Reading supplies experience beyond an officer's own career

Experience in successive jobs is valuable but too narrow to prepare an officer for every future responsibility. Mahan and Sims call the officer who masters only today's technical task 'practical,' while professional preparation requires intellectual engagement with greater responsibilities. Sims urges officers to think ahead to their superior's work and even the next level above that. Reading gives access to other people's decisions and problems before an officer encounters them personally. Armstrong recalls naturally gifted leaders, while crediting study with improving his own leadership. His recommendation is a manageable habit of fifteen or twenty minutes a night, which he estimates can amount to a book a month.