Uncommon Greatness: Five Fundamentals to Transform Your Leadership by Mark Miller. Matt Holt. 272 pages. 2024
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I’ve read and benefitted from all of Mark Miller’s books. In his new book Uncommon Greatness, based on research that included more than four thousand leaders from six countries, he explores the five Fundamentals leaders need to study, practice, develop, and pursue. After the introduction of each Fundamental, which includes examples of those who have demonstrated that Fundamental, there is an entire chapter devoted to best practices and strategies to help you apply what you just read about.
In defining Uncommon Greatness, as opposed to common greatness, the author tells us that Uncommon Greatness is evident by the impact the leader has on others. It releases untapped human potential allowing people and organizations to flourish, creating enduring value. The author challenges, equips and inspires leaders to never settle for mere common greatness again, and tells us that the pursuit of Uncommon Greatness will always encounter opposition.

To pursue Uncommon Greatness, leaders must constantly ask and answer this question: How can I add the most value in this situation?  The Fundamentals of Uncommon Greatness represent five strategic ways every leader can and must add value. The five Fundamentals are:

• See the Future
• Engage and Develop Others
• Reinvent Continuously
• Value Results and Relationships
• Embody a Leaders Heart

Here are a few helpful quotes from the book about each Fundamental:

See the Future

• Real leadership always begins with a picture of the future. Vision is an indispensable ingredient for effective leadership.
• Leaders see the unseen, and then work to make it a reality for all to see.
• Any significant transformational vision will encounter opposition.
• The best leaders learn from the past but they never live there.
• The best decisions are almost always made with a long view in mind.
• There is something scarier than change – attempting to stay the same.

Engage and Develop Others

• When you think about who you will invite to join your team, aim high.
• Only organizations with engaged team members excel over the long haul.
• Leaders must commit to lifelong learning and rally their entire organization to do the same.
• Compliance is the seedbed for mediocrity, and commitment is the fuel for sustained levels of elite performance.
• Managers want to control people, and leaders want to empower and release them. There is a fundamental difference.

Reinvent Continuously

• If you are not learning, growing, and improving, it will be extremely difficult for you to muster the moral authority to inspire those around you to do so. People always watch the leader.
• If you will Reinvent Continuously, you create the best odds for your long-term relevance, vitality and contribution as a leader.
• Creative thinking is the ability to generate viable options. When the skill of creative thinking is applied to our biggest problems and opportunities, a new world of possibilities emerges.
• When you want to think creatively about anything, you will have to escape your own preconceived notions, and maybe the conventional wisdom of the world, and at least for a moment, put aside what you know to be true.
• To create and sustain productive and purposeful change is the ultimate responsibility of every leader.

Value Results and Relationships

• The best leaders overcome their personal bias and learn to Value both Results and Relationships.
• One of the greatest gifts a coach can provide is perspective.
• When you expend the effort to know someone at a human level, you honor them.

Embody a Leader’s Heart

• People follow leaders they trust. And they trust leaders whose character is on full display.
• The best leaders start with their heart before they attempt to win the hearts of others.
• Virtually everything you do as a leader requires courage. Sometimes in small doses and other times in massive amounts.
• People want to follow leaders who have the interest of others at heart.
• The single biggest factor that will determine your leadership efficacy, influence, and impact over time is your heart.
• The best leaders are learners, period. It is their voracious, insatiable desire to learn and grow that enables them to serve well over the long haul.
• Learning needs to become a lifestyle, a worldview, and a significant part of your identity as a leader.
• Leaders who will not admit their mistakes are at great risk. Their job may not be on the line, but their leadership is.

The book concludes with the author showing how all of the Fundamentals converged and were embodied in one of his leadership heroes, Truett Cathy. The author tells us that Uncommon Greatness is ultimately measured by the impact we have on those around us.

Included in the book is access to a free Uncommon Greatness digital self-assessment and help with your next steps.

Uncommon Greatness is a well-written and practical book, based on research. It would be an excellent book to read with your leadership team or mentee.