October 26, 2022
The Purposeful Growth Revolution:
4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder
Mark Mears
Aviva Publishing (2022)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-212-4 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-213-1 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-214-8 (audiobook)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-215-5 (ebook)
New Book Offers Growth Revolution for Individual and Planet
Mark Mears’ new book The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder offers a simple concept of growth and the seasons to act as a springboard to spring into a life of growth, change, and leadership./p>
Mears begins by describing a magical moment in his life when he woke to admire a leaf on a tree and suddenly realized a leaf was a metaphor for growth and rebirth. He turned LEAF into an acronym for Leadership, Engagement, Accountability, and Fulfillment—four simple, yet powerful and integrated growth processes, which he explores in this book to demonstrate how we can all achieve purposeful growth that will make the world a better place.
Mears is no stranger to leadership or growth. He has had an impressive business career of thirty-five-plus years, working for such companies as PepsiCo/Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, JCPenney, NBCUniversal, and The Cheesecake Factory. He’s held positions ranging from assistant account executive to president and chief executive officer. Throughout the book, he shares stories of how he experienced personal growth and how he encouraged growth in others both individually and as teams in the organizations where he worked. He continually supports his statements with research from scholars and scientists, but he keeps the book highly readable and personal to show how the subject matter relates to his own personal experiences and successes.
Mears calls himself a “a growth junkie” and has an insatiable passion for growth, whether it be personal, professional, relational, or spiritual. In the book, he helps readers assess how they can grow as individuals, team members, and parts of larger organizations, while helping to improve the world at large. The assessments he offers will help readers determine where their growth opportunities lie.
The Purposeful Growth Revolution begins by focusing on the reader, helping them to determine their unique purpose and how to build their personal brand and professional growth brand. From there, the book branches out to discuss career growth and how to be purposeful in leadership, accountability, engagement, and fulfillment. Mears concludes by discussing how we can scatter our seeds to transition from personal growth to “we growth.”
Throughout the book, Mears shares inspirational quotes. The one I found most powerful was an anonymous one that said: “Someone once told me the definition of Hell; on your last day on earth, the person you could have become will meet the person you became.” The thought is a bit frightening, but Mears knows it’s easier said than done to encourage someone to become the person they could be.
One of the strongest discussions in the book is when Mears talks about how we have to overcome FUDD—Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and Delay. He explains how these areas hold us back from becoming that person we could have been, but we can conquer FUDD with Faith, Hope, Belief, and, most importantly, Action—all focused on our unique Purpose. Mears’ father, quoting Epictetus, used to tell him, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” That reaction requires purposeful action. As a leader, we need to take action to help our team navigate toward adaptability and back to excellence. Rather than face becoming obsolete, leaders encourage a “spirit of continuous improvement.” Another relevant quote in relation to this point that Mears shares is from Simon Sinek, who reminds us, “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”
Mears is also a believer in paying it backward. He uses the metaphor of being in the drive-thru lane and paying for the coffee for the person in line behind you. But that simple act of kindness means much more to Mears. It is a way of thinking about the future that creates a legacy for others. He states, “The virtuous cycle of reciprocity is not just a one-to-one, closed-loop, single event; it’s a one-to-many, open-loop, recurring dynamic with the potential to revolutionize your world and build a living legacy for others—pay it backward.” When we grow, we are able to see how we can help others grow, and then like Mears, we can become growth junkies, always looking for ways to create revolutionary growth to help everyone.
Ultimately, The Purposeful Growth Revolution offers us some powerful truths about the benefits of growth when we consciously—purposefully—try to make our world better. When we have Purposeful Leadership, we create Alignment among those we lead, which furthers growth. When we have Purposeful Engagement, which Mears defines as a “total commitment of one’s Heart, Head, Hands, and Habits,” we create growth Empowerment. Purposeful Accountability can overcome obstacles and obsolescence, resulting in growth Achievement. And Purposeful Fulfillment, created by cultivating People, Place, Process, and Performance, can result in a growth Environment.
Purposeful growth does not happen overnight. A tree does not become tall, strong, and fruitful in the blink of an eye. It takes years to fulfill its purpose. The same is true for all of us. We must set our minds on a long-term, lifelong growth journey. The Purposeful Growth Revolution will put us on the path and give us the seeds. Hopefully, we will be willing to water them.
For more information about Mark Mears and The Purposeful Growth Revolution, visit www.ThePurposefulGrowthRevolution.com.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and award-winning author of Narrow Lives and The Best Place
