Leadership: Skill Development
Success January 12th, 2009
This is one part of a whole series on leadership. Check the leadership introduction here for all articles in the series.
Skill development is crucial to advancing your leadership ability and a strong focus on specific leadership skills can not only shore up any shortcomings but can also massively boost your abilities as a leader. Not a lot of people take their own initiative to develop their skills but this is one area that is very easy to do for a leader. You’ve probably all heard the saying that leaders are made, not born and it’s all to do with developing the right skills to become a leader. Anyone can do it and then apply those skills in a style that suits them.
Whether leadership is all new to you or you have years of experience, there are always areas to improve your skills and so putting some attention to the development of those is important.
If you missed the previous article in this series, you might want to review that first. Leadership: Know Yourself and Your Capabilities
Reading
I cannot promote this one enough and unfortunately it is a task that few people actually make common in their lives. A sad fact that reoccurs in North American surveys is that nearly 60% of all adults never read another book after high school and more than 80% did not read a single book in the past year.
Leadership – Skill Development
Photo Credit: trazmumbalde @ flickr
I was one of those statistics until about 3-4 years ago when I found and tackled reading a couple of leadership books. I had never realized how much there was to learn in books as I had always read the wrong books. They just didn’t interest me and I was typically bored before I could finish a few pages. With finding books that actually helped to train and development my skills, I was able to experience a new love for books and I’ve ramped up my reading to where I’ve read over 30 books this year alone! I now consider books to be one of the best resources for new knowledge that exists. And yes, I still rank them far higher than the internet, so if you read my blog but you don’t read books, then please find a book of interest from my many book reviews and don’t come back until you finish it!
Reading is a fantastic way to develop new skills and master the ones you already have. It gives you access to learn from experts in any subject and it is a cheap and quick way to experience and take in a lot of knowledge that would be very time consuming and costly to learn the hard way by trial and error. Of course reading expert books can’t replace personal experience, especially with something as personal as leadership, but it can easily give you ideas, a foundation of knowledge and a massive jump start into an area that is so huge, a lifetime can easily be spent developing it. That area is of course leadership.
Continuous Learning
Considering the scale of leadership and simply how much there is to learn, it isn’t something you just learn once and then be done with it. It requires you to be learning and developing your skills further and further. A leader will never stay a leader if they are not able to progress themselves and so continuous learning is an excellent way to not only stay ahead of a group of followers but it is also useful to spark innovation, creativity and changes in a leader’s style or approach that makes them more effective.
Adapting and Changing
Refining your skills inevitably leads to realizing that there is room for change. Room to adapt and adjust your methods to fit new people, situations or simply because of a change in leadership knowledge. The ability of a leader to change is easily detected by followers and quick adaptations can be very inspiring. Not only the adaptation itself, but also in the results those changes can bring about.
Aside from the inspiration or motivation that change can feed to others, it is also necessary in a competitive world. Adapting to the rapid changes is a best way to stay ahead and for a leader this is not only with external factors in their area of influence but also the areas within it. Adopting an acceptance of change so that new areas are looked at as opportunities instead of problems or roadblocks allows a leader to carry things through any transitions.
As these changes occur, the skills required to stay effective as a leader will also change. A good leader accepts this and not only looks to get through the change, but to also lead the change itself. Since the change is innevitable for survival, why not continue to develop your skills and take the change on, head on as a leader.
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Next: Leadership: Remember, It’s About People
Mike King
January 12th, 2009 at 7:32 AM
I would love to dispute the statement of “60% of all adults never read another book after high school” but I can’t. My daughter is in college and one of her professors asked for a show of hands on how many had read a book since high school – and she was the only one who raised her hand. THESE ARE COLLEGE STUDENTS!!!! So it’s getting worse not better! Exceptional point on the importance of READING as an essential leadership development habit!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 8:39 AM
I was part of the statistic that 60% of all adults never read another book after high school (college for me). I am happy to report that I read 11 books last year and I hope to ramp that up to 25 this year.
One key to my skill development for 2009 will be that I am a member of Toastmasters. I hope I develop a recognized competence in public speaking this year.
Great post!
-HIB
January 12th, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Mike,
With a complete bias towards internet reading and a lack of gradual interest in reading anything in print, I too have the dubious distinction of meeting both the 60% and 80% mark you mentioned from a survey here. I tend not to agree easily though that book reading is superior to reading from the internet. I’m back at stirring the hornet’s nest again! May be I’m rationalizing my preference for one over the other or even covering up my aversion to print media. But so long as it is reading for skill development [and the resources on the net being amazingly diverse and vast] do you see any particular reason why it’s got to be reading from a book?
And, I’m not sure if this is the right place for it, but cultivating a strong admiration and deriving inspiration from a role model [spiritual, diplomatic, corporate leader whoever; for me it is Vivekananda] to an extent that the teachings get completely embedded in our persona is a natural way of evolving as a leader. You may have or you will cover this aspect in your series, I suppose.
