Off the rails

We’ve all seen how the economy has been negatively impacted recently by the poor (some would say greedy) actions of a seemingly small group of people.These business people who were personally making millions every year had no hesitation in risking the livelihoods, pensions and futures of their employees or even strangers. While these people rose to prominence using their business skills and personal drives, at the end of the day many high-flying CEOs have taken hard falls in recent months. In the book Derailed, Tim Irwin profiles some of these fallen business leaders in an attempt to determine what went wrong, and what skills they were lacking that ultimately led to their downfalls. Many of the people profiled became blinded by their own power and influence and lost sight of the ultimate results of their actions. Irwin emphasizes the need for a strong background in morals, strength of character and integrity for people who obtain positions of leadership. While skills and profits are extremely useful, they cannot make up for the character flaws that have been exposed in fallen leaders recently. Irwin gives advice on how to strengthen these important traits in our own careers. Good advice!