The Summer I Turned Pretty – the Amazon Prime teen drama that attracted 25 million viewers in the week of its final season’s premiere – may look like nothing more than another teen love drama, but beneath the nostalgic summer romance vibes lies a crash course in strategy, branding, consumer loyalty and, believe it or not, leadership.

The show is centred around teenage protagonist Isabel Conklin (aka Belly). Through three seasons, we not only watch her grow up and discover what she wants from her life, but also watch (and at times, cringe) as she chooses between her two childhood best friends, who happen to be brothers.

From a strategic perspective, Belly’s experiences navigating the love triangle between Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, is really a lesson in decision-making under uncertainty. Their summers spent at the Conklin-Fischer beach house is the perfect case study in family business management and succession planning. Even the show’s dreamy aesthetics are an emotional branding masterclass that any marketing manager would envy.

What looks like summer heartbreak for Gen Z is, in fact, a blueprint for how future business leaders should strategise.  

Decision-Making Under Uncertainty 

One of the first lessons in strategy courses is that leaders rarely have perfect information. They must choose between competing options, weigh risks, and then commit.  

Belly’s hesitation (for three long seasons) between Conrad and Jeremiah mirrors this leadership challenge: whether it’s expanding into new markets, investing in an AI technology – stick with the familiar or gamble on the unknown, delay too long, and the opportunity vanishes. 

At NEOMA Business School, the MSc Business Analytics programme trains students to make evidence-based decisions when information is incomplete or conflicting. Through simulations and case studies, students learn that waiting for perfect clarity is impossible; leaders must decide with the data they have, not the data they wish they had. 

And, reinforcing this idea, a McKinsey Global Survey found that organisations that make high-quality decisions quickly tend to outperform their peers.

The study highlights that effective decision-making requires balancing speed with rigour: leaders who act decisively while evaluating multiple options are better positioned to navigate uncertainty and drive results. 

Belly’s world illustrates this in narrative form: faced with complex situations, whether that is grieving, heartbreak or choosing herself over love, she must weigh these conflicts and adapt as everything unfolds.  

In business, hesitation often means losing out on the competition, being strong and purposeful with any decision-making is the best way forward.  

Planning for the future 

The family beach house is the show’s emotional heart. For Belly and her friends, it represents home. But for the adults in the show the house represents wider issues – a fight for ownership, the sensitive topic of inheritance after death, and ultimately the emotional attachment of loss.

This is essentially a family business succession case study. Studies from INSEAD’s Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise show that fewer than 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation, often due to poor communication and unresolved emotional conflict.

With the simple suggestion that planning for the future can solve these issues and stop them from arising in the future, taking control of your business while you can is the way to ensure success.

Emotional branding and consumer loyalty 

The Summer I Turned Pretty has resonated with Gen Z, but also across other generations, capturing the nostalgia, and the feeling of being young and in love. This is emotional branding at its peak.

At emlyon business school, the MSc in Branding & Communication teaches students to use narratives and consumer psychology to build brands that connect emotionally rather than functionally. Students learn that symbols like Cousins Beach, first love, or the soundtrack needle-drops, become shorthand for deeper emotional connections.

Emotions don’t just complement strategy – they fuel competitive advantage. An article published by Harvard Business Review reviewed this idea further, revealing that customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand are far more valuable than those who are merely satisfied. They spend more, remain more loyal, and advocate more strongly.

In some cases, emotionally connected customers drove a 70% increase in usage, 40% growth in new accounts, and tripled same-store sales growth. If a Netflix series can make millions feel attached to a fictional beach house, brands can inspire the same devotion by tapping into stories, identity, and emotion. For business leaders, the lesson is clear: brands win when they make people feel.

Leadership growth through diverse perspectives 

Belly does not make decisions in isolation. She leans on the closest people around her to influence her thinking. Sometimes she listens, sometimes she resists, but each voice shapes her growth. And, leaders, too, evolve by exploring alternative perspectives and opinions. 

At Vlerick Business School, encouraging diversity of thought and voice in crafting successful business practice is such a focus that an entire suite of training programmes has been designed around authentic leadership. This requires embracing different perspectives because growth comes from constructive challenge. 

Reinforcing this, a recent study led by faculty at the University of Rome Tor Vergata found that shared leadership improves decision quality only once leaders integrate diverse perspectives and encourage debate rather than suppress it. Their findings show that constructive disagreements are not distractions but are the mechanisms that sharpen judgment and make leadership more effective.

Conflict, collaboration, and team dynamics  

In The Summer I Turned Pretty, the group dynamic between Belly, her mother Laurel, her mother’s best friend Susannah, and the Fisher brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah, shows that tension can arise, even within a close-knit “team.”  

Laurel and Susannah are lifelong friends, and their families spend every summer together, making Belly and the Fisher boys almost like siblings. But as romantic feelings emerge and loyalties shift, the conflict between Conrad and Jeremiah, and Laurel’s clashes with Susannah’s family heightens the strain of their teamwork under emotional pressure. 

An article published in ESSEC Knowledge highlights how the most effective teams can problem-solve to turn disagreements into actionable solutions, reinforcing that conflict, which drives better outcomes. 

Conflict is inevitable; what matters is whether leaders manage it destructively or transform it into collaboration. Belly’s world demonstrates this principle, navigating tensions can lead to growth.  

What The Summer I Turned Pretty teaches business leaders 

Leadership, like love, is rarely simple. There are no perfect answers – only the courage to decide, the wisdom to plan, the ability to connect, and the humility to listen.

Case studies have long been used in the classroom to bring life to business concepts and provide an example for students to learn from. In doing so, business education becomes more powerful, and a lot more memorable. Perhaps this theory rings true when business lessons collide with pop culture too.  

And maybe, business education turns a little prettier when it comes with a summer soundtrack. 

By, Lucy Whytock

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