By Justin Mwita David
“It is WRITTEN”
“God revealed and it was written and it shall happen as it was written”
When Jesus was arrested after being betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples cut the ear
of a soldier and Jesus rebuked him saying that He could ask God to send angels but He
did not because it was written that He is captured that way. He also asked the Pharisees
that he was with them all day yet no one arrested him and here they are arresting Him
like a thief, so he said it had to happen as such to fulfill what was written (Mathew 26:5156).
It is very important to understand that what was (divinely) written will always happen
no matter how we feel about it or how we desire it manifest, it doesn’t matter how and
what we want, it only matters what God’s will is.
The great Harry S. Truman stated, “not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are
readers.” The quote carries multiple layers of context that we should use as a framework
for leadership development in every aspect of our personal and professional lives
especially the African youth.
Truman knew the power of continuous learning and achievement, which is why his
reading list extends from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography to the ancient Stoic
studies of Plato’s Republic. Truman used the power of individual study and learning from
people’s past mistakes to help him guide his decision making during his two terms as the
president of the United States, which proved to be a foundational guiding principle for
many to follow in his footsteps.
Leaders of the 21st-century must learn from the past’s great minds to create a better
future. Books allow us to dive into the thoughts of those who lived before us to provide
us invaluable information to help us develop solutions for our current problems.
1.) The Past Always Repeats Itself
Leaders are readers because they know they have a lot to learn from those who have
lived a life before them. They also know that history repeats itself, usually taking place
in a different color, shape, or form of an event. As George Santayana stated, “Those who
cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it.”
If we decide to neglect the past, we are actively taking steps to avoid a significant
amount of information that could change our lives’ future direction. Because as Warren
Buffet said, “It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s
mistakes.”
Reading texts, articles, and books about the past can guide our thought processes and
create a mental road map to solve today’s problems using yesterday’s solutions. Since
the human brain hasn’t changed for over 40,000 years, it is safe to say we can still learn
a lot from our ancestors. Our quality of life, dependence on technology, and cultural
changes may have vastly differed from the past, but our inner thoughts and feelings are
still the same.
2.) Reading Changes Our Perspectives of Life
It’s exciting to read about influential individuals who overcame the odds, lived their life
from rags to riches and seemed to defy all conspiring factors going against them. It
appeared as though they were able to overcome every hurdle placed in their way and
master the game of life.
Stories like this inspire us to be a better version of ourselves. No matter what life has
handed you thus far in your journey, history shows us that at some point in time,
someone has inevitably had it far worse than you and was able to overcome it. Reading
has the power to vastly change our perspectives of life because it can humble us. While
our narratives may be unique to us, our struggles and battles against adversity are
nothing new to the human race.
When we can change our perspective, we’re able to change our future. This concept
goes even deeper than words of inspiration, as cognitive neuroscientist Donald
Hoffman has worked for over 30 years on understanding how our brain’s perceptions of
reality are predominantly false, hiding our true objective potentials for reality.
Reading allows us to change our outlook on life, facilitating new ways of thinking,
creating, and achieving our life goals.
3.) Our Brains Remodel Through Reading
As a leader, it is your responsibility to find innovative ways to solve problems and guide
your team to success by any means necessary. Leaders who are continuously learning
and acquiring new skillsets understand the importance of being life-long learners.
Much like learning a new skill or starting up a new hobby, changing how one performs a
task subsequently changes our neural circuits within the brain. Reading keeps our mind
active and healthy. It also strengthens the wiring and connectivity between multiple
regions involved in cognition, visuospatial awareness, and higher levels of mental
processing.
Reading can also change how we interpret language, which can provide significant
advantages in the workplace and our personal lives. It can help us show greater empathy
towards others, allowing a higher level of connection and communication within our
team members and coworkers. And most of the circuits involved with reading are
involved with verbal language processing and communication, which provides further
benefit for team building and connecting with our colleagues.
Daily Readers Are The Best Leaders
Much like any activity, the more you do it, the better you become at it. Reading is
something that many may take for granted, but the few who understand the power of
reading are the ones who see the most significant benefit from it.
Warren Buffet is said to spend nearly 80% of his day reading and stated he read up to
600-1000 pages a day during the early days of his career as he was learning the trade.
While this reading volume may be extreme, you don’t need to spend vast amounts of
time reading to get the benefits.
By merely reading for 10-15 minutes a day, you will start to rewire your neural circuity
and change your brain, which in turn, could vastly change the trajectory of your career.
