Business / Career

Soft skills, like leadership, aren’t tangible in nature, unlike technical skills such as copywriting, coding, or even manual labor. It takes careful effort and planning to evolve raw and even personalized skills like communication, conflict resolution, and teamwork.

Soft skills are losing their priority, too. A new study found that Gen Z workers are much more focused on developing their hard skills than their soft skills than previous generations such as the Millennials, Gen X, or even Baby Boomers. The importance of soft skill development can’t be emphasized enough because that’s how collaboration, client relations, and more can be improved. The soft skills help on the road to the hard ones.

Take leadership, for instance. This is a soft skill taught, developed, and maintained far less than many other soft skills.

Leadership is an intangible concept often seen exemplified from afar. It’s a skill desirable on any new hire’s resume, a skill entrepreneurs chase their whole lives. Many people, in fact, chase leadership development, unsure of where to begin or how to evolve their existing skills. According to the great leaders past – whether they’re generals, CEOs, or average joes – one of the best ways to develop leadership skills is by reading. Actually, learning overall is one of the best ways to boost leadership skills.

Natural leaders are often life-long learners, curious about what makes the world spin around. In order to develop your own leadership skills, reading is an activity which should be prioritized more often. Although reading 52 books in one year is an attainable goal for some people, reading one book a week is a difficult venture for others. The bottom line is those who are successful know the key to success is learning, curiosity, and voraciously devouring information about the world around you.

Becoming a better leader doesn’t happen overnight; like all good things, there is time to spend and patience to display during leadership skill development. Technical talent can take precedent in a world where technology is changing constantly. What worked in 2018 may not work in 2019, which is why experts suggest upping the volume of books or articles read for professionals.

Reading one genre of books isn’t enough, either – it’s crucial to pull titles from all genres because there’s wisdom in every industry. Business books can teach lessons about how to handle the real world. Fiction novels help tell the stories of other worlds, providing (fictional) examples of scenarios we haven’t encountered before, therein showing a way to conquer a conflict or difficult situation. The most popular leadership books include titles from all different genres, proving there’s something to learn from every book, every situation, and every person.

Make 2019 the year of learning.