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Win the Heart
Employee engagement is shockingly low--but the problem isn't the employees, it's the leaders. Bestselling author Mark Miller shows how leaders can make the office a place where their employees truly want to be.
According to Gallup's 2017 report, only 33% of workers are engaged at work--and the numbers have been low for years. Leaders have tried and failed to address this critical problem. Based on Mark Miller's research, this book both simplifies and operationalizes the necessary behaviors to reverse this troubling trend. The missing link is realizing that the pandemic of low engagement is not a problem with the workers, it is a problem with the leaders.
In this charming fable, Blake, a young CEO, is convinced something is not quite right in his organization. Sales, profits, and customer satisfaction are barely improving, the competition is gaining on them and no one appears to care. And when he's honest with himself, he's lost his fire as well. He just can't put his finger on the problem. Blake seeks out his old friend and first mentor, Debbie Bruster. She sends Blake on a journey to discover the key to engaging leadership. By the end of his journey, Blake has discovered a powerful philosophy to guide his decisions in the future, and four drivers of engagement to implement today.
According to Gallup's 2017 report, only 33% of workers are engaged at work--and the numbers have been low for years. Leaders have tried and failed to address this critical problem. Based on Mark Miller's research, this book both simplifies and operationalizes the necessary behaviors to reverse this troubling trend. The missing link is realizing that the pandemic of low engagement is not a problem with the workers, it is a problem with the leaders.
In this charming fable, Blake, a young CEO, is convinced something is not quite right in his organization. Sales, profits, and customer satisfaction are barely improving, the competition is gaining on them and no one appears to care. And when he's honest with himself, he's lost his fire as well. He just can't put his finger on the problem. Blake seeks out his old friend and first mentor, Debbie Bruster. She sends Blake on a journey to discover the key to engaging leadership. By the end of his journey, Blake has discovered a powerful philosophy to guide his decisions in the future, and four drivers of engagement to implement today.
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About the author
Mark Miller
25 books121 followersMy career at Chick-fil-A began over forty years ago as an hourly team member in one of the local restaurants. Shortly thereafter, I became the sixteenth corporate employee — my first job: working in the warehouse. Since that day, I have worked all across the business from starting our Corporate Communications group and our Quality & Customer Satisfaction Team to leading in Restaurant Operations, Training & Development, Leadership Development and more!
For the last twenty years, I have focused much of my time on serving leaders, helping them grow themselves, their teams, and their organizations. In addition to my role at Chick-fil-A, I’ve also had the privilege to teach and lead in not-for-profit organizations domestically and globally. Although the context is different in every organization, the problems have common roots and so do the solutions.
Along the way, I have been fortunate to author (and co-author) a few books – eight and counting. Today, more than a million books are in print in 25+ languages. My approach to writing has always been to find what is true in principle and figure out how to make it applicable to the real world.
For the last twenty years, I have focused much of my time on serving leaders, helping them grow themselves, their teams, and their organizations. In addition to my role at Chick-fil-A, I’ve also had the privilege to teach and lead in not-for-profit organizations domestically and globally. Although the context is different in every organization, the problems have common roots and so do the solutions.
Along the way, I have been fortunate to author (and co-author) a few books – eight and counting. Today, more than a million books are in print in 25+ languages. My approach to writing has always been to find what is true in principle and figure out how to make it applicable to the real world.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 15, 2020
If this was an article telling what engagement entails and how he discovered this, it would have been about 5 pages and would have gotten to the point- maybe even interesting. I missed at times what he was really trying to say because I was so bored and put-off with the syrupy story. It was not well written.
March 6, 2019
Employees have less loyalty to their employers and most seek more than just a paycheck. They want a positive culture, strong teams, recognition, and opportunities to learn and to contribute. Sadly, a majority of employers don’t share the same goals and are hyper-focused on numbers and results, not engagement.
I have worked for a few companies that lack a strong or caring culture. They are all talk, and it shows up in employee engagement scores and overall company performance. One of my previous employers has recently fallen prey to lower sales and production. They took their eyes off of their employees and neglected to engage them, recognize their efforts, and apparently didn’t care about people or even work-life balance. Moreover, employee engagement was non-existent, and now the company is suffering.
Some of my experiences with prior employers were a stark reminder of the pitfalls of poor culture and low engagement. When I read Mark Miller’s new book, Win the Heart – How to Create a Culture of Full Engagement it hit home. Mark is very passionate about employee engagement and adamant that culture is the key to employee engagement and productivity. Engagement requires a certain level of care which is reflected in both overall attitudes and actions.
High performing companies have four things in common:
1. Bet on leadership
2. Act as one
3. Win the heart
4. Excel at execution
As leaders, we should take ownership and be proactive in creating an environment where our people will thrive, and success follows. The CARE Model is an active process to guide us on our journey.
