“Oh, silly fish” we think flippantly at the joke, in which a fish is asked about the water and it responds with “What water?”; yet, all too often, we fall prey to the same trap when reading books.
Into the depths of the most profound of books, we swim through the author’s most trenchant insights and perennial wisdom, yet we realize none of this as we preoccupy ourselves with taking notes about the current passage and admiring the author’s use of the word ‘loquacious’.
Many popular books showcase the leaves and branches of a tree: the 3 new strategies and 12 tactics you can implement right now. It’s too easy and tempting to lose yourself admiring this outer shell. After all, two such books and the shiny branches become so many that using them in your life – with all of the hassle of integrating generic advice into your specific circumstances – becomes a full-time job. And, sooner or later, those leaves will fade away, and the branches will fall off…
Instead, find the root of the tree. Reflect, integrate, and nurture that root as you see fit. All the leaves and branches will come with time. Crucially, they will be yours: the tree, fed with the nutrients of all your other values, will be yours and all emergent leaves and branches will be specific to your current and future self..
So, refuse to waste time mindlessly highlighting the 6 tactics on how to communicate or the 12 strategies for leadership. Instead, seek what it is like to be an effective, inspiring communicator or how a great leader sees the world.
