Two decades ago on this day, 1st February 2004, I took over as Chairman and Managing Director of Dena Bank (now merged with Bank of Baroda). The bank faced the worst crisis of its long career as RBI had put the bank under close monitoring for its low asset quality, low asset base and poor technology, apart from overall poor financials.

It was a very challenging assignment, but also a great opportunity to transform. There were all kinds of problems that one could imagine like - low morale of workforce, a divided board, high NPAs, low technology, poor retail orientation and poor management bench strength.

Just after one year, I was shifted to head Bank of Baroda. During the one year period, we could initiate a number of small but significant initiatives by creating a momentum that helped the bank show considerable improvement in its financials. Some key steps initiated were – Restoring governance, creating a top team, inducting specialist officers in IT, human resources and marketing, taking technology initiatives, launching major loan recovery drives, marketing and brand building (appointing Juhi Chawla as brand ambassador), completing corporate centre building and bringing out a successful public issue.

The lesson I learnt was that the most intimidating realities can be tackled by facing problems head-on with a sense of commitment and courage and with a totally engaged self. Again, my time-tested philosophy of driving intangibles for tangible performance was vindicated.

For details of how we did it, read Chapter 8 – CEO Dena Bank: Resurrection and Revival in the revised and updated edition of Dare to Lead published by Penguin and available on Amazon.