PART I Transformative Humiliation

It takes a lot to provoke personal change. Willpower alone hardly ever works. Broken diets, resolutions, and promises bear witness to that. Something more powerful and disruptive is needed to make change take hold: a psychological butt whopping. Sometimes it takes a startling and rude awakening, often accompanied by strong feelings of embarrassment, to bring about enduring change. Pain is often a better teacher than comfort. Why? Because once you’ve experienced it, you work harder not to experience it again. It’s after you fall off a bike and scrape your knees that you pedal harder and faster. Pain commits you to making changes to avoid more pain.

In this section, you’ll learn

why embarrassing moments are so important to the growth, development, and seasoning of leaders,

how leaders, through their behaviors and actions, often cause their own butt kicks,

how your reaction to your swift kick will determine whether or not you’ll ultimately draw value from it,

how butt kicks work, and why the intensity of the sting is related to how oblivious you are before the kick happens,

what to do the next time you get kicked in the keister!

The primary takeaway from this section is that, when you’re a leader, suffering through an embarrassing experience can inspire positive and lasting leadership change.