The FIRED Leader: Reinventing the Future of Leadership

by Paul McCarthy

Overview

**Business Book Awards 2024 Finalist**

To survive disruption, organizations need disruptive leaders.

So they hire them. And then they fire them.

It’s the open secret everyone in the leadership industry knows but nobody is addressing: leadership culture is toxic, and leadership systems have failed. Publicly, organizations say they want leaders to be innovative thinkers who challenge the status quo. Privately, conventional leadership culture wants nothing of the sort. Leaders deemed as ‘a bad culture fit’ quickly find themselves marginalized, ostracized, and even exorcised. The qualities that get them hired are the ones that get them fired. Yet, these rebels and nonconformists often embody the very leadership qualities that organizations so desperately need to navigate disruption and adapt to the “new normal” of constant change.

Radically refreshing and practical, this book identifies five leadership qualities (F.I.R.E.D. Leadership™) that are key to tomorrow’s leadership success and offers a step-by-step blueprint to show organizations how to integrate these five crucial qualities into their current leadership identification, recruitment, onboarding, and development processes.

'Exactly what we need to fix our broken leaders.’- Whitney Johnson

‘A necessary read for anyone wanting to lead bravely.’ John Spence

Leadership maverick Paul McCarthy shows organizations how to reframe how they view their troublemakers, agitators, rebels, oddballs and shit-stirrers – to see the hidden leadership qualities driving those behaviors, and why they need them so desperately.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788604833
Publisher:	Practical Inspiration Publishing
Publication date:	11/28/2023
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Paul McCarthy is a global thought leader regenerating the future of leadership and has impacted thousands of leaders across the world as part of developing their future leadership capacity, capability and competency.

Table of Contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Part I| Leadership is broken
  • 1| Introduction
    • Don’t shoot the messenger
    • Tallying the failure of leadership
    • Don’t ignore your saviors
    • F.I.R.E.D. Leadership
    • Why I wrote this book
    • Ego-based leadership landmines
    • Sparks from this chapter
  • 2| The cost of leadership dysfunction
    • What ‘normal’ looks like
    • It’s ‘normal’. That doesn’t make it right
    • Perpetuating the vicious cycle
    • The price of toxicity
    • What we’re missing
    • Sparks from this chapter
  • 3| Today’s failure to develop tomorrow’s leaders
    • Drowning out the voices you need to hear
    • A glimpse of the skills your leaders need… and aren’t getting
    • Things need to change – especially when they don’t work
    • New organizational structures = new leadership needs
    • Sparks from this chapter
  • 4| The 13 unlucky steps to leadership identification, recruitment, onboarding, and development
    • 1. Introductions
    • 2. Informal 1:1s
    • 3. Formal interviews
    • 4. New hire processes
    • 5. Onboarding Orientation
    • 6. The honeymoon period
    • 7. Prescribed learning pathway
    • 8. Formalized 1:1 coaching
    • 9. Learning and development checklist
    • 10. Performance metrics
    • 11. Performance coaching and mentoring
    • 12. Annual performance review
    • 13. To promote or not to promote
    • Sparks from this chapter
• Part II| F.I.R.E.D. leadership
  • 5| F is for fresh thinking
    • Fresh thinking in action
    • Fresh thinking in absentia
    • Refusing to listen to the prophets of doom
    • Seeing Fresh Thinkers for who they really are
    • Identifiers of fresh thinking
  • 6| I is for inquisitive nature
    • Suppressing inquisitive natures
    • Why curiosity is crucial
    • The hypocrisy of valuing curiosity
    • Encouraging your inquisitives
    • Identifiers of being inquisitive
  • 7| R is for real and accountable
    • The masks we wear
    • The art of authenticity
    • The art of accountability and responsibility
    • Identifiers of being real and accountable
  • 8| E is for expressive and challenging
    • Seeing your challengers in a different light
    • Expressive and challenging in the real world
    • Listening and inviting challenge: The other side of the coin
    • Identifiers of being expressive and challenging
  • 9| D is for direct and transparent
    • The games we’re forced to play
    • The high stakes at the table
    • Review of Test Data Indicates Conservatism for Tile Penetration
    • Identifiers of being direct and transparent
• Part III| Continue the conversation
• Notes
• Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

It is challenging to write in just a few sentences how important and impactful this book is. Leadership is broken and we must find a way to fix it. Fortunately, Paul McCarthy has the answer. His F.I.R.E.D. framework is precisely what is required to create the new generation of leaders our world so desperately needs. If you want to be successful as a leader, you must read this book. - John Spence, one of the top business and leadership experts in the world

The F.I.R.E.D. Leader is a refreshing departure from the usual leadership rhetoric. In a landscape cluttered with complex theories, this book offers a straightforward yet profound approach to leadership. Rather than drowning readers in buzzwords and jargon, it presents five fundamental qualities that should underpin leadership. Paul’s emphasis on authenticity, lateral thinking, and accountability aligns perfectly with what effective leadership truly means. The book's insights on challenging the status quo, fostering collaboration, and promoting open dialogue within teams are invaluable. If you're looking for a practical guide to leadership that resonates with authenticity, this is a must read. - Marshall Goldsmith. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach and New York Times bestselling author of The Earned Life, Triggers and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

I’ve met few people who are as bold as Paul McCarthy in shining a light on the systemic failures of what currently passes for “leadership development". McCarthy outlines these failures in stark detail and goes further to propose a radically different and yet simple way of finding and growing the sort of leaders that are needed in a world of accelerating change, demanding customers, and skeptical employees. Anyone who cares about the future of leadership should read this book. - Professor Gary Hamel, London Business School

For anyone who has felt the sting of dismissal, Paul McCarthy's The F.I.R.E.D. Leader poses a thought-provoking question–––What if you were let go because you were doing your job well? This book challenges us to reframe firing not as a failure, but a possible sign of disruptive leadership potential. For anyone wanting to lead bravely, F.I.R.E.D. is a necessary read. - Whitney Johnson, CEO of Disruption Advisors, a Thinkers50 Top 10 Management Thinker, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author

In The F.I.R.E.D Leader Paul McCarthy challenges some of the embedded behaviours that are practiced in leadership. You will identify many “learning moments” in this book that will challenge your leadership thinking - good stuff! - Gary Ridge, The Culture Coach - Chairman Emeritus WD-40 Company

Embark on an intriguing journey with The F.I.R.E.D. Leader by Paul McCarthy. This unique book reshapes our perception of leadership, offering a fresh perspective on the essence of leadership, its ideals, and how it's perceived by others. McCarthy's bold assertion asks a very core question: What if being let go from a job doesn't equate to failure, but rather signals your potential to drive change? This novel perspective encourages us to view job transitions as steppingstones toward becoming more robust leaders and better humans. This principle of resilience following apparent setbacks resonates beyond the realm of work, challenging conventional notions of success and failure. It highlights the power of defying societal norms to attain greatness. As such, it widely applies to other venues of life making this book uniquely useful in our quest for bettering not only our careers but developing a new, better self. - Maja Zelihic, Ph.D., Dean – Forbes School of Business and Technology, University of Arizona Global Campus

I believe this book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to reinvent their leadership style. The practical guidance and thought-provoking ideas inspire leaders to develop their teams effectively and foster a positive organizational culture. I wholeheartedly endorse The F.I.R.E.D. Leader for leaders, aspiring leaders, and HR professionals seeking to create a meaningful impact on their teams and organizations. With its fresh perspective and transformative approach, this book is a must-read for anyone passionate about unlocking the true potential of leadership. - Kyle Roed, Host, Rebel HR Podcast and VP HR

The F.I.R.E.D. Leader is a great book to read if you want to examine your core beliefs about what leadership should look like today and what it needs to look like tomorrow. It’s not a book trying to sell you a methodology, it’s trying to persuade you that your philosophy around leadership needs a nudge sideways into a different paradigm. - Andy Prince, Chief Innovation Officer

The F.I.R.E.D Leader is not for the faint-hearted. It's for leaders who are unafraid to challenge the status quo, to question and evolve their approach, and to lead with courage and conviction. If you're ready to redefine your leadership for the challenges of the future, this provocative book is your indispensable guide on this transformative journey. - Obi James Author of Let Go Leadership - How Inclusive Leaders Share Power to Drive High Performance

Leadership is constantly changing. What worked in the past won’t always work in the future. As leaders we need to be constantly learning about what’s next. This book will help you do exactly that! McCarthy’s compelling narrative, that is research based, helps us all understand what we can learn from the past and how to prepare for the future. Invest in your leadership skills with this book. It is time well spent! - Chester Elton, bestselling author of The Carrot Principle and Leading With Gratitude

Editorial Reviews

A critical resource for anyone seeking to understand and apply the principles of nonlinear leadership in today's rapidly evolving landscape. It's a testament to the power of fresh thinking and the endless possibilities that await those brave enough to embrace it. Perry Knoppert, Founder @ The Octopus Movement, LinkedIn

A wake up call to organizations who are stagnant in their way of thinking - LinkedIn

From the Publisher