Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership

In an era when companies act like nations and nations act like companies, this book would be a timely read. This book by Tim Irwin focused on the lives of six leaders of well-known companies - the stories of what they did wrong and the consequences of such crucial decisions.

Most importantly, he then discussed on how we - whether in a position of leadership or not - could avoid such mistakes. What hit me in the book is somehow its emphasis on character over skills, which is sometimes overlooked in the workplace that is obsessed with results and productivity.

In the end, humility, honesty and integrity matters most.

And while most of us who read this may not be on a position of leadership, we might as well learn from these people's mistakes. As they say, we may never live too long to make all of them and thus, learn.