“Reading maketh a full man and
Writing an exact man” – Sir Francis Bacon
This quote was printed on the backside of my college Identity card
(it was way back in early ‘80s). The impressionable mind took it in the
earnest spirit & I went on a reading spree; right from Irving Wallace,
Robin Cook, Alistair MacLean, Jeffrey Archer, Arthur Conan Doyle to P G
Wodehouse to Asimovs of the world ! Later on, B-school opened a new
frontier & I started reading management books voraciously..
In today’s world, due to the onslaught of 24*7 TV channels &
the ‘always-on’ social-media network (thanks to the smartphones), the good old
habit of reading has taken a backseat. (Rather, the joke often heard in this
part of the world is, teenagers read only one non-academic book & that is
...‘Facebook’! J) The Gen-Next of India (as well as from the most part of the
world) might be knowing the center-forward of Man-U club but will fail to give
even two names of books they read last year!
And today when the boundaries of the world are rapidly shrinking
and when the outsourcing shifted focus from ‘why’ to ‘how much’, the flat
world’s economy necessitates its knowledge workers to be much smarter &
well-read than ever before! When many projects are getting executed from
offshore (even without a single Onsite visit of 90% of the team), the client
knows an offshore team-member and forms an impression only from what s/he
is talking and from the way s/he is writing, expressing in conf. calls,
email exchange. So, communication has attained the crucial importance, from
‘nice-to-have’ to ‘must-have’ kind of soft skill. But unlike the
technical skills, some of which can be mastered in a couple of weeks (of course
if sustained efforts are put in), communication skills is a different ball
game.
Enhancement of communication skills is a very slow process &
the desired results are obtained only after years of consistent efforts put in
the right direction. Reading right kind of books will expedite that
process. Most of the management books offer a deep insight on management,
changing paradigms, latest in management/technical/social trends (say, how many
of you know “SMAC”?), provide real-life examples / case-studies /
testimonials on successes (and excesses & failures).
Here are some of the books I read & found them to be extremely
interesting –
1. The 7 habits of highly effective people – Stephen Covey
2. The world is flat – Thomas L. Friedman
3. Lateral thinking – Edward De Bono
4. Fish – Stephen Ludin
5. How to win friends and influence people – Dale Carnegie
6. The tipping point – Malcolm Gladwell
7. Straight from the guts – Jack Welch
8. Tough times never last but tough people do – Robert Schuler
9. In search of excellence – Tom Peters
10. I'm OK, You're OK - Thomas A Harris
11. Harvard Business Review on Leadership
12. It happened in India – Kishore Biyani
13. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish – Rashmi Bansal
14. Connecting the dots – Rashmi Bansal
15. The monk who sold his Ferrari – Robin Sharma
16. The leader who had no title – Robin Sharma
17. The wings of fire – APJ Kalam
The above list is only a partial list taken from an ocean of
books, the best-sellers getting published every year, almost every day!
Nevertheless, there is no need to rush through all these books mentioned. Even
if a couple of books are read every quarter (and no matter in which form, hard-copy
/ Tab / Kindle), a sound beginning is surely made. You may also want to choose
one of the self-help books you liked most.. to follow it. Also, like the ‘ice
bucket challenge’, share the list of good book you read & challenge your
friend/co-worker to share his/her read.
If one augments the habit of reading above kind of books by
watching right kind of TV programs (like the panel-discussions on NDTV, CNBC,
CNN, BBC et al) and or watch You Tube podcasts (like TED Talk) , the mind is
sure going to get enriched & so will be the communication and the
thought-process! Slowly but surely, the transformation would be happening
toward becoming a better professional,.. a better leader!
Happy reading!! ..And Happy Leading!!!
