If you have been with me for some time, you might know that I’m an avid reader. I love to read nonfiction books. I’m not a fast reader, but reading is a hobby of mine.
Lately, I have been thinking about why reading is important. Of course, I have reaped a lot of benefits from it, but I tried to pinpoint why exactly reading is important. What is it about reading that makes it such a useful activity? Why are so many great people in history avid readers?
After thinking about it for some time, here is my conclusion:
Reading is important because it helps you ask good questions.
It might sound counterintuitive. Isn’t getting good answers the all-important thing?
Well, the fact is you can’t get good answers without first asking good questions. In my own experience, reading rarely gives me the direct answers I need. Instead, it leads me on the right path to find those answers. The path is in the form of questions that lead my mind in the right direction.
This is why reading even seemingly unrelated books to your field is useful. You won’t find a direct answer there, but it can help you ask good questions that you may never think of otherwise.
For example, let’s say I’m reading a book on physics. Needless to say, I won’t find any answer to my business problem there. But I may read about a certain physics phenomenon that gets me thinking: “Hey, what if I try to do something similar in my business?”
Reading opens your mind to new perspectives. Those new perspectives lead you to ask good questions. Those good questions will lead you to good answers.
For this reason, I believe reading is essential if you are a leader. You may surround yourself with experts in their fields, but if you don’t ask them the right questions, you won’t realize their full potential. Coming with good answers may be their responsibility, but coming with good questions is your responsibility as a leader.
The same principle applies to being a leader to yourself. If you want to realize your full potential, you need to ask yourself good questions. Reading can help you find those questions.
