Virtues of Reading Books of Fiction to Become Winning Corporate Leaders
- Md. Tabarak Hossain Bhuiyan
Some of the most valuable skills that managers need to inculcate include: self-discipline, self-awareness, problem-solving technique, empathy, acclimatization, flexibility, balancing though, fairness & justice, generosity, kindness. However, the list is inclusive not exhaustive.
There are various ways to develop these skills. Of course, there is no short cut in acquiring these skills. One has to invest time and energy to do it. Reading books of fiction can be one of the means to develop such soft skills. A research article titles: The Case for Reading Fiction written by Christine Seifert, published in the Harvard Business Review on March 06,2020, mentioned that a research on neuroscience suggests that reading literary fiction helps people develop empathy, theory of mind, and critical thinking.
When we talk about reading books, we usually assume that the best reason to pick a book to read is to gain knowledge. But reading fiction may provide far more important benefits than nonfiction. For example, reading fiction predicts increased social acuity and a sharper ability to comprehend other people’s motivations. Reading nonfiction is good for acquiring knowledge, but it does little to develop Emotional Quotient (EQ). The EQ is the ability to identify and manage our emotions and the emotions of others. Reading fictions can best help develop the EQ which, in turn, can help develop our art of management as it is imperative to understand the feelings and emotions of the people you manage.
High-level business leaders have proved the virtues of reading to be effective for any winning corporate managers and leaders. Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, spends much time reading books on regular basis. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban says he reads more than three hours a day. Unfortunately, most of our corporate leaders and managers are far away from the touch of books. They become annoyed when there is any discussion about reading fiction. They think reading fiction is unnecessary and cause just wastage of time. Then my question, “Have Warren Buffet and other corporate giants all around the world gone wrong?” If they wasted their time by reading books then how could they succeed in building their empire and generating huge employment? I don’t say all but most of us avoid not only reading books by ourselves, but also we discourage others. However, there are still some managers who are different.
How Books Shape Employee Experiences: One reason fiction works so well in the workplace is that the characters, plots, and settings in foreign environment help dealing with difficult discussions and work through sensitive issues with open mind.
Those who have a strong reading habits are more willing to tackle tough questions. They are interested to address questions about how to balance tradition with innovation; they become willing to accept others’ viewpoints, and listen to each other with more care. This is how they create an excellent work environment for the employees.
Why to Read Books of Fiction? Research suggests that reading literary fiction is an effective way to enhance the brain’s ability to keep an open mind while processing information, a necessary skill for effective decision-making. Reading books of fiction enhances our attention span, embodied cognition and it heightened the connectivity within a portion of our brain known as left temporal cortex.
When we consistently read, our attention span increases. When we read a book of fiction, we put ourselves in the shoes of the characters in the fiction and our brains come under exercise. When we think about the connections between stories, plots, facts and subjects, the brain becomes sharper and its retention power goes up. University of Toronto researchers discovered that individuals in their study who read short stories demonstrated a lower need for cognitive closure (the human desire to eliminate ambiguity and arrive at definite conclusions). That result is OK because reading literature requires us to slow down, take in volumes of information, and then change our minds as we read. There’s no easy answer in literature; instead, there’s only perspective-taking.
Investing in Reading
CEOs in our country may be reluctant to invest time, money, and energy for literary reading. Marvin A. Riley, President and the CEO of EnPro Industries, a manufacturing company, was looking for ways to enhance the company’s “dual bottom line culture.” He wanted to “establish psychological safety, practice collaboration, utilize critical thinking, and above all, create high personal engagement.” This is possible where there is a culture of reading books of fiction. In the age of globalization, no company and for that matter no CEO can work in isolation. And, therefore, our corporate CEOs / managers must follow the Corporate Leaders/ CEOs like Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban and Marvin A. Riley.