If you aim to go from good to great, every 4 hour work week should start with why before you eat the frog. Whether you call this category of books self-help, personal development, or flight edutainment, you know the genre I’m talking about. For years, I’ve been referring to it as leadership p*rn. It’s junk food for the brain, but your brain needs broccoli, not Butterfingers.
They adorn the airport bookstore kiosks, and the covers promise “THE ONE THING YOU HAVE TO DO TO_______.” These aren’t just thought provocateurs. Their covers claim the contents to be panaceas. If you just follow the insights in the pages, you will:
1. Be richer
2. Be smarter
3. Have more time
4. Say no more often
5. Say yes to everything
Check it out—these books frequently contain some truly valuable pearls. I’ve read books like Adam Grant‘s Originals or Daniel Pink‘s To Sell Is Human and gleaned useful concepts that have changed the ways I think, work, and act. But one problem with some of these tomes (not the 2 aforementioned books!) is that the treasure is buried deep in 225 pages of rehashed stories. Oftentimes the authors develop a truly novel concept, but it only warrants a 1,000 word blog post. Well, my friends, it’s very difficult to monetize a blog post. It’s especially challenging to convert one into paid speaking gigs, podcast features, and TED Talks. So, what is a savvy solopreneur to do? You guessed it. Pad that concept with 200+ pages of anecdotes and references to previous research. If you really want some snarky, entertaining, and a wee bit cynical dissections of these books, peep the If Books Could Kill podcast.
That leads us to another problem: What if that research is based on Jenga blocks of wet marshmallows? If you haven’t read this Atlantic article, you should. It uncovers how key business school researchers have fudged or outright lied in their published research. Then that false information gets repurposed as fluffy supporting background in the books I’m referring to.
KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT ACTION DOES NOTHING!
Allow me to disabuse you of any notion that I’m just being a negative Nicholas. I commend anyone that dedicates the time and energy to writing a book. I also find it laudable any time I see someone reading an actual book today, and if the selection falls in the leadership p0rn category, so what. Good for you. You’re committed to seeking out new ideas and changing your life. That’s fantastic.
With that out of the way, I encourage you to skip the idea du jour and focus on reading source material. Peep the books that are foundational to those kiosk reads. Skip the 8 books on how to engage with clients and make more sales. Instead just pick up Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Aiming to shift your perpetually negative outlook? Don’t read the 512 books on How to Unstuck Your Blah Blah Blah. Just read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, or for a more contemporary story, check out The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday.
You have scarce resources; limited time, money, and bandwidth. After reading a book, ask yourself, “What am I going to do differently as a result of what I’ve read?” If the answer is nothing, put down the p0rn and pick up a classic.
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