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I rarely read fiction books. And when I say "rarely," I mean never. (Unless of course I'm reading to my kids at night.)

As it turns out, people are better off for reading fiction. I've always held the belief that there are so many great non-fiction (real life) stories out there that I shouldn't waste my time reading "made up stories." (Those are my words.)

But a new study in Scientific American discusses how fiction can hone social skills. But they aren't talking about Twitter, Facebook and so forth. It's about relating and interacting with actual people - real social skills. This might be a foreign concept to many but is a part of building a successful employee communications career.

Researcher Keith Oatley describes what reading fiction does for our minds:

1. Reading stories can fine-tune your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings.
2. Entering imagined worlds builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person’s point of view.
3. A love affair with narrative may gradually alter your personality—in some cases, making you more open to new experiences and more socially aware.

All three of these would not only make a professional a better coworker, but they would also make someone a better communicator. Think about all of the situations where an employee communicator has to read someone's body language and adjust. It's practically an every day situation.

In corporate communications, you often are challenged with telling the story about or by somebody else. Imagine how much easier and relevant that is when you simply better understand them as a person and can take in their point of view. 

I've known that reading more makes people better writers. That's why I read so many blogs. So it shouldn't be surprising that reading fiction would make us a better human being. 

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Image by kevinspencer

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