the best.  Great insights into how to motivate and work with people.

Biography:

Straight from the Gut – Jack Welch – Love Jack Welch and he documents his leadership and catalogs his career as the amazing CEO of GE.

Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh – A great book on the CEO of Zappos and how to build a great company with a great culture.