Books + Tools

Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership

Foreword by Patrick Lencioni, best-selling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Derailed chronicles the collapse of six high-profile CEOs, the factors that drove their downfalls, and the lessons that we can learn to avoid derailing our own lives and careers.

The story of the fallen CEO has become a cultural fixture: veering off course with the force of a train careening off its tracks, leaving fiery wreckage and devastating injury throughout the organization. These executives are often the smartest and most respected individuals in their industries, with glittering resumes and histories of successful leadership. Yet they astonish us by driving the train dramatically off course, blinded by unchecked power and arrogance.

Dr. Tim Irwin believes that these leaders suffer from failures of character that are common to each of us--even the most capable individuals. Deficits in authenticity, humility, self-management, and courage become more dangerous as we take on greater leadership responsibilities and can cause us to ignore glaring signals that might otherwise save us from catastrophic demise. Derailed chronicles the collapse of six high-profile CEOs (Robert Nardelli, Carly Fiorina, Durk Jager, Steven Heyer, Frank Raines, Dick Fuld) and the factors that drove their downfalls, finding that derailment actually happens long before the crash and can be avoided. Tim Irwin explains the character qualities that are essential for successful leadership and tells us how to cultivate them so that we can avoid derailing our own careers.

Thundering hoof beats are headed your way—the events, the circumstances, and the obstacles that are a part of every workplace. Bulls rage around us constantly: inept leaders, unrealistic pressure from senior management, downsizings, misguided compensation systems, outdated IT, and organizational structures that make our jobs difficult or even obsolete—they’re all part of normal organizational life, regardless of the type of organization.

But don’t take it personally. “To view these organizational realities as unfair or out to get us is impracticable and maybe even naïve,” says author Tim Irwin. These organizational bulls are indifferent to us—not caring whether or not we reach our goals but only whether or not they reach theirs.

Your organization’s goals are extraordinarily simple and straightforward—survival and success. To not meaningfully contribute to theses goals or even to be irrelevant to the accomplishment of them automatically puts you in harm’s way. If you work, you’re running with the bulls, whether you want to or not.

Ultimately, Run with the Bulls is about transformation and how we change. How can we be different people and thereby spend those forty or however many years working for meaning, not just money? Despite a deep longing to be different and repeated efforts to change, many fail to become the person and the worker they want to be. While knowing about what has made others successful may be interesting and possibly even personally relevant, it doesn’t necessarily answer the question of how we develop those same attributes in our own lives.

The essence of what makes us successful and ultimately fulfilled at work:

• Thoughtful Commitment
  
• Authentic Character
  
• Exceptional Competence

Run with the Bulls maintains that mastery of these three attributes is simple but it’s not easy. The book’s aim is to make these dimensions practical and includes a number of useful tools, such as an on-line assessment and development program measuring the attributes described in the book and recommending personal and organizational development approaches.

The run requires great wisdom, perspective and forethought—we must develop a strategic mind-set. Dr. Tim Irwin shows you how in Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled.