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9/7/2018 Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/influential-people-importance-reading/794975 1/5

Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

GABRIELLE LUTZE

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9/7/2018 Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/influential-people-importance-reading/794975 2/5

In my study of successful people, the one thing they all seem to have in common is a passion

and dedication for reading.  Below are three firsthand accounts from highly influential people

highlighting the importance of reading.

1 . W A R R E N B U F F E T T A N D C H A R L I E M U N G E R

I group these two together because of the extent to which they share the same

ideologies. The duo is legendary for their longstanding business and investing prowess

through investments at Berkshire Hathaway, which has consistently outperformed the market

since its inception.

The result has spawned an army of devoted followers and has earned Bu�ett and Munger

titles of two of the richest men on the planet. As a testament to their influence, thousands of

people fly in from across the world to spend just a day listening to Bu�ett and Munger speak

at their annual shareholder’s meeting.

So when Bu�ett or Munger give advice, we should listen. The two largely share the same

philosophies on best business practices and investment styles, and they also happen to

agree on the same method for success.  In a 2007 commencement speech given at the USC

School of Law, Charlie Munger said:

I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most

diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they

were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run

ahead of you.

He goes on to reference Bu�ett as an example of such a learning machine:

9/7/2018 Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/influential-people-importance-reading/794975 3/5

If you watched Warren Bu�ett with a time clock, I would say half of all the time he spends

is just sitting on his ass and reading. And a big chunk of the rest of the time is spent

talking on the phone or personally with people he trusts.

Bu�ett echoes his partner’s sentiments. When asked how to get smarter at a conference, he

held up a stack of papers and said:

Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like

compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will.

2 . M A R K C U B A N

Mark Cuban seems to achieve success in every industry he enters, whether it’s business,

entertainment, technology, investing or sports. He started and sold his first business, Micro

Solutions (a systems integrator and software reseller), despite never having formally studied

technology or software. How did he do it?

The reason, according to Cuban, is that reading gave him the competitive advantage to

succeed where others couldn’t, and this applies to all endeavors. As he explains in his book,

"How to Win at the Sport of Business,"

I read every book and magazine I could. Heck, three bucks for a magazine, twenty bucks

for a book. One good idea would lead to a customer or a solution, and those magazines

and books paid for themselves many times over. Some of the ideas I read were good,

some not. In doing all the reading I learned a valuable lesson. Most people won’t put in

the time to get a knowledge advantage. Sure, there were folks that worked hard at picking

up every bit of information that they could, but we were few and far between. To this day, I

9/7/2018 Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/influential-people-importance-reading/794975 4/5

feel like if I put in enough time consuming all the information available, particularly with

the Internet making it so readily accessible, I can get an advantage in any technology

business

3 . M A L C O L M X

Perhaps the most inspirational example of the importance of reading comes from the life story

of Malcolm X. He dropped out of school upon completing the 8th grade, disgusted with the

educational system after a white teacher at the school had discouraged him in his dream of

becoming a lawyer.

Out of school, Malcolm X eventually entered into the world of drug dealing and pimping in

Harlem at age 18, then got into larger robberies and was arrested and incarcerated for

larceny at age 20.

However, Malcolm X began to turn his life around during his time in prison, partly through his

conversion to Islam, but more so through a fellow inmate who inspired in him a serious

passion for reading. He writes in his autobiography:

In every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk.

You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge [...] In fact, up until then, I had

never been so truly free in my life [...] My homemade education gave me, with every

additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness and

blindness that was a�icting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer

telephoned my from London, asking questions. One was, ‘What’s your alma mater?’ I told

him, ‘Books.’ You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying

something...

9/7/2018 Why Reading Is The Most Important Key To Success, As Told By 3 Successful People

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These three people worked or continue to work in a range of fields spanning business,

investing, technology, politics, public speaking, civil rights and leadership.

They lived or live through di�erent periods of time with di�erent purposes and missions in

life. Yet the common link among them is their a�nity for reading and their accreditation of

success to that key trait.

The takeaway is, regardless of your endeavor, your current situation, your upbringing, or the

path you wish to take in life, reading is the key to upward mobility. It may not guarantee

success, but it surely increases the chances of it.

Fortunately, the amount of time we spend reading is entirely within our control, so get to it.

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