DR Canute Thompson, assistant vice-president of capacity development at the International University of the Caribbean (IUC), has launched his new book, Towards Solutions: Fundamentals of Transformational Leadership in a Postmodern Era.

Thompson, who has distinguished himself as a management consultant, success coach, theologian, and newspaper columnist launched in Montego Bay earlier this month at the Wexford Hotel. It was previously launched in Kingston and subsequently in Mandeville.

The 156-page book is a reworking of Thompson’s dissertation which earned him his PhD in 2008. The dissertation, entitled Students perceptions and expectations of leadership in a postmodern era: A study across four high schools in Jamaica, earned Thompson high commendations from the University of the West Indies.

Meanwhile, the book will appeal to the educated layman, according to Emeritus Professor Errol Miller who reviewed the book. Miller, in his assessment, notes that the book condenses a large amount of information “into understandable categories”.

Speaking at the Mandeville launch, Donna Duncan-Scott, group executive director of Jamaica Money Market Brokers, said Towards Solutions is a “remarkable book which has demystified the notion of transformational leadership and has explained it in a way that anybody can understand” and that it has “initiated an important conversation”.

Thompson, for his part, said the education system is the most important context in which the discussion and practice of transformational leadership must begin and that teachers and school administrators have the critical role of teaching transformational leadership by example. He noted that among the critical ingredients of transformational leadership are accountability on the part of leaders, the willingness to embrace ambiguity, openness to new ideas and the capacity to inspire others to see the larger cause.

Thompson also contended that it is not that these principles were not accepted but that they were not fully understood or appreciated, because of what he calls the “messianic” and “mothering errors” into which leaders often fall.

The book will be promoted in Canada and the Eastern Caribbean later this year and will be available in the major book stores islandwide.