The Whole Brain Business Book Review

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(More customer reviews)Ned Herrmann's book, "The Whole Brain Business Book", deserves a five star rating. Herrmann has written an excellent book, I only wish I had read it seven years ago when I first ventured out in the world to start my own business. It is a must read for anyone who is planning on starting their own business, has a startup business, or has decision making responsibilities in an organization. The Whole Brain Business Book is very easy to read and is written in a very instructive manner. The author provides many examples from his research and he uses a number of diagrams that are very useful in determining a company's and/or one's personal management style, in addition to some insight as to how one thinks, makes decision and work together with other people. A number of exercises and step by step instructions are provided to assist readers in learning how to make decisions that incorporate all of the brain's functions. I found some very valuable information in this book that I will use to enhance my decision-making process. Herrmann has made me stop and re-evaluate some of the ways I approach a number of business issues.
This book is divided into five dynamic sections; each section is packed with methodologies, examples and exercises for utilizing Herrmann's concept. Herrmann provides some hard evidence to support his Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) tool. HBDI is an assessment tool that is uses to determine what drives the way one thinks and makes decisions. HBDI utilizes four quadrants (styles), Organizer, Personalizer or Visualizer, each quadrant represented by a letter A-D. Herrmann believes that we make decisions based on some combination of these four thinking styles and that cultivating these styles and utilizing the resulting energy is the key to productivity and creativity in business.
Herrmann presents some very interesting information about entrepreneurals, and how they rank based on his HBDI tool. He expands this discussion by pointing out the difference between a entrepreneural, one who works for him/herself and a intrapreneural, one who works for a company. Herrmann discusses risk taking and the importance in learning from failure. He pursues this further by describing the type of management that nurtures creativity and sets the stage for innovative thinking. Herrmann discusses characteristics of people who are on the outer realm, (he calls them Mavericks) and how and why they are so successful (he uses Tom Peters and David Letterman as examples). He touches on process reengineering, and how it is generally initiated based on cost savings versus change in work processes. In addition, he provides some interesting research data regarding CEO's and how they ranked a list of sixteen primary work elements. In the final chapter, Herrmann presents some helpful steps for becoming a Whole Brained Businessperson.

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"The Whole Brain Business Book" is the long-awaited culmination of Ned Herrmann's highly respected and extensive research and testing. In it, he presents his four-quadrant model of the brain and the corresponding thinking styles: logician, organizer, communicator, and visionary. Most people and organizations, he demonstrates, are stuck in a "brain rut" because their work is dominated by just one mode. Through highly practical explorations and exercises, he shows individuals and organizations how to harness the power of the whole brain. Readers will use "The Whole Brain Business Book" to expand their own thinking styles - to create and manage Whole Brain Teams - and to introduce new levels of flexibility and innovation into the corporate culture. It will show them how organizations like DuPont and GE use their "whole brain" orientation to thrive and profit in times of chaos - and it will help them to do the same.

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