New Memoir About Life in the Controversial Legion of Christ by a Former Member Reveals Insights into the Double Life of Founder Father Marcial Maciel

Press Release

TRUMBULL, Conn., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- As Vatican-watchers await the appointment of a papal delegate to oversee the Legion of Christ, a new memoir by a former member claims that few Legionaries were aware of the double life led by their founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel.

Driving Straight on Crooked Lines: How an Irishman Found his heart and Nearly Lost his Mind, http://www.drivingstraight.com (ISBN 978-0-9845227-0-5, Trade paperback, 352 pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2) provides author Jack Keogh's insights into the inner workings of the Legion of Christ and the intimate thoughts of a former priest who collaborated with the controversial Maciel, the founder of the Mexican congregation.

Keogh, the first Irish-born Legionary to set foot in Mexico, tells how he ultimately came to believe that God does indeed drive straight on the crooked lines of our lives after first nearly losing his mind.

Spanning locations across the globe, Keogh's "gripping story offers realistic insight, told with a subjective, non-judgmental outlook," says Australian writer and editor Cerian Griffiths. "Keogh's sincere narrative, in which he faces many challenges, inspires an attitude of hope for the future. His story is told with candor, a sparkle in the eye, plenty of blarney, and Irish good humor."

Investigative reporter, author and film director Jason Berry, whose recent report on the Legion of Christ's Father Marcial Maciel was published in the National Catholic Reporter says, "I was pulled along by the story of a young Irishman drawn into the world of the Legionaries of Christ, unable to see the raw truth of Father Maciel, coming to the painful realization of Maciel's psychological tyranny as time passed, and having the fortune to leave early enough to make a new life. This is a sad yet, in the final measure, uplifting memoir."

Keogh is Managing Director of Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC of Trumbull, CT, which advises multinational corporations on leadership and cross-cultural communications. A resident of Fairfield County, CT, Keogh studied in Spain and Italy and is fluent in their languages. Many thousands of people around the globe have attended his presentations.

For more information about Driving Straight on Crooked Lines or to schedule an interview, please contact Jack Keogh at (203) 268-3126 or visit http://www.drivingstraight.com. The book is available on http://www.amazon.com, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

Book Cover: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/DrivingStraightonCrookedLines.jpg

CONTACT: Jack Keogh Iveagh Lodge Press Trumbull, CT (203) 268-3126 info@iveaghlodgepress.com


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SOURCE Jack Keogh

Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership

The May, 2010 of the "IE Update" Newsletter provides the following abstract of a research study on Emotional Intelligence. The study refers to the "MSCEIT" one of the instruments that Keogh & Associates Consulting, LLC uses in our approach to team and leadership development.


Clarke, N. (2010). Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences. Project Management Journal, 41(2), 5-20.

This study examined the effect of Emotional Intelligence, as assessed using MSCEIT, on several competences (i.e., communication, teamwork, attentiveness, and managing conflict) and transformational leadership after controlling for personality and cognitive ability. Results based on a sample of 67 UK project managers revealed a number of significant correlations between the MSCEIT and the dependent measures. Branch 2 of the MSCEIT (using emotions to facilitate thinking), Branch 3 (understanding emotions), and the overall EI score were all found to positively correlate with the project manager competence of managing conflict. Both the abilities of using emotions and of understanding emotions positively correlated with the project manager competence of teamwork. Using emotions to facilitate thinking was the only EI ability found to have any significant correlations with transformational leadership. Both total EI and branch scores showed minor correlations with personality measures, offering further support for the predominantly independent nature of these two aspects of individual difference.

Expatriate skills still in demand

From an article by Sanchia Temkin:

"Expatriates are not a dying breed.. They are still very much part of the business strategies of many companies seeking to expand their activities beyond their homes bases," said Siobhan Cummins, MD for Europe, the Middle East and Africa of ORC Worldwide."

However, expatriate assignments are changing, with assignments lasting only one to three years, instead of much longer, which used to be the norm. Another change is that companies are paring down the assignment package, and are no longer paying large tax-free gratuities upon the completion of an assignment. "

Beyond teambuilding: whole person leadership

For several years now, we have been delivering team-building seminars, highly rated by our clients based on the measurable results we have achieved. It has just dawned on me that I do these programs a great disservice by calling them “team building.”

Sure, we use elements of traditional team development activities. But, I’ve belatedly realized what we do is way more than “team building.” Let me explain why I think team-building does not do justice to what we have been doing and why I think it’s necessary to go “beyond teambuilding” to achieve sustainable change.

One of the great lessons that the current recession is driving home is that success as a leader involves far more than excelling at “business.” We have to succeed in all areas of our lives to be truly successful at work. Genuine work-life balance means we also have to develop our “our own private selves.” Leadership based on this principle is referred to as “whole person leadership.” It’s about finding mutual balance among
family, community, work and our private selves. It means developing individual’s personal, holistic abilities so that they can truly function as valued contributors on a team.

This has resulted in us developing a perspective that connects management and employees conceptually, focusing on vision, purpose, and meaning. The result is stronger teams that resemble “communities,” which encourage development of the whole person. The added bonus is that this personalized development influences not only the work environment but also family and community life. Implementing this new approach to whole person leadership is transformational and empowering for the company, the team and the individual’s personal life. The term “team building” simply does not do it justice.

The value of training

According to Jim Harris in his book The Learning Paradox, a number of issues would begin to appear, if company employees did not receive on-going training. In a down economy – like the one we are currently experiencing – one of the areas that is subject to cutback is training and development. This means, I think, that HR people need to know how to measure the strategic value of training in business terms. Harris suggests the following outcomes when training goes away; I suggest that these outcomes should be the basis of how we measure the value of the training we deliver:

1. Fewer skilled employees
2. Lower-quality work
3. Poor customer service
4. Higher customer turnover
5. Increased marketing costs
6. Slow corporate growth
7. Higher employee turnover
8. Higher recruitment costs
9. Reduced attraction for new employees
10. Increased IT support
11. High informal training costs
12. Increased workload
13. Increased burnout
14. Slow response to bids
15. Slow response to competition
16. Turf battles, office size and politics are valued