Readers are leaders. That simple statement is true because people who are continuously updating their knowledge, skills and outlook are generally those who excel in life. Those are the people who naturally lead others. All support center managers owe it to themselves to develop a reading habit to keep their skills sharp. In the United States today, only about 12% of the population reads books on a regular basis.  In contrast, most Chief Executive Officers, who you would think would already know everything they need to know, read a book a week on average.  These CEO’s know that they have to keep themselves at the top of their game, and one way to do that is to read books. For most of us, a reasonable goal is to read one book a month.

I have always loved to read. I read widely and wildly.  I am usually in the middle of about five books, often on very different topics.  My bedside table at home reflects my eclectic taste – it is piled high with books that I’ve read, meant to read, or are currently reading.  Because of my voracious reading, I’ve picked up some tricks over the years that enhance the effectiveness of my reading, and I’d like to share them with you in this article.  As you will see, my reading habit has helped me greatly.

How to incorporate reading into a busy day

Feeling some resistance to developing a reading habit?  I can just hear you protesting, “But I don’t have time to do one more thing in my life!”  Of course, we all live hectic and busy lives, but there is always time for activities that are important to you.  Reading is important to your success in your career and in your life.  There are many ways to find time for reading.  One of the most popular times to read is during a biological activity that each of us engages in multiple times a day – of course, that is using the bathroom.  In my home, we call the bathroom the “Reading Room” because we always have books piled up beside the toilet.  This is the true meaning of multi-tasking.  I’ve even seen people in offices escape to the restroom with a newspaper in hand.  Well, maybe that’s pushing it, but you get the point.

Another time to read is right before you go to bed. I suggest that you be very careful what you experience before going to sleep, as it will affect your dreams and the quality of your rest.  Therefore, the nightly news is not advisable as the last thing you do before turning in. It is full of bad news, and its grizzly images make a huge impression on your brain and psyche. Seeing the nightly news can contribute to insomnia! Rather, read a few pages or a whole chapter in a book, preferably not an action thriller that will key you up.  Non-fiction or an easy novel is good evening reading.

I do a lot of travel, and find that the time in an airport or airplane is wonderful private time to catch up on my reading. 

In your personal reading, don’t feel like you have to finish a book in order to benefit from it.  This applies to both fiction and non-fiction books.  Clearly, if you don’t like a novel you start reading, you just shelve it and move on.  But many of us view non-fiction books differently, that for some reason, once you’ve started reading a book on management practices, for example, you have to read the whole thing.  I challenge that, and suggest that if you have culled a few good ideas from a book and are no longer interested in it, put it aside and find another.  Certainly, if you cannot find any benefit in the book you currently are reading, it is time to move on.

Lastly, make reading a habit in your support center by encouraging your employees to read books and present book reports or book summaries at your weekly team meeting.  This is one way to present customer service skills training: an analyst reads a book on customer service and presents her findings to the group, perhaps even incorporating a group exercise into her presentation.  I know several support center managers who insist on this practice as a weekly discipline.  One benefit of this, among many, is the creation of a learning organization that shares knowledge.

There are three more tips that I would recomend about reading that may help you enhance your enjoyment of this fine art:

1. When reading non-fiction, annotate the book as you go along so you can easily remember the important points.  When I come across something that I want to remember, I do two things:  I underline the passage, then turn to the front inside cover of the book, and on the blank page there, I write down the page number and a short sentence that summarizes the concept.  When I have finished the book, I often have both the inside front and inside back covers filled with notations.  When I want to remember what was in the book, I simply open the cover of the book and read my own “Cliff Notes” version of the book.

I tell my teenage children, “If you can read a book, you can learn anything.”  Read by annotating, and you will not only learn it, you will retain it also.

2. If you read seven books by different authors on the same topic, you will become an expert on that topic, especially if you follow my annotation tip, above.  I heard this advice from a friend who taught himself mortgage lending by reading widely on the topic.  He now runs a mortgage lending company. I myself have learned about Emotional Intelligence by reading many more than seven books on the topic, by many different authors.  Even though I have also attended classes on the subject, I felt that my reading prepared me to be an equal to many in the class who have formal educations in organizational development.

3. Make it your goal to always read a book that makes you a better person.  This could be a spiritual or religious book, or perhaps a book on the topics of diet, health, stress management, or self-help.  I will let you define for yourself what books make you a better person.  In this way, our reading can truly elevate our lives and our perspectives, and equip us with new and important tools for life.

My mother always said, “An education is no burden to carry.”  By making reading a habit, we all embrace a life style of continuous self-education.  Your career will benefit. Your quality of life will improve. Remember, readers are leaders.  Plus, reading is just plain fun.

Kristin Robertson, President of KR Consulting, Inc., is a consultant and trainer to the Help Desk and Technical Support profession.  She helps companies increase the efficiency of their support center, save money, and increase their customer loyalty.  She has worked with companies such as AIG, 7-Eleven, Southwest Airlines, Hewlett Packard, SBC Internet Services and Medtronic.  Kristin can be reached at 817-577-7030, or krisrob@krconsulting.com.  Her website, www.krconsulting.com, contains many free resources and articles for support professionals.