3 Fiction Books to Fuel Your Entrepreneurial & Creative Journey—10 Lessons & Insights

You know, it’s strange. After reading countless books on strategy, leadership, and creativity, the ones that truly fueled my entrepreneurial and creative journey weren’t business books at all. They were stories. Fiction. Three made-up stories!

Siddhartha, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and The Man Who Planted Trees.

These three? They’ve been with me through everything. In moments of doubt. In times of reinvention. When I needed courage, clarity, or just a reminder of what truly matters. When I had to pick myself up after falling (and trust me, I’ve fallen a lot). When I needed a fresh perspective—or just a good kick in the butt.

They’re more than books. They’re old friends—the kind you turn to at 3 a.m. for a reassuring voice. For 30 years, they’ve never left my side. On the kitchen counter. Wedged into the crack of the sofa. On my bedside table. Stuffed between clothes in my luggage. But never at rest in the library—where the business books stay.

So sharing them today feels like settling a debt—giving back, in some small way, for all they’ve given me.

Maybe one of them will find its way into your journey—shaping how you think, create, and build, just as they have for me.

Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse, 1922)

Original Title: Siddhartha: Eine Indische Dichtung (German)

Overview

"I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much nausea, disillusionment, and sorrow, just to become a child again and begin anew."

Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha is a timeless philosophical novel that follows the spiritual odyssey of a young Indian man seeking enlightenment. Dissatisfied with traditional teachings, Siddhartha embarks on a relentless quest for truth, experiencing the extremes of asceticism, indulgence, and deep contemplation. Influenced by Eastern philosophies, Jungian thought, and Western individualism, Siddhartha explores the tension between knowledge and wisdom, self-discovery and surrender, time and timelessness.

Lesson 1

The Call No One Else Hears

There comes a time when a quiet voice rises within us—a whisper, a call, an intuition. Siddhartha had everything: privilege, wisdom, admiration. Yet none of this answered the silent hunger that nagged at his soul. He felt that the truth he sought could not be learned but would have to be found in the world itself. Leaving behind his comfort, his family and his future, he set out into the unknown.

Entrepreneurial Insight

The boldest journeys begin with a feeling—a call that others may not hear nor understand. The path won’t be clear. People will doubt you. To follow it requires the courage to leave behind certainty, to stand alone, and to trust that the journey itself will reveal the way.

Lesson 2

Think. Wait. Fast.

As Siddhartha leaves his life of asceticism, he encounters a wealthy merchant who questions what he has to offer. Siddhartha does not speak of trade or skill—he simply replies: “I can think, I can wait, I can fast.” He is not boasting of wealth, status, or achievements. He speaks of self-mastery—the ability to think clearly, to trust in the natural unfolding of events, and endure without desperation. These are not passive skills but the foundation of true power.

Entrepreneurial Insight

In moments of struggle and uncertainty, self-mastery is the ultimate strength. Success belongs to those who know when to act, wait, and trust in the unseen forces at play.

Lesson 3

Comfort Kills Fire

On the path of asceticism, for years Siddhartha sought the truth that would fulfill his being. Then he found pleasure. Wealth, fine food, the embrace of a courtesan—he settled into comfort, intoxicated by the rapture of his senses. The hunger that once drove him faded, dulled by indulgence, until one day, staring into his reflection, he saw a man he no longer recognized. So he did what few dare: he walked away.

Entrepreneurial Insight

Comfort and pleasure are seductive, but they can strip you of the drive that built them. It takes courage to recognize when success has turned into stagnation. Will you know when it’s time to move again?

Lesson Four

The Wisdom of Listening

By the river, Siddhartha ceases to seek. He listens to the wind, the water, the silence. Years pass. Through patient observation, he grasps what no teacher or doctrine could ever give him: the truth was never something to attain, but something to surrender to. Time is an illusion. Life is not a chain of separate moments but an indivisible whole. Suffering, joy, loss, and love, they are not obstacles; they are the current itself.

Entrepreneurial Insight

In a world obsessed with speaking, true power belongs to those who knows how to listen. Great leaders don’t just talk—they observe, they attune themselves to what’s beneath the noise. Can you hear what the world is telling you?

2. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer? (Patrick Süskind, 1985)

Original Title: Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines M?rders (German)

Overview

"Never before had a human being existed who was more powerful. But he could not smell himself. And that was all that mattered."

Perfume follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man born with a superhuman sense of smell—but no scent of his own. Raised in cruelty and rejection, he becomes obsessed with crafting the perfect perfume, a scent so divine it grants him absolute power over others. To create this masterpiece, he commits a series of murders, harvesting the essence of young women. But when he finally succeeds, his journey takes an unexpected and disturbing turn. Beneath the horror, Perfume explores the dark side of genius, the psychology of obsession, and the pursuit of mastery at any cost. But it also reveals the power of vision, relentless dedication, and what it truly means to create something the world has never seen.

