Reading is an essential part of leadership development.

It gives extra experience at zero risk. You can read in a week what took a given author 30 years of experience, blood, sweat and tears to learn.

It provides “range”. Increasingly, there is evidence that generalists do better than specialists in areas that are unpredictable and complex (as business is). They are more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.

Books are superior tools to provide insight. The written word demands reflection, the development of a convincing case or plot, the presentation of evidence, verifiable data, a degree of logic, the perspective of time.

Know your classics. In the Strategy course, Yale Professor and Pulitzer Prize winner John Lewis Gaddis insists students read classics such as Tolstoy’s “War & Peace”, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” (Stalin’s favourite by the way…) and Clausewitz “On War”. Rightly so! Classics are also often fabulously well written, full of incredible adventures and insights.

You will never be bored again. A delay of the plane is no issue when you have a great book at hand. If your partner takes more time to get ready for a party, don’t get upset! Grab that book and dive into an adventure!

For 10 Euros you can get access to some of the best thinking humanity has ever produced.

All it takes is for you TO READ it!