OLD NEWS: great writers and leaders are great readers.
I decided to take it up a notch by reading outside of my go-to genres and styles and WHEW BUDDY — I didn’t expect to be completely undone.
A while back, I got into a reading rut by reading ALL the business books. Cause, ya know, if you haven’t read them, folks look at you like you have a third eye growing out of your second head.
After a year of trying to read like I was “supposed” to, I realized two things:
I no longer enjoyed reading.
Reading felt like the movie Groundhog’s Day — I was rereading the same, basic concepts and ideas over and over… and over … again.
Cross train your brain to avoid the echo chamber…chamber…chamber…
Algorithms have done a huge disservice to humanity, showing us exactly what we already like and what we already agree with. We now live in echo chambers where we hear the same thing over and over again. But when we only see/read/hear one side of the story, both our leadership and writing is just a copy of a copy of a copy.
The problem is you start sounding like everyone else because your ideas are inbred. You are listening to the echo…echo…echo...and you like the sound of your own voice. But great leadership — and great writing — isn’t about you and what you want to say. It’s about everyone else and what they need to hear.
Today’s micro-lesson is actually a big red warning sign: Don’t be tricked into sitting in an intellectual echo chamber. To be a better writer and leader, you need to cross-train your brain by varying the input. Reading from diverse genres and perspectives offers a strategic advantage that forces you to think outside your day-to-day field of vision.
This matters because leaders who actually reach people lead with empathy, clarity, and bravery. You can’t do that from within an echo chamber where you’re just listening to the distorted feedback of your own opinions. Breaking outside of the chamber is the only way to stop the feedback loop so you can hear clearly again.
Leading from a place of impact requires you to be a person of many worlds. Reading is a great place to start exploring.
It forces you into tension, conflict, and all the things that comfort tries to get us to avoid.
Put it into practice: The next time you’re looking for a new read, STEP AWAY from your go-to genre/author/topic. Instead:
Ask for a recommendation from a colleague who thinks differently than you.
Choose a memoir or fiction piece that challenges your worldview.
Explore something visual or written for an audience that you don’t consider yourself a part of.
For inspiration, here’s what’s on my nightstand this month:
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I’ve always given Steinbeck’s stories a thumbs down because they aren’t my preferred “happily ever after”, but he was a masterful storyteller and skilled writer. (Also, HE USED THE EM-DASH, PEOPLE!!)
Ghosted by Nancy French. This book has undone me in personal, political, and professional ways. It’s a difficult memoir (read: childhood sex abuse/trauma/ostracisation/etc.) but eye opening and impactful regardless of your political stance (we’re all fellow-human beings, after all). Her writing is direct, clean, and leverages great analogies to paint a picture in your mind.
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. I read chapter books aloud with my kids before bedtime and this one is lovely. The chapters are short and the writing is light and airy. It’s interesting to see the difference between writing that is meant to engage children and writing targeting adults — it’s refreshing!
Do Androids Dream of Sheep? By Philip K Dick. This is a sci-fi written in the 60s, that explores what it means to be human in an age when the lines are blurred between what’s artificial and real. It’s pretty intriguing given that the book takes place in 1992 (2021 in recent versions). Also, there is a graphic novel so I thought I’d give that a read too…I’ve never read a graphic novel in my life!
How’d it go? What books did you pick up? What type of challenge are you tackling this week? I’d love for you to share with me. Snag 30-minutes on my calendar and let’s chat about books, leadership, and writing.
P.S. Random Things I’m Loving This Week
Shipwreck Stew — Just throw together whatever you have in your pantry and WOOLAH! A delicious soup that helped you clean out your kitchen before the next grocery run. Here’s a version to get ya started.
Dwell Differently Podcast — A real-life, honest podcast that explores what faith and the hard parts of daily life look like through the lens of the Bible.
The kindness of human beings when good chocolate is on the line — I posted about my disappointed that Reese’s Eggs are now made with fake chocolate. I had two people reach out to me to offer help in finding the real deal. **Swoon**
This family portrait my 4-year-old drew. He wrote our ages above our heads… I’ll let ya’ll figure out how old I am. 😂 He drew me in purple because that’s the my favorite color. You better believe I’m framing it!
