How Fiction has helped me grow as an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are told to always be reading and learning. We immerse ourselves in reading books on business, leadership, psychology, and personal growth. Bestseller lists feature the hottest new must-read books for 2021. And when I listen to a business podcast, it feels as if the entire podcast has been designed to host authors so they can promote their latest book.
I happen to be a bookworm myself, and I often read one new five-star business bestseller after the other. But sometimes it feels that I am just reading the same books over and over. Am I really getting any wiser consuming the best 10 business books that came out in the last year?
There was a time when every book I read was non-fiction. I believed I had no time for fiction. But after reading a few novels, I realized I had been missing out on all these years.
Fiction has helped me expand my thinking and approach my life and businesses in an entirely new manner. Fiction has made me a wiser person.
Fiction helps us understand people
I don’t care how many books on psychology and negotiation strategy that you read, but nothing beats a writer developing characters in novels. Those deeply complex and flawed characters go through all these struggles with their family and their relationships.
The stories of men and women who had big dreams, but all fell apart because they did not follow the correct path. Stories of people getting knocked down and getting back up. These are the stories entrepreneurs should be reading. Not “how to set goals” by the latest performance coach looking for speaking engagements.
One of the best books (actually it's a series of 4 books) that I read in the last few years is the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante. The story follows the lives of two women from their childhood in the early 50s to the 1990s growing up in a working-class neighborhood in post-war Italy. The dialogue is raw; the scenes are intense, and the plots are mid-bending.
We hear the stories of Stefano who builds one successful grocery, then opens another, and then starts expanding left and right. Success goes to his head before he eventually realizes that he is in heavy debt to the local mafia sharks. He spends the rest of his life in despair and in poverty, doing petty jobs.
Elena writes a novel while she is still a student and gets discovered by a publisher. Her book becomes an overnight success. Her career takes off, but she then spends the next ten years struggling to produce her 2nd book, while she deals with the challenges of motherhood. Many years later, chance and serendipity put her on a fresh path of success as a writer.
We learn about Lila, a brilliant girl who never finishes school. She is however highly intelligent and can successfully execute every business idea that she comes up with. After a tumultuous romantic affair, her heart is broken. She spends years in a state of depression before she bounces back and goes on again to do great things.
The stories above are all relatable. We have all become in our lives complacent. We have all had our hearts broken. We have all dealt with head trash, and the inability to take action in our business. We recognize these characters in ourselves.
Fiction helps us understand different points of view
Politically I have always been a proponent of free-market politics and giving freedom to businesses. But something interesting happened when I read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. For the first time in my life, I actually understood and sympathized with proponents of the opposite argument.
If I hear a left-wing politician ranting, I just consider them an opportunist demagogue (many of them are actually). However, when John Steinbeck immersed me into that family of farmers, who are forced to endure extreme poverty and tragedy, well then you look at the world differently. Not that I have necessary revised my political views, but at least I can understand where the opposite argument is coming from.
Next time I hear someone arguing for higher minimum wage or longer unemployment benefits, I won’t just dismiss them. I will actually try to understand more about their worldview and their origins.
In business, we are often forced to sit down with people who differ greatly from us. We need to find a means to communicate and come up with mutually beneficial solutions. Reading novels that shake up your worldview will make you a better listener, a better negotiator, and a much better leader.
The greatest leaders are fictional characters
And speaking of leadership, the best leadership books that I have ever read are those epic novels where the hero is forced to confront his biggest fears before slaying the monster. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins experiences one setback after the other in his quest to destroy the ring. Like a genuine leader, he builds alliances with others. He loses cherished friends along the way. Other allies will betray him. But sometimes Frodo is down and beaten, and he gets outside help to stay alive and keep moving.
Haven’t we entrepreneurs experienced those moments? Those moments where we felt down and defeated, and something unexpected happened. I remember a few years ago; I was struggling to meet my payment obligations. Suppliers were getting nervous, and I could not finance my ongoing production. I was an emotional train wreck. Suddenly a new unknown customer appeared out of nowhere. He placed an order on the spot, and his advance payment gave me a massive lifeline.
Entrepreneurs are meant to be resourceful. Isn’t that what the gurus tell us? Well, look no further than the character of Paul Atreides from Dune. Who is called upon to lead his people on a planet where water is very limited? Dune is such a surreal science fiction book that you need to read 100 pages just to understand what is going on. But once you get into it, you realize this is the most brilliant thing that you have ever read.
If Paul Atreides can lead his people in such a hostile environment, well, that’s all the inspiration you need to lead your own business out of messy situations.
Oh, and Fiction allows for better sleep
As a final note, Fiction is also great for getting a good night’s sleep. You don’t want to be reading marketing and negotiating tactics before bedtime. Your mind needs to completely shut off work before bed, and fiction lets you travel to other places. Occasionally I wake at 4 am worrying about work. In the past, I would address this problem by getting up and working (gasp!) Not any more. I pick up a good novel and within 20 minutes my mind has relaxed, and I have drifted off to sleep again.
Read more fiction, and you shall become a better entrepreneur.
