Black Excellence: 20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary

by Jeff Shafer

How often do you wake up and ask yourself “How can I be better today than I was yesterday?”

Black Excellence: 20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary will inspire you to expand and broaden the range of phenomenal goals you want to achieve in life. Author L. Jeff Shafer II celebrates Black culture through interviews, research, and his personal journey to show there are endless examples of Black Excellence today in many different industries. This book will challenge readers who think that money is synonymous with happiness or success and dare them to ask more from themselves.

Black Excellence includes compelling stories from a variety of influential figures exploring the intersection of purpose, race, and excellence. It also showcases helpful tips on practicing excellence in your daily life, discussion topics and self-reflection exercises at the end of each chapter. This is the book for those who want to up their game, realize their goals and achieve the unachievable!

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 23, 2021

Reviews

[L Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Striving for Black Excellence

This book was written very well. A thoughtful journey thru the rough rocky road towards Black Excellence The stories of some twenty individuals who share their journey and the lessons and insights that they learned and experienced toward reaching their goal. Black Excellece is written in such a way, that the information and knowledge written is meant to inspire anyone who seeks for success in their personal life. Thoughtful, insightful, and passionately written.

[Graeme Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Excellence: 20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary by L. Jeff Shafer II is an inspiring and thought provoking collection that celebrates ambition, purpose, and the power of perseverance. Through a blend of personal insights, interviews, and research, Shafer highlights real stories that showcase the many dimensions of excellence across different industries and walks of life.

The book goes beyond surface level definitions of success, challenging readers to rethink the relationship between achievement, happiness, and personal fulfillment. With reflective questions and practical takeaways at the end of each chapter, it encourages readers to actively engage with their own goals and strive for continuous growth.

Motivational and empowering, Black Excellence is a compelling read for anyone looking to elevate their mindset, embrace purpose, and pursue a more meaningful path toward success.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through the Goodreads Giveaways. Thank you for sending it up North, Jeff. This is a good book for Black people to read and rise to the challenge of becoming good, better, the best they can be. And so it is also a good book to read for white/yellow/green people (smile) in order to understand that Blacks still have to struggle in this world of White supremacy, that they still have to be so much better at anything to be looked upon as equals at last. They have to prove themselves over and over again in this fast-paced working world. I would really like to see the end of this and have them and every other person on this planet become equals. As it is, a human skeleton looks like any other skeleton. It's not white, not black, not yellow, not green....

[KEITH A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic stories with great life lessons

We all remember stories and that is one of the things I enjoyed most. The true value comes from the people in those stories sharing what they learned from their experiences. I like the fact that there were exercises to perform at the end of the chapters.

[Amal Dhouib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being both a fan of self-development books and black culture, I had a real blast reading this book. I loved seeing success through the eyes of the black community. I loved seeing how different are the hardships from those of the white experience. Adding to that, this book introduced me to the servant leadership style which is a concept that blew my mind and that I super related to as a team leader in the association I work for. It boosted me and showed me different ways to continue shifting from self to service and make sure to put long term added value wherever I go. The writing style was beautiful to read. I highlighted so many paragraphs that I still like going back to every now and then. I enjoyed sharing these quotes with my community who interacted with that content in a super positive way. I am so grateful for the insight this book gave me on purpose and what it takes to reach your goals and be happy and impactful. I highly highly recommend it.
P.S: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.