Leadership Through Books (thoughts on LeaderBox, one year later)

As a one-man operation, why would I devote hours to reading about business and Leadership?

In November of 2017, I signed up for Michael Hyatt’s LeaderBox program. I am a Hyatt fan. I am in his “Platform University” for the third year. I’ve done his “Best Year Ever” Course, twice and also “Get Published” course, too. He’s a great thinker and creator. So, when he pitched the idea of Leaderbox—a monthly curated box with two leader-oriented books and an in-depth activation guide, I jumped in. My goal in 2018 (was) is to read 40 books, and this I knew would provide the drive and the content for more than half of those. Until my summer schedule, I was on track…reading for 20 min a day, five days a week, it’s a pretty simple task to complete.
Except when you are gone for weeks at a time, speaking and performing multiple times in a day…and trying to give your family the time they need, too. So, by the time August came I was about a month behind. Thanks to the audio version of a few of the books, I was able to use the hours behind the wheel to catch up on “reading” and then, go through the guides in the evenings… answering and pondering the questions. So I believe I’ll be all caught up by the end of December. Yay!

I am a one-man show. Literally. I no longer have an office manager—so it’s just me. Why would I devote hours to reading about business and Leadership? That’s a great question. So I don’t know if I have a solid answer, but here are 9 reasons:

9 Reasons I still read about Leadership, when I am on my own:

1) Because I can. I am in charge. When I am in my office, I read, write, think and create.

2) I want to become a better Leader to those I influence: my family, my friends, my contractors, my ministry donors, and even my doubters.

3) Because someday I may need to Lead others in more of a structured environment. I may not. However, I may. So I’ll be ready.

4) Because I love books. I love to look at them. Hold them. Smell them (weird, right?). However, even more, I know that author (in most cases) had put his heart into this work I am holding. I respect that. Also, when I am finished, I will have more knowledge than when I started.

5) Because the knowledge that I am gaining will help me in all my pursuits. Family. Ministry. Business.

6) Because I am writing my book…and as I soak in titles, book covers, colors, font choices, binding…I am creating how I want my writing to look, feel, and read.

7) Because being in “charge” doesn’t mean I can be lazy. Every day I’m Hustlin’. In a good way. I am reaching out, connecting and creating conversations with people whom I might be able to serve. I’ve had several ideas come from pondering the material of these books.

8) I crave a challenge. 40 books? Sure. (gulp).

9) I want to grow in wisdom & knowledge.

“I don’t have time to read”

“But when do you have time to read?” Well, I don’t watch TV. I watch an occasional show, and I love movies…well, good movies. However, I don’t have time to sit in front of a T.V. watching someone’s imagination. I’ll instead use my own. It looks like I’ll finish 2018 with over 100 nights on the road. 75+ of those nights were spent in a hotel. The T.V. rarely ever comes on in the room. (I watched the World Series this year, though.) I play music, listen to podcasts, read, think, write and sleep. I do my best to embrace the solitude when I find myself alone.

Looking back on these books, some were excellent, some mediocre. However, I don’t think there’s any that I would have gone on Amazon and purchased. Most I hadn’t heard of.[bctt tweet=” I love having someone more knowledgeable about something recommend to me, words that will help me grow. That’s awesome.” username=”scotthumston”]

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