The Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman Ramón "CZ" Colón-López seems to believe in President Harry S. Truman's statement, "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."
The SEAC has released a reading list of five books for 2020, and all of them stress different aspects of leadership.
Colón-López wants service members to read the books and also discuss and reflect on the content of them.
It is an eclectic listing of books going from Attila the Hun to Ernest Shackleton, and from the highest mountains of the world to the halls of power. The one constant is each deal with leadership and has lessons for readers.
"My warrior ethos, profession as a pararescueman and active lifestyle led to the selection of these literary works," Colón-López wrote. "This year, I decided to focus on some of my early readings — many of which I continuously reference for wisdom."
Without further ado, here is the SEAC’s 2020 reading list:
- "The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun," by Dr. Wess Roberts;
- "Let the Word Go Forth," by Theodore Sorenson;
- "Military leadership: In Pursuit of Excellence," by Robert Taylor, William Rosenbach and Eric Rosenbach;
- "Moving Mountains: Lessons on Life and Leadership," by Reinhold Messner; and,
- "Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer," by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell.
The SEAC looks forward to discussing these books with service members as he travels. He wants service members to spread this list far and wide, because as Napoléon Bonaparte said: "Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world."
The SEAC will release another list in 2021.