Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Super Bowl–winning coach and #1 New York Times best selling author Tony Dungy has had an unusual opportunity to reflect on what it takes to achieve significance. He is looked to by many as the epitome of the success and significance that is highly valued in our culture. He also works every day with young men who are trying to achieve significance through football and all that goes with a professional athletic career—such as money, power, and celebrity. Coach Dungy has had all that, but he passionately believes that there is a different path to significance, a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding. Uncommon reveals lessons on achieving significance that the coach has learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his journey with God. A particular focus of the book: what it means to be a man of significance in a culture that is offering young men few positive role models.

From the Inside Flap

“Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man.
I’m looking for uncommon people.”

When Coach Cal Stoll spoke these words to Tony Dungy and the rest of the freshman football team at the University of Minnesota, he likely had no idea how they would be remembered. Dungy carried them with him through his days as a student, as an NFL player, and as the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl. Today, he thinks they are words that the world needs to hear more than ever before.

Tony Dungy believes that his primary job as a coach is to build men worthy of being role models to a nation of boys who look up to them: Men of character, integrity, and courage. Men with both confidence and humility. Men who know the value of family and faith as well as career. And his message to them about how to attain real significance in life is one that many people—not just football players—are desperate to hear.

In a culture that defines success by the size of your salary or by the media frenzy surrounding you, Tony Dungy offers valuable insights on achieving uncommon success and real significance. They just may be the most important lessons—on and off the field—that can be applied to your life today.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414326815
• ISBN-13: 978-1414326818
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #589 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Follow Up to Quiet Strength, January 27, 2009

By	Scandalous Sanity (Texas) - See all my reviews

Recently retired Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy delivers an outstanding follow-up to his bestseller Quiet Strength in his new book, Uncommon. The name of the book is derived from a quote by former University of Minnesota coach Cal Stoll, who said:

"Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. I'm looking for uncommon people."

Dungy first heard these words as a freshman on Stoll's football team almost three decades ago, and they have stayed with him ever since. The only difference is that it is now Dungy summoning men to an uncommon life of significance.

The book does not differ much from Quiet Strength, as it is written in a casual tone similar to most sports figure's memoirs. It is, however, less autobiographical, leaning more toward an advisory manual on how to live life. It is divided into seven parts, each dealing with important issues that men deal with in their lives, such as family, friends, career, and relationship with Christ. It is sprinkled with stories from Dungy's personal life which illustrate the themes of each chapter. Perhaps most refreshing is the coach's tone. He is never condescending or preachy, adamently proclaiming that his way is the best way. Reading this book is almost like talking to a big brother who is handing out advice because he's been there.

For those who are weary of self-help books, have no fear. Dungy's focus is on service to God, family, and fellow man. There are no get-rich quick schemes in this book, or promises of blessings. This is just Tony Dungy trying to instruct men how to be better husbands, fathers, and human beings. He doesn't claim to have all the answers; he's just willing to share what he's been through.

It's a quick, easy read, and there's enough football mixed in to keep most guys interested. There's a Q & A with Tony Dungy in the back, giving his opinion on more direct questions. My only knock on this book is the goofy picture of Dungy on the back cover. But it's definitely worth the money. Tony Dungy scores again.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Road Less Traveled, January 27, 2009

By	Robert W. Kellemen "Doc. K." (Crown Point, IN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Tony Dungy, best selling author of Quiet Strength, has penned another Super Bowl quality book in Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance. The two books cover similar terrain: how to win in life. However, Dungy's latest work focuses especially on how young men can pursue and achieve a life of significance and success.

Dungy is eminently qualified to write such a book, given his lifetime of leadership coaching not only athletes in sports, but men in the proverbial game of life. Additionally, his own drive for success, not simply defined by wins and loses, but by other-centered relationships, is Dungy's ultimate qualification for writing Uncommon.

Dungy begins by defining success, not from the world's perspective, but from his Christian worldview. He then notes how uncommon true success and significance are, outlines many of the reasons, and prescribes practical pathways: attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances.

What Rick Warren achieved with Purpose Driven Life, Tony Dungy has accomplished with Uncommon. Both books are user-friendly, easy-reads, without being dumbed-down or simplistic. And both books, while maintaining a Judea-Christian ethic, are not preachy.

Though focused somewhat on young males, Uncommon is for every person pursuing a life of meaning, a path of purpose, and the road toward significance. Learn from an uncommon man the uncommon art of leaving a lasting legacy.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, January 27, 2009

By	Eric B (USA) - See all my reviews

Retired Colts head coach Tony Dungy has scored once again. I've read most of his books, and I really enjoyed Uncommon. I'm a bit older than who I think his target audience is, but it never hurts to read positive thoughts. I think young men and women will greatly enjoy and take away a new spirit as they look at life and what is ahead of them. Tony Dungy has been working with young men in and out of sports for decades. I think he is a true hero and I highly recommend this book to younger men and women just starting out on that interesting road we call "life."

I also recommend a book given to me by one who knows I love American heros. This memoir from an 82 year old WWII Navy vet ties in with the 64th anniversary of our fight for Iwo Jima this coming February 19th. Take a look at Walking Through Fire, An Iwo Jima Survivor's Remembrance