Online Reporter
Hunt For Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
When you do not read, you have no advantage over someone who cannot read. Leadership is movement.
Leaders move ideas. Leaders move people. Leaders move work. Leaders move institutions. Leaders move culture. Leaders move strategy.
Before you can move anything outwardly, something must keep moving inwardly. An engine of inner movement is reading. Reading moves the mind, perspective, imagination and language. Reading moves judgement and courage.
Reading moves you from ignorance to insight, from narrowness to breadth, from confusion to clarity, from stagnation to growth. When you stop reading, you begin to repeat old thinking, old language, old examples, old solutions and old limitations. If your mind is not moving, you will become outdated. Reading is a discipline of renewal.
Moving thinking
Everything rises or falls on the quality of thinking. You cannot lead beyond the limits of your thinking. If your thinking is small, your leadership will shrink. If your thinking is stale, your leadership will atrophy. If your thinking is shallow, your decisions will be weak.
Reading introduces the mind to new worlds, new questions, new models, new possibilities and new language. Reading helps you see beyond your immediate surroundings. It allows you to sit with great thinkers, builders, reformers, entrepreneurs, scientists, pastors, generals, presidents, artistes and prophets of progress.Through reading, you get into rooms you have never physically entered. You can learn from people you may never meet. You can draw wisdom from centuries and from other people’s journeys.
A book is compressed experience. Someone has lived, struggled, studied, reflected, failed, learned and then packaged their lessons into pages. You are not just ravaging through words.
In reading, you harvest wisdom and glean grapes of human experience, thought and knowledge.
Different speeds
Read at different speeds. Do not try to read every book in the same way. Some books must be tasted, others swallowed. Some must be chewed slowly and digested deeply. There are books you read quickly for exposure, for an overview of a topic, for a sense of a trend or for a broad introduction. You are scanning for the big ideas.
There are books you read moderately for understanding. These require attention, reflection and note-taking. You want to understand the argument, capture the principles and apply the ideas.
There are books you read slowly for transformation. These books must be read with a pen, highlighter, journal and repeated engagement.
Some books are not meant to be finished quickly. They are meant to finish something in you. They challenge assumptions, confront habits, stir conviction and shape identity.
Know when to skim, when to study, when to pause and when to return. Speed is not the goal. Movement is the goal. Read at the speed required for the purpose of the reading.
Different genres
To move through reading, do not read only one kind of book. A narrow reading diet creates a narrow mind. Different genres work different mental muscles. Read leadership books to sharpen influence. Read strategy books to strengthen judgement.
Read devotional books to nourish the soul. Read business books to understand value creation. Read economics books to understand incentives and systems. Read psychology books to understand human behaviour. Read science and technology books to understand change. Read poetry to develop sensitivity. Read fiction to enlarge imagination. Read biographies to learn from lives. Read history to gain perspective.
Aim to be both deep and broad. Depth gives conviction. Breadth gives perspective. This helps you connect ideas that others keep separate. Innovation is fuelled by ideas from one field applied creatively in another.
Reading history
History is a greatness classroom. There is nothing entirely new under the sun. Human ambition, fear, pride, courage, folly, wisdom, betrayal, reform, collapse, renewal and greatness have appeared in every generation.
When you read history, you trace the roots of today’s problems. You learn that nations rise and fall through choices. You see how institutions are built and destroyed. You watch the consequences of leadership, policy, culture, war, innovation, faith, greed, discipline and courage.
History humbles. It reminds you that you are not the first to face difficulty. Others have led through crisis, scarcity, transition, uncertainty, opposition and change. History warns. It shows how arrogance blinds, how corruption spreads, how complacency weakens, how division destroys and how poor decisions compound over time.
Reading history makes you less naïve. You stop being surprised by human behaviour. History gives perspective, patience and pattern recognition.
Inspirational books
You need inspiration. Strategy without inspiration becomes dry. Discipline without inspiration becomes heavy. Responsibility without inspiration becomes exhausting. Inspirational books move the heart. They remind you that you can rise. They renew courage. They awaken hope. They speak to the part of you that gets tired, discouraged or tempted to settle.
Sometimes one sentence can restart your fire. One story can restore your courage. One idea can change the way you see your struggle. A good inspirational book can become a companion in difficult seasons.
When I was going through bereavement, a friend sent me a little book by Og Mandino titled “The Greatest Salesman in the World”. It changed me, lifted me and got me back on my feet.
Reading biographies
Biographies are leadership laboratories. In a biography, you read principles. You watch a life unfold. You see decisions, sacrifices, turning points, failures, habits, relationships, weaknesses, victories and consequences.
Biographies remind us that greatness is human before it is historical. Great people were not born with completed stories. They faced uncertainty.
They made mistakes. They had critics. They experienced delays. They carried burdens. They had private struggles behind public achievements.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and accomplished workshop facilitator. He can be reached at: [email protected], WhatsApp: +263772422634.
You learn courage from courageous people, resilience from resilient people, discipline from disciplined people and vision from visionary people. You also learn what to avoid.
Read the lives of leaders, reformers, entrepreneurs, inventors, missionaries, soldiers, statesmen, artistes, scientists and nation-builders. Study their formation, not just their fame. Ask what shaped them. Ask what sustained them. Ask what broke them. Ask what made them useful. A biography allows you to be mentored by a life.
Reading fiction
Do not neglect fiction because you think it is not practical. Fiction develops imagination, empathy, language and moral reflection.
Through fiction, you enter other worlds and other minds. You feel what characters feel. You see choices and consequences. You experience complexity. You understand motives, conflicts, desires, fears and contradictions.
Fiction helps you understand people more deeply. It stretches emotional intelligence. It develops the ability to see situations from multiple perspectives. It strengthens communication.
Reading fiction makes you a better storyteller. People do not move only through instructions. They move through meaning. Stories carry meaning. Fiction, read well, is preparation for greatness.
Reading as a lifestyle
Reading must become a lifestyle. Read daily. Read early. Read late. Read while travelling. Read between meetings. Read in seasons of preparation. Read in seasons of pressure. Read when you are inspired. Read when you feel dry.
Build reading rhythms. Carry a book. Keep a reading list. Take notes. Mark powerful ideas. Summarise what you learn. Discuss books with others. Teach and apply what you read.
A reading lifestyle is not just about books you finish. It is about how deeply reading is shaping your thinking, speech, decisions, habits and contribution.
Some books should be read once. Some should be revisited. Some should be kept close. Some should be given away. Some should become part of your leadership language.
Read not to impress people. Read to improve yourself. Read to build wisdom. Read to fulfil responsibility better.
Reading expands vocabulary, sharpens expression and improves concentration. Reading strengthens memory, increases knowledge and deepens empathy. Reading reduces mental laziness, improves decision-making and enlarges vision.
Move through reading. Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep growing.
Committed to your greatness,
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and accomplished workshop facilitator. He can be reached at: [email protected], WhatsApp: +263772422634.
