Susan reading

Reading

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — From Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murikami

Reading great works of fiction can make you a better business leader. Great fiction—I mean classic, enduring literature—puts you inside the minds and hearts of people in unusual, complex and even ordinary situations in a way nothing else does. No other form of expression or study can bring you as close to the thoughts of others as great literature. (My humble opinion.)

Do people you work with ever make decisions you can hardly believe or take actions that make you stammer, gag, laugh, or despair? Would you like to better understand them? Then go meet some of the great characters in fiction. Sure, it may not be factual, but it is true — true about human behavior, about emotional realities. Let extraordinary writers take you inside the heads of memorable characters and you’ll discover how they make decisions, make mistakes, perceive injustice, inflict harm on others, react to danger, compete, change, care—and much more.

There are many great books to choose from. Here are a few of my favorites, many of them with plots involving business (click for more info on each):

And these are my very favorite business books, and I promise you there’s not a flash-in-the-pan, shallow, self-serving marketing vehicle on the list. These are enduring books, offering insights and practical advice I wish more business leaders would apply every day. Or at least once in a while.




Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser

Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway