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Article by Dan Hurley
Ava Rutter

Reading can benefit ones' knowledge, and this article explores the different reasons on how reading is good for the brain. In papers published by Temple University in 2010 and 2011, they discovered that as both young adults and adults read and improve their performance on working-memory tasks, they were better able to comprehend reading materials. James Flynn, a New Zealand professor, has also figured out that "Fluid intelligence", the ability to solve problems, can be increased by reading.

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When I was eight years old, I still couldn't read. I remember my teacher Mrs Browning walking over to my desk and asking me to read a few sentences from a Dick and Jane book. She pointed to a word. "Tuh-hee," I said, trying to pronounce it. "The," she said, correcting me, and that's when it clicked - the moment when I learned to read the word "the".

Growing up in Teaneck, New Jersey, in the 1960s, I was what Mrs Browning called "slow". During a parent-teacher meeting, she told my mother: "Daniel is a slow learner." I sat during lunch in the gymnasium with the - forgive the term - dumb kids. I was grouped with them during reading and maths: the "slow group".

And then, a year later, I was rescued by Spider-Man. My best friend Dan, who was reading chapter books by kindergarten, had started reading Spider-Man and other comics with some other kid, and together they began drawing and writing their own comics. In response to this loathsome intruder's kidnapping of my best friend, I began reading comics, too, and then began scrawling and scribbling my own. Soon, Dan and I were happily spending every afternoon on our masterworks, while the interloper was never heard from again.

By age 11, I was getting straight As. Later in my teens, I took a college admissions course in the US, and scored the equivalent of 136 on an IQ test. So what happened there? Was Mrs Browning right - was I actually "slow" when I was eight - and did I somehow become smarter because I immersed myself in reading and writing comic books?

In part to answer that question, I spent three years interviewing psychologists and neuroscientists around the world, reviewing their studies and testing new methods they claim can increase intelligence. And while nobody would ever call reading a "new" method for improving the mind, recent scientific studies have confirmed that reading and intelligence have a relationship so close as to be symbiotic.

That goes for all three meanings of the word "intelligence" widely recognised by psychologist. First, there is "crystallised intelligence" - the potpourri of knowledge that fills your brain. When you learn how to ride a bicycle, or the name of a new friend, you are gaining not just information but potentially useful knowledge that, in aggregate, forms the backbone of your ability to navigate and thrive in the world. By adding to that storehouse, reading increases your crystallised intelligence. That explains why some IQ tests include vocabulary words, which generally serve as a reliable proxy of how clever you are.

But all of us know people with little "book knowledge" who are nonetheless sharp and insightful. "Fluid intelligence" is that ability to solve problems, understand things and detect meaningful patterns. Of course, you can read little or nothing at all and still be brilliant at "reading between the lines" of a conversation. But in today's world, fluid intelligence and reading generally go hand in hand. In fact, the increased emphasis on critical reading and writing skills in schools may partly explain why students perform, on average, about 20 points higher on IQ tests than in the early 20th century. The so-called Flynn effect is named after James Flynn, a New Zealand professor who has devoted much of his career to studying the worldwide phenomena of increasing IQ scores. But if reading can increase fluid intelligence, the converse is also true: increased fluid intelligence also improves reading comprehension, according to studies by Jason Chein of Temple University in Philadelphia. He used "working memory" tasks that train people's ability to juggle and continually update multiple items of attention - to keep track of a moving dot, for instance, and recognise when it lands on a spot it occupied two, three or more moves ago. In papers published in scientific journals in 2010 and 2011, he showed that as both younger and older adults improved their performance on working-memory tasks, they were better able to comprehend reading materials.

A third type of intelligence has gained widespread interest of late: "emotional intelligence", the ability to accurately read and respond to your own and others' feelings. It may seem odd to imagine that reading can improve your emotional intelligence. But in October, the journal Science published an extraordinary study showing that reading literary fiction can improve people's theory of mind (ToM) - their ability to understand others' mental states. David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano, both of the New School for Social Research in New York, enlisted hundreds of participants online to read examples of either non-fiction, popular fiction or literary fiction, and then to take tests measuring the accuracy of their ToM. In five experiments, they showed that reading literary fiction led to better performance on tests of both emotional and cognitive ToM compared with reading non-fiction, popular fiction or nothing at all.

The literary fiction found to increase people's ToM included A Chameleon by Anton Chekhov, The Runner by Don DeLillo, and The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht. The study did, however, contain a glaring omission: it failed to measure the extraordinary impact of Spider-Man by that great literary genius, Stan Lee.

