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Dare to Lead: The transformation of Bank of Baroda, by Dr. Anil K Khandelwal, Sage Publications, 2011 (Rs.795)
This book is the personal account of a remarkable professional journey of a career banker, who began as an entry level officer at one of the oldest banks in India, Bank of Baroda, and rose to become its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). Virtually an extended case study, this account is replete with anecdotes from the bank's history which speak of organizational and individual leadership struggles, vicissitudes of performance, cultural nuances and the metamorphosis of a large public sector bank over a span of nearly 40 years. Tracing the narrative, the reader is also served up an insider's perspective of the structural, political and cultural nuances of a typical public sector banking institution in India, and Dr. Khandelwal needs to be commended for presenting these perspectives frankly, yet without a trace of rancor or sarcasm.
The first three chapters trace the author's family background, early influences and graduation, leading to his first job at the Bank of Baroda, and his early experiences on the job. These include a voluntary transfer to the personnel department of the bank, a shiftout of the Bank of Baroda to a new job in a private bank, Bank of Rajasthan, and his subsequent return to Bank of Baroda as a core faculty for its stafftraining college. In chapters four to six, the author describes his journey through the middle and senior management cadres of the bank, tracing along the way the travails of navigating, countering, managing or simply digesting the murkier side of organizational politics. He provides several instances of the powerful and insidious influences of trade unions and officers' associations...