In a famous exchange, the King of Syria asked the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus whether it was appropriate for a leader to study philosophy. Not only is it appropriate, Musonius answered, but for no one is it more appropriate. Musonius went on to say that a leader’s duty is “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.

This is also exactly what it means 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.”

To be able to protect and benefit your children, you have to know all of these things. 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 leaders are readers. It is also true that 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.

That’s exactly what we’re doing over at the Daily Stoic with our newly relaunched Read to Lead Challenge. We want you to get the most out of everything you read, whether it’s a parenting book, a Stoic text, classic literature, or anything else. And we want you to use what you get from those books to benefit your children.

Over six weeks, Ryan Holiday will walk you through the reading practice he uses in his life every day—to help him become a better professional, a better parent, and a better person. You’ll learn how to find the books that are worth your time, how to work through ones above your level, how to keep what matters, and how to turn what you read into action. You’ll build the beginnings of a real library, a foundation for lifelong learning—and you’ll do it alongside a community of other readers.

When you sign up for our all-new Read to Lead Challenge this month, you’ll get:

• Invitation to the live Q&A session with Ryan Holiday on September 23—ask him about building a lasting, meaningful reading practice (sign up by September 22 for access)
• 20% OFF discount code to use on thepaintedporch.com for books from the recommended reading list
• Access to the NEW digital community space—go through the challenge alongside others, ask questions, and connect with like-minded people committed to honing their reading practice
• 15 reading challenges over six weeks—strategies to help you read more widely and deeply, organize what you learn, and find books that will impact your life

Join us and our global Daily Stoic community this month as we take on the Read to Lead Challenge.

Learn more and sign up at dailystoic.com/readtolead.