The Whole Brain Business Book

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.


A "must read" for any business person!   June 11, 1997
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

Ned Herrmann's Whole Brain Business Book is one of the most useful business books to appear in a decade. Use of the whole brain model to align people's thinking style preferences with their work may be the single most powerful way businesses can increase productivity without increasing costs.

Mr. Herrmann's conversational style and "whole brain" teaching approach make the book highly readable. The book reviews the history of business in this country in terms of the kinds of thinking valued during each era. More importantly, it predicts the shift that must take place in business thinking in order to compete effectively in the growing global economy in decades to come. Effective team functioning and creative, strategic thinking are enormously important to business today. The Whole Brain Business Book tells how to maximize both.

The four quadrant model developed by Ned Herrmann is a powerful tool. The Whole Brain Business Book describes how to use it. Because the model was developed while Mr. Herrmann was working at GE, for use by business, and because it is physiologically based, it is more acceptable to many business people than many similar organizing constructs available today.

With this book Ned Herrmann provides individuals and companies with a tool to enhance understanding of themselves and others, take the emotional charge out of differences, and increase individual and team effectiveness. Unlike many business books whose ideas are good in the abstract, but difficult to make concrete, Mr. Herrmann provides simple graphics which make the ideas easy to remember and use. Examples include the Communication Walk-Around Exercise and the Whole Brain Delegation Walk Around Model.

Anyone working at any level in business should read The Whole Brain Business Book. Incidentally, it will improve your personal relationships as well. You will never look at yourself or others in quite the same way!

Sharon Eakes & Hal Williamson of Hope Unlimited, LLC