Leaders Made Here: Building a Leadership Culture

Let’s get one thing out of the way before we go any further. Leaders Made Here: Building A Leadership Culture by Mark Miller is in the form of a business novella. Some people would call it a business fable. Most of the people I know have strong feelings about this kind of book. Some love them and others hate them. If you’re part of the hate group, don’t even bother to read this review. You won’t like the book. If you’re OK with the novella form, read on.In 1977, Mark Miller signed on as an hourly employee in a local Chic-Fil-A restaurant. He’s risen from that point along with the company. Along the way, he’s written and co-written several business books. He’s had the opportunity to do the things he describes in this book and to help other companies do them. So, he’s about as knowledgeable an author as you’re going to get.Mark says he wrote this book for “those who can see the value in a strong bench of capable leaders but just lack the strategic framework to make it so.”The problem with reviewing a business novella is that summarizing the story portion of the book rarely helps you decide whether you want to buy it or not. So, I’m going to hit some of the important points and give you my general impressions of the book.Mark Miller has a straightforward definition of “culture.” He says that it is “nothing more than the sum of the habits of people.” That’s important because culture is the way people act, not what the statements on their wall plaques and laminated pocket cards say.He describes a leadership culture by saying that: “A leadership culture exists when leaders are routinely and systematically developed and when you have a surplus of leaders.”The story the book tells is of a company that went from not having a leadership culture to developing one. As you read the story, you get to watch the team put a leadership culture in place. Miller chooses to concentrate on the Chief Human Resources Officer and the HR team and use them as protagonists in the story. That’s an excellent device, because it allows them to explain their thinking and to bring in different viewpoints by doing research.One important point that Miller makes is that strong leadership cultures have what he calls “the opportunity.” The opportunity is nothing more than the opportunity for aspiring leaders to actually lead. In too many companies, it’s all classrooms, simulations, case studies, and discussions, until the aspiring leader gets the opportunity to try things out. Companies with effective leadership cultures give aspiring leaders the opportunity to try on the role and incorporate debriefing, coaching, and learning from experience in their leadership development.In A NutshellLeaders Made Here: Building A Leadership Culture by Mark Miller is the fictionalized story of a company defining and developing a leadership culture. The form and the organization make it very much like having Mark Miller explaining his ideas about defining and creating a leadership culture over a glass of wine. They’re good, usable ideas and good reasons to read this book.

Outside my work with a digital marketing agency, I’ve had little interaction with the corporate world. I was born into a ministry family, studied ministry and counseling in college, married a pastor, and have served in church ministry my entire life. There are a lot of differences between a business mindset and a ministry mindset, but one area that is critical to both is leadership — specifically, modeling “good” leadership and training leaders for the future.It doesn’t matter whether you work at a Fortune 500 company, a non-profit, or something in between. Creating and maintaining an effective leadership culture matters whether you’re part of a business, church, sports team, social committee, town hall, or something else.This book explains what that involves and how to create it — with ideas like defining, training, practicing, and measuring. According to the author, most people want more than a paycheck and basic benefits from their job. They want to grow, though they may need a little encouragement to combat complacency. In his words, “the best leaders are always learners.”I would recommend this for leaders at any level of any type of organization or group! Even though I do not currently hold any formal leadership titles within the corporate world, I still gleaned truths that relate to my roles as a part-time consultant and a church intern. It has a wide range of applicability!

Using his parable once again to present concepts for the reader to consider, Mark Miller brings us inside a struggling company in need of a turnaround. We discover a company in a leadership crisis. Mark explores ways of growing leadership within the company, recognizing while there are many approaches, for each company there will be a few that fit better than others, finding the proper approach for your company is as much process as performance. While the book isn't terribly long (it is a deceptively easy read), it contains many kernels of wisdom written on the ever present flipcharts used to clarify thoughts in meetings everywhere. The task for the reader will be to take these kernels and apply them to the reader's own situation by recognizing the need for analysis and adaptation to find an approach that fits each real world environment. As I stated in the header, this is blueprint material. Start building !

The title of this book caught my eye - it's the first book I'd read by Mark Miller - and it did not disappoint. Mark shares a story about how a new CEO helps his leadership team develop a leadership culture - one where they could confidently hang a "Leaders Made Here" sign outside the front door. I enjoyed the story, and like the way the book is laid out with key points summarized in callout boxes. How many times do you read a book and something catches your eye, so you tab a page or highlight a passage. These callout boxes do it for you, so it takes a fun parable and turns it into an easy reference book for me to use as I lead my team and try to build a leadership culture within my organization. I also particularly appreciate the servant-leadership aspects of this book.

I have been an avid reader and fan of Mark Miller's leadership materials for several years. Our organization spent months in preparation and training using the Chess Not Checkers materials and we have seen a huge impact in the way our team thinks, in how we approach our opportunities, and in the way we develop our employees. Leaders Made Here continues the principle of Bet on Leadership in a clear and easily understood format - as is Mark's custom. I purchased the Kindle edition for easy airplane reading and was not disappointed. I look forward to bringing this to the rest of our leadership team and building on the principles we have already begun. Very excited!

I needed to read this for a school assignment, and hadn’t read anything by Miller before. He wrote it in the form of a story, which I think is more difficult than simply listing out the principles and explaining them.Through the story, Miller explains five principles or tents for companies to practice in order to build in itself a leadership culture. I recommend this book to anyone in Leadership to help make their company better, as well as to someone not in a formal leadership role to help them better understand the kind of company at which they might like to read.I found myself deeply interested in the fictional characters he used to tell the story and share these principles. This speaks to his skill as a writer, I believe, and his desire to serve the reader.

One might forgive the stilted style and awful prose in this book if it actually offered any solid business skills or insight. Written like a bad first novel, the book's premise is that it is a narrative story about a business team. The so-called lessons are banal and trite, and the constant advice to choose a team you can work with, and work with people like yourself is puzzling until you twig to the fact that the author is an executive with the ever tolerant Chick-fil-A corporation. This book is jaw-droppingly horrible.

it just appeared in mail box by promotion and I just looked at it somehow summary attracted me and started reading a very good book all summary notes to be kept as flash cards and to be read daily along with your team to ensure we have leaders made here culture

Great book!