Read to Lead — The Simple Habit that Expands Your Influence and Boosts Your Career

A Review of the book by Jeff Brown and Jesse Wisnewski

I can’t remember what motivated me to pick up this book. I have read books about reading before and find them somewhat relaxing because I know I am actively engaged around building a reading habit. Where my preference has been for fiction or history sections of non-fiction, where I feel I can learn about something specifically, I have shifted to reading more ‘leadership’ literature recently, something I’ll be reflecting in my book reviews.

So picking up ‘Read to Lead’ was an attempt to reinforce my relationship with reading, not an intention to start a new habit which meant I approached it in a different way.

The key message is very much about creating your own learning in the books which have already been written and this book was written off the back of a podcast with the same name which talks through the books suggested. I was slightly put off the book by the recommendations of some books that I found were repetitive or unuseful but I enjoyed reading this book, not least because it motivated me to continue in the reading journey and helped with a few tips.

Reading is good. Reading more is better. Reading with intention is the best. This is fundamentally the answer. The book draws on a lot of what Adler and Van Doren refer to in the classic ‘How to Read a Book’ (which I would also recommend) but it makes the content a little more digestible.

If you have read ‘How to Read a Book’ I’m not sure that you would get too much more out of this, technically, besides the point made (which I think is an important one) about how fiction can help us to grow without having the single-minded emphasis on non-fiction (which is the point of it, so it isn’t a criticism) of the former book.

There are updates as well and snippets/quotations from leaders across the book who refer to their relationship with books and I think, some important points about the use and tying in of audio books and how we learn from them. So it does move beyond Adler and Van Doren to that extent.

There’s a section specifically on using book groups/clubs within organisations which is a particular idea I think might be of use — and the importance, not just of reading books but finding ways to grow with each book you read.

So in all, I enjoyed this book, it gave me a few nuggets that I found motivational to change my relationship with reading and how I make notes about what I read and use those notes going forward. I like audio books, for example, but worry about not being able to remember what I listen to, and the book refers specifically to this issue specifically, either by spotting the chatter to allow thoughts to develop or (and this is something I have done) using the audiobook to ‘decide’ if you want to buy a physical copy of the book.

Has it completely transformed my life? No, I wouldn’t say so and obviously a book about reading, is going to appeal to those who are already reading so there’s something of a ‘pat on the back’ feel to it, but sometimes, that’s quite nice to have and it only took me a couple of days to read so I would recommend it if you feel like something light with some useful nuggets.