Heroes in Business - Stephen Riggio, Former CEO of Barnes & Noble, Author, 2 Historical Books translated from Italian to English sicilianavengers.com

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

Listen to Stephen Riggio, former CEO of Barnes & Noble, who translated two historical books from Italian to English. He served as Chairman of the Dia Art Foundation for eight years, leading the initiative to build Dia, one of the world's most celebrated contemporary art museums. Catch his interview with David Cogan on the Eliances Heroes Show. Visit sicilianavengers.com for more information.

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. That's right. And we're back. Thank you again, everyone out there. I can't thank you enough for the comments, the feedback, the messages that we get. This is what keeps us going now in our, what, sixth year. And thank you for the feedback we continue to have when we head on the founder of E-Entertainment. So make sure that you go to, you know, the only place where entrepreneurs align, E-Alliances, E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com. Click on the radio to listen to past interviews. Well, I'm super excited today. Are you ready for this? We have with us Stephen Riggio. He is the former CEO of Barnes & Noble. And if that wasn't enough, he's translated two historical books from Italian to English, and you can reach him at SicilianAvengers.com. Once again, that's SicilianAvengers.com. So welcome to the show, Stephen. Nice to be here. All right. So let's first, let's just jump right into that. You got to be a book lover to become the CEO of Barnes & Noble, are you? Sure, sure. As an early, you know, in my early childhood, I was a voracious reader. And what kind of books were you reading?

It's interesting because when I was young, my brother, who had founded Barnes & Noble, used to bring home books to me all the time. He'd take them from the bookstore and, you know, give them to me to read. And I remember the very first book he gave me was Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I was only 10 years old at the time. So that was kind of a mind opening experience, if you will. And from then on, I was kind of off to the races as a reader. How do you think things have changed so much with, you know, is it out there where it seems like people are reading less and now more watching movies, now more doing like instant TikTok and stuff. But isn't there something

unique when you're actually reading and using your imagination? You know, when we were expanding the company, we started in the 70s, went through the 80s and 90s and into the aughts. And almost at every time people would say to us, people are not reading anymore. There's too much television. There's too much cable television. Then there was video games. Then there was the Internet. But interestingly, then e-books. Interestingly, book sales have grown through every decade. There's something about books which other forms of leisure entertainment can't compete enough with. There's nothing like holding a book, you know, and diving into it. Books are for people with aspirations.

And especially being able to imagine what it is, right? When they're describing something or somebody or like what you've created of translating two books from Italian to English, that must have been a feat. We'll talk a little bit more about that. You're right, because then each person's visualizing something different when they're reading it. Of course, yes. Yeah. Where do you see as far as with now, and again, where you see things going, though, in regards to bookstores themselves and stuff? I mean, do you see eventually everything just going online? I mean, it just, it's, you know, do you see eventually everything just going online? I mean, will there be bookstores besides at the airport where you're paying triple the price? Well, as I was saying, when the internet came back in the mid-90s, people were afraid that

it would kill bookstores, partly because you could just order a book online and get it delivered to your home. But the more significant aspect of the internet to bookstores was the fact that you could now look up information online. If you were going on a trip before, you would go into a bookstore and you'd buy, you know, a handful of travel guides. Right. If you were interested in a road trip across America, you'd buy a road atlas. Any cooking, you know, there were all types of information that was now available online that was, you know, formerly used to be only in books. Magazines were a big part of Barnes & Noble sales for many years, and many magazines have stopped publishing. Yet, yet, bookstores are still thriving because there's enough, there's enough, there are enough books in print that people come to bookstores for.

So they've managed to survive. They're not going away. Well, I'm motivated after this interview to pick up a book and start reading. Because it doesn't happen enough. And it's almost like that peace and quiet. I think more bookstores opened last year than in the last several years. So there's kind of a resurgence. People love to go to bookstores.

They're cultural centers in the community. Like we used to say about our stores, everyone was different. So if you went in a Barnes & Noble, even just a few miles from each other, the selection was different because they had to be customized to the community. Right. So they were like cultural centers. But how do you go into a bookstore and not critique the bookstore itself having all this experience and go, well, you know, I think this would do better over here, this section over here. And go, well, you know, I think this would do better over here, this section over here. My best experiences were walking into our stores unannounced somewhere in America that I hadn't been to and seeing something that was so tailored to that community. that it just used to give me goosebumps knowing that the store manager and the staff there were so keyed into their community and wanted to make that store special to that one place.

