Reading is a Competitive Advantage
“You will leave here with the same degree, the same network, and the same starting point. Where you finish will be determined by who keeps reading, who keeps learning, and who refuses to quit.”
For some reason, this insight stuck with me more than anything I learned in grad school. Sadly, I don’t even remember who said it, only that it became ingrained after a successful guest lecturer ended his talk with that line.
It was either that speech, or that I’ve been fortunate to work with enormously talented people who‘ve spent time at some of the best schools and firms in the world, that led me to realize the only way I could complete was to devour books and blogs.
Since then, I’ve been a reader and reading has had an enormous impact on my career.
I enjoy reading and even more I love interacting with books.
If you pick up a book in my office that I liked, you’ll find sticky notes and highlights all over it. Those notes make it into Obsidian and they get linked together by common, enduring ideas called evergreens. I also treat Readwise like my own personal X feed.
Becoming a lifelong learner is the best career decision I have ever made.
I hadn’t thought about that in this way until I read an article in the Financial Times this week that highlighted a study published a few months ago by the University of Florida.
It found that leisure reading has dropped by 40% over the past 20 years (from 28% in 2003 to 16% in 2023) among teens. Not surprising given the amount of other things we have access to for fun compared to 2005 when the iPhone hadn’t yet been invented.
The ability to waste your time staring at a screen has never been easier than it is today.
Yet, it’s also true that the ability to learn has never been easier than it is today.
The chart above demonstrates a familiar shape. Like today’s economy, there’s a K-shape curve in learning, too.
The people who have access to and utilize all of the new tools will thrive. The people who do not will fall behind.
Like most parents, I think a lot about this. I don’t believe in taking screens completely away from kids. They will need to learn how to develop self-regulation against distraction and protect their attention spans.
Living in the Information Age is wonderful and AI will enhance our ability to learn in ways we can’t even comprehend yet. I want my kids to be at the forefront of that.
At the same time, we refuse to let them have iPads or phones at dinner or restaurants. And, we limit screen time to weekends only.
We read every night before bed and I make it a point to use real books at home so that my kids see me interacting with something other than a device.
There are no easy answers to creating the perfect balance between the two forces above. Like so much in life, it’s a balance.
If I can help it, I want them on the right side of that K-shaped curve. The people who keep reading, who keep learning, they’re going to have an enormous advantage. That was true when I heard it over a decade ago and it’s going to be more true over the next one.
Ideas I'm Chasing
Clarity and conciseness of a message creates buy-in from the audience.
It is easy to predict the ordinary, but not the irregular. Yet, the money is often in the latter.
Ideas I'm Collecting
You should be clear that knowledge is originally empty, and unless knowledge is put into action, nothing will happen. - Rockefeller, 38 Letters to His Son
Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information. - Solitude and Leadership
In most of our decisions, we are not betting against another person. Rather, we are betting against all the future versions of ourselves that we are not choosing." - Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets
This is a weekly newsletter about energy and investing. To receive it in your inbox each week, subscribe here: