Why the time is right to join a Book Club
Back in 2018 we started asking leaders in our community to recommend Summer reads or books they would definitely encourage others in our community to read. We had great recommendations from leaders across all sectors sharing thee books they felt had helped them in their role.
A recent survey found that 41% of UK adults are reading more than they had before the March 2020 lockdown began. Although working from home can be freeing and productive, many are continuing to try to work around housemates, partners, and children. As COVID-19 continues to isolate us, social lives often consist entirely of endless Zoom meetings.
Reading whether on a Kindle, relaxing with an audible book or even feeling the weight of a book in your hands is a great way to relax. We have seen evidence around mental health that Book clubs are a great way to reconnect with your peers and to build social interaction back into disparate teams.
The Digital Leaders Book Club is our idea to build engagement, networks and learning through a shared reading experience. It offers its members something vital: a personal link with leaders in digital transformation who are soldiering on in partial or total physical isolation, a mechanism for sharing our values and culture.
Each month our expert panel choose a book on digital transformation or leadership. When members join we ask them about the topics they would like to read about. We also ask them to tell us their favourite book on Digital Leadership they would recommend to other club members. All useful background for the book committee each month.
Our first two books have been chosen to provide a real breadth on interest. The February book is Delivering Digital Transformation: A Manager’s Guide to the Digital Revolution by Professor Alan Brown. Based on a wide variety of examples and success patterns, this book provides today’s leaders, managers, and practitioners with the tools for both understanding and leading in the digital age.
In contrast our second book is the widely acclaimed Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez’s eye-opening book exposing data bias. Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognised or valued.
Once the book committee has chosen the month’s book, the highlight of the Club is the monthly virtual Book Club meeting. The chosen book is discussed, usually with the author as our guest speaker. The sessions include: an interview with the author or our content expert; a Q&A session; table discussions on the leadership and digital transformation issues raised in the book; and time for members to network informally.
So why not join the Club and encourage your colleagues to join as well.
