By Paul Todd
CEO at GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group) the world’s leading platform for on demand professional learning. As a new CEO, I’m thinking about leadership a lot – how to be a good leader, what kind of leader my company needs. Where can the best insights be found? There are a million books about leadership out there. I’ve read many, and occasionally they are excellent. But some of the best leadership lessons I’ve ever learned have come from an unexpected source: fiction. Reading fiction has always been one of my favorite things to do. It provides the simple pleasure of a good story well told – plus, it clears my mind of whatever issues I’m facing, professionally or personally, and offers a different way of thinking about things. It’s not easy to make time for reading in between running a company and having a family, so I grab every spare minute I can. And while I almost never open a novel in search of life lessons, I often close a book and realize that I’ve just learned something that will help me in my life and job. For anyone looking for leadership tips and book recommendations from exceptionally good writers, here are five great novels that ended up holding powerful leadership lessons for me – and maybe for you. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro: This is a fable about a couple searching for their son in a fairy-tale version of medieval England. A fog hovers over the landscape, smothering people’s memories.
That’s true for reading fiction, too. Many of us don’t read fiction to learn, gain new perspectives, or discover vital life lessons. We read purely for the pleasure of it. But along the way, we do learn important lessons and gain valuable new perspectives. Obliquity at work! What are your favorite novels and what leadership lessons do they offer? I’m always looking for recommendations, so please add yours in the comments. Happy reading!
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