The #1 Reason Leadership Books Continue to Sell

It’s not what you think.

What’s the #1 reason leadership books continue to sell?
Guesses anyone?? Hmmm???
Leadership books continue to sell because they don’t work.
And that’s not a typo.

Let’s face it; if just reading leadership books made us all better leaders, we’d have stopped reading them a long time ago.
I finish reading the perfect leadership book, and whammo! I’m done. Dave becomes new best leader 2.0, and it took me only a few hours.

If only it were that easy.

I hate the 7-10 split.
Imagine if I told you that I’ve read countless of books on bowling, and yet my game has improved only marginally.
You’d likely ask if I’ve done more than just reading about bowling. Have I actually gone to the bowling alley and tried it out…..and tried it out……and tried it out…..again and again and again?
If I told you I haven’t had time to go the alley, you’d likely wonder why I wasted all that time reading in the first place.

I’m not condemning reading or learning.
So, to be clear, I’m not against reading about leadership. I continue to read and learn about it.
But I am against fooling ourselves if we think reading about leadership makes us better leaders.
We all tend to revert back to who we are. Unless there’s some serious effort on our part.

It’s not a novel.
So instead of reading your next leadership book like a novel: “Oh, that’s interesting; I should try that. And, yes, that’s a good point too; I should do that as well. Oh and look over here on this page, more intersting stuff…”. Instead of doing that, focus on two or three things that you learned, which, if you did them, would make a positive difference in your leadership.
Then stop reading…….for a while. And apply what you learned. Again and again and again.

Only you will know.
Remember, no one else will know that you’re trying something new. So if it doesn’t work, only you will know.
But please, don’t give up after the first try.

I’m truly horrible at bowling. I don’t bowl often, but when I do, I’m dreadful.
And I bet there’s probably a connection there.