This time of
the year in most cities and towns is when your local United Way kicks off their
campaign to raise money for local charities. The United Way helps support great
organizations that do all kinds of wonderful things to make a community all it
can be. From helping the local homeless shelter to working with children on a
reading program.
I as at a
recent United Way kickoff meeting where they were talking about a reading
program that they support. The volunteer commented that people are learning to
read up until about the third grade. After that point, people read to learn. That statement got me to thinking.
Too often, once
someone gets out of school the reading to learn stops. For the first ten years
after I got out of school, I was the same way. I still read, but it was not
about building up my knowledge base. That changed when I was selected to be a
part of a manager training session and the first thing we had to do before we
all got together was read. Tom Peter's Re-imagine!
opened up my mind to a new passion of learning and rethinking how to do
business.
Since then,
I've become a huge fan of Tom Peters. There are several books you can dive into
yourself, or perhaps make a part of a group reading assignment for key
personnel. If you just need a quick hit of energy during the work day, visit
his website http://tompeters.com/. Tom is
very open, sharing slides from his presentations along with biting commentary
and insight on the world of business and current events.
Archie
Griffin was a big name in my childhood. Growing up in a household of Ohio State
football fans, Griffin was the icon of icons during the mid 1970's. To this
day, Griffin holds the distinction of being the only two time winner of the
Heisman Trophy, the highest honor in college football. I recently saw an
interview with Archie as he talked about what it meant to win that coveted
award as a college junior. Griffin talked about how legendary coach Woody Hayes
said that you always had to be improving. In Griffin's case, he became driven
to win that second trophy just to stay the same.
At our core,
we all want to be better tomorrow than we were today. The difference between
those that achieve this and those don't largely falls with their willingness
they have to invest time and energy into reading and learning. That is
certainly the case in business.
Reading
business books isn't for everyone, I understand. While I think everyone can
learn a thing or two (or 100) from Jim Collins' Good to Great, maybe it is quick bites of information that works
better. That is one of the most wonderful things about the internet.
Leadership
and management are entirely different, and both skills need to be sharpened as
you grow personally and professionally. Getting quick hits of wisdom from
websites like LinkedIN.com will help. Following some of these great business
minds would be another opportunity for you to read, learn and grow:
1.
Mark Cuban
-- Sure, he can be controversial. But his story is one everyone can learn from,
plus he's pretty entertaining if you ask me.
2.
Richard
Branson -- Yes, he is a free spirit
but still someone to take very seriously. He started his first business at age
16 and now has over 400 businesses adding to his wealth every day.
3.
Simon
Sinek -- While there are tons of great pep talks available online at Ted, Sinek is my favorite. His 15 minute
conversation about why people buy what they buy should be mandatory viewing for
any sales person.
It doesn't
take a lot of time to stay engaged and learning. Those three people I
recommended all offer strong commentary via Twitter, which you can roll right
into your current social media feeds. This truly is a small investment which
can pay off big time on down the road.
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