Reading and Practicing Leadership

In 2025, I will have read 53 books: 39 non-fiction, including 20 focused on leadership.

As a child, I was not an avid reader. My overstimulated brain made reading difficult; letters and words rarely lined up in an orderly way. As an old soul, I also found children’s books uninteresting. Things changed later in life. Over the past three years, I’ve been reading at an accelerated pace. I now read for at least one hour every morning. It feels like an absolute luxury and one of my greatest joys.

What continues to fascinate me is how vast the body of research on leadership has become, and how little of it still influences day-to-day business reality. Well-being, psychological safety, empathy, authenticity, agility, or curiosity are no longer “soft” concepts. Behavioral and cognitive science, neuroplasticity, sociology, and adult development theory all point to the same conclusion: leadership styles directly impact results.

Take one simple example. Study after study shows that weekly one-on-one conversations, paired with clear feedback, can unleash up to 30% additional productivity with stronger alignment, higher motivation, faster skill development, and better collaboration. The potential is there, untapped, in your organization, big or small.

Leadership certainly requires analysis, sound decision-making, courage, and enthusiasm. But real success will come with your people. What we can achieve alone is so limited. A leader’s true power, the ability to influence, comes from empowering others.

Yet leadership is still too often experienced as aggressive or forceful, sometimes even bullying. Being a good leader ultimately means being a good human, but values and ethics are not easily taught. While leadership training is abundant, coaching and mentoring remain insufficient to support real behavioral change.

I feel privileged to support my clients as they grow into the inspiring, empowering leaders they aspire to be, often after years of poor role modeling or lack of support. In 2026, I will keep reading and learning to better serve them.

If you’d like to explore simple steps toward more rewarding leadership, I’d be happy to connect for an informal conversation.