“Driving Straight on Crooked Lines” is not about commerce or strategy. It is about purpose, discovery, and character told from the idealistic perspective of an Irishman who “found his heart and nearly lost his mind.” It can help you clarify your own position and the sort of leader you aspire to be. It might even show you how organizational genius and dysfunctional leadership can be at odds with each other, pulling employees and their leaders in opposite directions. By engaging with an organization (a Catholic religious order) quite different to your own business, you perhaps can think more intuitively about situations and ideas that challenge you, frighten you, or annoy you.

Every so often, business leaders need to rethink the ideas that drive them and make organizations run. Success in business as in life is not the result of following some guru’s checklist – even though it is the implied message from many business books: do these things and you too can become an inspirational hero.

Success in life and in business is complex. To my mind, leadership must engage the sum total of who we are. It relates to how we deal with our families, our spouses and children, our employees, customers, stakeholders, and our creditors. “Driving Straight on Crooked Lines” may help you rethink some of your own ideas about purpose, leadership and organizations.

It is Irishman Jack Keogh’s inspiring autobiography, covering the twenty years of his life from adolescence in Dublin, Ireland – to adulthood as a member of the Mexican congregation known as the Legion of Christ.

During his time as a Legionary, Jack often served as driver to the Legion’s founder and to Vatican Cardinals, an occupation which sometimes distracted him from more important spiritual duties.

He worked in Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Italy and, finally in Gabon, Central West Africa. He tells us of his decision to withdraw from the Congregation and how he transitioned to a new life.

For twenty years his life was intertwined with the Legion, and its controversial founder Marcial Maciel, and, whilst they feature, this is Jack’s story. As such, it is told with candor, a sparkle in the eye, plenty of blarney, and Irish good humor.

Spanning locations across the globe, this memoir gives insight to the inner workings of what some see as a religious cult, and to the inner thoughts of a former missionary. It tells how an Irishman found his heart, and in doing so, nearly lost his mind. It is often moving, frequently funny, entertaining, and always memorable.

A Memoir

“Wow! I loved your book and savored every word. ..Your global experiences and refreshing comparisons of other cultures to Americans reinforced my passion for travelling abroad. Your descriptions of leadership qualities woven throughout your stories added skillful tools I can apply to my business. The ending was powerful and tied the whole book together beautifully, confirming my faith in being a Catholic in spite of the flawed institution. In summary, the book touched my full range of emotions. Like the funeral you led in the Congregational church years ago, you made me cry and you made me laugh. -a number of times. Thank you!”

– Executive, Finance

“For anyone interested in the developing world, in the Catholic Church, in organizational theory, or in intercultural communication, Driving Straight provides excellent object lessons–and takes readers on an exciting journey of their own.”

– Ken Davis, Ph.D