In Tim Irwin’s book, Derailed, he approaches leadership lessons in a refreshing way. Using six former CEOs as case studies, Dr. Tim Irwin points out in “De-Railed” how these individuals, despite their outstanding qualifications and prior successes, led the respective corporations to hardship essentially “de-railing” themselves and the company they were charged to protect.  Then he goes on to point out ways that we can avoid derailment in our personal and leadership lives.

Irwin does not only deride these capable CEOs of Lehman Brothers, Proctor & Gamble, Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard, Starwood Resorts and Hotels Worldwide, and Fannie Mae, but discusses their successes as well as their failures. Irwin makes every attempt to ensure the reader that De-Railed is to show a reflection of us, as potential businessmen, as opposed to glorifying the misfortune of others.

You can be brilliant, but without character, you will derail your career, ministry, and possibly your life.

I recommend this book to those looking for leadership fine tuning, and keeping their heart and character wholly true.

It would be great to have the opinions or interviews of the leaders in the book to get more depth on their side of the story. I would also have liked to have some more detailed steps on how to avoid some of the pitfalls.