I read quite a bit and it’s rare that I don’t have a book or magazine with me in case I’m stuck waiting on some meeting to start. Most days at lunch I read for a few minutes too, just another way to get to my weekly goal of professional development. It’s typically technology, management, leadership type books, though occasionally it’s further afield – recently I was reading about writing grants for example.

I tend to throw whatever I’m reading on my desk. It reminds me to stay at it (not all these books are page turners after all), but I’ve also found that it is a useful way of starting conversations. It’s also interesting to see people ask (or you see them thinking) “why would you read that?”.

I wish I saw other people do this more. It feels like a lot of people are successful in the short term with no learning, or just in time learning. It’s a practical (or cynical) strategy, but it’s short sighted, there is no investment in “later”. Then again, maybe I just don’t seem them making that investment.