Read Books Club

Most founders in Surat's IT sector are excellent operators — they manage teams, deliver projects, and navigate client relationships with skill. But the strategic frameworks that separate good operators from visionary founders often come from sustained reading. The SIC Book Club was created on the observation that Surat's IT leaders consume information mostly through WhatsApp forwards and YouTube videos — both high-speed, low-depth formats. Monthly book reading enforces a different cognitive gear: slower, more analytical, and more applicable to long-term business decisions.

The book selection process is itself a learning experience. Members vote on the next book from a curated shortlist prepared by a rotating selection committee. The committee evaluates books on three criteria: strategic relevance to IT company founders, practical applicability within 90 days, and quality of the author's experience. Books that pass the committee filter include classics like Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things," which resonates sharply with Surat founders managing rapid headcount growth, and newer titles like "Obviously Awesome" by April Dunford, which has directly influenced how several members position their services.

Monthly sessions follow a structured format: a 20-minute summary presentation by a volunteer member, followed by a 40-minute discussion where participants share specific passages that challenged their current approach and how they plan to apply the insight. The discussion is deliberately non-academic — nobody is asked to review the book for literary merit. The only question that matters is: what will you do differently next Monday because of this reading? Members who struggle to answer that question are gently pushed, which creates healthy accountability.

The compound effect of reading one rigorous business book per month is significant over two to three years. Members who have been consistent participants report that the book club has shifted their thinking on hiring decisions, pricing strategy, and competitive positioning in ways that individual reading without discussion would not have achieved. The group discussion surface area is critical — a paragraph that one founder glosses over as obvious is exactly the paragraph another founder highlights as their most important insight, and that difference reveals hidden assumptions worth examining.