Two Years of CoLab Book Club
What We’ve Read, Learned and Shared.
Two years ago, I started the CoLab Book Club. It was a tricky time in Wellington and I was keen to find a way to support positive, group connections. I wanted to create a regular moment where people could easily come together, learn and share ideas.
Reading a book and talking about what we thought, worked well to keep our connection and build new ones.
We kept it simple. One book a month, a group chat to share thoughts and a monthly catch-up to talk about what stood out.
Why People Join
Everyone had their own reasons but in general they fall into the following:
Some wanted to stay in touch with others in their field.
Some were looking for a way to rebuild their reading habit.
Others just enjoyed learning from different perspectives in a low-pressure, thoughtful space.
Two years of book reading
What We’ve Read
We’ve explored a wide range of topics. Some books focus on leadership and team dynamics, others on flow, culture, communication, or big system-level changes. A few challenged us to think deeply about justice or decision-making.
Here’s what we’ve read so far …
What We’ve Noticed
Looking back over our reading list, there are some strong patterns across the books.
Many of them explore how we work and what gets in the way.
A lot focus on leadership and team culture, especially how trust and communication shape performance.
We’ve also seen growing interest in system change, flow-based thinking, and making work more human.
What’s Next?
The book club is still going strong and we’re looking for our next reads. If you’ve got a recommendation, we’d love to hear it.
And if you’d like to join us sometime, just get in touch.
And while you’re here … some fun reading facts
Our most common themes span across:
Flow
Teams
Leadership
Culture
Coaching
There’s clearly more room for diversity both in terms of authorship and geography. While we confess to a desire to support our local people (and will continue to do so), we’d love to explore more global perspectives too.
Perhaps unsurprisingly our choices are all written within the last 20 years but there is an emphasis on books that were published in the last decade, showing our preference for modern, practical thinking.
Version 1 - updated on 7 August 2025