Deep Dives into Good Books – Reading books definitely still matters!

For 26 years +, Randy Mayeux has presented synopses of business books at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas. In addition to hisBubbles- Personal Productivity presentations at his public event, he presents extended versions of these synopses to leadership teams and groups within companies and organizations, in multiple arenas, including leadership teams in city governments. And for 20+ years, Randy has presented books on issues of social justice at the Urban Engagement Book Club, based in Dallas. Randy graduated from Abilene Christian University, where he lettered four years in Tennis; and then earned a Masters Degree from Pepperdine University, and completed classwork for a PhD from the University of Southern California, in Rhetoric and Public Address. (Yes, he is in the ranks of the infamous ABDs – all but dissertation).

The best way to grasp the complexity of issues is to read the best books by substantive authors on the subject. I have presented synopses son books by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and renowned journalists, giving me a breadth of understanding regarding the issues of poverty, homelessness, and issues of racial justice.

Download Randy’s Productivity Guide HERE

More at https://www.15minutebusinessbooks.com 

The Interview Transcript

Hugh Ballou:
Welcome to the Nonprofit Exchange. This is Hugh Ballew, President and Founder of the Center Vision Leadership Foundation. Center Vision is synergy and vision. Leaders communicate their vision and build synergy with their teams. We’re upgrading our skills today because we’re talking to Randy Mayu, who has… I’m gonna let him tell you about what he does, but our title for this session today… I gotta read it here. deep dives into good books. Reading books still matters, definitely still matters. So, Randy Mailloux, thanks for being our guest today, and tell people a little bit about your background and your passion about what you do. What is it you do and your passion?

Randy Mayeux:
Good afternoon, Hugh, and welcome to everybody, and thanks for the invitation. My name, Randy Mayhew. All of my life, I have read books. I am a learner who learns by reading books. There are other ways to learn, but reading books is my way. I did spend about 20 years in ministry, and for 27 years nearly, I have conducted an event in Dallas called the First Friday Book Synopsis, where I present synopses live and streaming on Zoom of best-selling business books. Here is my handout for Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, two former Navy SEALs. So I prepare a 10 to 12 page handout and that’s what I do. Now by background, I mentioned that I’ve always been a reader. I started with comic books. Then I went to The Hardy Boys. Then Don’t Tell My Mother. I read Mickey Spillane. And then I started reading serious books, nonfiction books. And though I have really focused on business books, we presented over 630. synopses of business books. A synopsis lets you know what’s in the book. It’s not a review. It is more than a summary, far more. It is a synopsis of the transferable concepts. So we’ve done over 630 books in the 27 years nearly that we’ve done this. And I’ve done both books every month, every month, two books for the last few years after my founding partner had a stroke. So that’s what I do. I love to read. I love to learn from reading. So Hugh did that answer that question.

Hugh Ballou:
That is inspiring. So you’ve talked about you’ve always been a reader. Can you go back to the root of what is the passion you have for reading? What is that passion?

Randy Mayeux:
You know, I wish I knew, but I can give you key moments. I did not do well in certain subjects in school. All the way through graduate school, I did well when I picked my subjects. This is embarrassing. I would sit in biology class with my textbook open and read Nero Wolf Mysteries during the lecture of the class, hidden in my textbook. I’ve just always loved to read. And then I have found that reading books is what gets you thinking and pondering in a deeper way. People ask me, what’s the greatest or most important book I’ve ever read? I’ve got an answer for that. It’s Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. He survived the death camps in World War II. It is a significant book. So I talk about books that shape my thinking. I read serious nonfiction and I know I need to read more novels, but serious nonfiction. Recently, my wife and I took our vacation to Philadelphia, and at night, while we went to the places in the daytime, I read the Pulitzer Prize winning book, 1776, by David McCullough. great way to learn about the events of 1776. It was mainly about George Washington while we visited Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center and the other spots in Philadelphia. So those are some pieces of that puzzle.

Hugh Ballou:
You know, Randy, when you talk about this, I’ve seen you online a number of times for several years. I’ve seen you in person many times in your home city of Dallas, Texas. You always speak with passion about your work. And that in itself is inspiring. But behind the passion, you have specific things to tell people that are important. So I am a reader. I love to read. And I read nonfiction primarily. and I highlight or underline in my Kindle reader, and then I bookmark the page, but when I go back and I read again, let’s talk about rereading, I use a different color, and I find that I highlight different things. Is that an experience you’ve had?

Randy Mayeux:
Well, the first comment is, in the old days, before my Kindle app reading on my iPad, I would do that with physical books. I would write in the margin. I could pull off some books behind me where I wrote in the margin, and I would write to myself, and I would argue with the author in the margin. And I’ve got literally, this is not an exaggeration, thousands of books in storage that were from my ministry days. So I do the same. You can’t write in the margin on your Kindle, but I highlight passages. You can copy and paste your highlights through the Kindle technology world. So when I start my handouts, this particular book has about, let’s see here, I’ve got about seven pages of highlighted passages. in my handout for Extreme Ownership. I printed this because I’m presenting this tomorrow for an audience. But I start with, I’m not exaggerating, dozens of Word document highlighted passages. So when I reread, I don’t reread the book, I reread all of my highlighted passages. And when I prepare my handout, it’s almost like reading the book a second time. And then when I present the handout, that’s like reading a book a third time. So, you know, Warren Buffett said that you should spend hours a day reading, hours a day reading. That’s what he does. And that’s what he says. The old phrase that leaders are readers. There’s something about the reading. People ask if I’m a speed reader. No, I’m a slow, purposeful reader because I want to ponder as I read. I can read my thrillers and mysteries pretty fast, but on nonfiction books that I’m presenting, I take my time because I think through the concepts that I’m reading.

Hugh Ballou:
I love it. I love it. We tend to rush too many things when we should be savoring the truths that come out. And really, if you’re paying attention, it takes a few minutes to get it through and to pay attention. Let me ask you, your differentiation, you are very different from other services that do this, primarily because of you. But you also were different because of the impact you had. Now, before we started, if you want to share that image with people, I think that circle that you shared with me summarizes the things that you teach. So do you want to share that image and talk about the impact? To me, that’s how you have impact on people’s lives.

Randy Mayeux:
OK, Hugh, this is something that I created after around 15 years of presenting books every month, business books that are best sellers. Jim Collins, Malcolm Gladwell, Amy Edmondson, you name a best-selling author, we’ve presented their key books.

Hugh Ballou:
So Randy, I just want to highlight for people that are listening on the audio podcast, when you go to the nonprofitexchange.org, you can download this document, but he’s going to talk you through it and you can imagine it, but in the podcast you’ll be able to link to it. So excuse me for interrupting you.

Randy Mayeux:
That’s all right, Hugh, thanks. On the left, in orange ovals, I say, assuming that you have a product or service that others will pay for. That’s the absolute requirement of successful business. And then under that, I have orange circles, assuming process excellence. excellent business processes such as logistics, accounting, billing, collecting, and then another oval for marketing and sales, customer acquisition, and then the last oval on the left, customer service, customer experience, that’s customer retention. Without those four ovals churning along effectively, you’re not going to have an effective business. And yes, I have presented books on those four ovals, especially marketing and sales and customer service and customer experience. But on the right side of the screen, I have the key, what I call my bubbles, they’re circles. And these are the things that leaders and effective business people have to always keep learning about and keep getting better. with their skills in these. At the center of the graphic is the healthy and growing organization is constantly adapting and innovating. Think about companies that did not keep current. Sears Roebuck and Company, Montgomery Ward, Circuit City that Jim Collins named as an exemplar in the book Good to Great. They didn’t keep current. And so they’re gone. I’ve got a favorite restaurant when I moved to Dallas called Steak and Ale. It’s long gone. I loved that restaurant. They did not keep current. And then clockwise, starting on the top left, here are the other circles to keep working at. What’s the meaning behind your business, the core values, the why? And then the next circle is what’s your strategy? And the next circle is how do you build your leader and leaders? And the next circle, how do you build and nurture your teams? The next circle is how do you hire the right talent? How do you nurture the talent? The next circle is how does everybody get aligned in the corporate culture where everybody’s on the same page? The next circle, communication. And I give this to companies and they always say we are weak on communication. Over my shoulder, I’ve got the Chip Heath and Dan Heath book, Made to Stick on Communication, good book. And then execute, execution, that’s the execution of your strategy and then measure your progress and then the last circle is removing bottlenecks. Every one of these is critical and there are good books that I’ve presented for every one of those circles.

Hugh Ballou:
You’re so spot on. I mean, you and I haven’t really talked about this, so I want to remind people listening, whether you’re clergy, there’s the business of church, whether you’re a community organization like a membership organization, a chamber of commerce, or you’re a community-based charity or a non-profit university. you’re in a business that’s a tax-exempt business. So when he’s talking about your product or service, if it’s college, you’re educating people. If you’re feeding the homeless or you’re housing the homeless, you’re feeding people. And in churches, it’s our transformational journey. So we do have a product. And so think of it in terms of your product and how does it impact people’s lives. That chart is worth the whole interview right there, Randy. Thank you so much.

Randy Mayeux:
You’ve prompted a memory, so let me tell you a memory. I spent 20 years in ministry, and I was a reader then like I am now. And I remember a professor at Pepperdine University, a dear friend of mine, who I spent a day with him. He had a personal library of 8,000 books. And in the middle of the afternoon, he goes to his bookshelf and pulls down a wonderful book of sermons by Arthur John Gossip. Arthur John Gossip from Scotland, was called by William Barclay, the commentator, as the man closest to God I ever met. That was the story. And, and Arthur John Gossett’s wife died unexpectedly. He preached a sermon shortly after called, But When Life Tumbles In, What Then? That’s in the book. Well, I’ve read sermons by great preachers. I read books on how churches grow. I’ve always learned by reading. So in my ministry days, I had that set of books, and then I shifted as I adapted to a different life later. What you said made me think about that memory.

Hugh Ballou:
I don’t care where you’re leading, these are all universal principles. That’s right. You’re talking about sales. Now, in our church work or synagogue work or non-profit work, that’s fundraising. You know, we’re making the pitch and people want to, it’s a reversal of our thinking. We’re not asking for money. We’re not begging for money. We’re giving people an opportunity to support the mission. So they’re not investing in their own return. They’re investing in the return of others, return on life for people. And then the last one is a big one you had in that orange chart is customer retention. donor retention. We get the money and we don’t stay in contact with them. So, folks, this chart will be on the page for this interview. And if you listen to the audio podcast, you can, from that place in your phone or your iPad or your computer, you can download that visual. So, Randy, that was so helpful. So, you teach around that circle with your different books. Did I hear you correctly?

Randy Mayeux:
That’s correct. And for example, I’ve got a client company right now. And I met with their executive team. We went through those circles. And they, the members of the executive team, said, we’re doing pretty well on these circles. We’re really weak on this circle. And so the first three sessions I led with their executive team dealt with communication. And so that’s what we looked at. And I did, I presented the book Super Communicators by Charles Duhigg and the book Smart Brevity, which is a wonderful book on how to write effectively with smart, not shallow brevity. So it’s a terrific book. And Hugh, you’re exactly right. When you’re working with donors with anything, the rule is you’ve got to keep communicating perpetually. If you don’t do that, things fall through the cracks.

Hugh Ballou:
And we forget that we have one mouth, two ears, and two eyes. So communication is two ways. So what are we hearing from people? And that’s an important piece that we miss. So Randy, you’re primarily delivering content for a business audience. So you do one Friday a month. Is that how it works?

Randy Mayeux:
First Friday every month, and that’s always the first Friday except for an occasional January and July conflict, then it moves to the second Friday. But every other month, it’s all the months, it’s first Friday. We’ve done it for 26, nearly 27 years.

Hugh Ballou:
Wow, wow. So talk about, when I hear you talking to people in conversation, you say, you know, there’s a book about that topic. So 630 books, I bet there’s books you’ve read, you forgot that you read, you forgot about.

Randy Mayeux:
That is correct. Yeah, yeah.

Hugh Ballou:
So you teach around that circle, which is brilliant. And I’m so impressed. It’s so, excuse me, it’s so in line with what we do at Center Vision. It’s a holistic approach. You’re building a business. And the blue 10-90 principle is your product or service is 10% of your business. 90% is all that stuff you’re talking about. It’s the infrastructure that lets you deliver. As a musical conductor, 90% of my work is before the concert.

Randy Mayeux:
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Hugh Ballou:
That’s true of any business. So talk about some of the results you have seen. I know when you make the presentations, you see lights go off in people’s eyes, but what are some of the results you’ve seen in people’s lives because of what you share?

