Why Reading Leadership Books Enhances Productivity: Why It's Worth Students Buying Second Hand Books
We’ve been reading a lot of leadership books lately, which is something we haven't done in a long time. We’ve largely read time management, productivity, and technology books in the past. While these have aided in the development of my skill set and knowledge, we’ve realized that anyone interested in increasing their productivity should also study leadership books.
One of the most compelling reasons to read leadership books is that you can apply what you've learned to your own situation. Simply put, in order to effectively lead others, you must first lead yourself.
We learnt this idea from only one leadership book: Bill Walsh's The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership. (Reading the second one was rather painful for us because the late author was the renowned coach of the San Francisco 49ers — a team that beat my Cincinnati Bengals in two Super Bowls — but he also coached the Bengals, so we kept that in mind while we poured over the pages.) Now that we think about it, if he'd just stuck with the Bengals, we might have already won a couple....)
Bill Walsh's book provided us with numerous lessons. Walsh, for example, extols the merits of setting up frames and boundaries, as well as "scripting" — the idea of planning ahead of time so that your chances of success are far higher than if you merely follow the agenda as it emerges throughout the game (or in our case, the day).
He also emphasized the value of consistency, which is something you should keep in mind if you want to accomplish larger projects and attain loftier goals. Because of the ideas and insights presented in these leadership books, they are extremely beneficial. What makes them so effective is that you can read about the outcomes of employing such strategies.
Bill Walsh is a Hall of Fame football coach who is credited with inventing the modern-day offense seen in professional football. The benefits of setting himself and his team up for success are motivating, and they have inspired us to become better leaders so that we may better lead others. Walsh also spent a lot of time doing "organizational archaeology," as he describes it. This entails diving deep into issues so that you may look back and make course corrections while also planning for the future in a constructive and results-oriented manner.
This is a strategy that we should all use to ensure that we are doing what we need to do while also doing more of what we want to do. We can make better decisions by looking deeper into our to-do lists, calendars, and notebooks. Then we can concentrate on identifying the positive aspects of the negatives.
Despite having a losing record in his first two years, Walsh improved his offense. After comparing completion rates and interception ratios between his veteran starter Steve DeBerg and the youthful Montana, he felt ready to hand the reins over to his quarterback of the future, Joe Montana. Walsh figured out where the holes were and went about filling them in a methodical, not knee-jerk, manner. That's why, the following year, his defense rose from near the bottom of the league rankings to second overall.
This organizational archaeology was also important in helping them win the Super Bowl in his third season. He's willing to make the difficult choices. Walsh talks about having to eliminate guys who were good but didn't fit his system well. Walsh talks about having to eliminate guys who were good but didn't fit his system well. When Steve Young was acquired to eventually replace Joe Montana, Walsh describes how he felt. He talks about letting players leave who were at the end of their careers so that he could focus on the future and saw little to no attrition as a result. He despised it most of the time, but he did it because he knew it was in the organization's best interests.
We must be willing to make difficult decisions when it comes to being purely productive. When necessary, we must say "no" (which is likely more often than we admit). We need to get rid of anything that isn't working, whether it's tools, resources, or people. We don't have to enjoy it, but it enables us to achieve the things we need and want to do more effectively. It is for the greater benefit that we do it.
Walsh was a patient person. He didn't imagine they'd win it that soon, even though it only took three years to go from losing club to Super Bowl champion. Walsh was willing to wait another two to three years before achieving his goal of winning a championship. But his patience with the structure he created and the tools he used within it allowed him to achieve far greater heights than he could have dreamed.
There is no such thing as a "magic bullet" for increasing productivity. We won't be able to do it on our own, and no software will be able to help us. We need a structure that we can put in place ahead of time to help us. We require resources to help us work more efficiently and effectively. Within the framework, there are resources that will thrive. But we must also give them time to settle in and do their work. We can't keep switching apps or tinkering with our framework every time anything new appears. Patience is required.
So far, we’ve only read a few leadership books, but we’ve discovered that we get a lot more out of them than just some leadership concepts to share with the rest of our team. We find that we acquire ideas that we can use to ourselves in order to improve. Reading leadership books has shown to increase our productivity. They assist me in moving things along in a more constant manner. They assist us in developing frameworks that are flexible enough to be used by a large number of people, but they must begin with us.
"A consistent challenge is a consistent effort." –William Walsh
Even though we are not fans of the San Francisco 49ers, we are fans of Bill Walsh. While we recommend The Score Takes Care of Itself as an excellent leadership book, we also offer three other titles to get you started.
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Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business by Bruce Poon Tip
We are sure there are lots more out there that we didn't mention. We have a long list of books that we need and want to read. And we are going to make sure that happens in the future.
If you want to increase your productivity, you should do the same.
Second Hand Books
The battle is genuine. When students examine the class syllabus at the start of each semester, this is the cry of textbook buyers everywhere. We can't help you ace your chemistry lab or write that WWII history paper, but we can help you cut your textbook expense and save a few bucks by following one of your classmates' best advice: buy second hand books.
You should anticipate to pay upwards of $700 for a semester's worth of course materials. It can add up quickly when you're taking four or five classes and have a course load that includes laboratories, workbooks, and online access codes. Here are some of the most compelling reasons why students prefer to purchase used books from us.
Why It is Worth Students Buying Second Hand Books
1. Second hand books help you save money.
Are we conversing in your native tongue, oh ye college student? As you may be aware, second hand textbooks are less expensive than new textbooks. What you may not realize is that buying old second hand books from us might save you up to 90%.
2. Second hand books online come with free shipping.
When you buy second hand books online directly from us and spend more than $25 on your whole order (yes, that includes new books, access cards, and digital titles), your used books will be shipped for free. It's just another way we make getting your second hand books easier for you. It's not like the extra money isn't helpful.
3. We have lots of second hand books on hand.
We built our company on second hand textbooks, and we take pride in having millions of top-selling titles in stock for you. Every day, we work hard to get you second hand books so they're available when you need them, so you can save money and get back to the important things in life – like studying hard and achieving good grades.
4. Every second hand book we sell is thoroughly inspected by hand.
Every single one of those second hand books, to be precise. Every page, cover, and binding is hand-inspected by our warehousing professionals before being delivered to you. This implies that if you buy a used textbook directly from us, you can expect it to be in good shape, free of stains, water damage, missing or torn pages, a broken spine, and excessive writing. Of course, since you're in college (and we're all human), we'll overlook minor flaws like handwriting, highlighting, dog-eared pages, and minor scrapes on the cover.
5. You'll receive the same excellent customer service when you buy second hand books.
Just because you bought less for that second hand book doesn't imply you won't receive excellent customer service from our staff. You can phone or email us at any time for assistance with your order, whether it's a $5 copy of The Iliad, a $80 copy of The Fundamentals of Nursing, or you're among the best-selling textbooks crowd.
6. Second hand books are a little gentler with Mother Nature.
Gently used second hand books save you money and save the environment because a single edition can be used for up to five or six semesters. It may not seem like much, but when it comes to saving the earth, every little bit helps. Put on your cape, you hero.
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