Your Company Needs Some

Business-Book Book Clubs

Picture this for a fast-paced meeting for a team that is dead serious
about moving forward.
You sit together: you each have a multi-page book synopsis handout.
You listen together to a book synopsis presentation (an audio
recording), following along with the handout. The book synopsis is of
an important, current, valuable book. You learn about leadership; or
you learn about working well as a team; or you learn about improving
your personal productivity. In other words, if you listen, learn, and
implement, you get better. Over time, a lot better.
Those books are sitting there, ready to teach you. This is a way you
can learn together.
The meeting elements:
45 minutes in length
20 minutes listening together
20 minutes what do we do with this? conversation
5 minutes next-step planning with your personal action plan
This white paper is about one way to make this happen

By Randy Mayeux
A First Friday Book Synopsis
White Paper

The library (i.e., your

personal library) should
contain as much of what
you do not know as your
financial means,
mortgage rates, and the
currently tight realestate market allow you
to put there.
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
The Black Swan

People need
better tools to
help them
become better
supervisors and
managers, and
leaders end
even, simply,
better employees.
Summary:
Photo Credit: Jonathan Miske (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Each B-BBC session should focus on the content of one business book that deals with a current issue, or
a training/development goal.

Each B-BBC session should be divided into: content learning and retrieval; analysis and understanding
of the content for this company and these circumstances; followed by lessons & takeaways, and action
steps to take, for each participant involved; and an expectation to report back on progress and results at
the next B-BBC gathering.

Each B-BBC group should commit to meet in a series of sessions, to be determined by the groups needs
and participants. A minimum of three sessions seems to help provide the necessary jump-start for a
group.

(Although, there may be special circumstances when a single session is needed for a new initiative, or
a specific challenge).

Problem:
With low levels of employee engagement throughout the corporate landscape, and the failures of so many
training programs to produce lasting results, along with the dearth of and deficiency of leaders and eective
leadership, people need better tools to help them become better supervisors and managers, and leaders
end even, simply, better employees.

Assumptions:
#1 Gaining and understanding the content of the best business books, along with putting the lessons
of these books into practice, is a worthwhile endeavor. It is one way, an eective way, to help people
within your company become better supervisors, managers, and leaders.

#2 There are book-readers, and non-book readers. Companies must acknowledge this reality.
Most book-readers have established this practice and discipline by the time they enter their early adult years.
Turning a non-book-reader into an actual book-reader is a monumentally challenging task, and a leader
should not assume that he/she will succeed at this.

#3 Studies show that the average American does not read many books a year (average: somewhere
between 4-11); does not remember all that they read; and in the mix of books they read, business books is
fairly low in the overall total, even for people serious about developing their work skills.

Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

Page 2

People need to know what is in the

best business books, and put the
lessons-learned into practice. And
yet, many (especially the nonbook-readers) are unlikely to
practice the discipline of such bookreading and learning on their own.
In investigating the reading habits of adults, there appear to be three categories of
readers. Percentages come from a 2014 Pew Research Center Survey:

The non-readers these are people who read fewer than 5 books a year app.
54% of adults
The casual readers these are people who read 6-10 books a year -- app. 17%
of adults
Photo Credit: Jonathan Miske (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
The more dedicated readers these are people who read 11 or more books a
year app. 28% of adults

(The percentage of more dedicated readers has fallen noticeably over the last 3
decades)

#4 And yet, reading books is a great way to learn. The best leaders are readers. (Although, there is
evidence that many top level CEOs read few business books, and instead, read a wider-range of books -history, architecture, biography, science, and of course novels, among other areas of interest).

Conclusion:

Therefore, people need to know what is in the best business books, and put the lessons-learned into practice.
And yet, many (especially the non-book-readers) are unlikely to practice the discipline of such book-reading
and learning on their own.

Thus, a Business-book Book Club (B-BBC) is an option worthy

of exploring. A B-BBC is one important tool to add to the
development arsenal.
B-BBC, Version #1 -- for front-line supervisors or managers lacking business cultural literacy

B-BBC, Version #2 -- for emerging, future-leaders, and

B-BBC, Version #3 -- for executive teams.

The Three Audiences for Business-Book Book Clubs (B-BBC):

Companies can actually benefit from three B-BBCs, one for each audience within the company.

Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

Page 3

B-BBC, Version #1 -- for front-line supervisors or managers lacking business cultural literacy
For this group, the books need to focus on the fundamentals, such as: how to improve in your own personal productivity
(books on time management; energy management); how to function well as a team (team-building books deal with this,
but the need may be even a little simpler, like how to work well with others).

