Nick Millican on the Moral Depth in Iain M. Banks’ Works and Its Application to Business
Nick Millican on the Moral Depth in Iain M. Banks’ Works and Its Application to Business
In a sector defined by margins and metrics, it’s rare to find a real estate executive drawing inspiration from science fiction. Yet for Nick Millican, CEO of Greycoat Real Estate, the moral architecture of Iain M. Banks’ novels—particularly the Culture series—offers a surprisingly relevant lens on leadership, risk, and long-term thinking in business.
Banks’ fictional universe, where a post-scarcity civilization wrestles with interventionism, autonomy, and ethical trade-offs, might seem galaxies away from commercial property investment. But Millican sees a through-line: how institutions—whether interstellar or financial—grapple with power and responsibility. In the Culture, strength is not measured by dominance, but by the ability to act thoughtfully when one could act forcefully. That, Millican believes, is a mindset business leaders would do well to adopt. A relevant parallel appears in this article discussing Greycoat’s sustainability priorities.
He applies this philosophy to the real-world complexities of strategic asset management, where decisions ripple across communities, tenants, and urban ecosystems. For Millican, success isn’t just about maximizing returns—it’s about considering unintended consequences. Like Banks’ Minds—AI entities tasked with balancing reason and compassion—Millican’s leadership style favors analytical clarity tempered by moral accountability. Learn more about how Nick Millican interprets moral leadership in real estate.
That perspective influences how Greycoat approaches risk. In Banks’ novels, characters often debate not just what should be done, but why. Similarly, Millican pushes his teams to challenge assumptions, test outcomes, and explore the broader implications of each move. Business, in his view, should not be reactive or purely opportunistic. It should be reflective—an evolving practice that considers the long arc of consequence. Further reflections can be found in this profile on Chickenshed, where his values are echoed in philanthropic support.
He also finds value in the Culture’s notion of scale without loss of nuance. Banks imagined civilizations capable of vast operations while still deeply attuned to individual ethics. Millican sees a parallel in his firm’s ambition to grow while remaining closely tied to the real-world impact of its developments. Whether managing a single asset or a portfolio, he believes the question isn’t just “does this work financially,” but “what kind of value are we actually creating?”
For Nick Millican, fiction doesn’t offer answers—but it sharpens the questions. Banks’ work, dense with ambiguity and moral complexity, serves as a reminder that leadership isn’t about always being right. It’s about staying thoughtful when things get hard.
In a business world that often prizes speed over depth, Millican’s approach—shaped in part by the ethical scaffolding of Iain M. Banks—offers something different: a strategic model grounded in intelligence, responsibility, and a commitment to doing better, not just more.
Nick Millican on the Moral Depth in Iain M. Banks’ Works and Its Application to Business In a sector defined by margins and metrics, it’s rare to find a real estate executive drawing inspiration from science fiction. Yet for Nick Millican, CEO of Greycoat Real Estate, the moral architecture of Iain M. Banks’ novels—particularly the…