‘Beyond the Book’
A Working Souls Book Circle
Where books are beginnings…
Beyond the Book is a facilitated professional development space for those who want to go deeper into thought provoking books
Beyond the Book gives you time to discover what a book opens up in you, your work and your life. Here, you can explore what it stirs in you, what it helps you see differently, and what happens when you inquire with others, experiment with ideas in practice and return to reflect on what has changed.
Winter 2026:
Freeing up or Future:
A Field Guide to Systemic Intelligence, Leadership and Practice
Join co-author Deborah Haskew for three facilitated online circles exploring the book, its ideas and what they might mean for the way you live, lead and work.
3 online sessions - Maximum 12 people - £99 including VAT.
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Books that deserve more than a place on the shelf.
I often read professional books and find myself drawn in by an idea or perspective - underlining passages, writing in margins, folding down corners, getting excited by what I am meeting and discovering.
But when I have finished the last page, the book often goes up on the shelf, or into a pile on the side, waiting to be returned to because somehow, I’ve not finished with it, nor it with me.
When a book speaks deeply to me, I am drawn to let its ideas influence my life and work; and I feel this kind of book deserves something deeper, broader, and more relational than a single reading by a single reader.
That is why I created Beyond the Book
We read a book together, but we don’t simply discuss it. We explore what it might mean for us, what it stirs in us, what it helps us see differently and what happens when we take an idea from the page into our work and our lives.
Bringing books off the shelves and into our lives
More than a book club
What to expect from Beyond the Book
Beyond the Book is an online book circle and professional development space in which ideas become the starting point for reflection, experimentation, insight and growth.
A place for connections and conversations, with yourself and others.
At Beyond the Book you can
Go deeper: Engage with important ideas, giving them time to sink in as you slow down and inquire.
See differently: Explore the book alongside peers working in different contexts. Together, encounter new perspectives and perhaps see your own work and life differently.
Experiment in practice: Take ideas from the books into your own work or life, notice what happens and bring that experience back to the group for further reflection.
Integrate your insights: Move beyond understanding an idea intellectually and discover what might develop in how you lead, relate or work when you bring it into your life.
Learn in Community: Connect with other thoughtful people interested in the deeper questions of leadership, organisational life, development and change.
There is no expectation that we will come to the same conclusions.
The value is in exploring and learning together and the possibility of discovering something you could not have discovered alone.
Who is Beyond the Book for?
Beyond the Book is for thoughtful practitioners and leaders who are curious about the deeper dimensions of work, leadership and themselves.
It may be particularly relevant if you are a
Coach or supervisor
Curious leader
HR or talent professional
OD or organisational development practitioner
Change practitioner or consultant
Facilitator
You don’t need specialist knowledge of the subject. Curiosity, experience and a willingness to explore how these ideas touch you and your work are enough.
Our first journey starts
19th November 2026
The first book we’ll explore is
Freeing up Our Future: A Field Guide to Systemic Intelligence, Leadership and Practice, by Edward Rowland with Deborah Haskew
Over three online sessions we’ll explore the book together within a facilitated space for inquiry, reflection and experimentation.
I’ll bring a little of the thinking and experience behind the book into the room, if that supports your process, but the priority focus will remain on what the book evokes and moves in you.
How it works
One book, three online circles. A month between each for integration.
Each Beyond the Book journey takes place across three facilitated online sessions with a closed group of 12 people
Enter the book
Spend time with the ideas and notice what catches your attention, challenges you or asks something of you.
Take it into practice
Choose something to explore or experiment with between sessions. Pay attention to what moves and shifts.
Return and integrate
Come back together to share what you’ve discovered, what suprised you, what you learnt, and what you might carry forward.
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The space between our sessions is an important part of the process, allowing the ideas time to soak in and seep out into our work and lives
About Deborah
Deborah Haskew is a Chartered Coaching and Organisational Psychologist with more than 30 year’s experience in leadership developement and organisational change. Working Souls is the name under which she brings together psychology and systemic thinking through leadership coaching, mentoring, consultancy, facilitation and supervision.
She works with leaders and professionals to explore the interplay between their inner and outer worlds, helping them notice the deeper patterns, relationships and dynamics shaping how they lead and work.
Deborah is co-author of Freeing Up Our Future: A Field Guide to Systemic Intelligence, Leadership and Practice, publishing October 2026 by Routledge.
Why Beyond the Book
In my work as a Facilitator prepared by the Centre for Courage & Renewal® we use what we call a ‘third thing’ - a poem, a piece of prose, an image, a film, or something from nature - as a way into inquiry.
Beyond the Book creates the space to come into dialogue with a book as a ‘third thing’ , seeing what the experience stirs in us and reflecting what it evokes in one another.
There will be structure and facilitation, but no prescriptions or predetermined answers.
What I hope you will find is space to slow down and reflect, opportunities for different insights and perspectives to emerge, ideas that stretch you and the possibility of discovering something you might not have discovered alone.
If you are someone who enjoys a good book but is even more interested in what happens when new ideas move from the page to your practice, and begin to change the way you see, work and lead, I would love you to join us.
Sign up for our first book below, or register to be kept informed on future books.
Beyond the Book
Winter Journey 2026
Join the founding community to explore
Freeing up Our Future: A Field Guide to Systemic Intelligence, Leadership and Practice
by Edward Rowland with Deborah Haskew
Circle 1: Entering the book - 3rd December 2026, 15:00- 17:00 GMT
Circle 2: Into practice - 7th January 2027, 15:00 - 17:00 GMT
Circle 3: Integrating and moving onwards - 28th January 2027, 15:00 - 17:00 GMT
Pricing: £99 (incl VAT)
This reduced founding price is offered with the hope that those joining this first Beyond the Book journey will share their feedback and ideas, helping me shape the future of the circles.
JOIN THE WINTER JOURNEY
Future Circles 2027
Beyond the Book Spring Journey
A book, yet to be confirmed, that explores the deeper movements at play in the menopause transition and provides support, new narratives and inspiration for the possibilities available in the post-menopause stage.
Circle 1: Entering the book - 25th February 16:00- 18.00 GMT
Circle 2: Into practice - 18th March 16:00 - 18:00 GMT
Circle 3: Integrating and moving onwards 8th April - 16:00 - 18:00 GMT
Beyond the Book Summer Journey
Book suggestions welcomed and dates tbc
Beyond the Book Autumn Journey
Book suggestions welcomed and dates tbc
REGISTER INTEREST or SUGGEST BOOKS