Nick Millican on How Reading Fiction and Exploring Complex Characters Shapes Decision-Making Skills
Nick Millican on How Reading Fiction and Exploring Complex Characters Shapes Decision-Making Skills
In the high-stakes world of commercial real estate, where data drives decisions and outcomes are measured in financial terms, the influence of fiction might seem peripheral at best. But for Nick Millican, CEO of Greycoat Real Estate, reading fiction—especially character-driven narratives—is not a retreat from reality. It’s a tool for sharpening judgment and broadening perspective in business.
Millican sees fiction as a laboratory for understanding nuance. Where business case studies tend to distill decisions into clean cause-and-effect arcs, novels—especially those anchored in complex characters—reveal how motives, context, and contradiction interact. For him, that complexity is more than literary. It mirrors the real ambiguity leaders face when making decisions under uncertainty. This perspective is echoed in this article exploring how narrative awareness influences sustainable decision-making.
In his own decision-making, Millican draws on this sensibility. Whether navigating a redevelopment timeline, evaluating tenant needs, or assessing long-term investment risks, he looks for the layers: what’s unsaid, what might be misunderstood, where personal or institutional blind spots lie. Fiction, with its textured characters and unresolved moral tensions, trains the mind to hold multiple truths at once—an essential skill in strategic leadership.
Millican is particularly drawn to protagonists who operate in grey zones. These are not flawless heroes or clear villains, but people trying to make the right call in the wrong circumstances—or vice versa. It’s that moral elasticity, he believes, that makes great fiction such a powerful rehearsal space for real-world choices. Business leaders rarely get to act with perfect information. Learning how characters navigate doubt, regret, and revision offers a kind of narrative empathy that spreadsheets can’t deliver. That narrative is at the center of how Nick Millican builds leadership through story-informed reasoning.
This reading habit also informs how Millican builds teams and leads. He’s attuned not only to skills and credentials, but to temperament, communication, and values—those less measurable traits that shape how decisions play out in practice. He believes fiction sharpens the ability to anticipate how people think, not just what they say. And in a field built on negotiation and alignment, that insight is key. For a broader look at his methods, refer to this BBN Times feature.
Ultimately, Nick Millican embrace of fiction is not about escape. It’s about depth. In a profession that rewards decisiveness, he finds value in cultivating the ability to pause, reflect, and see beyond the immediate. Because sometimes, the best business decisions begin with a better understanding of people—and few things develop that understanding like a good novel.
