There was a famous exchange between the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus and the King of Syria. The King traveled to ask Musonius, is it appropriate for a leader to study philosophy? Not only is it appropriate, Musonius said, but for no one is it more appropriate. What is the leader’s duty? Musonius asked, then answered, “to be able to protect and benefit his people.” Through countless situations that they have never been in before. Trying, painful, stressful, baffling dilemmas and difficulties unlike any they have known.
You’ll notice, this is nearly verbatim to what we say it means not to have kids, but to be a parent. A parent makes a commitment—a commitment to protecting and benefiting their children. “The person who intends to protect and help people,” Musonius says, “must know what is good for a human being and what is bad, what is helpful and what is harmful, what is useful and what is useless.”
Well, Musonius continues, to be able to protect and benefit your children, you have to know what is good for them and what is bad, what is helpful to them and what is harmful, what is beneficial to them and what is detrimental. Where does one go to arm themselves with the knowledge necessary to be able to make these distinctions? Books.
Harry Truman famously said that not all readers are leaders but all leader are readers. It is also true: not all readers are great parents but all great parents are readers. We have to be. We have to learn how to read for our own benefit—and so that we might benefit our children. We have to read to have aid to offer them, to be able to help learn good from bad, helpful from harmful, and useful from useless. We have to read to lead.
P.S. If you are struggling to put down the phone and pick up a book instead, try the Daily Stoic Read to Lead Challenge. Since it first launched in 2019, Read to Lead has been our most popular challenge, taken on by almost ten thousand people. “This challenge,” said one participant, “was the most eye-opening thing I have done in years.”
And if you are just looking for FREE monthly reading recommendations—which includes kids books!—sign up for Ryan’s Reading List Email here.