Lesson 5

Obsession Fuels Mastery

One day, Grenouille came across a girl emanating a scent unlike anything he had ever known. Pure, radiant, intoxicating. A fragrance that sent a tremor of unbearable joy through his being. This olfactory shock gave his life new meaning—a transcendent mission: to become the greatest perfumer of all time. He would dedicate himself obsessively to mastering and perfecting the techniques that would lead him to revolutionize the world of scents.

Entrepreneurial Insight

Extraordinary creations—the sublime that fills us with awe—are never the fruit of mere ambition or genius alone. They arise from an obsession and an unrelenting devotion to mastery, one that can reshape the world.

Lesson 6

Ruling a Hollow Throne

Grenouille was a genius. But life itself was nothing but a medium—something to be extracted, refined, distilled. And so, he took. He killed without qualms, harvesting the bodies of his victims to extract their essence, like the winegrower reaping the grapes for the wine. Never were his victims people to him, just ingredients to be assembled in the creative quest for his ultimate perfume. He lacked the one thing that binds people to the world: a sense of sacredness.

Entrepreneurial Insight

When nothing is sacred, creation becomes extraction. You can master a craft, refine it to perfection—but if you see everything as raw material, your greatest achievements will leave you with a void no wealth can fill, the emptiness of those whose bodies have been bled of their souls.

Lesson Seven

What You Build Won’t Build You

Grenouille’s perfume could bend the world to his will, turn disgust into devotion, hatred into love. He could have lived as a god. But he realized that if he could put on scent, he would never smell his own. And if he could not perceive himself, he could never know who he was. Without this knowledge, the world lost meaning, and he, the will to exist. In his final act, he pours his perfume over himself before the crowd, delirious in ecstasy, devours him.

Entrepreneurial Insight

You can shape perception, redefine industries, build empires—but if you don’t know yourself, none of it will feel real. No matter how much you achieve, the world cannot give you what only you can find: a sense of who you truly are.

3. The Man Who Planted Trees (Jean Giono, 1953)

Original Title: L’Homme qui plantait des arbres (French)

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Overview

"When I reflect that one man, armed only with his own physical and moral resources, was able to cause this land of Canaan to spring from this wasteland, I am convinced that in spite of everything, humanity is admirable."

The Man Who Planted Trees is a timeless tale by Jean Giono that recounts the story of Elzéard Bouffier, a solitary shepherd who transforms a barren, desolate landscape into a thriving forest. Over decades, with quiet dedication, he plants acorns daily, restoring life, water, and hope to a once-dead valley. His work remains unnoticed for years, yet his silent perseverance revives nature and the communities that depend on it. The tale is a meditation on abnegation, patience, purpose, and the power of one individual to make a better world.

Lesson 8

Act Beyond Uncertainty

Elzéard Bouffier didn’t wait for proof. He saw devastation and planted trees—not knowing if they would grow, not knowing if it would matter. He had no guarantees, only faith in the simple act of doing. Where most would despair, he planted. Where most demanded change, he created it. Not with speeches, not with demands—just unyielding, selfless action.

Entrepreneurial Insight

Most people wait for certainty before they act. They seek assurance, momentum, some kind of proof. But certainty is a luxury. That project you cherish, that dream you hold, the change you wish for the world, awaits your willingness to take action despite uncertainty. It all starts with doing what you can, where you are, and with what you have.

Lesson 9

Persistence Outlasts Talent

Bouffier’s work required no special skill. Planting acorns is simple. Yet, what he accomplished was beyond all comprehension. Not because of his talent or access to special resources, but through an unflagging constancy of effort. For decades, alone, unnoticed, he carried on, while the day-to-day changes were so subtle they remained unsuspected. His greatness lay not in expertise, but in the quiet, unwavering decision to keep going.

Entrepreneurial Insight

Many people give up when results are slow in coming. Persistence counts as much as genius and strategy. Persevere even when progress remains invisible. Nothing remarkable is achieved without unyielding tenacity.

Lesson 10

Create What Outlives You

Bouffier planted trees he would never see fully grown. He worked for a world beyond himself, one that others would inherit. His vision spanned decades, not days. That’s why it endured. He didn’t wait for others to take responsibility—he acted. His quiet labor wasn’t about fixing what was broken—it was about laying foundations for something greater, something lasting.

Entrepreneurial Insight

Some watch history unfold, others demand change, but only a few take the responsibility to create it. You can wait for the future to arrive, or you can build the one you want to see. Because in the end, the world won’t be what happened—it will be what we made it.

Conclusion

Some books entertain. Some books teach. And some books stay with you forever—shaping how you think, create, and navigate the world.

Siddhartha’s search for wisdom, Grenouille’s obsessive pursuit of mastery, Bouffier’s quiet, relentless act of creation—each of these stories has traveled with me, offering guidance through reinvention, adversity, and growth. More than books, these masterpieces of literature are blueprints for resilience, vision, and purpose.

Thanks for reading. Truly.

Thierry Forbois

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