When I was a child, I didn’t like to read. Many writers, if not most, talk about how much they loved to read to as a child, but I truly had no interest. As I grew up, though, reading became ever more important. The reading I started with as a teenager (Danielle Steele romance novels) wasn’t highbrow, but gradually I started to enjoy the classics, making my way through many of the books on Harvard’s Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.
The books on that list range from James Joyce’s “Ulysses” (which I have not yet read) to Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” (which I did).
I wonder if a selection of books from a list like this, or a list the Learning team curates on its own, could become an essential part of employee development plans.
Lessons from Literature
The most common approach to incorporating books into corporate learning plans is to focus on non-fiction business books. I see the merit of that; however, many of us find those books dry and unenjoyable. My mind starts to wander.
I, too, once focused on non-fiction reading. When I was in college, I went through a phase when as a rule, I only read non-fiction. I enjoyed—and felt compelled to read—presidential biographies. I particularly enjoyed Edmund Morris’ “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “No Ordinary Time” about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. That said, as much as I enjoyed those books, and took lessons in leadership from them, I often find historical fiction and straight fiction more instructive.
The fiction writer can be omniscient, and that omniscience allows them to explore the psychological underpinnings and motivations behind decision-making. Having endured a traumatic episode or two in the corporate world tied to unethical decision-making, I find that conversations about why people do the things they do can be highly instructive.
In Gore Vidal’s historical fiction work, “Lincoln,” rivals are not obstacles to be removed but people to work with and potentially learn from. In particular, William Seward, who became Lincoln’s Secretary of State, and Salmon Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury, were not fans of Lincoln. Lincoln was well aware of that, and yet he kept them on. In the case of Chase, he repeatedly refused his resignation (before eventually accepting it) even after Chase was discovered to have been plotting against him.
A modern-day corporate leader—even a mid-level leader—can learn from this. I have witnessed the impact of an insecure “leader” who decides to immediately let go an employee they see as a rival rather than working with and learning from them. They don’t acknowledge, or never learned the lesson, that even people who annoy them potentially have special abilities that can complement their own.
Kearns Goodwin’s non-fiction “Team of Rivals” tells this story, but from a historical fiction perspective. You also can learn the story from Vidal’s work, including greater insight into the psychological challenges related to working with and keeping on rivals.
Recognizing the Absurdity in Your Organization
“Catch-22” focuses on the experience of a soldier in the Air Force in World War II, including, famously, the fanciful rule in the novel that, other than crippling injury or death, you can only be excused from participation in battle if you’re mentally ill. Yet only a mentally ill person would willingly go to war, so if you express to a psychiatrist that you’re unwell and don’t want to go war, then that would be a sign that you are, in fact, sane.
And that’s just one of many bureaucratic absurdities in the novel.
What bureaucratic absurdities exist in your own organization? Are there contradictory and confusing rules that immobilize decision-making and rational action?
When you read a book like “Catch-22” that explores the absurdities in a large organization such as the military, you may be spurred to think about your own experience inside a corporate organization.
For example, many years ago, I overhead an unintentionally hilarious exchange by the printer near my desk. One employee noted that the printer doesn’t take the paper that was provided for it. The other employee said, in all seriousness, that this paper was purchased instead because it was cheaper. “Stupidity layered onto stupidity,” the other said.
You may find, if you are being honest about it, that there are multiple areas in your own organization where stupidity has been layered onto stupidity. A good read that’s fiction, historical fiction, or maybe just a vividly written non-fiction work such as Kearns Goodwin’s biographies, can help you and your employees see that.
What do you think of the idea of offering employees a reading list with an incentive to participate (such as an extra vacation day) in a book club that focuses on non-business books?