If you want to be a better leader, you should read more -- either fiction or non-fiction. This slide presents the lessons from one book that I read many years ago. The lessons have stuck with me.

3. “Not All Readers Are Leaders,
But All Leaders Are Readers”
President Harry S. Truman

4. “Leaders who don’t have time to read are leaders
who don’t make time to learn.
Leadership development depends not on your level
of knowledge, but on your level of motivation to
keep expanding your knowledge.”
Adam Grant
https://www.adamgrant.net/about/biography/

5. You can’t learn to lead by
reading alone.
Yet, reading gives us
opportunities to learn
outside of our personal
experience and observation.
We can learn from the stories
and lessons of diverse people
whose experiences do not
match ours. You do not have
to experience their lives to
learn from them.
Personal
Experience
Self-
Reflection
Conversations
with Others
Observation
Reading
WAYS WE LEARN
TO LEAD

6. Let me tell you about a book I read a long time ago.
This book is often misinterpreted as being for the
selfish, but you should not judge book by its cover.
The book starts out with a story about the pursuit
of a multi-million dollar real estate opportunity that
crashed and burned because the author relied on
others to be fair, honest, and non-opportunistic.
From that day on, the author vowed to consciously,
rationally take full responsibility his life instead of
relying on the world to give him the life he wanted
to live.

7. Changing-Circumstances Theory from “Looking out for #1”
The author adopted the changing-circumstances theory which states:
“The one thing in life you can absolutely count on is that circumstances
will continually change. The great unknown is when they will change.”
He stated, “Enjoy life, but be flexible in your planning. It’s dangerous to
base your decisions on the assumption that everything is going to
continue as it now is. It won’t. Worse, because circumstances have a
habit of changing with little warning, you are often caught off guard.”

8. What I have learned from this book
We do little things that set ourselves up to fail.
• We expect others to treat us fairly – life is not fair
• We feel entitled to certain things – you are not entitled to anything
• We take the easy way instead of the smart way– sometimes the easy way is
the smart way but many times it is not
If you fail, you need to own it. Don’t blame your parents, teachers, boss, bad luck,
or other source. You will live with the consequence, so you should accept
responsibility for it.

9. Life strategies I have developed from this book
Be ready for multiple futures: 1. one you expect, 2. one you really hope for, 3. your
worst-case scenario, and 4. the Black Swan event. Prepare accordingly.
Define success from your viewpoint. Consult others but it is your future. You will
live the consequences of your choices. Choose you own success.
Take action but be flexible.
• Have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc.
• Try hard for Plan A, but it is always nice to have other options in case things don’t
work out.