How to read great management and leadership books if you don’t like reading

I love the great business, management and leadership books, but I don’t always love sitting down and actually reading them. A CEO implementing a leadership development program recently told me, “We tried assigning books. But that was like pulling teeth.” My wife, an avid reader and learner, goes further: “Oh, you think I should read Good to Great? I’d rather poke out my eyeballs.”

Reading books = danger to your teeth and eyes?

After years of slogging through business books, a friend told me about all the epic business books he had been reading. (“Robbie, have you read Uncontainable? No? Duuuude, you have to read it. How about American Icon? No?! Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!”)

I went to college with him. He doesn’t even like reading. How was he reading so many books?

His trick? It’s a two-parter:

1. Don’t read. Listen on Audible at 1.5 or 2 times the regular speed.

2. Do something while listening that doesn’t require a lot of your brain, like walking, running, hiking, commuting, long drives, etc.

This way, you never actually have to sit down and read, which is often the boring part. I get through books much faster now. I even look forward to long drives and runs. One book blessedly got me through the San Francisco half-marathon last fall.

Some people recommend book summaries instead of reading the full book as a way to turbocharge learning. That approach doesn’t work for me. The real insights and lessons come from stewing in the book, its ideas, its stories, and thinking about how it can apply to me. Henry Mintzberg’s Simply Managing is amazing because of high-level points and the detail.

A few more tips:

• Build a “wish list” on Audible. This is your reading list. It lets you jump right into the next one. Here’s a starter list.
• Get one of the monthly Audible packages. It’s cheaper than buying the books one-off if you read a lot of them. (Pro tip: Ask your company if you can expense it.)
• Start at 1.25 or 1.5 times the regular speed. If it’s still feeling slow, then go to 2 times the speed. I was only able to get to 2.5 times the speed on one particularly slowly read book, and that was intense.
• Certain activities require too much brain to listen to a book at the same time. I tried listening to Audible while skiing, which was much too dangerous I quickly realized.
• Listening while sitting on your couch or lying in bed, like how you might read, can be too boring, unless the book is fantastic.

What else? What tips do you have around reading the great leadership and management books?

(P.S. Does Audible have an affiliate marketing program? Sign me up.)

Also published here. Want to develop great managers at your company? Learn about Jhana and request a demo at www.jhana.com.