I bet you might be thinking: I know what a book club is, but what exactly is a professional book club?
Well, simply put, a professional book club (or pro book club for short) is a reading group dedicated to professional development. This will probably mean different things to different types of professionals, but the goal is the same no matter what: to educate oneself by reading.
The key word here is professional. Pro books clubs differ from casual books clubs, where friends get together to read and talk about books for fun, in that pro book clubs are specifically career-oriented. In the same way a regular book club may focus on fiction or mysteries or sci-fi, a pro book club focuses on books related to professional development. A pro book club might read books on topics like leadership and creativity, biographies of influential people, or books on industry-specific subjects, like law, education, or business.
But that’s not to say pro book clubs aren’t fun! They’re easy and inexpensive to run, and a great way to discuss and share new ideas with co-workers, neighbors, or friends. Many people start off as a pro book club of one, reading for their own professional development first, and then recruiting other like-minded people to form a reading group later.
Interested in reading for your professional development, but not sure how to start? Check out my Pro Book Club Basics series here.
