History is full of great leaders who were avid readers and writers. For example, Winston Churchill received his Nobel prize for literature, not peace ! The leadership benefits of reading are wide-ranging. Evidence suggests reading can improve intelligence and lead to innovation and insight.
Reading — whether Wikipedia, Michael Lewis, or Aristotle — is one of the quickest ways to acquire and assimilate new information. Reading can also make you more effective in leading others. Reading increases verbal intelligence, making a leader a more adept and articulate communicator. Reading novels can improve empathy and understanding of social cues, allowing a leader to better work with and understand others
Finally, an active literary life can make you more personally effective by keeping you relaxed and improving health.
Today, reading has declined amongst adult Americans. India and China are seeing improvement in literacy rates, but that literacy may not translate into more or deeper reading.
While inculcating all the good habits, a parent should emphasize the importance of reading and writing to their children. It can not only help in the enhancement of their multiple intelligences but also keep them relaxed and improve health (can help reduce the time spent in TV viewing, gaming)
How can parents help their kids make reading a habit ? Here are few tips:
- Join a reading group - find a pool of friends who read or want to read regularly
- Variety - Buy books from 'Crosswords' of the world on different subjects..could range from Geronimo to Archies to Hardy boys to Science quizes...
- Encourage your child to tell you what they learnt or liked in the book they read
- Get the school teacher to encourage students to read in and outside school (if the teacher is not already doing it)
Reading is an essential component of personality and intelligence development. Earlier, one inculcates this habit, faster will be the progress.
As they say, Book, is man's best friend !
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