“WorkLife needs to be considered holistically because all areas of our life are so intrinsically linked.”
WorkLife Book Club Volume One Shoreditch by Carmel O’ Reilly takes you on a journey through the streets of Shoreditch, East London, as the members share culinary experiences while discussing WorkLife struggles and successes through the wisdom found in the books they read. The book includes assignments with helpful techniques that can be applied to support you in self-managing your WorkLife learning.
What WorkLife Means
WorkLife is our life both in and out of work and the impact each has on the other. I believe WorkLife needs to be considered holistically because all areas of our life are so intrinsically linked, they cannot be separated. I have connected the words Work and Life to express the meaning they hold for me. I capitalise the first letter of each word to highlight their importance and relationship.
How It Began
I love reading as much as I love learning about people’s WorkLife stories: their dreams and ambitions, the challenges and obstacles they meet, and the successes and failures they encounter along the way. I wanted to bring these together, sharing how people have used the wisdom found in books to help them live their WorkLife with passion, purpose and pride. That led me to create a weekly blog and podcast, WorkLife Stories.
Then I wondered whether it could go further. What if people who enjoy learning through reading, and who love discussing books and stories, could come together to share their experiences? The answer became WorkLife Book Club.
Why Books
The experiences we have in our WorkLife shape our understanding of the world, and the experiences we have through reading can shape and change us too. Stories communicate truths about human behaviour and relationships, bringing an opportunity for change and growth.
Books help anchor WorkLife conversations through characters, plots and settings, allowing sensitive and nuanced issues to be worked through openly. When we read and discuss stories, we meet characters with competing and often equally valid viewpoints, and we learn to understand them.
My Mission
“My stated mission is to guide WorkLife learning through reading. I also have a secret mission, which is to draw attention to stories of change and active decision making – people standing up and saying they want to do something different with their WorkLife. I want to highlight stories, books and discussions that focus on in-depth portrayals of subjects’ inner feelings, thoughts and motivations. While readers will not encounter the exact scenarios they read about, they will be able to use an increasingly finely tuned ability to understand and respond to multiple competing viewpoints.”
— Carmel O’ Reilly
Where It Led
This book is where School of WorkLife’s Book Club Books stories began. Every WorkLife Compass Guided Programme and Story Lesson that follows grew from the idea at its heart: that reading, whether together or alone, and reflecting deeply on what we read, can change how we understand our working lives.
How to Order
Available to order from your favourite bookshop, wherever you are in the world, quoting ISBN 9781914278044.
You can find every book featured in the Book Club Books Story Lessons and Programmes in The Reading List for WorkLife Learning.
Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships.
Share This Book
Each chapter is designed as a complete learning experience, with assignments you can apply to your own WorkLife — for individuals managing their own development, reading groups looking for their next book, and companies supporting their people’s growth.
If you think this book would be helpful to others, share it forward.