What are you re-reading?

There is much written about leaders reading and learning but I think we need to discern between those two activities because they can be mutually exclusive. One is consumption and the other leads to a change in behavior or understanding.

Reading takes time but learning takes considerably more energy. We can consume books one after the other but if we do not internalize the information and allow it to alter our current understanding, there is no learning. There is nothing wrong with either activity but we should not assume one naturally leads to the other.

If we look at Bloom's Taxonomy (below), we can see there are different levels in "learning" but where a leader must focus are on Levels 4-6 with most of their time on Level 6. These three levels are referred to as "higher order thinking skills" and are also the ones we strive to develop in others as they ascend into leadership roles with the organization.

What we choose to read is tremendously important as we need to ensure we are branching out and actively challenging our point of view. I would not recommend reading much about things you already "know" because that might not expand your perspective and that is always at the forefront of a leader's activities.

My personal favorite is re-reading. I tend to revisit books and review my notes and highlights frequently because how I perceived that information then will be different than how I understand it now. As Heraclitus said, "You can never step in the same stream twice because it is never the same stream and you are never the same person." So it is with a book because I have a different lens through which to view the material based on recent experiences.

It is only during the re-reading process that I believe I begin to learn. I take what I have now read at least 2x and begin to hold it up to scrutiny and determine if it changes anything for me. Obviously, this does not always happen but that is the challenge, isn't it? The 80/20 rule applies and only 20% of what I read becomes truly meaningful and transforms my approach or opinion. We can't know in advance where those gems are so we have to sift through a lot dirt to get there.

That is the work of a leader and I hope that why people read so many books. I hope it is not so they can simply say they read them. I hope it is because they are relentlessly searching for the next meaningful concept that might change them in a positive way.

Before we can create (Level 6) we have to evaluate (Level 5) and that requires effort and energy. Thinking is not a passive activity so we have to evaluate what we have read against we know and determine if there is new insight there. If there is, we then move to Level 6 and create a new paradigm for ourselves that must lead to a change in behavior as that is the outward manifestation of learning.

What will you re-read this week? I challenge you to revisit a previous book and see what you learned or might learn from it anew? You are not the same person and that is not the same book!