Prajnan, Vol. XLVIII, No.

3, 2019-20 © 2019-20, NIBM, Pune

Book Reviews

The Whole Brain Leader – 8 Dimensional Approach

Ingvar Jonsson & Sjoerd De Waal

New Delhi, Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 2018, xxviii + 200 pp, Rs. 395.

Reviewed by Shri B V Chaubal, Visiting Professor, National Institute of Bank

Management, Pune and Former Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India.

There is a vast plethora of books on "Leadership". The development of individual

and corporate leadership and its impact on "Corporate and business growth"
has been engaging Psychologists, Management educators and professional
coaches. The business management schools across the Globe hold "Leadership
Development Programmes" for business organisations regularly. However, there
is no universal recipe for "Leadership Development" of individuals and
organisations. Against this backdrop, the authors Ingvar Jonsson and Sjoerd
De Waal have written a book for utilising an individual's full potential for
personal and consequently organisational growth.

The authors are engaged as full-time professional coaches and consultants in

the field of leadership, personal development and innovative training. They
have dedicated the book to Dr Kobus Neethling who is the founder of the 8 -
dimensional approach to put the whole brain into action for optimal
organisational performance.

Dr Neethling has written foreword to the book and has highlighted the message
(which I may call hypothesis) that the leaders who are able to put the whole
brain into action can optimise organisational performance. The authors have
developed this theme in the book.

They say that the disruption is all around and we live in a VUCA world (V =
Volatility, U = Uncertainty, C = Complexity and A = Ambiguity). They have
also explained what they mean by horizontal leadership and vertical leadership
in such a dynamic and fast-changing uncertain world.

While Horizontal leadership is about improving one's skills and way of working,
Vertical leadership is about expanding one's mind-set and improving one's
way of thinking. The book focusses mainly on vertical leadership development.
250 Prajnan

On the vertical side, four stages in the development of a leader are identified
as :
‰ Expert
‰ Achiever
‰ Individualist
‰ Strategist

The authors claim that the evolution of an "Expert" into a "Strategist" may take
several years and applying techniques used in the book would accelerate the
process. The authors have also given at the outset their suggestions as to "How"
to read the book. They have observed that the knowledge, teamwork, creativity
and inspiration of four types of leaders detailed above can be harnessed in
four steps to reach the full potential of an individual as a Strategist

These four steps are:

‰ Face Reality
‰ Whole Brain Thinking
‰ Lead as a Coach
‰ Transformation
With the above ideological framework, the book is developed into a sort of
instruction manual to define the process of transformation in detail.

To that end, the book is divided into four parts compressing 17 chapters and
an appendix spread over 196 pages. Each Chapter has at the end "Powerful
questions to reflect" on the contents of the Chapter. These questions are
expected to be answered by the reader with reference to his/her organisation.

The answers developed by the reader against the backdrop of the contents of
the chapter are expected to significantly contribute to his/her accelerated
transformation into a "Strategist.

The book has charts and tables to aid the elaboration of underlying concepts.
A certain degree of repetition of ideas/content is there but authors have
acknowledged it at the beginning and have started its necessity to sink the
ideas into the brain of the reader.

The part 1, welcome to VUCA world begins with a famous quote by Martin
Luther King Jr, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in
moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge
and controversy".
Book Reviews 251

The challenges in VUCA world are delineated and another VUCA interpretation
is given (to deal with original VUCA) as below :

V– Vision – have a clear and shared vision

U– Understanding – Create a shared understanding of the context
C– Clarity – where possible make things simple and clear
A– Adaptability – Minimise the stiffness of the organisation. Be prepared to
adopt.
The second chapter exhorts the reader to "Face Reality" in a structured way.
In Part two titled "Whole Brain Thinking" there are six chapters exploring and
elaborating Dr Kobus Neethling's "Brain Instruments". The brain is divided
into two halves Left (L) and Right ( R) . The L & R hemispheres are further
divided into two quadrants each called L1 & L2 and R1 & R2.

L1 & L2 are further subdivided as under :

L1 (i) The Realist

(ii) The Analyst

L2 (i) The Preserver

(ii) The Organiser

Similarly, R1 and R2 are further subdivided as under :

R1 (i) The Socialiser

(ii) The Empathiser

R2 (i) The Imaginer

(ii) The Strategist

L1 Asks What?

L2 Asks How?

R2 Asks Who?

R1 Asks for Why?

The underlying assumptions are that (i) Left brain is logical & (ii) Right brain
is emotional
252 Prajnan

Thus brain is mapped into eight categories and each category is associated
with a type of individual and a management development process is developed
for evolution of the individual into a strategist. The Title of the Book takes its
name from the above-referred approach and classification.

Part three has seven chapters and deals with coaching. It exhorts reader to
"Lead as a Coach" by adopting a different mindset. The process is developed
in detail in the chapters that follow.

Part four is titled "Transformation" and has two chapters. It basically connects
the dots and brings the book to a neat conclusion. It exhorts the reader to :

(i) Grow by Sharing

(ii) Learn by Coaching
(iii) Establish Powerful and Open Networks
(iv) Harness the power of trust, and
(v) Leveraging the power of generations.
The appendix contains a 360 degrees self-assessment test. The authors suggest
that the test be periodically administered in real-life situations to assess the
progress of the individual on the journey of transformation.

