Leading Change

by John P. Kotter

What will it take to bring your organization successfully into the twenty-first century? The world's foremost expert on business leadership distills twenty-five years of experience and wisdom based on lessons he has learned from scores of organizations and businesses to write this visionary guide. The result is a very personal book that is at once inspiring, clear-headed, and filled with important implications for the future. The pressures on organizations to change will only increase over the next decades. Yet the methods managers have used in the attempt to transform their companies into stronger competitors -- total quality management, reengineering, right sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnarounds -- routinely fall short, says Kotter, because they fail to alter behavior. Emphasizing again and again the critical need for leadership to make change happen, Leading Change provides the vicarious experience and positive role models for leaders to emulate. The book identifies an eight-step process that every company must go through to acheive its goal, and shows where and how people -- good people -- often derail. Reading this highly personal book is like spending a day with John Kotter. It reveals what he has seen, heard, experienced, and concluded in many years of working with companies to create lasting transformation. The book is an inspirational yet practical resource for everyone who has a stake in orchestrating changes in their organization. In Leading Change we have unprecedented access to our generation's master of leadership. Abbbout the John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at Harvard Business School and is a frequent speaker at top management meetings around the world

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Buisness, Personal Development, Audiobook

187 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

John P. Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership, is the author of many books, including Leading Change, Our Iceberg is Melting, The Heart of Change, and his latest book, That's Not How We Do It Here!. He is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, and a graduate of MIT and Harvard. He is co-founder of Kotter International, a change management and strategy execution firm that helps organizations engage employees in a movement to drive change and reach sustainable results. He and his wife Nancy live in Boston, Massachusetts.

http://www.kotterinternational.com/ab...

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a really hard time staying focused while reading this book. I tried reading it while cycling my stationary recumbent bicycle as that usually helps. However, after a few minutes, I would realize that my mind had wandered off into various scenarios, or was problem solving a current work issue and nothing I had read had penetrated my brain. Or, perhaps it had and I was now applying it. Either way, it made for slow progress. I also felt that the examples in the book were more applicable to a corporate setting, rather than the public library where I work and lead a department.

I also felt a bit discouraged when the author described mistakes and what didn't work, I wanted to focus more on the positive efforts, and come away feeling fired up and ready to embrace change! Perhaps it's just that the author has a realistic view of the hard work and the length of time that it takes to create permanent lasting change. So, I view this book as a practical guide and sobering reality check.

[Dorotea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kotter proceeds to explain his eight-stage process of creating major change that consists in (1) establishing a sense of urgency (2) creating the guiding coalition (3) developing a vision and strategy (4) communicating the change vision (5) empowering broad-based action by getting rid of obstacles and changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision (6) generating short-term wins (7) consolidating gains and producing more change (8) anchoring new approaches in the culture.
I don’t think the book actually adds anything more than his article ‘Leading Change’ published on the Harvard Business Review a year before.

[Brian Rast · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a more detailed and applicable way than the book Who Moved My Cheese (different author), Kotter touches on how to face change, saying that individuals that want to succeed in organizations in this age must be ready for it and the fact that it will come faster. Kotter presents two very good points: One is an eight-stage process to implement changes. And two, a very interesting premise about leadership vs management, which was mentioned in several other books on the Level II reading list, specifically Working With Emotional Intelligence. The table below summarizes this. In fact, in my graduate courses, the ideas Kotter writes about were mentioned frequently in a class called Strategic Management, as well as the marketing and a personal development classes. Those instructors obviously were reading Kotter’s very good ideas about vision, leadership, and management. Central to the book is an eight-stage process for creating change, which is based on a number of errors business could have avoided, says Kotter, between1986-96, had they made major changes. While the business world was looking at effects of globalization, the Corps was just beginning to face reforms with major change.
Management versus Leadership
• Planning and budgeting • Establishing direction
• Organizing and staffing • Aligning people
• Controlling and problem solving • Motivating and inspiring
Produces a degree of predictability and order and has the potential to consistently produce the short-term results expected by various stakeholders (on time for customers (public / stakeholders), on budget for stockholders (or Congress / taxpayers)) Produces change, often to a dramatic degree, and has potential to produce extremely useful change (new products that customers want, new labor relation approaches, more competitive)