• Connection – People crave connection, and it drives ideas, engagement, and action
• Affirmation – Use words and actions with our people
• Responsibility – Entrust people with taking responsibility, and they will move mountains
• Environment – Create a positive, appreciative, and forward-thinking culture to bring achievement
I enjoyed Mark’s relaxed and relatable style of writing. I read Win the Heart in one setting not only because culture is one of my passions, but he shares ideas and strategies through storytelling. I quickly fell into the story and felt like I was on the journey with the characters. Each chapter had me cheering them on, and I was engulfed in their struggles and wins.
Our story starts with our main character, Blake, the leader of a successful company. His team felt that everything was flowing smoothly until Blake slowly realized that everyone was just showing up to work and going through the motions every day. He started doing some digging and found out that indeed the culture was sluggish and employees weren’t heavily engaged. Blake's team began a courageous journey to travel the world to see what other companies were doing to engage employees and change culture. Every company he met with had unique struggles and found ways to facilitate change.
Our journey with Blake opens up our minds to new ideas, solutions for engagement, and how to win back the heart of employees. We learn that employees are extremely vested in wanting to love where they work and strive to care what they do every day.
Blake’s team meanders through their journey walking into obstacles and challenges; however, it is so engaging to see how they handle the process and continue on because of the intense passion that they have for their people and the company. They have a strong commitment to winning the hearts of their people and placing them first because they know it will be an emotional and financial success.
Mark does an incredible job of writing this tale to bring the reader into the story for the entire book. I felt like I was a part of the team and was learning without even realizing it. I was thoroughly engrossed in learning about the perspectives of each character on Blake’s team and intrigued how they were able to bring their various ideas and differing views to work together for success – not always an easy feat.
Pick up Mark’s book today and jump into his story. You will go on intriguing adventure learning along the way, and I guarantee that your head will be swimming with new thoughts, ideas, and obstacles. You WILL win over the hearts of your people.
I have worked for a few companies that lack a strong or caring culture. They are all talk, and it shows up in employee engagement scores and overall company performance. One of my previous employers has recently fallen prey to lower sales and production. They took their eyes off of their employees and neglected to engage them, recognize their efforts, and apparently didn’t care about people or even work-life balance. Moreover, employee engagement was non-existent, and now the company is suffering.
Some of my experiences with prior employers were a stark reminder of the pitfalls of poor culture and low engagement. When I read Mark Miller’s new book, Win the Heart – How to Create a Culture of Full Engagement it hit home. Mark is very passionate about employee engagement and adamant that culture is the key to employee engagement and productivity. Engagement requires a certain level of care which is reflected in both overall attitudes and actions.
High performing companies have four things in common:
1. Bet on leadership
2. Act as one
3. Win the heart
4. Excel at execution
As leaders, we should take ownership and be proactive in creating an environment where our people will thrive, and success follows. The CARE Model is an active process to guide us on our journey.
• Connection – People crave connection, and it drives ideas, engagement, and action
• Affirmation – Use words and actions with our people
• Responsibility – Entrust people with taking responsibility, and they will move mountains
• Environment – Create a positive, appreciative, and forward-thinking culture to bring achievement
I enjoyed Mark’s relaxed and relatable style of writing. I read Win the Heart in one setting not only because culture is one of my passions, but he shares ideas and strategies through storytelling. I quickly fell into the story and felt like I was on the journey with the characters. Each chapter had me cheering them on, and I was engulfed in their struggles and wins.
Our story starts with our main character, Blake, the leader of a successful company. His team felt that everything was flowing smoothly until Blake slowly realized that everyone was just showing up to work and going through the motions every day. He started doing some digging and found out that indeed the culture was sluggish and employees weren’t heavily engaged. Blake's team began a courageous journey to travel the world to see what other companies were doing to engage employees and change culture. Every company he met with had unique struggles and found ways to facilitate change.
Our journey with Blake opens up our minds to new ideas, solutions for engagement, and how to win back the heart of employees. We learn that employees are extremely vested in wanting to love where they work and strive to care what they do every day.
Blake’s team meanders through their journey walking into obstacles and challenges; however, it is so engaging to see how they handle the process and continue on because of the intense passion that they have for their people and the company. They have a strong commitment to winning the hearts of their people and placing them first because they know it will be an emotional and financial success.
Mark does an incredible job of writing this tale to bring the reader into the story for the entire book. I felt like I was a part of the team and was learning without even realizing it. I was thoroughly engrossed in learning about the perspectives of each character on Blake’s team and intrigued how they were able to bring their various ideas and differing views to work together for success – not always an easy feat.
Pick up Mark’s book today and jump into his story. You will go on intriguing adventure learning along the way, and I guarantee that your head will be swimming with new thoughts, ideas, and obstacles. You WILL win over the hearts of your people.
