Leaders are readers.
This is a truth affirmed over and over again by the great leaders of the world – Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Ghandi – but the one that got me recently was John W. Gardner.
Gardner was “a legendary public intellectual and civic reformer – a celebrated Stanford professor, an architect of the Great Society under Lyndon Johnson, founder of Common Cause and Independent Sector.” Gardner passed away nearly 15 years ago. But lucky for me, the other day I stumbled upon an HBR article that discussed a speech Gardner gave back in 1990. He said: “We have to face the fact that most men and women out there in the world of work are more stale than they know, more bored than they would care to admit…Boredom is the secret ailment of large-scale organizations. Someone said to me the other day ‘How can I be so bored when I’m so busy’ I said ‘Let me count the ways.’ Look around you. How many people whom you know well – people even younger than yourselves – are already trapped in fixed attitudes and habits?”
He goes on to provide the antidote to boredom…
“Be interested…Everyone wants to be interesting, but the vitalizing thing is to be interested…As the proverb says, ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.'”
So much wisdom there. My summary: Curiosity is THE killer app.
It’s hard to accept that your people (or you) are bored. After all, everyone is working hard and they’ve got a good gig. We can provide for our families. We are secure. But this is precisely what feeds boredom. You wake up and it’s Groundhog Day all over again. You’re grateful, busy, and moving. But that doesn’t stop boredom from creeping in.
How can leaders keep boredom at bay?
Start with you. Fight your own boredom. Don’t be boring. Lead by example. Be curious. Remain interested in the future. In new ideas. In our people.
This curiosity, energy, passion, and excitement is what kills your own boredom. And it is really hard to stay bored around people who aren’t boring. Boom. You’re curing the boredom of everyone around you. Where do we start? I start with books. Physical books. E-books. Audio books. Podcasts. Whatever works for you...
| 