As I read this book, I reflected on the Project Management Business Process (PMBP) and how that was a major change for the Corps. General Flowers must have realized that the old guard would not easily embrace the new PMBP or P2, and I wonder if he counted on turnover, at least retirements, to be part of the culture change, hoping the next gens could fire it up. 2012 was far enough off in the future that this may have been in someone’s mind.
The Corps needs management and leadership to stay relevant. Managing change is important, says Kotter. Without a competent manager in control of the transformation process, chaos can take over. More important is leading the change. Only leadership can spur the team on when motivation must be found. This is why a vision will serve the process for major change. The Corps did this with the CDs for the PMBP. Many laughed at the CDs and what was in them: PMBP proposed matrix organization, integrated processes, empowerment, and level of engagement. This is the same stuff taught in the Engineering Management graduate courses.
Leadership will only be possible if staff will take advantage of educational opportunities that are offered. For me, this is easy, since learning is my leading strength. Corps staff should realize that these opportunities do not come as easily to outside staff at consulting firms. Our work is closest to the action, so many of our employees have a lot of knowledge to share. Prospect courses and opportunities like the Planning Associates Program allowed me to develop and understand why the Corps process is setup a certain way: the result is a better ability to lead, because you can establish a vision with direction to help motivate a team. Even if you’re not the project manager (PM).
The Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change.
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communicating the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action
6. Generating short-term wins
7. Consolidating gains and producing more change
8. Anchoring new approaches in the culture
The book was good, though I wish it was stronger in some areas. I’m still struggling with how he actually suggest allowing a financial loss to help justify creating urgency. Some of the analogies were for business, and what a government servant needs is analogies that are not tied to profit. Kotter needs more examples tied to growing stronger in government processes and saving taxpayers money. Most of what Kotter wrote could be readily adapted to some government situations, especially dealing with people. The importance of leadership and management is just as relevant in government. Business faced globalization in the 1990s. Federal government faced reforms, including the growing focus on Corps reform. I think Kotter is right about how the 21st century will have systems that depend on many performance information systems: The Corps is already seeing this in P2, NSPS, and regular customer/product surveys. Kotter also says that cultures will be more risk tolerant- this doesn’t refer to failures like for flood risk management. Supervisors will have to be more willing to delegate, that’s the risk Kotter is referring to, because empowerment will enable an organization to adapt to 21st century needs. One of the last thing Kotter mentions is the habits of the lifelong learner: takes risks, faces the failures, knows that learning from them produces bigger successes, reflects on their abilities in an honest manner, listens, and basically follows some of the advice in the other books on the Level II reading list… Those types are committed to improve themselves by managing and by leading.

[Alex Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a stalwart when it comes to managing change in organizations.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another one from my working days. It provided a lot of valuable information intermixed with examples and observations from Kotter’s research and consulting experiences. Everything was organized very well. It is very much focused on larger organizations. And it was so dull. As tedious and dull as a textbook can often be. So recommended for individuals who need this information in their careers, but otherwise no.

[Cathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in a book club with my boss. This book was fantastic- straightforward, with real techniques and lots of ideas threaded throughout the concepts. This book empowers any level employee to suggest and make changes. Highly recommend to anyone involved in change efforts (small or large) in their workplace.

[Phuongvu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rất cần cho sự tái cấu trúc của tổ chức. Sẽ làm slide quyển sách này.
27.2.2020

[Isil Arican · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has been on my reading list for a while and read smaller excerpts here and there, so decided to read ot from beginning to the end.

One of the fundamental leadership books out there, and provides a good framework on how to lead a major change in strategy & company culture. If you are new to this field you can probably learn a lot from it. Since I have been in a leadership role for the past 5+ years, it was not shocking and many ideas I came across before. However still good concise information. Especially his distinction around Manager vs Leader is very clear and useful.

[Dr. Tobias Christian Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Handel ist Wandel und generell ist es wichtig - der Wandel passiert nicht dadurch das man sich selber auf die Schulter klopfen. Er passiert durch kritisches Denken, die richtigen Leute und das Entscheidungen trifft.

[Jacques Bezuidenhout · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.
Got about 25% in.

Seems to be focused on very large organizations.

Found the way the information is presented made it almost impossible to logically follow or learn from. And the information was of such, that I didn't really care for anything they said.

The only thing they said that made sense was that there is a big difference between management and leadership. And where the one falls short and the other should take over.

[Mark Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading this classic, reminds me (1) why it's a classic and (2) why I recommend Kotter's books to my clients.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Question: Was this book any good?
Answer: Not really, no.

[Kristine Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this book by a boss of mine a few years ago and it's been sitting patiently on my business book shelf waiting to be read. I am sure it's a classic in the OD world and I found it to be quite relevant. I really liked how Kotter makes a huge point of difference between managing and leading - two totally different skill sets and unfortunately we haven't been very good at teaching people how to lead. In fact, he explains that entrenched arrogant management corporate cultures squash leadership abilities. (Yeah, been there!) I also like his argument that says transforming culture occurs at the end of a change initiative, not at the beginning like we've been taught. Maybe that's not news to those out there practicing OD, but somehow I missed that news alert. What he says resonates - people will only adopt and risk changing behaviour and new cultural norms if the change they've been going through shows signs of success. Finally, I thought his second last chapter on organizations of the future to be inspiring. Sure there are more and more examples of adaptive corporate cultures, but when Kotter wrote this in 1996, he probably thought we might be a bit further ahead than we are today in 2012. Too many organization suffer from being (his words) over-managed and under-led. He is talking about the 21st century organization - so I guess we still have 88 years to adapt. I wonder if today's social technologies will allow some of these changes to occur more widely. In particular I think the ability to communicate your vision more broadly and to encourage broad-based empowerment might be supported by the changes we are experiencing in today's socially networked organization.

[Chip Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, and a classic. If you don't like generic books about leadership, you'll hate this book. If you like generic books about leadership, you'll love this one.

I think the principles are inarguable and valuable, but Kotter's stories lack the specificity that would make them applicable. He tells stories in such a way that it's obvious the error that was made, and that no person with good sense would make them. The problem is that leading change is almost always ambiguous and difficult in the moment.

Overall, I liked the book though. I plan to reference his 8-step model if I need to move an organization in the future.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a little depressing but highly informative. It focuses on changing organizations culture/behavior etc. The big message could be summed up as "lasting change is super hard." Some of the smaller ideas that make that up, you must have people behind the change that have power to enforce, there must be buy in at all levels, create urgency, once the change is taking place and success ensues - you must not stop but make sure to have prolonged oversight to see it all the way done and ingrained in the organization.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A good rule of thumb: Whenever you hear of a major restructuring, reengineering, or strategic redirection in which step 1 is 'changing the culture,' you should be concerned that it might be going down the wrong path."

[Dale Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read - but not widely surprising. Goes into an 8 step process for leading change. Very high level and theory based. Key for leaders is creating and communicating vision then pulling together a team to make it happen. The 8 steps are helpful - but also unclear.

[Virgita Atigriv · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valuable book for change management leaders. My recommendation would be to read, not to listen an audio book. I missed the chance to highlight useful advices.

[Matthew Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

One Big Generalization

Most of the time I found this book unreadable. Generalization after generalization with a lot of vague analogies. Terrible writing style.

[Ramesh Ruthrasekar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutionary thoughts for new age business

Kotter pinpoints the shift of organizations in 21st century from Management based to Leadership based. Every few decades a need for a shift arises due to macroeconomic movements. How does Leadership look like in a VUCA age where things are global, you are competing with Davids, Stability in a physical sense due to health and environmental context is under threat and all of it a complex environment where we are talking about integrating AI in our lives etc. Excellent read

Kotter is certainly a forerunner in this field where he transfers us what he explored in the psychology of organizational development

Notes
1. Managers think in 3 years, leaders think in10 years
2. It's not change management, its "leading change"
3. Interdependencies of a department or a kpi is a fact and it can take very long to entangle
3. Mental habits of a lifelong learner: risk taking, humble Self-reflection, solicitation of opinions, careful listening, openness to new ideas
3. Profile of a new age executive: life long learner, competitive capacity
4. 8 steps to a transformation
- Establishing a sense of urgency
- Creating a guiding coalition
- Developing a vision and strategy
- Communicating the change vision
- Empowering broad based action
- Generating short term wins
- Consolidating gains and producing more change
- Anchoring new approaches in the culture
5. Buzzwords to 8 steps
8 steps to a transformation
- Establishing a sense of urgency: to kill complacency, identify or create a crisis, take information from outside
- Creating a guiding coalition: find the right people at all levels in the coalition create trust, Develop a common goal sensible to the head and heart. People needed in the coalition: power, expertise, credibility, leadership
- Developing a vision and strategy: Imaginable, Desirable, Feasible, Focussed, Flexible, Communicable
- Communicating the change vision: Announcing 6 times vs. 12000 times
- Empowering broad based action: are system and people aligned to vision. Train, calibrate or remove
- Generating short term wins: Kata, calibrate and help to hold the sense of urgency
- Consolidating gains and producing more change: interdependencies; Train and delegate to lower levels and make hierarchy flat
- Anchoring new approaches in the culture: Behavioural psychology. Old habits die hard

[Sam Motes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago by Kotter and was inspired by it back then. Re-read now due to a new career move. As a business leader with 0ver 20 years of experience leading changes in different organizations Kotter’s advice speaks to what I have found to work in leading changes through an organization. Kotter shares his insights on leading change through real life examples where it worked and where it failed due to pitfalls. Do not skip any of the stages to speed things up because they will impact the success of the change and slow things down at best or cause utter failure at worse. If you try to manage big changes and force people to comply it may seem to work in the short run but the lack of buy-in and lack of trust will erode any progress over time. On the flip side if you truly lead an engaged team through the Kotter process you will gain buy-in through a true since of ownership, trust and understanding of why the change needs to happen.
Kotter 8 Stage Process
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating the guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communicating the change vision
5. Empowering broad-based action by getting rid of obstacles
6. Generating short-term wins
7. Consolidating gains and producing more change
8. Anchoring new approaches in the culture

Kotter’s model lines up well with Systems Thinking research by Senge, Gibbons, Jolly and others with its reinforcing and balancing loops impacting change success. Kotter’s 8 stage process is about building the reinforcing loops to overcome the balancing loops that can stifle the change success.

[Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for class because I had to! There were some useful ideas here and the book was clearly well-informed by the author's great amount of experience in corporate leadership. E.g....

- Making change it hard
- We all want to be complacent but we shouldn't be or else good change doesn't happen
- Work in coalitions with ppl at every level of the organization if you want change to stick
- Communicate your vision simply and very, very often
- Reduce interdependencies so ppl can make change at every level (this also means nixing bureaucracies and letting all levels of employees make the radical changes they need)
- Confront supervisors who undercut needed change - call them out with data on short term improvements, show how many ppl are on board, and make it clear that they can't bog you down unless they have good reasons & are willing to help
- Culture change comes after behavior change, not before

^Also, this could have been a much shorter article - it didn't really need to be a whole book.

But do I like or respect corporate leaders? Nah, not really. The underlying vibe of this book is not one I relate to. At times, the author slips up and conflates management with manipulation like it's a good thing... and I can't tell how self-aware he is or how long he's been brainwashed by fellow managers. Sometimes he can put himself in the mindset of struggling employees, but not consistently, so I stopped trusting a lot of what he was saying towards the end.

[Joshua Tregoning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good and I wavered between 3 or 4 stars. I went with four since the principles Kotter discusses and lays out are very applicable in trying to lead change……. The frustrating/disappointing aspect was that all of Kotter’s examples or analogies were very generic and nondescript. There is enough published history in business that he could have provided meaningful specifics to help us visualize the journey in leading change!

[Cecke Larsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kanske en bok för alla att läsa...?! Definitivt för alla som har någon typ av ledarposition eller känner sig sugna på. Man kan välja bort en hel del "privatasektornsnack" men det finns mkt som kan tillämpas även inom offentliga sektorn, där många av hans tankar skulle göra god nytta - tänker jag 😺

[Jamil Haddadin]

this book was recommended by bashir

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complacency increase the risk of failure!

[She · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially, when I purchased the book it wasn't ”catchy” or interesting! Due to the state of our current global culture and the need for change in cross-cultural communications, this book is a tool that could lead nations to healthy change management processes. It took a while, but it is worth the investment.

[Kayleigh Espinosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Applicable insights, relevant to what I’ve seen in the workplace.

[Martin Smrek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. The plan for delivering change looks promising, but the absence of data is always disturbing, even when in it intentional.

[Tashay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 maybe

Although it was relatively short (~200pgs) it still felt like a drag at times. Some useful info nonetheless