Learning new skills, especially non-technical, is the most fun of all. Most businesses would have a better vibe if they understood how much this motivates programmers.
Humans learn by doing. Book reading and lessons are helpful. But could you have respect for a programmer who had never written a program? To learn a skill, you need to put yourself in an indulgent position where you can practice that skill. When learning a new programming language, try to do a small project in that language before you have to do a large project. When learning to manage a software project, try to manage a small one first.
A good mentor is no substitute for doing things yourself, but it is much better than a book. What can you offer a potential mentor in exchange for their knowledge? At a minimum, you should offer to study hard so that your time is not wasted.
Try asking your boss to let you take formal training, but understand that this is often no better than the same time spent just playing with the new skill you want to learn. In our imperfect world, however, it is easier to ask for training than for time to play, even if a lot of training is just drowsy at conferences, while waiting for dinner.
If you are leading people in a php company for example, understand how they learn and help them by giving them projects that are the right size and that call on skills that interest them. Remember that the most important skills for a programmer are not technical skills. Give your colleagues a chance to play, to show courage, to be honest and to communicate.
Learn to type on the keyboard
Learn to type on the keyboard. This is an intermediate skill, because writing code is so difficult that it doesn't matter how fast you can type and it is impossible to significantly reduce the time it takes to write code, regardless of your level. . However, as long as you are an intermediate programmer, you will likely spend a lot of time writing in natural language to your colleagues and others. This is a fun test of your engagement; it takes time and it's not a lot of fun to learn something like that. Legend has it that when Michael Tiemann was at MCC, people stood outside his door to listen to the hum generated by his keystrokes, which were so fast it was impossible to tell them apart.