March 4, 2019
In the fourth book of his High Performance series, written as a leadership fable, Mark Miller tells us that CEO Blake Brown notices that something isn’t right. His organization’s performance has plateaued, the competition is gaining ground, and yet he feels that nobody seems to notice. Instead, the employees just seem to be going through the motions. They are not fully engaged. And if people see their work as just a job, why would they bring their full, best self to work? In discussing this problem, Blake and his team settles on a definition of engagement being “level of care”.
Blake and his team decide to send an employee engagement survey to their employees. The lack of response to the initial request speaks volumes about their lack of engagement. After a meeting with employees encouraging them to complete the survey, the results that came back were staggering. According to the vendor who administered the assessment, the engagement was awful, tragically low.
Blake seeks out his first mentor Debbie Brewster for advice. In the course of that meeting, he finds out that his father had spent years studying the topic of engagement and his plan was to write a book about what he was learning, but he died before he could do so.
Blake then visits with his Mom who gives him the box of materials that his father was accumulating for the book. What Blake and his wife Megan find in the box makes no sense to them at first, and they decide to organize the pieces on their basement wall like a police detective might. They soon get enough clarity from the clues to make five trips – to Selma, Alabama where they get the first piece of the puzzle – Connection. They then travel to Italy, where they get the second piece – Environment. Their next stop is Greece, where they get their third piece – Affirmation. They then stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they get their fourth piece – Responsibility. Blake brings their findings back to his team who then try to find some real-life examples of these four characteristics, while Blake and Megan make a final brief trip to Texas.
Giving what Blake, Megan and his team now know, can they turn the ship around and increase employee engagement. Right now, employee skepticism is high and trust is low.
This would be an excellent book for leaders to read and discuss with their teams. Mark Miller gives us an interesting story and a challenge for all of us to increase engagement with our teams, whether they be in business, non-profit, sports, church, etc.
Blake and his team decide to send an employee engagement survey to their employees. The lack of response to the initial request speaks volumes about their lack of engagement. After a meeting with employees encouraging them to complete the survey, the results that came back were staggering. According to the vendor who administered the assessment, the engagement was awful, tragically low.
Blake seeks out his first mentor Debbie Brewster for advice. In the course of that meeting, he finds out that his father had spent years studying the topic of engagement and his plan was to write a book about what he was learning, but he died before he could do so.
Blake then visits with his Mom who gives him the box of materials that his father was accumulating for the book. What Blake and his wife Megan find in the box makes no sense to them at first, and they decide to organize the pieces on their basement wall like a police detective might. They soon get enough clarity from the clues to make five trips – to Selma, Alabama where they get the first piece of the puzzle – Connection. They then travel to Italy, where they get the second piece – Environment. Their next stop is Greece, where they get their third piece – Affirmation. They then stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they get their fourth piece – Responsibility. Blake brings their findings back to his team who then try to find some real-life examples of these four characteristics, while Blake and Megan make a final brief trip to Texas.
Giving what Blake, Megan and his team now know, can they turn the ship around and increase employee engagement. Right now, employee skepticism is high and trust is low.
This would be an excellent book for leaders to read and discuss with their teams. Mark Miller gives us an interesting story and a challenge for all of us to increase engagement with our teams, whether they be in business, non-profit, sports, church, etc.
August 13, 2024
I had read several books by Mark Miller years ago and had moved on to „more serious“ non-fiction books about leadership, means not written as novel.
Recently I reread „Chess not Checkers“ and discovered that Mark Miller had since then published quite some more books.
I just finished „Win the Heart“ and I love it.
Yes, the story is a bit forced/unrealistic to get the message through, but I guess this book does not aim to tell the most elegant story. The story is providing the message in easy to comprehend bite-sized pieces, so that it can be easily consumed by the reader or listener in my case. The message is the most important part here and I think it is highly relevant.
I like that this kind of book is more accessible especially to people who do not read a lot of books and even less non-fiction.
The story provides highly relevant actionable ideas how to increase employee engagement. I wish every leader would read this AND put it into action!
I will recommend this book a lot and read the other books from Mark Miller that l haven’t yet.
Recently I reread „Chess not Checkers“ and discovered that Mark Miller had since then published quite some more books.
I just finished „Win the Heart“ and I love it.
Yes, the story is a bit forced/unrealistic to get the message through, but I guess this book does not aim to tell the most elegant story. The story is providing the message in easy to comprehend bite-sized pieces, so that it can be easily consumed by the reader or listener in my case. The message is the most important part here and I think it is highly relevant.
I like that this kind of book is more accessible especially to people who do not read a lot of books and even less non-fiction.
The story provides highly relevant actionable ideas how to increase employee engagement. I wish every leader would read this AND put it into action!
