I am sure we have all seen or heard this quote and in my opinion it is very true. It does not mean that you won’t succeed if you don’t read personal development books, but your chances of success and of building a better business are that much greater. Everyone I know personally who have successful businesses spend time and money working on themselves, and growing their knowledge through personal development books. Some will read them and some will use audio books. To a degree it doesn’t matter how you get the information, just that you do.
Just because a business owner “owns” a business does not mean they know how to run a business. I know many who have a company with a large number of staff, but they do not know how to manage people properly, because they don’t know how to run a business properly. They think they do, they think they know everything. They don’t accept advice or help. They try to be all things to all people. I know they don’t read personal development books and if I recommended any to them, they would scoff. They have the mentality of “I own a business and we are doing ok and I don’t need any help from you or anyone else”. My answer to these people is just “Crack on”.
I know that those people who are what I would call true leaders will read daily, they will continuously educate themselves, they are always looking to learn from others. They take advice, they are humble. They have a great team of people around them – both staff and outsourced people. They know how to manage and get the best from their people. They understand the difference between a cost and an investment. They have great businesses, not only financially but in so many other ways.
From my own perspective, I had the mentality at 16 years of age that that was it, my education was over. I had left school and was now in the big wide world of earning, not learning. My first job was in a bank and I found out after I had joined that if I wanted to progress in banking, I would need to go to college twice a week for banking exams. Well that job lasted 4 years. At 20 I had a shit attitude, and thought I knew everything. Then at 21, I met my wife Denise, got into network marketing at 23 and was introduced to a personal development programme and then I really started to understand the power that this had. I started hanging around with successful or success minded people, people who believed in me. I read personal development books, listened to motivational, inspirational teaching tapes and CD’s and attended monthly motivational seminars – all by choice. Remember the choices we make will have a big factor on who we become.
Is it any wonder then that by the time I started my first conventional business at 30 that I understood so much about how to build a successful business. So do readers make the best leaders? Without any doubt in my mind they do. If you don’t read personal development books, I would strongly suggest it and if you don’t know where to start, drop me a message. I am happy to help you.
This article was first published on LinkedIn by Richard Knight on 08/08/2021