Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and a Lasting Legacy

by Steven A. White

Overview

Uncompromising explores seven pathways to help you identify and live your why—leading to an impactful life and a lasting legacy.

Steve White’s path from the housing projects to president of Comcast West was punctuated by defining—and often heart-wrenching—moments. Moments that helped him identify what matters most and how he positively made a difference in his life and in those around him.

As one of four boys raised by a single mother, Steve’s life could easily have taken a different path. Instead, armed with his mother’s determination that her sons make a better life for themselves and his own refusal to be shaped by his circumstances, Steve forged a path to extraordinary professional and personal achievement.

Steve’s lessons from every stage of life, and the people who influenced him along the way, form the basis of his overarching message: An uncompromising life is one where you stay true to what is important to you, what you believe in, and what you love.

This leads to more fulfillment, purpose, and a lasting legacy.

An uncompromising approach to life means you are fiercely independent, radically responsible, scrappy, and possess an undistracted mindset. It also means you have an unwavering commitment to your fight, which is defined by your core values, passion, and purpose. You uphold the courage of your convictions, stay locked in on your goals, get up when you fall and continue to forge ahead.

Steve’s hard-won insights will help you find your fight—pursuing what matters most and discovering where you can make the biggest difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637582398
Publisher:	Post Hill Press
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

As president of Comcast’s West Division for eleven years, Steve White created a culture defined by the catchphrase “Working Together to Win Together.” Driven by continuous learning, radical responsibility, and an unwavering commitment to excellence, the West Division became a pacesetter by delivering industry-leading results.

Steve was responsible for all Comcast Cable operations in the Western U.S., leading nearly 30,000 employees, serving over 11 million customers, and driving annual revenue of nearly $18 billion. Today, Steve applies the same winning philosophy to his new post as president and special counsel to the CEO of Comcast Cable.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 11

Preface Thriving in My Exhaustion 15

Chapter 1 My Uncompromising Start-Why I Believe What I Believe 21

Chapter 2 Great Expectations-You Have to Believe to Achieve 39

Chapter 3 Pathway 1-Find Your Fight 61

Identifying your why gives you meaning and direction.

Chapter 4 Pathway 2-Focus on the (Real) Prize 83

Avoiding distractions keeps you on the right road.

Chapter 5 Pathway 3-Live Life as a Learning Lab 99

Embracing life's lessons keeps you alive and growing.

Chapter 6 Pathway A-Think and Act Like a Business 121

Investing in You, Inc.

Chapter 7 Pathway 5-Own Your Attitude and Your Effort 137

You can only control what you can control.

Chapter 8 Pathway 6-Navigate Uncertainty 157

The straight line to success is actually crooked.

Chapter 9 Pathway 7-Commit to Road-Dog Relationships 179

Making deposits always yields big dividends.

Chapter 10 What's in Your Box? 199

Editorial Reviews

When Steve White talks about life or work, I listen. Whether in the boardroom or over a meal, Steve’s uncompromising intellectual curiosity creates profound and provocative conversations, always with the goal of improving focus and results. This book is a terrific compilation of his guiding principles and a fascinating look at the internal compass that guides and drives him.

Jim Snee

Keeping your eye on the prize is the key to every goal we hope to accomplish. Through seven critical life pathways, Steve White shares what it means to have your eye on the real prize and how to avoid losing your way with the short-term distractions of lesser value.

Shellye Archambeau

Steve gets it! The power of the commitment to your why is your fuel through times of turbulence to continue to steadily march, sometimes run, with ferocity towards your destination. This is a book and daily empowerment to be read over and over again.

Michael B. Hancock

Steve White has given us access to his personal life story and his incredible journey to the executive suite. His book is a must read on so many levels especially for anyone looking to realize their true potential. Hard hitting at times with raw passion we see the man who deeply loves his family commit to success and then get it done without compromise. This is an incredible life story. You will ask yourself ‘what is my why’ when you finish the book.

Robert E. Knowling

Page for page, Uncompromising is brimming with highs, lows, and everything in between that happens
to someone who’s on a mission to live a purpose-filled life. If you want one too, you have this book in your hands.

Chauncey Billups

Uncompromising tells the compelling story of Steve White’s journey from growing up in poverty to becoming one of America’s most successful business leaders and directors. Throughout his career, Steve has combined an extraordinary work ethic with the astute ability to identify the things that truly make the difference to success both in business and, more importantly, in life. With deeply personal stories, Steve identifies essential pathways to a life with true purpose and meaning. These pathways can lead to greater prosperity and shared success for us all. Steve’s dedication to helping others live a better and uncompromising life is an inspiration to us all.

D.G. Macpherson

Life is full of uncertain times, twists and turns. Today’s business climate is no exception. The uncompromising focus that carried Steve White through troubled waters as a young adult to the terra firma he’s worked tirelessly to cultivate as one of America’s trusted leaders, is something we should all strive to model as we aim to make our mark and leave a legacy.

Brad Shaw

Whether you are a seasoned business executive or a twenty-two-year-old just entering the workforce, Uncompromising contains life-changing lessons and reminders. My personal favorites are pathways six and seven. Steve engages the reader by drawing deeply from his own personal struggles and successes. True to the premise of the book, Steve does not make excuses and seeks always to point out the learnings and opportunities. As a board colleague at one of America’s most successful food companies, I have watched Steve actually put to work many of the lessons in a real-world setting. The seven pathways are more than just slogans, and Steve walks the talk. These are lessons we can all learn from, and Steve’s experiences make him uniquely qualified to share them.

Gary Bhojwani

Steve White’s Uncompromising story challenges all of us who may be leaning back with a relaxed approach, to lean forward with ferocity and focus. Only the truly committed will enjoy a fulfilling life and a lasting legacy. I can’t think of a leader who wouldn’t benefit from pushing the purpose pedal and applying Steve’s hard-won life lessons.

Walt Rakowich

In Uncompromising, Steve White delivers the message that ‘the path to an impactful life and a lasting legacy is paved by an unwavering commitment to your why,’ a concept that I have lived by for most of my life. Through powerful stories of his past, his present, the lives of his mentors and those who have shaped (and continue to shape) him, Steve inspires you to look for the good, be grateful for what you have, and never compromise on who you are. No matter what your personal journey looks like, you will be able to identify with the struggles, successes, celebrations, and life lessons Steve so articulately details, and these stories will become powerful tools for you to apply in your own life, knowing that if you believe it, you truly can achieve it.

Jim Craig

As a former public company CEO, I was once described as a learning machine by one of my board members who was attributing that strength to my success, so Steve’s chapter about ‘living life as a learning lab’ particularly resonated with me. My personal experience with Steve is that he, too, is a learning machine and he lives this philosophy, always asking many questions, seeking to understand, absorbing and considering new ideas and ways of thinking. Now I understand how he evolved those skills and why he has been successful. A very relatable and meaningful read.

Larissa Herda