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Once upon a time, it was thought that having a familiarity with good fiction was an important part of being a well rounded individual. But many people now seem to deride this cultural literacy as unnecessary and irrelevant to the “practical” affairs of business and commerce. I think, though, that there are several ways that reading good fiction can help, even in business.

1. Learn leadership lessons

Many, perhaps most, novels written over the years have to do in some way with people in positions of authority. In a novel, we are given the opportunity to see things as if in a scientific experiment. We can see what the effects of a leader’s decisions are without having to make them ourselves. By comparing different leaders, we can control for variables and see what the author wants us to learn about their decisions.

If the author is a good writer, with genuine insight into human nature, we can learn things that would be very difficult to discover in real life. We can learn, for example, how the greatest leaders are able to empathize in some way both with those they lead and with those whom they oppose. And we can see how this all works out in the leader’s mind, rather than from the outside.

2. Get a change of perspective

One of the most crucial aspects of business in the creative age is the ability to see things from a new perspective, to see things in a way that others around you don’t. It’s a sort of cognitive shift.

You know those optical illusions which contain two pictures? If you look at it a certain way, all you see is a picture. But if you look at it in another way and can induce that cognitive shift, you see something totally different.

Good fiction allows us to do the same thing for our entire worldview. Science fiction and fantasy are especially good for this, as are classics over 100 years old.

3. Learn to write well

It is a truism that if you want to write well, you should read a lot. Writing has always been an important part of business, but with the rise of individual and company blogs, it becomes even more necessary to know how to carry a story.

Obviously there are plenty of non-fiction books about how to write. But for many people, the best way to learn is by example. After you’ve finished a novel, ask yourself, “How did the author manage to keep my attention for 300 pages?” The answer, whether it be suspense, beautiful language, or something entirely different, is something that you can use.

4. Find the moral of the story

Sometimes this can overlap with the first point, but I have in mind something a bit broader. If you are reading Anna Karenina, one of the morals you might draw from it is the importance of remaining faithful to your promises even when you want to do otherwise. Obviously this can apply to leaders, but that’s because it can apply to anyone.

By paying attention to the structure of the story, we can learn vividly the moral and practical lessons the author is teaching. Sometimes these will be good. Other times they will be highly questionable. But if we pay attention, we can figure that out for ourselves.

5. A way to escape

Yes, I know that escapism is a nasty word, but I’ve never quite understood why. JRR Tolkien once asked, “Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?” Obviously, he has in mind here the sort of demeaning work common in the industrial age (and the present), but even if you find your own work very satisfying in itself, to always be captive and subject to its call without any way out can become a prison all its own.

Escaping, at least for a while, can help you return to your work refreshed and with a renewed sense of purpose.

Recommended Reading

So, now that you’ve got an excuse to go read, what will it be? Here is a list of books that I think is particularly appropriate for each category.

1. Leadership - Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1)
2. Perspective - The Phantom Tollbooth
3. Writing - Stardust
4. The Moral - Salem’s Lot
5. Escape - Harry Potter

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Creativity, Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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