Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Do Business Books Work?

Any reader of this blog knows I am a big believer that business professionals should read regularly. Business books, blogs, newspapers, magazines, white papers, etc.... If you are not learning you are getting stale.

Super-blogger Seth Godin has a new post called "Do Business Books Work?"

Think about his point:

"If you went to a doctor who told you that she hadn't read a scholarly article or taken any training since med school, would you stick around? What about a lawyer who doesn't read law journals or a dentist who never bothered to read up on the newest case studies?"

Business professionals should be reading more books!

If you are currently reading this, you are ahead of the game. If you are reading my new book, The ABC's of Networking, I admire you (not just for reading MY book, but because you are reading books! Yet, THANK YOU for selecting mine!!!).

If you were asked "What book are you currently reading", would you have an answer?

Encourage your kids to read when they are young. When I was a kid I hated to read, but my dad lead by example (is there any other way to really lead?). He read the paper everyday. Always had a book on the coffee table, and often read the bible for fun. I was 25 years old before I embraced reading, but if not for Dad's example, I may have never taken up books. If I had not read a lot, I would not have written.....and thus my life would be different (for the worse).

People claim they do not have time to read. Bull. (I would have used a stronger word than bull that was followed by a poop related slang, but a reader recently chastised me for swaring on my blog). You have the time to do any activity that you see as a priority.

Have A Great Day.

thom

1 comment:

Pete Johnson said...

I couldn't agree more, Thom. I frequently tell my fellow engineers that when you stop learning, you might as well turn in your pocket protector because your career is over. While there are plenty of technical books out there to keep those of us in the nerd set busy, there's always something to learn about the business side of things as well.

Pete Johnson
HP.com Chief Architect
Work email: pete.johnson@hp.com
Personal email: pete.johnson@nerdguru.net
Personal Blog: http://nerdguru.net