You don't need an MBA. You need to read Fiction.

Hey it’s Mohammad Khan

I made the mistake of watching The Haunting of Hill House last night, alone, and in the dark. The show reveals how human psychology drives every character's decisions—not logic, not rational thought, but deep emotional patterns formed through relationships and experiences. Just like in business leadership where we often mistake rational frameworks for the messy reality of human behavior.

When it comes to business, degrees are a safety blanket.

"Get an MBA." Clear. Prestigious. The classic path to advancement.

I thought great business leaders sat in prestigious lecture halls, absorbed case studies, and crafted brilliant strategies through pure analytical wisdom derived from spreadsheets and frameworks.

I studied the business canon.

• Blue Ocean Strategy.

• Porter's Five Forces.

• The Lean Startup.

Each promising that if you just followed their formula, you'd make better decisions and drive growth. I spent years studying these frameworks. Mapping out business models. Following the theory to a tee.

But the teams I led felt disconnected.

The strategies worked on paper but fell flat in execution. I was putting together corporate IKEA furniture with instructions written in a language that couldn't capture the messy reality of human behavior.

What was I even doing?

Like clockwork, I had that existential crisis where I questioned everything. Terrifying because I lost my tether and started floating in mental space. The reason most don't question business dogma is because questioning the frameworks means questioning everything you've been taught about what makes leadership 'good.' And there's a chance you could be wrong.

But after years of actually leading teams and building businesses, I discovered something the best leaders already knew:

Being wrong about the rules could mean being right about something far more important.

It's like the early days of psychology.

While academic researchers were running controlled experiments on rats in mazes, novelists were mapping the human psyche through characters and conflict.

When business schools used accepted frameworks to explain why something should work, real-world results often disagreed. And by disagreed, I mean strategies crashed, team dynamics fractured, and customer relationships disintegrated like sandcastles at high tide.

Most leaders would have doubled down on more frameworks.

The best leaders checked their assumptions about human nature.

They built their understanding from experience and observation. Tested hundreds of approaches to motivation, communication, and decision-making. Using this real-world data, they created new mental models that actually worked.

Their leadership improved and the businesses they led took flight.

My teams worked the same way.

While others were perfecting their strategic plans, I was immersing myself in fiction.

Every day.

Most leaders would study more business techniques. I started checking my assumptions about human motivation.

The more fiction I read, the more I realized that good leadership doesn't come from following preset formulas. Teams connected with my approach not because it followed the 'right' structure, but because I'd developed something more fundamental through practice: an intuition for how stories move people to action.

Just like the best psychologists trusted their observations over academic theories, I learned to trust my understanding of human nature over business frameworks.

The 3:1 Rule of Leadership Mastery

When you read a business book, read three stories that explore the depth of human experience.

When great leaders study strategy frameworks, they don't just memorize them—they test them against their understanding of human nature. When those tests fail, they don't just theorize new approaches—they deepen their grasp of what truly drives human behavior.

Think of business theory like a map. It's useful, but you wouldn't claim to know a city just by memorizing its streets. You need to walk them with the people who live there.

Here's how I apply this:

• When I learn a business framework → Watch 3 films showing you how to apply it in relation to human dynamics

• When I discover a leadership technique → Compare it to character motivations in three different short stories

• When I read about engagement tactics → Test them against what I know about how humans actually make decisions in the stories that have resonated with you

The 3:1 Rule isn't just about improvement—it's about impact.

Every time you immerse yourself in fiction, you're building the intuition to know which conventions are holding your leadership back and which new approaches might push your team forward.

Fiction trains what business school can't teach

The science is unambiguous: fiction readers demonstrate measurably higher emotional intelligence, perspective-taking abilities, and systems thinking.

When you read deeply crafted novels, you're not escaping reality; you're training your brain to navigate complex human systems, recognize patterns others miss, and construct narratives that drive action.

Consider what happens physiologically when you read fiction: your brain doesn't just process information—it simulates experience. When a character feels rejection, your brain activates the same neural pathways that fire when you experience rejection firsthand.

This is why fiction readers consistently outperform in tests of emotional intelligence—they've literally experienced thousands of emotional scenarios their peers haven't.

The three layers of fiction that transform leadership

While business cases present information, fiction reveals human truth in layers:

Layer 1: The Human Element 

Great stories start with something relatable. A person. A problem. A moment of tension.

Why this works:

Your brain connects with stories before data. When we watch Pixar's 8-minute "Bao," we're not just enjoying a cute story—we're absorbing profound lessons about parental attachment, letting go, and cultural identity that apply directly to team dynamics.

How to apply it:

Start leadership conversations with the human element. Address fears and aspirations before spreadsheets and KPIs.

Layer 2: The Bigger Picture 

Only after you care about the characters does the story zoom out to show the system.

Why this works: Once emotionally invested, your brain wants to understand context. Consider how the 15-minute sci-fi short "The Escape" connects one person's decision to larger questions about technology and autonomy—exactly the tensions many organizations navigate.

How to apply it: Connect individual team member experiences to your organization's larger mission. Build meaning before metrics.

Layer 3: The Technical Elements 

Now you're fully invested in both the characters and their world.

Why this works:

By the time "12 Angry Men" reveals the technical details of the case being deliberated, you're deeply invested in the jury's interpersonal dynamics. The legal context satisfies your curiosity rather than testing your patience.

How to apply it:

Present technical details as answers to human questions. Keep the emotional element visible in every business discussion.

Your turn:

Take that leadership challenge you've been struggling with. Instead of reaching for another business framework, select a novel that explores similar human dynamics. What does it reveal about motivation, conflict, or decision-making that your MBA courses missed?

See you next Saturday,

Mohammad Khan

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