BOOK: Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey
Finished another book. Mark that one off the goal board. BAM!
The applications in Principle-Centered Leadership are huge for sparking your relationships at work, ignite your organizations, or, in the industry that could use it quite a bit, explode our humanitarian efforts in Haiti!
Though I am still simmering with The 8th Habit by Covey, I took a brief opportunity to blow up Principle-Centered Leadership.
METHOD:
iTunes audiobook download. Listened on my lime green iPod Shuffle.
VALIDITY FOR GAMING MY 2010 READING GOALS:
Though I am counting audio books for Gaming My 2010 Reading Goals, I am slightly unsettled at this method for truly grasping a material.
REASON FOR COUNTING IT:
Because I covered the material, pal! And, it was read by Covey, so that counts for something, right?! 
REASON FOR MY UNSETTLED-NESS:
As I mentioned in my post on Gaming My 2010 Reading, I am considering this being a year of mastering the basics (managing and working through the non-profit, time & money management, etc.) Mastery is something I think I should do this first year of my 3rd decade on the planet; to set the tone and all that.
Consider the difference between Pretend Listening, Attentive Listening, and Empathic Listening from my article on listening.
Most of my actual reading would fall into the realm of Attentive Listening. Mastery of a topic would demand that I come as close to Empathic Listening as possible. This may call for a 2nd, in-depth read of a particular writing.
Listening while my attention is diverted to driving, texting, or considering how to get to Haiti is simply Pretend Reading. (However, I think that one can a) learn languages this way, b) do rote memorization this way, and c) train themselves to move up the Listening Continuum quite a bit to get more out of the listening.)
WAIT, IS LISTENING REALLY READING?!
No, simply put, listening is not reading.
Peter Kerry Powers, states in his article Reading, listening and memory
“…listening and reading activate different parts of the brain, and especially that listening requires a great deal more working memory–what used to be called short-term memory–in order to do the semantic processing necessary for understanding.” [read more here.]
Audio books are amazing.
Imagine what Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Edison could have done
if they could have consumed information with an mp3 player?!
Even though listening is not reading; pause for a moment. What’s the point of reading? To learn something. Right?
So, what is the point of listening? It is also to learn something.
Some of us learn better by reading.
Some learn better by listening.
Both would benefit by doing both! Right?
When I put on my Shuffle to listen to a book while driving, it is reading made convenient; reading changed into listening. Thank you, Steve Jobs, but I am unsettled because I know that I learn better by reading.
I am concerned that I am not learning as much as I would by reading-reading. Also, though, I should give myself some grace. MUCH of my reading over the last 9 years has been through audio. So, though unsettling, I should not dispense of the accumulated effect of thousands of hours of audios.
…Interesting.
SPARKED SUMMARY:
- 1 book accomplished for the year.
- The 2nd is close on its heels.
- Audio books count for my book count, but on topics I wish to develop mastery I will actually read the hard book. (Pay the price, Nieddu!)
BAM!
–Grant R. Nieddu
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
For a minute there I thought maybe you had changed your mind about reading books verses listening to books, but in the end you still recommend reading the actual book when looking to develop mastery on certain topics. Great article and keep knocking out those books for 2010!
Liz, thanks a ton. You rock. I love the tweets. They are solid. How are you finding that stuff? Do you want to get together tonight? What are you doing?