This time of the year in most cities and towns is when your local United Way kicks off their campaign to raise money for local charities. The United Way helps support great organizations that do all kinds of wonderful things to make a community all it can be. From helping the local homeless shelter to working with children on a reading program.
I as at a recent United Way kickoff meeting where they were talking about a reading program that they support. The volunteer commented that people are learning to read up until about the third grade. After that point, people read to learn. That statement got me to thinking.
Too often, once someone gets out of school the reading to learn stops. For the first ten years after I got out of school, I was the same way. I still read, but it was not about building up my knowledge base. That changed when I was selected to be a part of a manager training session and the first thing we had to do before we all got together was read. Tom Peter's Re-imagine! opened up my mind to a new passion of learning and rethinking how to do business.
Since then, I've become a huge fan of Tom Peters. There are several books you can dive into yourself, or perhaps make a part of a group reading assignment for key personnel. If you just need a quick hit of energy during the work day, visit his website http://tompeters.com/. Tom is very open, sharing slides from his presentations along with biting commentary and insight on the world of business and current events.
Archie Griffin was a big name in my childhood. Growing up in a household of Ohio State football fans, Griffin was the icon of icons during the mid 1970's. To this day, Griffin holds the distinction of being the only two time winner of the Heisman Trophy, the highest honor in college football. I recently saw an interview with Archie as he talked about what it meant to win that coveted award as a college junior. Griffin talked about how legendary coach Woody Hayes said that you always had to be improving. In Griffin's case, he became driven to win that second trophy just to stay the same.
At our core, we all want to be better tomorrow than we were today. The difference between those that achieve this and those don't largely falls with their willingness they have to invest time and energy into reading and learning. That is certainly the case in business.
Reading business books isn't for everyone, I understand. While I think everyone can learn a thing or two (or 100) from Jim Collins' Good to Great, maybe it is quick bites of information that works better. That is one of the most wonderful things about the internet.
Leadership and management are entirely different, and both skills need to be sharpened as you grow personally and professionally. Getting quick hits of wisdom from websites like LinkedIN.com will help. Following some of these great business minds would be another opportunity for you to read, learn and grow:
1. Mark Cuban -- Sure, he can be controversial. But his story is one everyone can learn from, plus he's pretty entertaining if you ask me.
2. Richard Branson -- Yes, he is a free spirit but still someone to take very seriously. He started his first business at age 16 and now has over 400 businesses adding to his wealth every day.
3. Simon Sinek -- While there are tons of great pep talks available online at Ted, Sinek is my favorite. His 15 minute conversation about why people buy what they buy should be mandatory viewing for any sales person.
It doesn't take a lot of time to stay engaged and learning. Those three people I recommended all offer strong commentary via Twitter, which you can roll right into your current social media feeds. This truly is a small investment which can pay off big time on down the road.
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