The palm oil refinery was always alive — boilers roared, trucks queued, and instruments blinked endlessly. But Hana, the mill manager, knew that running a refinery wasn’t just about machines. It was about the mind behind the decisions.
Early in her career, she struggled. Reports piled up, breakdowns drained her energy, and her team looked to her for answers she sometimes didn’t have. She realized one thing: if she wanted to grow as a leader, she had to keep learning — every single day.
1. Learning Like Warren Buffett
Hana began dedicating one hour every morning to reading. Annual reports, industry journals, even biographies of engineers who built great plants.
Just as Buffett read for 5+ hours a day to build “compound knowledge” [1], Hana treated reading as fuel. Slowly, her decision-making sharpened. She could see patterns others missed.
2. Embracing Bill Gates’ Curiosity
She didn’t limit herself to technical manuals. Inspired by Gates’ wide reading — from history to science to fiction [2] — Hana picked up books on psychology, leadership, and even novels.
These stories helped her see her workers not just as “operators,” but as people with dreams and struggles. Reading deepened her empathy.
3. Drawing Inspiration Like Elon Musk
Hana remembered how Elon Musk devoured books as a child, sometimes 10 hours a day [3]. While she couldn’t match that, she filled her evenings with pages instead of endless TV. Every book opened a new world, and soon she was connecting refinery problems with ideas from space, economics, and biology.
4. Reflecting Like Executives at Goldman Sachs
Each month, Hana chose one impactful book or speech to reflect on with her team. She believed, like global executives, that diverse sources of wisdom shaped resilience and judgment [4].
Her team began sharing summaries of their own readings, turning “book talks” into part of mill culture.
5. Practicing Emotional Intelligence Through Reading
One night, Hana read a novel about hardship in a fishing village. The next day, when an operator came late to work, instead of scolding, she asked about his family. He was struggling with his father’s illness.
Reading had taught her emotional intelligence — the skill leaders need most [5].
🌱 The Transformation
Over time, Hana’s refinery began to thrive. Not just in production numbers, but in people.
Her team trusted her decisions, respected her empathy, and admired her wisdom.
When asked her secret, Hana would smile and say:
"Machines run on oil. Leaders run on knowledge. And the best way to fuel your mind is by reading every single day."
📚 References
[1] Investopedia. Warren Buffett Reading Habit. 2025.
[2] Time Magazine. Bill Gates on His Lifelong Love of Reading. 2025.
[3] World Economic Forum. 9 Successful People Share Their Reading Habits. 2025.
[4] Business Insider. Goldman Sachs Executives on Books and Leadership Lessons. 2024.
[5] IESE. Reading Fiction Helps Executives Lead Better. 2025.
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