That was my, those were my best experiences as a CEO, knowing that the people that ran the stores were in full control and they had the ability to make it as if it was their own store. Yeah. And coming from the outside, nobody would have any idea. Nobody would even realize they were there like, wow, this is exactly. Yeah. And again, we're talking with Steven Riggio, former CEO of Barnes and Noble, translated two historical books from Italian to English. You can reach him at SicilianAvengers.com. And again, this is David Kogan with the Alliance's Hero Show. Make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. All right, Stephen, why take on a project that seems

quite complex to me from Italian to English and talk about the two historical books that you've done. I mean, that seems harder than any math problem. You know, I think that in many respects, I was destined to do this. First, I have Sicilian blood. So that first and foremost made the book's content something that I could relate to. Secondly, we began taking Italian lessons after a tragic event in our lives. We lost our daughter Melissa to leukemia in 2008. And it was a tough time for my wife, Laura, and I.

And in searching to fill that empty hole in our lives, I decided, why not take Italian lessons together? So we started to do that. And a few years into the lessons, our teacher handed us the original Italian version of the book. And I looked at it and I said, well, this is going to be so difficult to read. And yet we began reading it and we fell in love with it. And I decided, let me try to translate this. It was something audacious. I was retired at the time. So it was something that I was able to latch on to.

Third, the main character in the book is an orphan. My great-grandfather was born in Sicily. He was an orphan, and he came to America in the Great Migration. So there were so many things that were coming together that made me seem destined to do this. And it was hard. And I was up for a challenge. I wanted to do something audacious. Absolutely incredible. And how long did it take? I mean, you know, it's like, yeah, how long? It took about two years. Two years.

It took about two years, yeah. And then how do you have it like quality checked to make sure that it was... I had a great editor and a great publisher. Wow. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Yeah. And you served too, not only that, you've served on a number of boards, the National Book Foundation, National Down Syndrome Society, served to not only that you've served on a number of boards the national book foundation national down syndrome society founding member of hrc new york city foundation board um just you know

incredible you ever look back and um you know just think about again the history the impact that you made again right even with being with being the CEO of Barnes and Noble, you mentioned about that. Just kind of what goes through your mind, you know, of your history, your legacy, and tying it to the books? Well, my career in bookselling was close to 40 years. And it's one of the most, it's one of the most proudest things in my life to know that we created, you know, that company together, my brother and I. And he was the founder of the company and one of the great retailers in America. And we had just lost him a couple of weeks ago. So it was a tremendous amount of pride in knowing that we did that.

On the personal side, our daughter, who we lost in 2008, had Down syndrome. And my wife, Laura, and I have spent the years since then as advocates for people with intellectual disabilities. And that's been one of the more important parts of our life since she was born. And we continue to advocate and are involved in that area. Wow. Yeah. So for those of you that are watching and listening, listen carefully, we're going to do some snooping right now. So Stephen, I want to do some snooping in your office right now. Behind you, of course, is the Sicilian Avengers book poster. And then you've got a number of other books, some pictures in there. What would be the one item, if you were to be

able to grab any item, if something were to happen, what item, what thing there means the most to you? Well, these are so many of the books that I used in researching the background to the novel, which is a historical novel. And one of my favorite novels, maybe the favorite novel, is The Leopard by Giovanni di Lampedusa. And it's the great historian, the great historical Sicilian novel, probably the best novel that ever came out of Italy. So that's the one that I would pick. Wow. If you didn't do a career in books and bookstores and that, what do you think you'd be doing? What do you think you would have done? What do you think you would have done? Well, I'd say when I was young, I wanted to be an architect.

And that never got anywhere. I began reading spy novels when I was very young, mostly James Bond by Ian Fleming. So I always thought a career maybe in the CIA would have been interesting. But I think more of the George Smiley type than the James Bond type. What's your next book you're going to write? There's a sequel to the book that I translated. The book that I translated was a thousand pages. The sequel is 1700 pages. So we're busy reading that right now, my wife, Laura and I. Oh my, how long does it- Why not do something audacious, right? Instead of a small project.

Incredible. How long does it take to read it? I mean, this is a very long project. Read it, translate it, have it reread in the translation. long project. Read it, translate it, have it reread in the translation. When I retired, as I said, we lost our daughter. And when you retire, you're looking for things to do and things to fill the time. And learning the Italian language was something that I just grabbed onto. I had studied it when I was young, but never really stayed with it. And the great thing about this is that my wife and I are doing it together. We're reading the books together. We're finishing the books together. And as I translate it, you know, we're working together and it's very, very gratifying. And we do, we've taken many trips to Italy.

I'll be going to Sicily tomorrow, which is where the book takes place. So it's been a very nourishing part of our lives. Wonderful. Yeah. Probably brings both of you even closer together. Yes. Yeah. Well, fantastic.

Well, Stephen, it's been an honor having you even closer together. Yes. Yeah. Well, fantastic. Well, Stephen, it's been an honor having you on the show. Stephen Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, translated two historical books from Italian to English. Make sure you go to SicilianAvengers.com and of course, we'll have it on our website, This has been David Kogan with the Alliance's Hero Show. Thank you again for Stephen for being on the show. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. I got to dance a little bit.