Biographies are my go-to. Lee Iacocca’s is a must read for any manager.

Are you a car enthusiast? Have you ever sat in a dodge K-Car? What about a Caravan? A Ford Mustang Perhaps? Then you’ve sat in a vehicle build during Mr. Iacocca’s time at either Ford or Dodge as a President or CEO.

I’ve read that man’s autobiography over 15 times so far with his best line in my opinion being “ I’ve had so many managers tell me how much effort they put into their work that they don’t even have time to take holidays. My reply always being the same: “How can you come to me and say you are a stellar manager when you can’t even manage to balance work and personal life. If you were such a great manager, don’t you think you’d be able to manage to schedule in 2 weeks holidays in a 52 week year?” Of course none of them could disagree with me!”

That line always resonated in my head. I’ve managed many businesses and owned a couple, and unless there was something that required me to remain at work, and this would be an urgent matter, I always took my 2 weeks. Managers that don’t plan those 2 weeks are also the same managers you’ll see that are grumpy, complain that they are over worked and underpaid and never have time for themselves…. The only problem with this logic is,…. Who’s the manager? They are. I know as a manager I usually had some discretionary freedom when it came to my agenda… and on Jan 3rd I would always put my holidays on the agenda and I would never take them at the same time.

So if Mr. Iacocca, most of the Fortune 500 Companies’ managers and I can take my 2 weeks then so can they… If the book teaches anything it’s that. If you decide to read any biography, that’s for sure the one to read.