I will recommend this book a lot and read the other books from Mark Miller that l haven’t yet.
March 5, 2019
Win the Heart is a short read written as a fable, and while very entertaining, it really is a very high-level overview. Miller does a good job of nailing down the reasons why employees are disengaged; however, there isn’t any step-by-step information for rectifying this dilemma. This was a bit disappointing because I would have liked to have had information at the end that could be implemented. There is a Field Guide you can purchase that appears to have more in depth information for implementation, but having to buy another book to get the how-to information leaves me feeling ambivalent about this book. If you go in knowing this is just an overview about employee engagement, then you'll find it fits your expectations. I received an ARC.
March 7, 2019
I have read all of the books in this series so far and they keep getting better and better. The principles taught through the story of Blake and his team are timeless. They apply to for profit and nonprofit organizations alike. They are expressed in an easy to read, “sticky” style but that does not mean they are dumbed down or diminished in any way. I have found the easier they are to remember, the easier they are to practice.
This book calls us to care for the members of our organization. I was reminded again that if people are not engaged it is a leadership issue that needs to be corrected. The book shows us how to do that.
I highly recommend this book for leaders of organizations and teams.
This book calls us to care for the members of our organization. I was reminded again that if people are not engaged it is a leadership issue that needs to be corrected. The book shows us how to do that.
I highly recommend this book for leaders of organizations and teams.
May 4, 2019
I agree with all of the content of this book and find it a very practical read, in the style of Ken Blanchard, on engaging employees well. I was curious what I would find since I was really turned off by the title. As the "wellspring of life," I don't think people's hearts should be won (which literally means "to take possession of") by an organization. After reading the book, it is obvious that Miller does not intend this meaning, but I'm particular with words to a fault and hope there's eventually a rebranding of this one.
January 11, 2025
Here it is, my first book read on the year. It took me a little longer to read my first book than I would have liked, but that's just how it goes sometimes. I read this as part of the leadership development book challenge at my job and thought it was ok. I have read several books by Mark Miller now, and he writes his leadership principles in the form of a story so it's very easy to read. It was a good book with solid ideas, but nothing mind-blowing, which is why I gave it 3 stars.
April 12, 2020
An excellent read, the entire concept to build employees engagement has been beautifully explained in the form of a story. A short one but equally effective.
Let's remember the 4 cornerstones for a caring culture leading to engagement - Connection, Affirmation, Responsibility, Environment (CARE) with a final capstone To Win the Heart.
Let's remember the 4 cornerstones for a caring culture leading to engagement - Connection, Affirmation, Responsibility, Environment (CARE) with a final capstone To Win the Heart.
March 16, 2021
This is the original sub-book (more detail) to the full book (referred to in this book) on the sepcific sections on Engagement.
No spoilers here, but it is a great exploration of the engagement component, helping us all to care more about engaging our people.
Recommend this as a quick and easy read.
No spoilers here, but it is a great exploration of the engagement component, helping us all to care more about engaging our people.
Recommend this as a quick and easy read.
October 12, 2023
In retrospect the quick start guide would have sufficed for my purposes. The main takeaway is the acronym CARE: Connection, Affirmation, Responsibility, Environment. When you build a culture in these cornerstones, your employees will give you not only their hands for the work, but their hearts also.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2020
The book is a nice fairy tale business story without any clear guidance and any actual tools. Basically, you can bring it down to one statement: that leaders in the organization need to care to build engagement among their employees.
May 16, 2023
No Hired Hands
If you just hire hands, you’ll never reach their hearts. This was an amazing scavenger hunt read!
Isn’t it amazing how the most important fundamentals never change, and how easy it is for us to forget this…
If you just hire hands, you’ll never reach their hearts. This was an amazing scavenger hunt read!
Isn’t it amazing how the most important fundamentals never change, and how easy it is for us to forget this…
January 5, 2024
As a manager this gave me wonderful insights on how I can create a culture of engagement for my staff utilizing the cornerstones outlined in this book. It’s an easy read but one I would definitely recommend to anyone in a position of Leadership. NHH ❤️ (#IYKYK)
July 30, 2019
As always Mark Miller writes excellent material. His appeal is the story and characters that you connect with while bringing to light a leadership element. Great book.
June 18, 2025
Good principles but told in a very drawn out way.
April 18, 2019
Good practical easy read with great ways of “walking slowly through the crowd.” Win the Heart is resourceful informative and example of how to make this happen.
March 4, 2019
Mark Miller has crafted another amazing story that lights the way to the four basic tenets of quality employee engagement. This is a must read for anyone in a leadership position and/or fans of Mark’s previous books. Highly recommended!
May 13, 2024
This was a very fast read and it was extremely eye-opening in the sense of leadership! Would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for advice on leadership skills and what makes a business/organization successful!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews