A Leadership Kick in the Ass

Foreword

Being the manager of a Major League Baseball team has taught me that there are two kinds of leaders: those who have been humbled and those who are about to be. It’s not a question of if you’ll have adversity; it’s when. Hardship is what makes leadership hard. But facing hardship, and helping others face it too, is pretty much the point of leadership.

Here’s what I’d tell a leader who is going through a hard time: welcome to the club! The first time you fail or lose or let people down, it’s an initiation, a rite of passage. Now you can stop pretending to be perfect or above the people you’re leading. Now you can get out of your own way and start serving others, for real. The humbling of a leader sometimes takes getting the ego kicked ...