To many people, it is a foregone conclusion that to succeed in any profession you need to have good literacy skills. Our reading and writing ability has a huge impact on getting the type of job we qualify for, our career progress and earning potential. On a daily basis we have to read emails, memos, write reports, read and follow instructions and communicate and debate ideas and decisions. However, there is still a literacy crisis in most countries around the world. For example, 93 million adults in the US read at, or below, the basic level needed to contribute successfully to society and 43% per cent of American adults are functionally illiterate. Statistics for South Africa estimate that roughly 8.5 million adults are illiterate according to UNESCO.  In South Africa research has shown that about 4 million people in the country have never attended school.

People who cannot read, or who read poorly, tend to have low self-esteem. They are easily manipulated as they cannot do their own research, thus they are limited in what they can achieve and are mostly unable to find employment. There is no doubt that if we want to improve South Africa’s social and economic development, we have to improve our literacy skills, writing and communicating. Without literacy people may never reach their full potential.   For literacy to be enhanced, we need to instil the love of reading from the youngest member of our society to the eldest. Every workplace should have a literacy program to empower their staff and members of their surrounding communities. A small way in which to start improving reading skills could be a book club where employees can discuss books on topics related to their industry.

So why is reading so important? Reading develops the mind as well as imagination and creativity. Understanding the written word increases language skills such as spelling, comprehension and being able to listen and understand someone else’s words. It teaches you new terms, words and expressions as well as the contexts in which to use them.  In our professional lives we should read to improve our ideas, our understanding of the world in terms of politics, history, technology, business etc. Reading gives you the opportunity to gain experience from leaders in their respective fields, learning from their successes and failures.

Reading helps you to stand in someone else’s shoes. Although we live in a world where free speech is a right, people most often only read what they presume to be the truth, yet, reading what you disagree with can have a great impact on your ability to think logically and develop your own point of view on such matters.

Even though one might be able to read, write and communicate well, in our modern globalised world literacy has become more diverse and thus we also have to be able to use and understand information in a digital format such as on computers, using the internet as well as on cell phones.

Make reading a habit, make time for reading, empower yourself, learn and grow not only in your personal life but also in your professional life.

This quotation by John Waters, possibly says it all:

“You should never read just for “enjoyment.” Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends’ insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick “hard books.” Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god’s sake, don’t let me ever hear you say, “I can’t read fiction. I only have time for the truth.” Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of “literature”? That means fiction, too, stupid.”