B-BBC, Version #2 -- for emerging, future-leaders

Every company needs to be on the lookout for those next leaders ready to emerge. The good companies have training
strategies in place to help identify such leaders, and then to give them the right training to help them move forward into
later leadership positions.
One municipal government in Texas, in a mid-size and fast-growing city, has had such a program for the last decade.
Each participant is invited to apply by their supervisor to the program by writing an essay explaining why they would like to
be part of the emerging leaders group. And then, if accepted, the selected individuals take part in five once-a-month book
club sessions. One obvious need for emerging leaders is that they need to develop a greater business cultural literacy.
One way to accomplish this is with carefully planned exposure to current business books.
(Note: Randy Mayeux and Karl Krayer present synopses to groups, especially leadership teams, within many
organizations. These extended sessions provide opportunity for facilitated conversations covering implications and
transferrable principles from the selected books.)
Photo Credit: Jonathan Miske (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

B-BBC, Version #3 -- for executive team members.

This is the obvious, and most frequent, B-BBC. Leaders at the top of an organization need to step back, think about
big-picture issues, and discuss future possibilities.

However, if they do so just shooting from the hip, without some form of guided conversation, the discussion may not
be as focused as needed. Choosing the right book, and focusing on the content of that book, may provide just the right
jump-start to the needed discussion.

For all three of these audiences, a B-BBC can be a valuable tool.

Select the Right Business Books for your B-BBCs

So where to start? How often should the
group meet?

The first, and simplest method, is to simply

select the volumes that the CEO or President
demands. (Always please the boss!)

But, let's take a deeper look at this

challenge.
Each business book deals with a specific
issue facing business leaders. Take a look
at the graphic, Elements of a Healthy
Organization, to see an overview of issues
that are constantly in need of fine-tuning
within an organization.

Elements of a Healthy Organization

Assuming that you have

A product or service
that others will pay for

Assuming Process Excellence

Excellent business
processes such as:
logistics, accounting,
billing (collecting)
Marketing and Sales

Meaning
{core value(s);
the why}

Remove
Bottleneck(s)

Strategy

Leaders

Team(s)

The Healthy &

Growing
Organization
Constantly Adapting
& Innovating

Measure

Talent

(Customer Acquisition)
Customer Service/
Customer Experience

Execute

Communicate

Alignment
(Corporate
Culture)

(Customer Retention)
Randy Mayeux

Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

214.577.8025

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

r.mayeux@airmail.net!

Page 4

Here is a table (see below) with one-to-more book suggestions for each issue area. This is simply a
representative list; many other books could be added to this table, or substituted for other titles.

Note: some of the biggest business best sellers are not listed. One reason is this; the really big business
best-sellers are dicult to categorize. They deal with so many issues, all at once. Some titles that fit in this
meta-category are:

Good to Great; Steve Jobs; Lean In; The Innovators; Freakonomics (and follow-up volumes); The Second
Machine Age; The World is Flat; Exponential Organizations; Bold This list can go on and on

Because of the big-picture thinking of executive teams, such books are not part of the table below.

Here is the table of recommended volumes to get you started (this, of course, will be updated as new books
are written):

Audience

Issue/Theme

Suggested Book
Titles

Suggested Book
Titles

Suggested Book
Titles

Front Line
Supervisors

Time & Energy

Management

Getting Things Done

The Power of Full

Engagement

The Other 90% &

Drive

Basic Leadership

Encouraging the
Heart

The Checklist
Manifesto

Customer Acquisition
(Marketing & Sales)

Contagious

To Sell is Human

The Why, (Purpose)

Start With Why

Strategic Planning
and Thinking

Good Strategy,
Bad Strategy

Mastering the
Rockefeller Habits
(& follow-up, updated
version, Scaling Up)

Leaders

Encouraging the
Heart

Great by Choice

Wooden on
Leadership

Teams

The Five
Dysfunctions of a
Team

Wiser

The Wisdom of
Crowds

Talent

The Rare Find

Alignment
(Corporate Culture)

Buy-In

Smart Tribes

Tribal Leadership

Communication

Words that Work

Made to Stick

Execution

Execution

Measuring Results

The Checklist
Manifesto

Removing Bottlenecks

The Goal

Photo Credit: Jonathan Miske (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Emerging Leaders

Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

The Signal and the

Noise

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

Page 5

Choose the Best Format for your B-BBCs

Youve decided to have some business-books book clubs within your organization. You have selected some
specific books to begin with. Youve accomplished the easy part. Now, the much tougher assignment: what should
the format be for your book club?

Ideally, every member reads every book fully each and every word and understands what he/she has read, and
knows exactly what to do to take full advantage of newly-understood knowledge, insights, skills.

But back to lets be realistic This is not going to happen. The only people who will do that are the truly
devoted book-readers. And, most of your folks do not fit that category.

Lets look back up to the summary above: what should each book-club session accomplish in each session?

Each B-BBC session should be divided into five tasks/elements:

Task #1 -- content learning and retrieval (What do the books say?)

Task #2 -- analysis and understanding of the content for this company and these circumstances (What does
this mean to our company, in our circumstances?)

