Why do I think that the study of literature is important even for people who do not have plans to be English majors or to consign themselves to permanent poverty by teaching literature? Having just read a review of The Power of Noticing by Max Bazerman, it occurs to me that what Bazerman sees as a key management and leadership mental process is exactly what good literary study attempts to develop.
Even the best of us fail to notice things, even critical and readily available information in our environment “due to the human tendency to wear blinders that focus us on a limited set of information.” This additional information, however, is essential to success and Bazerman argues that “in the future it will prove a defining quality of leadership.”
Think of learning to “notice” as the mental equivalent of lifting weights in order to become stronger. Some people lift weights in order to be able to do a heavier bench press, just as some people mull over The Scarlet Letter to write a neat article for PMLA. The majority of people, however can benefit from these activities in some other fashion.