10 Ways an Online Book Club Helps You Succeed in Business Reading plus learning from your peers allows you to grow as an employee, business owner or industry influencer.
By Marsha Hunt Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Reading is educational, helps you improve your communication skills, and can even sharpen your emotional intelligence. Reading and learning from your peers allows you to grow as an employee, business owner, or industry influencer. And, if you don't believe me, I've outlined 10 reasons how joining online book clubs can help you succeed in business.
I have found some great business book clubs to join. You should take a look at Read With Cynthia, Read With Murray or Read With Entrepreneurs. There are book clubs for whatever topic you want to know more about, want to improve your personal branding well there is a book club for that.
1. You'll learn about topics you otherwise wouldn't.
Just because you are a thought or industry leader doesn't mean that you know everything you should know to accomplish ultimate success in business. Joining an online book club is a sure way of being introduced to topics that you would otherwise never consider reading about. Reading new genres of books will help you get space from your day-to-day life, allowing you to make connections between other fields of work with your own. In addition to the above, online book clubs are a good way to hear other people's perspectives on certain topics.2. You'll on new, interesting topics.
As mentioned above, book clubs give you the chance to hear what others think on specific topics. Whether you agree with them or not, this is a great opportunity to understand specific topics in more depth. These after-read discussions could also be an opportunity to meet thought-provoking authors and industry leaders online.
Related: 10 Books Every Leader Should Read to Be Successful
3. Reading challenges you.
By joining an online book club, you will be reading books with which you will disagree. Reading books that challenge your opinions will have a big impact on your ability to think creatively and educationally. Even if you disagree with most of its content, you may find interesting points in a book that could either change your opinions or enhance them.4. A book club helps you get organized.
Joining an online book club means you have to read books to deadlines. By adding this low level of pressure to your reading assignments, you will learn to prioritize tasks, a skill you can transfer to various aspects of your professional life.5. It'll enhance your communication skills.
Practice makes perfect, and becoming part of an online book club means you are forced to discuss your views on a specific topic while listening to others. Being able to communicate more efficiently and cohesively will allow you to gain more confidence when speaking from a professional standpoint.
Related: 13 Tricks That Will Help You Read More Books
6. You'll be a confident public speaker.
Being able to communicate effectively is one thing, getting up in front of a crowd of people is another. Joining an online book club will give you the confidence to talk to people about your views and areas of expertise. You will learn to summarize your information in a way that engages your audience.7. You'll learn new writing techniques and approaches.
By joining an online book club, you will get the chance to analyze written pieces with peers. You will be able to gain a better understanding of writing processes, techniques, and approaches, thus enhancing your writing skills for future work projects or books you have in the pipeline.8. You can share your knowledge.
Every businessman or woman is required to teach an individual a new skill at some point in their professional lives. By reading, both topics you are familiar with and new ones, you become a fountain of knowledge for peers and employees. Sharing your observations and knowledge with others in your company will cement the lessons you have learned in your head while educating others in a more comprehensive manner.
Related: Reading Books Makes You Smarter, Richer and Surprisingly Healthier
9. You'll improve your leadership skills.
Choosing an online book club that changes leaders regularly will put you in a situation where you are forced to practice your leadership skills. As with business, you will be thrown into the deep end, managing groups of people, from potentially different parts of the world, with different opinions.10. You'll gain valuable writing material.
If you are an influencer or thought leader writing a book, joining an online book club is the perfect way to gather new sources for your research while learning about people's opinions on the topics you are planning to write about.
Finally…
For some, joining an online book club is a fun hobby and a good way to kill time. But, you'll quickly notice that your communication, public speaking, leadership, and organizational skills will improve, helping you become a thought leader among peers and setting you up for business success.
