Kicking Ass in a Corset in your personal and professional life
Kicking Ass in a Corset™ turns conventional leadership wisdom on its head. By employing the six principles of what Andrea Kayne calls Internally Referenced Leadership™, readers will discover that success comes from within rather than from without. These core leadership values are based on the inner strengths of the six archetypes in Jane Austen's main works.
Readers will learn to realize their full potential and create environments where others can do the same by asking one simple question—WWJD: What would Jane do? This book is far more than a resource for leadership, this book is a source of wisdom, insight, and practicality that inspires women to not only lead with an internal reference but to transform the people they lead while also filling their our own lives with joy, meaning, and limitless success.
The University of Iowa Press, September 2021.
The Buzz
From the tip of the great title to the modern relevance of a much-beloved female icon, this book merges fun with depth. Women's leadership meets Jane Austen as Kayne, a leadership expert, uses the famous novelist's heroines to offer timeless insights and role models for today's challenges. Her push for 'internally referenced' leadership, illustrated by six Austen characters, is as engaging as it is wise.
AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX
CEO of 20-first, one of the world's leading gender and generational consultancies
Kicking Ass In A Corset is a practical and insightful guide to finding one’s resolve and agency under great constraint and in trying times. This book is a roadmap for women leaders who want to tap into their own reserve of power to lead consciously, skillfully, and fearlessly. As someone who believes in the power of cultivating our leadership skills in all areas of our lives, Kayne’s work is a necessary and supportive addition to my bookshelf.
ANGELLA NAZARIAN
Author of Pioneers of the Possible & Visionary Women and Co-Founder of Visionary Women
As a leadership coach myself, it has become increasingly clear to me that cultivating the relationship we have to ourselves is paramount to being able to live, love and lead in today's world. And Andrea brings home the truth that the source of sovereignty comes from within.
JACKIE LESSER
The Coach for ChangeMakers & CultureShifters, Creating Impact, LLC
What could be a cute but silly concept in other hands achieves genuine depth and impact here thanks to Kayne's expertise in gender and leadership issues, as well as her understanding of Austen's emotional and social landscapes. While the novels of "The Great Jane" yield the book's framework, detailed discussions of contemporary leaders, institutions and strategies make it both timely and useful.
SUZANNE FOX
Society Nineteen Journal
What an utterly clever use of Jane Austen’s brilliance to inspire women to realize the truth that no matter what chaos may be unfolding in their external world, true leadership, whether of the self or others, relies upon internal qualities of the human spirit. Pure gold.
CAROLINE MYSS
Bestselling Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Intimate Conversations with the Divine
By combining her significant expertise in organizational leadership with insight-filled love for the novels of Jane Austen, Andrea Kayne delivers a fresh take on both. Kayne uses Austen’s six heroines as models for today’s women leaders, as she cleverly weaves together literary criticism, memoir, and leadership advice. Kicking Ass in a Corset—which also features provocative questions and helpful exercises designed to move you forward—is an engaging, readable book that is sure to inspire.
DEVONEY LOOSER
Author of Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book, The Making of Jane Austen
Jane Austen knew, so why do so many modern women fail to see their own power? Kicking Ass In A Corset is a fresh and brilliant playbook for internally referenced leadership inspired by Jane Austen’s heroines. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an Austen fan or not. This is the best empowerment book for women today. Grab your copy and start accessing a whole new kind of power for leading from your divine feminine!
LAURA BERMAN
NY Times Bestselling Author, Empowerment Relationship Expert, and OWN TV Host
The Power's Been Inside You the Whole Time: You Just Need to Know How to Access It
Each of the archetypes in Jane Austen's main works represents an aspect of Internally Referenced Leadership™. By sourcing their power from within even while living in confining circumstances, these women teach us how to value ourselves irrespective of our environment; approach crises with problem-solving resiliency; prefer hard work and merit to entitlement and privilege; speak truth to power even when it's hard; protect our childlike wonder and dreaming; and always be willing to learn and grow.
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About Andrea Kayne
Throughout her career, Andrea Kayne has grappled with a critical question: How can we, as women, realize our own internal power both personally and professionally, no matter the constraints in the external world?
Andrea has pursued this and other questions as Director of the Leadership Program at DePaul University College of Education where she has taught for the last twenty years. Andrea has taught, written, spoken, and consulted worldwide on topics of empowered leadership, feminist leadership, emotionally intelligent leadership, constructive culture and conflict resolution, data-informed professional learning communities, and the area she has developed — Internally Referenced Leadership™.
Andrea grew up in California and then received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College, her Masters of Education degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.