Randy Mayeux:
Let me take one specific area to help out. In the middle of the circle is that constantly innovating, constantly innovating. We are behind the curve on technological change. There is even research that is saying that the technological change is coming so rapidly that it is adding to our mental illness. growth, that we just feel unsettled. So I have done a number of books. I have presented a number of books in the arena of technological change, from the second machine age to the books about how to use technology to now the books on artificial intelligence. I’ve done at least four books, presented at least four books on artificial intelligence. This is not, these are not books on how to use chat GPT, but how to think about the changes that are coming because of the arrival of the current version of generative artificial intelligence. Leaders and business owners have to know the big picture items. They have to be able to think about those. And so that’s one tangible result that comes from my presentations. You see, Hugh, let me pause a minute. You and I are weird. We like to read books. Many people don’t really read many books. The research is clear. The average college graduate reads fewer than four books a year. So I want you to think about that. Wow. So so what I do, people need to know what’s in the best books. So I provide that service for them. And that’s what I do.

Hugh Ballou:
I love it. I love it. Now, people want to say, oh no, books are passe. We got to have video. But I think I read recently that there’s between 500,000 and 3 million, somewhere in the middle. You don’t know how to count self-published books. New books that are published every year. Yeah. So how do you choose your books?

Randy Mayeux:
That is the hardest part of my job. I mean, once I’ve chosen a book, I know how to read it and prepare a synopsis. I look at bestseller lists. I especially pay attention to the New York Times business bestseller list. It’s 10 books a month. I’ve done this month’s list, September of 2024. There are 10 books. After October 4, I will have presented eight of the 10. So I do the big bestsellers. I look for key authors. I look for themes. For example, There’s a woman who teaches at Harvard named Amy Edmondson who created the idea of psychological safety. She discovered that and developed it. I’ve presented her two books. They’re both terrific. I’ve done all of the books by the Heath brothers, Chip and Dan Heath. I’ve done the Malcolm Gladwell books. I’ve done some Jim Collins books and my former colleague did other Jim Collins books. So there are authors that you can count on. So I choose key authors, I choose key themes, and I don’t do self-published or books that don’t sell much. I do bestsellers or potential bestsellers. So that’s how I choose my books.

Hugh Ballou:
So let’s look at your website. It’s 15 minute. It’s 15 minute. If you want to go there, you’re listening to it and you can’t see it. It’s the number 15, one five minute business books, no hyphens or dots one five, 15 minute business books.com. And I’m going to show it for people that are watching the video. Um, by the way, you can find this episode at the nonprofit exchange.org. and you’ll be able to see the video and listen to the audio. So, Randy, what will people find when they go to 15minutebusinessbooks.com?

Randy Mayeux:
First of all, the front page always has. Can you scroll down on that, Hugh? Scroll down further, and now you have the next two books that I will present on October 4th. Friday, October 4th, 7 a.m. in person in Dallas and streaming on Zoom. One of them is On the Edge by Nate Silver. It is the way Silicon Valley is using probabilistic thinking in building business. And then Right Thing Right Now is about morality and ethics by the big bestseller Ryan Holiday. Now, Hugh, if you’ll click on that blog tab near the top, can you see that? click on the blog tab, and I’ll occasionally blog about books, but I’ll always have the This Month’s New York Times list of bestselling books and when we’re having our next event. So I blog about it. I used to blog about specific books more often, so you can go through the archives. And then if you click on the Buy Synopses and scroll down to our catalog, don’t push yet, Newest Editions. click there, and there you can see the books that I have presented recently. So, for example, The Singularity is Nearer is the big book on artificial intelligence and what it’s doing. Kurzweil is a genius. But you can purchase these synopses that come with the handout and with my audio recording of these presentations. Those are some things to find on the website.

Hugh Ballou:
This is a wealth of resources. So, um, the, the link will be in the podcast platform. And again, you’ll find it at the nonprofit exchange.org and you’ll find all of these episodes. And last time I read your resume, it was 625 books and now it’s 630. So you gotta, you gotta work hard to keep up with Randy Mayo. Randy, what do you want to leave with people? What thought do you want to leave with people today?

Randy Mayeux:
I do want to say first, Hugh, thank you for inviting me. And this has been a pleasant and wonderful conversation. I want to say when you need to tackle a question or challenge, Just Google this question, what’s the best book on building teams? What’s the best book on? Then you look through the list and you pick one that is good and you get your pen out or use your Kindle app, you underline passages and you read. What I want to say to people is, the best way to keep learning is to know what’s in the best books. If people write an article, they haven’t thought through it much. But when they get ready to submit a manuscript, they have thought through their stuff. And so that’s where you get your deepest dive into those good books. So that’s what I want to say.

Hugh Ballou:
You heard it right here on the non-profit exchange. Randy Mayhew, thank you so much for being our guest today.

Randy Mayeux:
Thank you.