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When I was eight years old, I still couldn't read. I remember my teacher Mrs Browning walking over to my desk and asking me to read a few sentences from a Dick and Jane book. She pointed to a word. "Tuh-hee," I said, trying to pronounce it.

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By Kelsey Meyer

In a successful business, reading has shown to make a large impact. In this article they reveal how reading articles, and learning from peers can help one grow to be a leader, more specifically in a business. They go on about how reading will remind you of concepts to keep at the top of your mind, how reading will challenge you. Disagreeing with something you read can expand the mind to be "creative" and "logical." The article also mentions how reading can make opportunities to speak in a conversations. Referencing articles in an argument or conversation will give strength to what you're talking about.

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If you take only one glance at our professional branding company's leadership team, you may be surprised by our youthfulness. Our team is young (and looks even younger), but I am confident that the youthfulness of our team is helping our growth. That's not because I agree with anything stated by Cathryn Sloane in her article that declared that all social media managers should be under the age of 25 - it's because I believe that our employees' youthfulness drives their intellectual curiosity. They want to learn, and the most common way they search for new knowledge is by reading articles and books by successful business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs.

This doesn't need to apply only to young businesspeople, though. It can be even more important for seasoned employees; leaders must be readers. Reading and learning from peers within, and outside of, your industry enables you to grow as an employee, business owner, and leader in three distinct ways.
Reading Reminds You
I make it a habit to re-read specific books every year because I need constant reminders of the good things they've taught me. After my third reading of Gary Vaynerchuk's The Thank You Economy, I was inspired to work with our team to handwrite every one of our clients a thank-you note. Whether you re-read the same book or article to remind you of concepts, or read content on time management and organization as a constant reminder to work on these things, reading is valuable because it keeps important concepts top of mind.
Reading Challenges You
A female co-worker of mine, whom I respect immensely, recently gave me a book and said, "I disagree with about 80% of this, but you should definitely read it." I loved that she was sharing a book that challenged her opinions, yet felt it was worthwhile reading for the 20% that was valuable. Reading something you disagree with can have a big impact on your ability to think, both creatively and logically.
Reading Gives You Opportunities to Interact with Others
I have referenced articles and books I've read in countless conversations, not to sound intelligent or cool (some of what I read would accomplish the opposite), but to relate to those with whom I'm speaking. Here are a few ways you should be making the most of what you're reading:

Take notes and share them with your team.

An investor in our company sends me, on average, five articles a day and I always put them in a file that says "To Read." When I have 10 minutes at the end of the day, I read an article or two, knowing that I can discuss these pieces with him later. It's a great way for us to share ideas and inspire action in each other.

Spark debates with your team.

I also like using article topics to spark debate amongst our team members about how we should address a subject. I've heard of companies creating book clubs, where employees discuss topics in books that relate to their industry during lunch once a month. Sparking debate and sharing ideas is a wonderful way to use written content as a team-bonding tool.

Back up an idea you have or a decision you want to make.

You can use an article/book/speech from a respected person in your field to back up a decision you want to make. I'm not saying you should make decisions based solely on what you read, but it does give you more leverage when you say, "I read in So-and-So's book that he had success with X, and I thought that we could implement this idea in our company by doing Y." It's a little more likely to stick than saying, "Who knows if this has ever worked for anyone in the past? But heck, let's be the first to see if it can work!"

If you're one of those people who claim you don't have time to read, then first, I question why you're reading my measly little article. Second, I encourage you to make time. Time never "appears" for anything; you have to make it. If nothing else, learn how to multitask. Listen to content while driving or walking to work (I suggest "This American Life" and "Intelligence Squared" on NPR - I'm obsessed with both). If you don't have time to read an entire book, read short articles online. If you're dying to read a book but honestly can't find the time, then pair up with a friend and take turns reading and sharing the ideas through short descriptions, or find excerpts of the book online.

If you are a leader, you should be striving to develop knowledge to improve yourself, your company, and the people who work for you. To do anything less is to shortchange your ability to lead.
Kelsey Meyer is the Vice President of Digital Talent Agents, an online PR firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs, universities, and corporate leaders establish themselves as thought leaders in their industries. Kelsey has been involved with four successful startups and is actively involved in the entrepreneurship community in Missouri.

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by Kelsey Meyer If you take only one glance at our professional branding company's leadership team, you may be surprised by our youthfulness. Our team is young (and looks even younger), but I am confident that the youthfulness of our team is helping our growth. That's not because I agree with anything [...]