A Leadership Kick in the Ass How to Learn from Rough Landings, Blunders, and Missteps

“This is one of the most unique and valuable books you will read all year, and I highly recommend it.”
—Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestselling and award-winning The Leadership Challenge and Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

Even the best leaders—in fact, most of the best leaders—start out as decidedly bad ones. And sooner or later they reach a moment of reckoning that leadership expert Bill Treasurer calls the leadership kick in the ass. When it happens, it feels like it’s all over. But Treasurer says that with the right attitude, that kick can be a new beginning. Based on his work with thousands of leaders, this book reveals how to turn those ego-bruising events into the kind of transformative experiences that mark the paths of great leaders. As Steve Jobs famously said, “Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me.” This book is a survival guide, coach, and morale booster to help you use that kick to move forward instead of fall down. If you succeed, the next place you get kicked might be upstairs.

Bill Treasurer is chief encouragement officer at Giant Leap Consulting. His clients include NASA, Accenture, Saks Fifth Avenue, UBS Bank, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. www.BillTreasurer.com.

Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii

Introduction Kicking Leadership's Gluteus Maximus 1

Part I Transformative Humiliation 13

Chapter 1 Aint that a Kick in the Pants 15
Chapter 2 The anatomy of a Butt Kick 28

Part II Career Kicks 45
Chapter 3 Kick Me, I'm New 47
Chapter 4 The Cheeky Middle 61
Chapter 5 Seasoned Leaders Getting Their Kicks 76

Part III Leading, for worse or for Better 87
Chapter 6 Kick-Worthy Leaders: Pigheads and Weaklings 89
Chapter 7 A More Perfect Derrière: Confident Humility 104
Chapter 8 Three Expressions of Confident Humility 112

Part IV Be Humble, Be Good 127
Chapter Hot to Kick Your Own Ass 129
Chapter 10 Leading at the Point of Goodness

Notes 155
Acknowledgments 157
Index 161
About the Author 169
About Giant Leap Consulting 171