Overall the book gives a reasonably implementable process for individual

transformation. The authors have used this framework in Scandinavian
countries, Europe & Middle East to coach leaders. The process needs to be
tried in Indian environment and context to judge its suitability and efficacy
locally.

The book can be read with profit by practising managers, trainers and business
coaches to widen and deepen their understanding of "Leader as a Coach" and
process of transformation of an individual as a "Strategist".

A useful book on the bookshelf of Leaders and Managers!

Book Reviews 253

Transformation of Public Sector Banks in India –

The Challenges in the Journey

K Srinivasa Rao

Chennai, Notion Press, 2019, 278 pp, Rs. 499.

Reviewed by Dr Arindam Bandyopadhyay, Editor, Prajnan, National Institute

of Bank Management, Pune.

The book "Transformation of Public Sector Banks in India" by Dr K Srinivasa

Rao provides comprehensive information on how Public Sector Banks (PSBs)
in India have transformed and repositioned themselves in the two decades to
remain competitive in the market. The author has highlighted how public sector
banks need meet the dual objectives-to compete with private peers by adopting
globally accepted prudential standards and yet should retain their reach to
serve the society. The implementation of banking sector reforms beginning in
1991 has changed the direction of their operations and shifted the focus towards
profitability. The uniqueness of PSBs in terms of encountering challenges to
balance both has been different and is well articulated in the book.

Written by an experienced and seasoned banker, the book aptly portrays the
entire journey of public sector banks highlighting their transition from the
philosophy of nationalisation to competitive banking landscape. How technology
has changed the way banking is executed in the past; how organisational
structure has moved to lean and smart format; how the challenges of asset
quality were managed are addressed in his book. The author also describes
how various laws including Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code – 2016 brought
rapid transformation in the perception of debt resolution. The discussions on
changing risk management architecture under progressively improved Basel
Standards – I, II and III and its impact on the banking operations makes it an
interesting reading. The challenges in developing human resources quality to
compete with new-age banks, corporate governance practices, leadership, talent
management aspects have also been covered which influences the decision
support system in PSBs. This book contains total fifteen chapters that covers
important aspects of banking.

The first chapter of the book narrates the key objectives of bank nationalisation
in India. The purpose was to extend credit to the productive sectors of the
economy and to reach the masses for the development and economic progress
of the economy. Here the author elaborates the key roles of PSBs and the new
challenges faced by them after banking reforms in 1991. Public sector banks
had started to transform themselves to keep pace with emerging private
commercial banks. The author also addresses the key difference between the
254 Prajnan

PSBs from its private peers while bringing their operational systems and
developmental roles to reach masses.

The second chapter discusses post-reform development in line with banking

sector reforms. Transformation of PSBs in terms of core banking technology
adoption, establishment of new capital adequacy framework, income recognition
and asset classification, and deregulation of interest rates.

Chapter 3 emphasizes on changing technology dimension in banking through

computerization, evolution of digital payment system, migration to CBS
platform and development of ICT based product and services to expand financial
inclusion programmes as well to enhance operational efficiency.

Chapter 4 describes change in organisational structure in PSBs to focus more

on customers and up -gradation of branches and business process
reengineering.

Chapter 5 highlights the consolidation of public sector banks for the

development of more stable banking system. The author argues that the
consolidation improves bank efficiency in the quality and diversity in providing
customer service. Further, big banks after consolidation might have better
capital position to manage the risk better. The book discuss the cases of SBI
with its associates and consolidation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank
of Baroda. The author also highlights the increasing role of PSBs with the
thrust on financial inclusion through Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana
(PMJDY).

Chapter 12 discusses corporate governance system in PSBs. Here, the author

brings the key constraints faced by the banks. Chapter 13 provides leadership
perspectives. Here, the author highlights HR challenges to create good
leadership pool to run business operations professionally. Author highlights
key HR initiatives in the form of fast track promotions, development of skills
through training, overseas training and placements as tools for retention,
encouragement of talents and development of talent pool to shape PSBs. The
mechanism of talent management through competency mapping and evolvement
of compatible HR policies for better deployment of talent pool is discussed in
detail in chapter 14. In his writing, Rao argues that identification of talent to
establish workforce gaps and linking with business goals requires thorough
research that can be done through collaborative efforts between business heads
and HRM heads.

Rao concisely ends with a concluding chapter on future prospects of banking

in India keeping the vision of new India to enter US $ 5 trillion economy by
2025 and US $ 10 trillion by 2030. It also provides a glimpse of how the new
tools of technology such as data science and artificial intelligence, robotics
may influence the end state banking operations.
Book Reviews 255

Considering the wide area of its coverage of various business challenges faced
by the public sector banks and how they have reinvented themselves to compete
with the new generation banks, the book can be handy for every aspiring banking
professional, policymaker and stakeholders who have interest to understand
the operations of PSBs. The subjects covered in the book provides valuable
information and insights about banking business.

Printed and Published by Dr K L Dhingra Director, National Institute of Bank Management, NIBM Post
Office, Kondhwe Khurd, Pune 411 048. Typeset and Designed by Publications Department, NIBM,
Pune and Printed at United Multicolour Printers Pvt. Ltd,, Shaniwar Peth, Pune 411 030.