Ray Titus is CEO of United Franchise Group (UFG), a global leader for entrepreneurs with brands in over 1,600 locations in 60 countries.
I’ve always believed in the value of lifelong learning, of constantly striving to improve no matter how skilled you become. It’s an idea I picked up playing basketball in high school and college, where the price for a few minutes of glory is hours of work in an empty arena. Today, as I’ve brought this belief into business, I’ve found that one of the most effective learning tools is a simple one: reading. I don’t think there’s anything I need in business that I can’t get from a book, and I’ve become a voracious reader—pretty ironic considering that in school, I rarely read books that weren’t assigned to me.
Each year, I read 40 to 50 books by business experts I admire for their wisdom and proven success. I also write at least one book each year, as part of my belief in the importance of mentoring others. Those of us who’ve succeeded in business have an obligation to pass on our knowledge to the next generation of leaders, which prepares them to take our achievements to the next level (and pass on their wisdom to those coming behind them).
Some books have turned out to be game-changers for my business. Others have sharpened knowledge I already had or confirmed ideas I had come to on my own. They’ve all been the right book at the right time, showing up to teach me what I most needed to know.
You’ll find your unique lessons in the titles you choose, but with the right selections, you can assemble a mini-management school on your bookshelf.
Lessons Worth Learning
One of the game changers for me was Mike Michalowicz’s best-selling Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine, which urges entrepreneurs to stop putting themselves last in line when it’s time to get paid. Like many business owners, I often went without a paycheck to honor my obligations to employees and vendors. All that changed after I read Profit First and we began adopting some of his revenue management ideas under his premise, “Profit is a habit, not an event.”
I had never doubted our course before reading The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy; Jon Gordon’s book just confirmed we were going in the right direction. Gordon offers guidance in using the power of positive energy to succeed in all areas of life, which is a foundational idea in our business. I’ve always run my business with high energy and positivity, but it’s not always easy to keep that up. People spend so much time focusing on problems, and as a leader, it’s easy to get sucked into that mindset. I make a point of talking to people about what’s going right.
Communicating with team members goes both ways, and I’ve found that listening is often the weaker end of the process. The secret is to understand the listening style of the person you’re addressing. I learned this early in my career and decided to share it by writing You’re Not Listening to Me! Learn to Communicate Better by Improving the Listening Side. From the Exact Listener who takes every word literally to the Good Listener we wish we were always facing; I look at the different styles and how you can reach them.
There’s a lot more good leadership advice in bookstores and libraries. Here’s how to find what you need in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of titles and check them off your reading list each year:
Five Tips for Building Your Leadership Library
1. Identify your values.
How do you want your business or team to operate? What drives you to succeed in life and business? Look for authors who share your values and can offer strategies to support them. I was delighted to discover that Gordon shares many of my beliefs, such as the importance of applying positive energy and inviting others on the journey—an approach we use in aligning team members’ individual goals with the company’s goals.
2. Pay attention to what others are reading.
“What are you reading?” should be an ice-breaker question for all networking events and business gatherings. Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations, and be sure they tell you why they think you should get a copy. I always enjoy listening to someone praising a book that engages and inspires them; the excitement is contagious.
3. Go for the classics.
You can’t go wrong with tried-and-true titles like The One Minute Manager, Who Moved My Cheese? and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. These are perennial best-sellers for a reason: They have valuable advice applicable to many kinds of businesses.
4. Set a reading goal.
Take it as seriously as your revenue goals or capital improvement plan. Write it down and come up with a number and a deadline challenging enough to be meaningful. One book a month? If you’re a quick reader, that might not be good enough. Go for at least one a week.
5. Make time to learn.
If it matters to you, you’ll make time for it. Make an appointment with yourself—get it on your calendar—to spend at least one hour a week reading business or motivational books. You can spread that time into small bites across the week, but not too small; a paragraph a day won’t get you far and probably won’t stick with you.
Just Read It
Whether you’re diving into the hottest new title or catching up on an expert author’s greatest hits, what matters is that you’re getting into the habit of lifelong learning. Along with knowledge, you’ll gain a positive mindset and the confidence that comes from realizing you can always improve—and always will.
