Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned From All Three
4.8 | 834 ratings
Price: 16.4
Last update: 04-12-2026
Top reviews from the United States
- William N. ParkerThe Best Book on Leadership and Team Leadership I Have Ever Read!Managers just don’t get it!! They don’t know how to bring out the best in their team members because they are objective structuralists!! We need them for organization, structure, standard operating procedures and through these a sense of reliability and security! Bureaucracies of all types thrive on managing both things and processes and are slow to change. These managers see their direct reports as vehicles to use practices and procedures that are clearly defined for each division, department, section, and role. In other words, do your job as it is defined.
I’ve read probably 50 good books on the subject of leadership I have the titles recorded by year, and used many of the materials in my leadership and team-development workshops in a power generation utility based in Richmond, VA. My greatest accomplishment while there was seeing members of departments in a fossil-fuel power station sit across from each other determining how they could meet each other’s operating needs on a daily basis! All teams from all departments had taken the MBTI, as had their supervisors. Managers were exposed to practical applications of the self-fulfilling prophecy; I was blessed enough to have two resources nationally published for public use.
I moved to the North Myrtle Beach, SC area for retirement in 2007. Dawn Staley’s first year as head coach at the University of South Carolina was in 2008, the same time a new men’s basketball coach was hired. I followed Dawn’s career from the time she led the Virginia Cavaliers to three Final Fours, and an NCAA title in 1991.
Dawn’s talent for basketball was God-given; she was wired for it when she was quite young. Hers is a rags to riches story of what a responsible, determined individual can do in any environment!
After all her many, significant individual basketball accomplishments in basketball, she found herself being coaxed into coaching women at the college-level. When she arrived at the University of South Carolina, she was an Xs and Os strategist, a manager! Dawn was a quick learner; she knew how important each individual’s commitment was to having the environment and culture that would support a passionate, all-out dedication to ongoing individual and team improvement and effectiveness! This realization helped her turn the page to team leadership: helping everyone realize their potentials, personally and professionally!!
I remember the four critical traits of a leader articulated by Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner: Honest, Competent, Forward Looking, and Inspiring!! Dawn Staley could look into each of these mirrors and be extremely proud that she models each of these traits. After reading Uncommon Favor, it seems that she also reflects a personal hero in her life: her mom!
This is the first book I have read about leadership from which one could learn about ongoing personal development in life or about developing into a truly effective team leader. Dawn Staley has done both, and she’s still learning, changing, and becoming! - LoganMust read!A must read for anyone into basketball or in a self-help book area. One of my favorite autobiographies of all time. Easy read too and her stories continue to pull you in you feel like you were with her every day of her life
- Shauneille HudsonGreat readThis was an awesome read. She really is a phenomenal person.
- GeorgeAn astounding exceptional bookAn absolutely amazing book. Dawn Staley writes about her journey from the projects of North Philly to the heights of women's collegiate basketball, revealing what makes her tick. I love this book.
- Susan K. DurbinGreat coach, interesting life storyReally enjoyed reading about Dawn Staley’s life and beginnings in North Philadelphia. She is truly self-made and passionate about coaching.
- To who it may concernGreat item.Great product. My wife loves it.
- BoomerGreat read from the hoops legend. ????????Coach Staley has been a strong and courageous leader as someone who is a Gamecocks and WNBA fan, she was due for this book she could have written two or three by now with such an inspiring life and accomplishments. A Great Read. Thx Coach. ????????????
- F. RukusGreat STORYThis biography shows Dawn to be a very talented Athlete, basketball coach, representative for Black women and racial equality who rose from the streets of north Philadelphia to the University of South Carolina to pack the stadium with a diversity of people raising the popularity of Women’s Basketball to unprecedented heights where season passes were sold out in one day, raising profits for all involved. But this didn’t include Dawn Staley’s salary without her powerful stand to prove her worth resulting in equalizing her salary to those of other successful male college basketball coaches.
She is truly a National treasure using her platform as an outstanding and outspoken woman fighting for equal rights of under represented poor children, families and Black Women.