This is a story about how my participation in a book club flourished over the years - from getting together with a small group of professionals to read business books, it became a place for continuing education and lifelong learning.
Sometimes back in 2018, I joined a small group of commercial real estate professionals, who wanted to get together for meaningful conversations, and had decided the form of this get-together to be a book club. They picked Atomic Habits as their book to read, set up monthly meetings at a local coffee place, and with a cup of coffee and a sense of curiosity and camaraderie the book club was in existence. It was seven years ago.
Those of you who follow my blog, have probably read about the book-club. Of course, each one of us can read the books on our own, but it's more fun to share the take-aways with others. Some members suggested that we can follow the authors on Linked-In and invite the authors when they are in town to meet with us. That was another level of engagement with the content of the book.
Gradually, the book club selection of books became a form of continuing education for me, covering refining my skills in various business areas and keeping up-to-date with the developments in business thought. For example, when we were starting to read Jesse Cole's book "Fans First", I was thinking to myself, why do I need to read about marketing of baseball games. Now looking back I am smiling, and asking myself daily "How am I creating an unforgettable experience for my clients?" and checking how Savannah Bananas are doing.
We are now reading "The AI Edge" by Jeb Blout and Anthony Iannarino. I had known since childhood about IQ (innate intelligence), in the nineties I learned about EQ (emotional intelligence), and from this book I learned about TQ (technological intelligence). I haven't finished reading it yet, but I already feel friendlier to using the tools AI offers.
Being a member of the book club for me has brought growth, enlightenment, and transformation.
This is my entry for the April Blog Challenge that Eileen Burns 954.483.3912 and Nick Vandekar, 610-203-4543 invited us to participate.
The featured image was created by ChatGPT.
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