I’ve had a lot of memorable moments in my career. Some are good: like telling a CEO we can save his company millions of dollars or telling a business owner his company doesn’t have to fail.

Others are memorable in a bad way. Like getting shot at, twice. (They missed, twice!) Or watching a grown man attack his mother with a knife.

Today is one of my most memorable moments. A very good one. Today I announce the publication of my first book, “How Not to Hire a Guy Like Me.”

After working in the turnaround business for 30 years, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about how successful businesses work and how to fix them when they aren’t working so well. And I’ve seen a lot of mistakes made that caused businesses big problems. That’s why the subtitle of my book is “Lessons Learned from CEOs’ mistakes.

Using real-life examples, I offer advice on how to avoid making those same mistakes. As one of my endorsers, Rafael Pastor, CEO of Vistage International wrote, “Lee Katz covers what they didn’t teach you in business school— how to avoid the land mines and what to do if you happen to step on one.”

That is one of the reasons I wrote this book: to educate people. This book is for business owners, C-level people, entrepreneurs or anyone who operates in the business world. They can all benefit from the tips in the book.

In addition to learning from the mistakes of others, a major lesson I’d like readers to take away from the book is that admitting your own mistakes and then moving forward is much better than denying or ignoring them. In fact, the title of the first chapter is “Check Your Ego.” Running a successful business is not about your ego and what you want. It’s about how to work with other people as a team toward a common goal. A one-man company doesn’t survive.

Other chapters include advice on confronting your harsh realities, how to be a proactive leader, how to make your banker your partner and how to prevent fraud.

Another reason I wrote the book is that it’s a way for me to give something back to the business community, where I’ve worked for more than 30 years. It’s the same reason I do a lot of pro bono work for organizations I believe in. I enjoy using the benefit of my knowledge to help others.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the best business people in the country and they were generous enough to endorse my book. Bernie Marcus, Chairman of the Marcus Foundation and co-founder of The Home Depot wrote, “What you are about to uncover inside this book can help ensure that you, as a leader, also avoid pitfalls. Read it. Learn from it. Benefit from Lee’s many years as The Turnaround Authority.”

Alex Gregory, Chairman of the Board and President of YKK Corporation of America wrote, “You name it, Lee has done it. Fortunately, Lee has shared his invaluable experiences with us in this extraordinary book. We can learn from the mistakes of others, through the wizardry and humor of Lee Katz.”

You can purchase the book by clicking on the book cover on the right, or on Amazon.com. Yes, that’s my smiling face you see on the cover. It’s an easy read, and I hope you’ll benefit from the advice it contains. As Bernie Marcus wrote, “That way, the only time you will ever see Lee’s face is either on this cover, or smiling across the table at a philanthropic endeavor.”

Enjoy it, benefit from it. And let me know what you think. Even if you’ve never been shot at or the victim of fraud, I’d love to hear your stories. Email me at Lee@TheTurnaroundAuthority.com.