The business case for fiction

In a recent blog I passed on Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s praise of philosophy and other serious reading. I want to make the case for reading fiction.

There are good reasons for reading including novels of all kinds – basically it’s enjoyable.  More than that though, I suggest there is a business case for fiction. So much of business is about people – your colleagues, your customers, your business partners – and a good novel provides insight into their hearts.

So, when friend asked me recently what to read before she went to China, I lent her three novels. I could have recommended a textbook which explains what it means to live in a communist country with a rampant capitalist economy but stories make it much more real.


Qiu Xiaolong’s Death of a Red Heroine shows how the Communist Party reaches into all parts of the state, including the police force. It’s also an advanced course in how to negotiate the system of guanxi, the Chinese culture of networking, all wrapped up in a good detective story.

Yu Hua’s Brothers is one of the best ways to understand the development of Chinese business. More readable and funny than most books about business, it really gets inside how Chinese entrepreneurs have built businesses as opportunities opened up after the Maoist era.

To feel what it is like for our young students who come to us from the China Agricultural University in Beijing, I found Xiaolu Guo’s novel 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth illuminating. This slim volume captures the excitement and bleakness of youth in the big cities. She paints universal and specifically Chinese qualities of youth with a freshness and insight which makes her one of my favourite contemporary novelists. In fact, read this one even if you’re not going to China because it’s good.

In all these books, you get into the hearts as well as the minds of the characters and you get into the heart of the country. It’s not just about knowing or even understanding, it’s about feeling what it is like. If students referenced novels in their assessment of a country for a market entry strategy, they wouldn’t get a very high mark but that’s the paper exercise. Once you’re ready to get on the plane to make the contacts and build the business relationships, then the human feeling and insight become more important: my case for reading novels on your flight.

So what, I’m wondering, would I recommend to someone coming to Britain to do business? That’s harder with a much wider choice than my stock of Chinese novels and a lack of perspective on what people need to feel and understand about us. Any suggestions?

About the Author: Elizabeth Parkin
Elizabeth had a 25 year career in management before joining the University seven years ago as Manager for “Pod” Programmes. She also held the post of MBA Academic Director before moving on to becoming Head of Department for Management and Business Systems.