Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Readers are Leaders

"Leaders are readers."
- Unknown


John Maxwell says that an organization won't be able to rise above its leader's leadership capacity. If a leader is growing, the organization grows. And growing comes from learning, and a good source of learning is books (from what I'm told).

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Would it not be a more accurate statement to say that "Leaders are Readers" rather than "Readers are Leaders"? I find that while I agree with what you say under the quote, I think to say that being a reader creates a leader is not always true, but instead a mark of a good, growing leader is one who reads.

Jon Neal said...

Touche... I agree...

I heard it via a podcast, so quite possibly the expressor might have mixed it up. Anyway, I agree with you.

david.r.haase@gmail.com said...

I was about to say the same thing, Erik.

It seems to me that reading is a good backdrop for new material--grist for the mill--but nothing else compares to experience as a stimulus for growth. You can probably describe to me all day long, Jon, what it's like to be in Ephesus or Rome, but until I go there I won't really know.

So, reading and rich experience, combined with the reflection necessary to actually learn the lessons available to you, are all necessary components for balanced growth. Ya?

Jeromie said...

Although if we stick with the 'Readers are leaders' version, then by commenting on your blog (inferring I also read it), I am asserting myself as a leader. cool :)

Jon Neal said...

@Dave: Well said... Hence the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Information acquisition, while important, is not the end itself but the means to an end. If you cannot apply that information, reproduce it some way, teach/communicate it, etc... the value of it plummets pretty fast.

@Jeromie: Whatever makes you happy :)