Task #3 -- followed by lessons & takeaways (What are the most important lessons from this book?)
Credit:
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Task
#4 Jonathan
-- actionMiske
steps
to take, for each participant involved (What should I do with what Ive learned?)
Photo
Task #5 -- and an expectation to report back on progress and results at the next B-BBC gathering. (How will I
demonstrate to the group that Ive put what Ive learned into practice?)

How shall you conduct your book club sessions?

Option #1 No presenter of content. It is assumed that all arrive at the session having read the book. Thus, the
chosen leader of the session leads a guided conversation, working through the five tasks (see above).

Option #2 One or more participant presenters of content. One participant presents the key content of the
book; or, the content of the book is presented in sections (chapters) by dierent participants in the group. This can
be done either in one session, or, dierent participants can take a chapter each, and you can spread one book over
a number of sessions* (*the number of sessions to be decided by the group).

Option #3 The group listens to a presentation of the key content of the book from a book synopsis provider,
while each participant follows along with a comprehensive handout* (*see below for a way this can be done).

With options #2 and #3, a member/facilitator of the book club will need to lead the group through tasks 4 & 5.

One by-product: The more that a company values and provides

interactions between people over the content of books, the more
likelihood that those who might become book-readers will be
exposed to enough books that this practice will ignite such
interest and discipline. This would be a good thing.
Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

Page 6

One Final Note:

How long should the B-BBC last? The simple answer isforever. There is always the next new business book
worthy of careful reading and attention. In other words, making B-BBCs a regular part of a schedule is a valuable
way to help a company keep refining its skills, stay current, and even stay ahead of the changes coming just around
the corner.

*A Book Synopsis from 15MinuteBusinessBooks.com - your ideal

book club catalyst tool:
We have engaging synopses of the latest, most relevant business books, perfect for your team business-book club
meetings. Every month since April, 1998, we (Karl Krayer and Randy Mayeux) have presented synopses of bestselling business books. We present these at our live event, the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas, Texas. Each
synopsis is available for purchase, and comes with the audio recording of our presentations (about 15 minutes in
length), along with our comprehensive handouts. A company can purchase these synopses, and use them in their
own B-BBCs. (Synopses are available at www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com.)

An ideal way to end your book club meeting is to have each participant complete their own individual action plan.
A printable version is at the end of this white paper.

One Other Business Book Club Approach;

Photo Credit: Jonathan Miske (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
lets call this the Just for Fun Book Club

There is one other kind of business book club. This one serves a dierent purpose. Call this the Relationship
Building, Fun for the Reader, Book Club.

Some companies encourage and enable book clubs just for the sheer enjoyment that comes from reading and
discussing a book together. These book clubs may not have overt business or training objectives. They are simply
lets enjoy discussing a favorite book together sessions. These can be led by anyone in the company, and
participants can find each other. Such book clubs focus on best-selling novels, and/or maybe works of general
nonfiction.

These are morale-building groups, even though they may not lead to the same kind of skill development that more
structured B-BBCs might provide.

One place that has experimented with such book clubs is Warby Parker. Check out:

The Warby Parker Book Club -- Book Clubs Are Something Many Of Us Do In Our Free Time. At Warby Parker, They
Do It At Work. Here's Why. www.fastcompany.com/3030178/agendas/the-warby-parker-book-club
A word of explanation: the author of this white paper could not find many studies on the eectiveness of business-book book clubs. There are
anecdotal descriptions, but no seriously compiled and evaluated/analyzed data on the eectiveness of such book clubs. Thus, this may be a new area
for study. But, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence (personal testimony) that such book clubs can be eective, if conducted with the right purpose and
in the right format (with the most eective approaches). Consider this white paper as a tool to help a company get started in this worthwhile endeavor.
(One place to read of such a successful eort is www.betterbookclub.com.)

Randy Mayeux
214.577.8025

r.mayeux@airmail.net

@Randy1116

Check out my e-book, 12 Vital Signs of Organizational Health

Check out
my e-book,
12 Vital
Signs of

Randy blogs about business books at:

www.FirstFridayBookSynopsis.com
Synopses available at www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com
Randy Mayeux

Copyright 2015

www.15MinuteBusinessBooks.com

Page 7

My Individual Action Plan

Session: ___________________________
I learned this from this
session or, at least,
I was reminded of
this, which I had been
neglecting:

Based on this
session, I will tweak
my own behavior
(practice), in at least
the following three
ways:
Based on this
session, I will tackle
this major personal
challenge:

Based on this
session, I will have
the following
conversations:

Based on this
session, I will work
with the following
people in the
following ways:

Based on this
session, I will tweak
and/or even
change, the
processes and
procedures in my
department/area, in
the following ways:

Date: _______________

Name: ________________________

Topic: _____________________________

Name: ________________________

Topic: _____________________________

Name: ________________________

Topic: _____________________________