Many entrepreneurs think of theory and practice as being separate compartments , but the reality is they are like a double helix , and grow in tandem. They need each other, and the sounder your theoretical framework, the better you will be able to implement sound solutions in real life . And as you gain real life experience , your mental model will become more polished, because you will understand the nuances and exceptions even better.
You need a schema to make sense of what happen in life, otherwise all you will have will be isolated facts which you have picked up from your experience , but you will not be able to put together or learn from them. This is the difference between a blue-collar technician who has spent years on the assembly line, and and engineer who is willing to get his hands dirty to supplement what he has learned from his textbooks.
The more you read, the better will be your practice. And the more you practice and experience, the more value you will be able to extract from the books you read, which means this becomes a positive virtuous cycle !