One reason biographies of famous leaders are so popular among those who want to excel is that they rarely get the chance to see other leaders make decisions. As a result, their learning about decision-making is somewhat stunted.
By reading about how famous leaders faced difficult decisions, they get to learn how critical decisions unfold and get made behind the scenes. Better yet, the best biographies are a delight to read and offer piquant insights about what it takes to make better decisions.
Some of the best leaders are deliberate readers and their genre of choice is the biographies of famous decision-makers.
Reading about how well-known decision-makers handle complex decisions helps leaders to recognize the hidden assumptions underlying the thinking process, why values influence or fail to impact choices and options, how competing interests weigh against each other and affect the perspectives decision-makers take, and why data and experience hinder or help the process, among other important lessons.
For thoughtful readers, decision-makers highlighted in biographies serve as virtual mentors, offering guidance, advice, and models for those who want to learn from the successes and failures burnished in history.
The best leaders and learners don’t over-extrapolate from a decision made by a famous leader from another time or context. Instead, they look for those actions, questions, and approaches worth emulating and incorporating into their own style of decision-making.
There is no optimal or flawless leader. But there are behaviors, routines, and practices that are universal and timeless in their application. Rather than make heroes out of famous decision-makers and leaders, good leaders hold up what they did and how they did it as it applies to their own contemporary challenges.
By eschewing heroes and raising the learnings of best practice, leaders can cobble together a working draft of what it means to be a better decision-maker. By grabbing a singular lesson from each biography, leaders soon develop their own unique decision-making style that propels them forward.
A few compelling titles to put on your list:
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart
- The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Indra Nooyi’s autobiography, My Life in Full, is another good choice.
The narratives of exceptional decision-makers, like these exemplars, inspire leaders to learn from their experiences and apply the lessons to their own leadership challenges. All that is required is the time and interest to read and absorb. What biography is on your nightstand?