Consumed quite a bit of space here; but you won’t mind I hope.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Kathy, yes it is a sad statistic and you are right, it is getting worse. I can really only know the value now of reading since I was part of that statistic for a lot of years. I can’t believe now that reading is taught so poorly in school and that I lost a huge world of opportunity to continue learning from books. I’ll always be a reader now, can’t image not really! Thanks for your comments and welcome to the site!
HIB, that’s awesome! The first year I started reading I read 11-12 as well and now for the last couple, I’ve read 25+ without life seeming any different except enjoying reading more. I will say many of those are audio books but they work extremely well for me since I’m an audible learner. Public speaking is another one of those areas i wish was taught in school. It builds so much confidence in people it could change our schooling system completely. I always LOVE to hear of people involved with that and taking on those fears.
Pushhyarag, great questions really. I think things differ for individuals and it depends what you are learning a lot for the difference between online and in a book reading. If you are looking for research and needing a wide wealth of knowledge without much depth or coverage, it is hard to beat the internet. However, a book will cover any topic with far more depth, example and experience so if you want to focus on one topic, there is so much more in a great book. I like to think of it this way. Which is more likely to provide you with more value reading, 100s of random articles on various subjects from a variety of authors who may or may not have any experience in that topic or a life long expert who’s spent well over a year writing a book with a clear focus on delivering value in order for it to be successful and quite likely, provide the author with their livelihood. I’ll pick the book thanks. Just like I said, I’d rather people read a book than this blog, because I know the value in the book. I’ve learned it!
Your thoughts on cultivating inspiration I don’t get into too much depth with. While I think that is needed, inspiration and motivation are huge topics that each deserve their own series actually so I tried to stay out of that and keep it focused on leadership directly. My last article will cover some of the spiritual or servant aspects to draw upon as a leader. That could lead into those areas you’ve mentioned in future articles as well. Thanks for the thoughts on that, it definitely helps to build a leader!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Hi Mike
I used to really dislike reading and also didn’t “take it up” until a few years ago – now I’m crazy about it. For me it’s not shoes that are a problem, but books – when it comes to spending money 😉
For me, the internet is more like reading a magazine or paper (no offense to anyone!) The benefit of the internet, for me, is the people, the interaction and the discussion of ideas and directness/immediacy of knowledge.
Juliet
January 12th, 2009 at 11:15 PM
@Juliet – Books over shoes, funny! Your response is perfect. I’d agree 100% with the internet really being more about the interactive nature and discussion of ideas. That is certainly why I’ve enjoyed blogging so much. It’s a flash of ideas though, not a deep exploration of a single topic unless you have a lot of discussion and focus in one area.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Mike, I like your point : leaders are made, not born and it’s all to do with developing the right skills to become a leader. Anyone can do it and then apply those skills in a style that suits them.
A Leader must improve their skills continuously and must has a thirst of knowledge.
And about reading books, I am agree with Juliet that not only the books that cab be source of informations and knowledge, it could be internet as well.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:51 AM
Thanks Arswino. I’m definitely not saying the internet isn’t a good source of information it is. But when it comes to developing skills, I’ve learned that books are far more effective. They go much deeper, but years of experience and content with often years of work into a packed book that teaches a narrow topic. It’s like having an expert work with you on something for 5 hours. That compared to reading random articles and having a million distractions online and on the computer for 5 hours. No comparison. Books win everytim!
January 13th, 2009 at 3:58 AM
Reading is one that has gone in streaks for me. And why? Because when I have read, I always come out on the other side with more knowledge than I went in with. Right now, I’m reading a book, and taking the time to go one step further – and discussing it in an online forum. This is really proving to be a great way to drive the points of the book home.
And that all falls in line with continuous learning – and if we’re not doing this – I think that we’re regressing, especially as fast as our world today is changing…
This is continuing to be a great series Mike!
January 13th, 2009 at 5:56 AM
I do not know about the statistics of North America regarding reading of books, however, I would like to add that that there is no saturation point in the aspect of learning…Its a continuous process…a person learns and educates himself right up to his grave..
I strongly believe that one cannot develop skill from the net. You need a classical form of study to understand, which means that you HAVE to read books..
A leader has a hunch for knowledge, improving his skills, flexibility, adaptation, a quench to gain further experience, understanding his team etc..
A short but a crisp article.. I really appreciate it..
January 13th, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Hi Mike,
Education is a life long journey.I find seminars and books very helpful for obtaining information which helps me.
People should read more instead of watching TV.
Great article ,Mike
January 13th, 2009 at 9:25 AM
These are all great points. Reading has been tremendous for me. I used to be a person that didn’t care about reading at all. Probably because I was forced to do it. Now I absolutely love it.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:43 PM
After high school I read books, but admittedly not much of substance. Not until I met my husband. He grew up reading all sorts of leadership (and other) books – had to for his line of work. He introduced me to a whole new world of opportunity and now I’m almost as big of a junkie as him! Over the last several years the books I read challenged me to entirely new levels allowing me to take on a variety of leadership roles in my personal and professional life with a lot more confidence.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:54 PM
On the point about how you started to read much more over a period of time, I would say that we have become more efficient at processing what is being presented to us in books of similar types that we read. If you take someone who hasn’t read a book in 2 years, and then start reading the same book as them at the same time, it would probably end up that they would take far longer to comprehend the books messages and get to the end. This is a nice reason as to why someone should battle through a couple of books to start a habit of reading that is less effort-based.
On a side note, I would say that the separation in quality/refinement between text in books and texts online is blurred in some cases.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:06 PM
WOW, what a great set of comments and extra thoughts everyone! I really appreciate all the discussion, promotion and compliments on this series to far. I’m blown away and thank you!
@Lance. I think what you and Jennifer are doing at journeyofsuccess forums to learn book content and apply it is very cool. That is absolutely a great way to enable and use the internet in a good way combined with books. I hope more people find their way to it. Thanks for your comments, I’m happy to help provide a small piece of that continuous learning in this series.
@Hamid, you’ve clearly done some study of leadership or have experience as you’ve outlined well many things that leaders demonstrate and are important to have. I like your idea of searching knowledge, just don’t forget that it’s about applying that knowledge as well!
BTW: Crisp is really the best kind of article to have if you ask me. THANKS!
@Bunny, I would secretly (not a secret anymore) like to have the superpower to destroy and eliminate ever single television on the planet with the snap of a finger. Oh what a world we could have again… OK, that might be over the top, you are right though, less TV would be good for many people.
@Broderick, thanks for chiming in as well on the difference reading makes. I hope your comments and others hear help to reinforce some readers to take on more reading and continuous learning. I’ve not met someone who’s said well I used to read a lot and loved it, but now I don’t like it really, it’s always the other way around and people find out they love to read and always do it.
@Stacey, again your testament here about reading and the value of books and continuous learning is awesome! I’m glad to hear about it and thanks for helping to inspire more of those reading this!
@Armen, interesting point about starting to read. I’ve always attributed my speed up to speed reading actually and think it played a bigger role because I can easily fall back into my slow methods if I don’t pay attention to my reading speed. I guess you can get more attentive and involved in books as they become more interesting to you, so I’d suspect yes, you would get better at consuming the content.
As for online, I certainly don’t think there is a big difference in available quality online versus books. You still have to do a bit of research or recommendations to find good content, in either medium. I just think a whole book on a subject covers it so much better with depth, that it outweighs a lot of content online. I think I could safely say I’ve learned more useful and applicable stuff from nearly every book I’ve read on leadership than I’ve ever learned online. Perhaps the books came first so stuff I read now I know was from a book, but that is what it seems to me. Unfortunately, you have to do a lot of time searching for good content and not much time absorbing it when using the internet, plus the distractions are hard to avoid!
January 14th, 2009 at 6:00 AM
Great online tutorial. This is something I will suggest to friends of mine who wants to develop their leadership. I used to care more about technical readings but found out that leadership and management need to be in the same bag of my development. I am enjoying it and will keep my eyes open for more posts.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:03 AM
Hi Mike,
It’s great that you’re reminding people of the importance of reading. I lost the habit when I started working, but have picked it up and now average a book a week. Even then I wish I had more time to read and learn! Great post!
January 15th, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Reading will always be a building block in the foundation of knowledge. Even when the internet has completely taken over our daily lives, we still have to read in order to gain knowledge.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:00 PM
To be honest, I dig the part with the adaptation and change. Especially in the last decade, the speed of change around you is fantastic. A true leader not only should adapt to change, but should be one courageous enough to provoke it and promote it.
Thanks for the post, the series become more and more enjoyable.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:26 PM
@Daphne, a book a week is awesome! I read about 30 a year so not quite at that level but getting there. Keep it up!
@Raj, I definitely agree. I hope the internet doesn’t take over our daily lives though in the people interface and communication. I put as much value there as I do reading (probably more actually).
@Dragos, thanks for your thoughts. Change is getting ever ever faster, you are right and so leadership means leading that as well. You can’t lead without changing. I’m glad you are liking the series, it’s been great fun so far!
January 26th, 2009 at 2:11 AM
I agree that reading is one of the habits that we lack nowadays. With TV and video games competing with the youth’s minds, it’s really frustrating to see people grow up to have less skill and abilities than their previous genereation.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 AM
I love to read. I find myself reading more than one book at a time which isn’t always good. I believe I’m the modern day Henry Beamus from the Twilight Zone (lol). That’s a classic episode. How have you been Mike?
April 14th, 2009 at 4:18 AM
Good post! I’ve also heard that the statistics are high for the number of people who don’t read a book after leaving college. Such a shame. There is so much knowledge to be gained from reading. I love reading books. I’ve just recently started reading blogs. Find I don’t like reading really long blog posts. Guess I’ll have to adapt. Don’t want to miss out on any good info.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:44 AM
I really want to work on my leadership skills and this might really help. Thank you for posting this.
February 24th, 2011 at 3:01 PM
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