Reading Old Paper Books Can Benefit Modern Leaders.

Four benefits of reading paper books

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

In the world of audiobooks, YouTube, and summarized books, it becomes rarer to find leaders who are reading those old-fashioned hardcover books which smell like chocolate and warm coffee. Who can judge them? Life is too short to spend time reading books, and there are always a lot of things to do instead (Excuses, excuses ). In this article, I’ll go through the benefits of reading for at least 30 minutes a day that will make you a better leader. Of course, I’m not talking about those crappy, well-branded books about how to become a millionaire in 1 month. I must caution you. Do not readjust anything! You must be very selective about what you put into your mind. Still, I’ll leave this to your good judgment, or maybe I’ll have another article, something like a step-by-step guide for choosing the right book.
So let’s go:

Exploring Yourself

Reading books is not about what you will get out of them; it is about what the books will get out of you that will ultimately change you. As you might know from a bunch of articles about leadership, self-awareness is one of the most important aspects of being a great leader. However, recognizing others’ opinions about you is not enough, and books can help you to find a better idea of who you are. That’s why reading book summaries may not be beneficial. They are summary of a very subjective manner; some can be beneficial for one person and be just crap for you. So I encourage you to study your books; don’t just go through them.

Being Creative

In this modern age, everyone uses the same best practices, and it is hard to find creative ideas on the Internet. However, when reading books, you can find sources for inspiration, and not just books relative to your profession but even the opposite. For example, if you are working as an engineering manager, you might read books, such as biographies, about politicians, or maybe even about sports coaches. And use some of their tricks and systems in your daily work. The reality is that all answers to your problems already discovered, printed by those who came before you. All the mistakes you will ever make in your life have previously made.

Being Disciplined

Reading for thirty minutes every day is something that will force you to step out of your comfort zone. Adding habits that help you to become more disciplined is something that differentiates good leaders from the ones who are very slow to reach their objectives. Try to read every day at the same time; this will help you to make it a habit, which takes time, patience, and concentration. Reading will force you to use your brain, which will help you to stay focused later, adapt to distractions, and accomplish what you intend to do, among many other things.

Empathy and understanding others

Reading can help you connect with people that you would usually struggle to understand.
Reading books about other cultures and countries can help you create connections to those places and people, and it’s a way of getting useful insights into other people’s lives. Empathy means being able to relate to or understand how someone else feels.
Our brains understand reading the thoughts of others on a different level of watching a Youtube video or film. Through videos and movies, you only see people’s actions rather than their feelings.

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