How a Book Works (When It Really Works)

A book that matters doesn’t just inform: it moves, it structures, it lingers. It’s a quiet technology that — when read properly — changes how we think, how we observe, and how we decide. At Quosuma, we don’t read to decorate our speeches. We read to build judgement.
A good book — like a good conversation — can shift a strategy or open a door we didn’t know was there.

To read well is to work well.

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Reading With Method

Professional reading is not about accumulation. It isn’t measured in titles or pages per hour. It’s a practice of attention: knowing when to pause, to reframe, to compare. In a world obsessed with speed, reading is an act of resistance.

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In consulting, reading with method trains deeper thinking:

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• It allows us to abstract without losing connection to the real world.

• It helps us spot patterns, dominant narratives or invisible biases.

• It prepares us not to improvise with borrowed phrases, but to argue with intent.

We read in layers: first the context, then the argument, then the language. A book is not exhausted by its summary — it reveals itself in its folds.

Underlining Is Thinking in Real Time

At Quosuma, underlining is a daily habit. But we don’t underline pretty phrases — we mark the dangerous ones: the ones that shake a hypothesis or light up a case from a new angle.

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• A good underline is a way to annotate your own thinking.

• It helps you return to a text with a fresh perspective — to reuse it as a tool.

• It becomes active memory: each underline a possible opening line for a report, a meeting or a new strategy.

We don’t use post-its for show — each one holds a viewpoint worth sharing.

Living Libraries

In our work, we distinguish between seasonal reads and foundational texts. The former inform. The latter transform.

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Our living library is made up of books that:

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• Bring order to strategic thinking

• Refine our understanding of human behaviour

• Deconstruct management clichés

• Train us in clear writing

• And remind us that the world is bigger than Excel

A consultant doesn’t need an infinite library.
 

They need one that speaks back.

Reading to Advise Better

Reading is also a form of listening. Many books teach us how to understand conflict without taking sides, how to detect what’s left unsaid, how to grasp systems without losing the human touch. That’s the kind of reading that matters in consulting — the kind that keeps ego in check and keeps the craft alive.

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And yes, we also read fiction. Because fiction hones empathy and moral judgement — two tools no MBA can guarantee. Reading Virginia Woolf or Knausgård isn’t a luxury — it’s how we prepare ourselves to truly hear a client.

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A useful book isn’t judged by what it teaches — but by what it forces us to re-examine.