No Neutral Moments

The Leader and Reading

Episode Summary

In this episode, Patrick takes you into a chapter of J. Oswald Sanders' book, Spiritual Leadership. This overview gives you some practical insight into why, what, and how we should read.

Episode Notes

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Spiritual Leadership, by J. Oswald Sanders

Leaders are readers! Reading is critical to personal development.

Chapter 13: The Leader and Reading

Why should we read?
We read to refill the wells of inspiration in our life. Bacon: "Read not to contradict or to confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk in discourse. Read in order to weigh and consider." Read to think. To meditate. To be challenged. 

1. We read for the benefit of our soul/holistic benefit to ourselves
2. We read for intellectual growth
3. We read to learn how to speak and write better
4. We read to acquire new information to keep up and stay well informed in our field of expertise
5. We read to have fellowship with great minds (discern and determine if what you're reading is from a great mind)

A good book has great power. Sometimes we equate quantity of reading with quality of reading, and often times there are a smaller number of books that actually have great impact.

What should we read?
"If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads. A leader's reading is the outward expression of his inner aspirations. The vast number of titles pouring from presses today makes discriminating choice essential. We can afford to read only the best, only that which invigorates our mission. Our reading should be regulated by who we are and what we intend to accomplish." (p. 104).

the Payton rule on biographies: avoid biographies of those who are alive; memoirs are a bit different, and biographies tend to lean towards wisdom and lessons (historical founders, founders of faith, classic biographies)

How should we read?
"Unless our reading includes serious thinking, it is wasted time." (p. 106)

1. If it barely has your interest, don't waste your time. Don't read to forget.
2. Use the same discrimination in choosing books as in choosing friends.
3. Read with pencil and notebook in hand to take notes; examples: highlights on digital, writing in the margin, highlighting, utilizing other note taking options, like Evernote or other apps
4. Have a 'commonplace book' to record what is striking, interesting, and worth of second thought
5. Verify historical, scientific, and other data
6. Look up unknown words
7. Vary your reading to keep your mind out of a rut. Variety!
8. Correlate your reading—history with poetry, biography with historical novel. Example: if reading history, find a person you find interesting during that period and read a biography

Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose