Book Review: Derailed
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If you're thinking about buying Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership by Tim Irwin, save your money. Use your funds to buy some food and drink. Then spend the evening talking with your friends about leadership and character and how they intertwine.
You're sure to get more value from that than you will from this slapdash collection of unsupported opinions. At least your friends will make you define your terms.
Tim Irwin apparently didn't have a friend or editor to do that. The key concepts in this book that should have been defined either are not defined at all or defined in passing.
"Failure of leadership" is one of the few terms that is defined. In this book, as opposed to the world at large, it means being dismissed by the board that hired the CEO. Fair enough.
It's not a good definition. Most of the time leadership results are measured by the performance of the organization, like increase or decrease in profit, revenue, share price, or market share. But at least it's clear.
Not so for "catastrophic." That isn't defined at all, neither in the text nor in the index. This begs the question: "What makes these particular failures of these particular leaders catastrophic?"
Why did Dr. Irwin pick these six examples to study? Alas, there is no help from the author for that, either. Here's what he says.
"I chose to write about these particular leaders because they offered highly visible and compelling illustrations of individuals who derailed for the very reasons we can derail—a failure of character."
Translated into English, I think that means, "I wanted to write about failures of character in leadership and these seemed like good examples." And if that's the case, then the book hinges on Irwin's definition of character.
If only we knew what that was! Irwin doesn't tell us. He does tell us that it doesn't involve morality. That makes Irwin's use of the term "character" different than most common definitions.
They're more likely to be similar to the one used by Marvin Berkowitz in "The Science of Character Education." Berkowitz defines character as a set of psychological characteristics that affect a person’s ability and inclination to function morally. But Irwin says:
"I don’t mean failed character in the sense of dishonesty that results in fraudulent behavior, but rather compromised character in a broader sense."
Leaving aside the fact that one of his examples, Frank Raines, does indeed involve allegations of fraudulent behavior, we still need to know what that "broader sense" is. Irwin doesn't give us his own definition. He quotes Os Guinness.
"Character . . . is the essential 'stuff ' a person is made of, the inner reality and quality in which thoughts, speech, decision, behavior, and relations are rooted. As such, character determines behavior just as behavior demonstrates character."
Guinness (yes, he's connected to the brewing family) is a Christian social philosopher. The definition of "character" comes from his book, Character Counts.
Guinness' definition is essentially the Greek definition of "character" that sees it as a permanent "mark" that determines everything you do. The word comes from the Greek for the mark on a coin.
For the Greeks, "character" was something permanent, not something that described behavior or morality in a single incident or situation. That's how Guinness uses the term.
Irwin uses the term to describe a single "failure" in a long career. He describes six incidents and attributes failure (using his limited definition) to character.
He doesn't compare his six situations to other business situations. Other leaders have been dismissed by their boards, without exhibiting what Irwin calls character issues. Other leaders with "character issues" have thrived.
I think Irwin wrote this book to make a point about character and leadership. He chose examples to make that point. There was no focused study of leadership failure from which the examples emerged. I think that's why the descriptions of the six situations and leaders avoid discussion of anything that doesn't support the author's forensic purpose.
Three of the six CEOs were new to their companies and also to their industries. Three were specifically tasked with turning the company around in some way. One was a political appointee in his first CEO role. Those are very tough leadership situations, but there's no discussion of serious issues that go beyond "character."
Certainly character played at part in all of the situations described. But simply saying that failure of character was the cause is not enough. The Nardelli example is worth examining in detail.
Certainly, Bob Nardelli is arrogant, but he was arrogant for decades at GE. Certainly his tenure at Home Depot was a leadership failure but he was successful for decades before that. He stepped into a very difficult and charged situation. Without discussing that situation and the role of the board in selecting Nardelli, giving him his marching orders, and overseeing his work it's simply not fair to label his failure a failure of character.
When the Home Depot board hired Nardelli they thought change was long overdue. Under Bernie Marcus and Art Blank, the company had grown faster than anybody, but it had hit a point in the growth cycle when the need for more sophisticated systems and procedures was obvious to all. What was needed was not just a "thorough tune-up" but some serious procedural change.
In 1996, Marcus retired and the Board chose Art Blank, the numbers guy in the team, to be CEO with a mandate to fix the systems. Four years later that hadn't happened, operating results were flat, and the Board was frustrated.
When they chose Nardelli to replace Blank, I'm sure the Board made it clear that they wanted some specific changes and fast. Nardelli was suddenly in an industry he knew nothing about with a culture vastly different from what he was used to, with instructions to create sudden and substantive change. He had the backing of Ken Langone, who was not only a board member, but the person who helped fund Home Depot in the beginning.
I'm not trying to excuse Nardelli's actions at Home Depot. I think his methods shredded a strong and successful culture. But to write off what happened there as simply a failure of character does a disservice to Nardelli, lets a number of enablers off the hook, and ignores the very real complexities of the situation.
The issue of character and leadership is important. But this is not the way to discuss it. Terms need to be defined. Examples need to be chosen for explicit reasons and then discussed in relation to other situations with an acknowledgement of the full complexity of business leadership.
Derailed doesn't do any of that, which is why it's not worth buying.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: Leadership Reading,Book Review
Tags: Leadership Reading Book Review
Wow- how do you REALLY feel - I read the review a couple times, then resorted to reading between the lines to get your true assessment, before I realized you might have not liked it.
Seriously, I agree; there are far too many books coming out posing as "analysis" that are really more "beauty pageant" selections of key people that an author wants either to pillory or glorify, and the stories are the ineffective substitute for rigorous research and understanding.
I think that one of the signs of a good blog is one that isn't always "Pollyanna" and "Bambi" [remember the Thumper philosophy: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all], and has the courage to paint a negative picture. Thank you for saving me the purchase price of the book- I would love to re-invest it in a cup of coffee with you if ever you come to Houston.
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Galen. I do book reviews to help the readers of this blog, mostly working managers, decide whether to buy or read a particular book.
The context is that the average review on Amazon is above four. Most of the books in any field should come in below that. Many reviews are by friends of the author (they're usually five star reviews that are the only one the reviewer has done and that appear around the same time). There are other reviewers who simply don't post reviews of anything that's not good. And, of course, there are reviewers who only read the publicity, but not the book itself.
In that environment, I try to give my readers a way to evaluate if a book is for them. I give priority to books about leadership, management, supervision and other topics that are important to "bosses." I also try to let readers know about books that come with a lot of hype but are truly awful.
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Wally, as usual, you mentioned the core of the problem: “Most of the time leadership results are measured by the performance of the organization, like increase or decrease in profit, revenue, share price, or market share. But at least it's clear.”
And that’s part of the problem. Rarely is an organization going to fire someone over “character” issues. They’re not going to invite a lawsuit. It’s not always clear. But character issues eventually manifest themselves in more concrete performance problems. The fact that we tend to judge “leaders” based solely on performance is why Bob Sutton’s “jerks” persist in the workplace. We say, “He’s a jerk, but he can sure bring in the numbers.” Those are lopsided values to me. And as Sutton has shown us, it costs us far more than we know.
Often too, a “jerk” can get along for quite some time and very “successfully” until they can no longer control their problems or they are placed in a position where those character issues get the best of them and become intolerable to those around them. Perhaps the Home Depot board convinced themselves that Nardelli’s reputation wouldn’t be a problem for them and anyway we need some of that GE “magic.” But character issues don’t go away with a job change. When people get power, and it can happen to any of us, their blind spots often get bigger. Lord Acton’s maxim holds true: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When we get into a position of power it’s easy to lose our sense of proportion. That’s a character issue. That’s when our performance begins to suffer and we can no longer “get work done through people.” That will derail any leader.
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Thanks for adding to the discussion, Mike. I don't have a disagreement with anything you said and I certainly wouldn't advocate for omitting character from concern when we're measuring leadership performance. The irony here is that Nardelli came from GE, one of the first major companies I'm aware of to add a consideration of whether or not results were achieved in accordance with company values to evaluation of the results themselves.
My problem with the book is that using an definition of "character" which excludes moral concerns, but doesn't describe in detail what it does include, discussion of business situations without providing any discussion or analysis of the complexity of the challenge, and judges leaders without discussing why character matters in the book's case study but didn't "derail" the same leaders elsewhere makes this a bad book about an important issue.
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Wally,
I've been reading your blog for a couple of months now, and have enjoyed it so far. This post made me change my mind. Now I think that this is not a good blog, it is a great one. You are right, too many Amazon reviews (and blog reviews) of books are too positive; I usually feel like I can't trust a review b/c it's all positive, when the reality is that most stuff out there stinks.
I greatly appreciate your honesty and analysis. Thanks and keep up the good work.
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Thanks, Aaron. Every writer likes to read that kind of praise and I truly appreciate it. It's also a reminder that I need to bring my best to this blog for every post.
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Hi Wally. I work directly with Dr. Irwin but am writing this comment independently. First, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts in the detail that you did. Not everyone will resonate fully with a book, the ideas it contains or the perspective in which it is shared but that does not mean there is not a tremendous amount of value in it for others. You are certainly welcome to have your opinion and we’re glad you voiced it but I do feel your review was a bit harsh, sticking on certain details that do not take away from the overall message shared in the book… especially the last few chapters. I do not know your background but I can tell you that Tim spends most of his time working directly with top leaders of Fortune 100 companies. His insights are from his 20+ years of practical experience, not hypothetical theory. Another point I’d like to make, the reviews for DERAILED on Amazon (or elsewhere) are 100% from those who proactively chose to post a review. They are not contrived. If most of them chose to give it a 4 or 5 star review, that is their prerogative on the book. Just because you may not have found benefit in it does not mean that others won’t or haven’t. I think ANY book that moves people into the direction of more successful leadership, even if just one seed of wisdom is taken away, is a book worthy of a read. That seed can bloom into something magnificent. Last point… I can also tell you that every major endorser of the book read it and put their stamp on it because they too saw the value in it. That many leaders can’t be wrong.
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Thanks for coming by and adding your voice and opinion, Daniel. It always helps readers use my review if they also hear from those who disagree.
Let me clear about one thing. I did not review Dr. Irwin's work or credentials, both of which are exemplary. I reviewed a specific book, Derailed.
I thought it was poorly done. Important terms were not clearly defined. Other terms were defined in a narrow and non-standard way with no explanation.
The examples were not helpful as rendered. Readers weren't told why the six failure examples were chosen, as opposed to others. The examples themselves were presented without a nod to the complexity of the individual situations and with no comparison either between these CEOs and others or between their performance in the failure examples and the rest of their careers.
For me that make Derailed a book that's not worth buying. Dr. Irwin undoubtedly shared some insights from his years of work, but that doesn't make the book worth twenty-five bucks list or even sixteen dollars on Amazon.
You say that reviews of the book on Amazon are from "100% from those who proactively chose to post a review." That may be true for Derailed. It's not true for Amazon as a whole. As you note whatever motivates them to post a review they have the right to give it a five if they choose. And, of course, I and other reviewers who chose a two or three star rating have that same right.
At the end of your comment you say, referring to "major endorsers" that "That many leaders can't be wrong." To which I could counter, "of course they can." I can be wrong, too. But, the question that I strive to have readers of my reviews answer "yes" to is this one: "Was this review helpful?"
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