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 out of you.

I’m a little hardheaded, and I held on to my ego too tightly for too long. Life had to clobber me a couple of times before I set aside my pride and paid attention to the lessons hardship was trying to teach me. I’ve been to the World Series as a player, coach, and manager, and lost each time. I’ve been called up to the big leagues, and sent back down to the minors. I’ve been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and to twelve-step recovery meetings (for almost twenty years). Like I tell my players, anything you’ve done wrong, I’ve done worse and I’ve done twice.

The hard knocks I’ve gone through have been my education. They’ve taught me that the smallest package in the world is a man wrapped up in himself. As a leader, you’ve got to tame your ego lest it run roughshod over everyone and everything. I’ve learned that failure is an event, not a person. As a leader, you can’t let failure define you, but you ought to let it shape you and how you lead. Most importantly, I learned that I don’t have all the answers. When you’re going through hardship, it’s silly to try to go it alone. There are people available to us all the time who are eager to help, if we’d just ask. Leaders, like everyone else, need mentors, coaches, and other leaders. Being there for others, especially when they’re going through hardship, is a leader’s job. It helps if you’ve been seasoned by some hardships yourself.

As a coach, my job is to help everyone on the team, and the team as a whole, be a little bit better every day. Baseball is a game of wins and losses. All the practice, conditioning, and mental preparation—from preseason through postseason—is focused on one aim: get a lot more Ws than Ls. It’s what happens in between games that sets the ledger. If everyone stays focused on doing at least one-tenth of 1 percent better than yesterday, we’ll earn more Ws. By striving to be a little better each day, even when things don’t go our way, at least we’ll have improved.

What I like about A Leadership Kick in the Ass is that it is focused on helping you get bigger Ws by learning everything you can from your humbling Ls. The stories have great lessons, and the tips are straightforward and practical. The book’s main message is important: good leadership takes confidence and humility. If you’re willing to learn, a kick in the backside can bring you both, and you’ll be a better leader for it.

The leaders I’ve gravitated to are strong but not intimidating. They’ve given me their time, attention, and experience, and helped me want to be better. They’ve taught me the value of unconditional respect, even when it’s hard. I have to respect the umpires, even if I don’t agree with the calls. I have to respect the fans, even when they yell at me. I have to respect the media, even when they write bad things about me. I have to respect the great game of baseball, and the greater game of life, even when they’re throwing me nasty curveballs. These days, I tell my players, “Respect everything and fear nothing.” Everything matters, and everything and everyone deserves respect. The funny thing is, the more respect you give to those around you, the more you’ll have for yourself. In good times and in bad, you become a better and more confident leader by respectfully serving others, with humility and gratitude.

Love,

Clint Hurdle

Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates