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 Leading Change :: 0875847471
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| In Leading Change, John Kotter examines the efforts of more than 100 companies to remake themselves into better competitors. He identifies the most common mistakes leaders and managers make in attempting to create change and offers an eight-step process to overcome the obstacles and carry out the firm's agenda: establishing a greater sense of urgency, creating the guiding coalition, developing a vision and strategy, communicating the change vision, empowering others to act, creating short-term wins, consolidating gains and producing even more change, and institutionalizing new approaches in the future. This highly personal book reveals what John Kotter has seen, heard, experienced, and concluded in 25 years of working with companies to create lasting transformation. Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
I have been working in the change arena for the last 15 years and Kotter's book on Leading Change is still the definitive work. Based on his seminal 1994 HBR article "Leading Change: Why Transformations efforts fail" this is the best down-to-earth guide for both consultants and managers leading change. It has good practical examples and straightforward arguments - no psychological mumbo jumbo.
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Author: Guest
Kotter gives us here a valuable handbook on how to visualize, introduce, and sustain change in an organization. Here are a few quotes:
"Handling new initiatives quickly is not an essential component of success in relatively stable or cartel-like environments. The problem for us today is that stability is no longer the norm. And most experts agree that over the next few decades the business environment will become only more volatile."
"Useful change tends to be associated with a multistep process that creates power and motivation sufficient to overwhelm all the sources of inertia."
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Author: Guest
When I first read this book, I had just emerged from a painful and failed change effort that I was leading. I quickly was able to say to myself, "But of course, now I know why I failed in this effort: Not enough communication, not enough internal support, to big of an initial project, just to name a few". I really wish that I had read this book first. It would have reduced the pain and frustration that I went through. Would the change effort have been successful? I do not think so but I also would not have been attempting to lead the charge into oblivian.
I feel that if you are trying to create change in a community, you a foolish not to read this book. If you follow the well researched and documented eight steps necessary to lead change, you will have a much higher success rate. A must read for those of us who are change agents.
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Author: Guest
So you want to change something in the way people are working? Where to begin? Why is nobody paying attention? Or you thought the change was going great but then everything fell apart? This book takes concepts like leadership, urgency, vision, strategy, and communication and puts them in an easy-to-understand order.
Changing an organization or even your own team may not be easy, but at least if you read this book, the challenges won't be surprises as well.
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Author: Guest
What happens when an organization needs to change (if it hopes to be successful in the future) but hasn't put much thought into what the process of change itself looks like? More than likely: failure.
John Kotter outlines here a critical difference between change efforts that have been successful, compared to change efforts that have failed. Drawing on decades' worth of experience consulting with firms and coaching leaders, and attentive to ever-increasing globalization of markets and competition, Kotter offers an eight-stage change process. The eight stages are:
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
Successful change, Kotter argues, "is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organizations today don't have much leadership." Kotter articulates what effective leadership -- not management -- actually looks like.
Kotter provides a helpful, clear, and concise chapter devoted to each of the eight stages. He articulates precisely what is needed at each critical moment in the transformation process. He provides numerous examples of what happens when any stage is ignored (basically, he suggests that to ignore any of the eight stages will likely lead to failure). Specific guidance and steps are offered at every point along the way. A useful summary of the whole process is provided on page 21.
The final couple chapters provide a glimpse into the organizations and leaders of the future. "The rate of change in the business world is not going to slow down anytime soon. . . . The typical twentieth-century organization has not operated well in a rapidly changing environment. . . . If environmental continues to increase, as most people now predict, the standard organization of the twentieth century will likely become a dinosaur." The winning enterprise of the twenty-first century will have a persistent sense of urgency, teamwork at the top, people who can create and communicate vision, broad-based empowerment, delegated management for excellent short-term performance, no unnecessary interdependence, and an adaptive corporate culture. Leaders of the future are going to be people with high standards and a strong willingness to learn. Arguing that leadership traits can be learned, Kotter provides examples of people he has known over an extended period of time who once upon a time showed little promise, but who developed superlative leadership skills and have become highly effective, successful, influential leaders. Just as organizations need to continue to continue to change and grow, so too will organizations' future leaders.
Overall, this is a highly readable, useful book. It is obviously useful for leaders in the corporate world. I would argue that it is also highly useful for leaders in ANY organization that is trying to thrive in the twenty-first century. I wish I had read it years ago!
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