How to get the most out of business books | #Issue 24
My guide to meaningfully reading business books; good news for John Lewis employees; and my thoughts on achieving your yearly goals before 2022 is over.
After a brief pause - we’re back.
Welcome to the latest Leadership Bulletin. I’d like to extend a special welcome to the more than 200 people who subscribed to the bulletin for the first time in the past few weeks. It’s great to have you with us.
IN FOCUS: HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF BUSINESS BOOKS.
If you follow business Twitter or spend much time on LinkedIn, you will know that there is always a lot of talk about the seemingly magical benefits of reading a lot of business books. Generally, it’s something I agree with - reading quality business books expands our perspectives and helps generate new ideas.
But whilst most people spend their time worrying what business books to read, I think how you read can be as important as what read. So here’s four ways you can get the most out of business books.
Limit your reading ambitions. Seriously. Sometimes, there is a desire among entrepreneurs and leaders to read as many books as possible. But the key thing about reading books is growing your knowledge and understanding. It’s better to truly understand a dozen books than to skim read 50.
Form a workplace book club. We all know we can lose enthusiasm for a book from time to time. One of the things that will keep you going is the accountability of other people, especially in a book club, knowing if you’ve read it or not. A book club is also a great forum in which to…
Discuss the lessons of the book - and, importantly, how they can be applied in your life or workplace. Some members of the club will be struck by different things to you; others may see a parallel with the way you work that passed you by. Read as a team and then sit down and share the lessons.
Finally, identify three lessons from the book you can apply. If you’re reading great business books and really paying attention, you will always come away from the text thinking of experiments you could try, lessons you could learn and pitfalls you should avoid. Take some time with your book club to focus in on the key lessons you’re going to take away and how you’re going to act on them.
2022 ENTERS ITS CLOSING MONTHS.
The year is almost over and it can be a good time to look back on what we’ve achieved - where we hit our targets, where we didn’t, and what we can do in the final two months of 2022 to end the year on a high. Here are my tips for making the last days of 2022 count:
Settle for done over perfect. The 95% completed project still sat in your Google Drive folder is probably good enough. Perfectionism won’t help you hit your goals.
If you have felt overwhelmed by a project that is just too big, cut it down and launch a sample to get feedback ASAP. Something really is better than nothing.
Share the process. If you want to hit your goals by year-end, you may need to work with others to get stuff done. Share what you’re working on and you might be surprised who can help.
KEEP IN TOUCH.
For the benefit of new subscribers especially, I thought I’d share the best ways to keep in touch with me and Edfolio and all that we’re doing to help improve leadership and management. Just click the links below.
Facebook Pages: Lee David Evans | Edfolio
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JOHN LEWIS OFFERS STAFF FREE MEALS.
I don’t think the leaders of John Lewis have been reading the Bulletin, unfortunately, but they have been thinking along the same lines. A few weeks ago, I wrote:
Ask yourself: what can you offer your employees at a cheaper rate than they can acquire it themselves? For example, if you work in a city centre and many of your staff buy their lunch locally, paying a local caterer to provide food for the entire team just twice per week could make an appreciable difference to someone’s outgoings. A 2018 report said the average Brit spends £6.08 per day on lunch; taking that cost away twice a week over 48 working weeks could save an employee almost £600 per year. It would almost certainly cost you much less as you will be buying in bulk.
John Lewis has now announced they will do just that, with staff being given free cooked breakfasts and roast dinners. You can read more on that via the Telegraph here and read my feature on helping staff with their financial resilience in full here.