Leading Change, With a New Preface by the Author Hardcover – November 6, 2012

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 urgency2. Creating the guiding coalition3. Developing a vision and strategy4. Communicating the change vision5. Empowering broad-based action6. Generating short-term wins7. Consolidating gains and producing more change8. Anchoring new approaches in the cultureSuccessful 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!

In Leading Change, John P. Kotter introduces an eight step process for change that focuses not on management but on leadership. He charges leaders to establish a sense of Urgency, Create a guiding Coalition, Develop a Vision and Strategy, Communicate the change Vision, Empowers Employees for Broad-Based Action, Generate Short Term Wins, Consolidate Gains, and Anchor New Approaches in the Culture. Kotter casts a vision for both organizations and leaders of the future that endeavors to negate the effects of over-management and to lessen the impact under-leadership. Kotter proposes that leadership be driven down into the lower levels of an organization through adoption of a philosophy of lifelong learning at both the individual and organizational levels. This philosophy is intended to create leaders who are continually growing and improving themselves and their organizations.I found Kotter's approach to be both practical and well reasoned. His eight steps are well grounded and realistic. This is a well written book that has plenty of hands on advice that can be implemented immediately. This will remain a reference for leadership versus management and will undoubtedly become well dog-eared in the coming years.I recommend you read Leading Change by John P. Kotter. His down to earth style helped make this an easy read and you and your organization will benefit from his advice.

In this book, the author discusses in detail an eight-stage process of creating major changes. The steps are as follows: establishing a sense of urgency, creating the guiding coalition, developing a vision and strategy, communicating the change vision, empowering broad-based action, generating short-term wins, consolidating gain and producing more change, and finally anchoring new approaches in the culture. Anyone who has dealt with change can identify some of the stages outlined. The challenge is to work through them methodically and ensuring that each stage is successful to build a lasting change on a solid foundation. From my experience, numerous changes attempt to fast-track or skip some of these stages. While on the short term, this may not seem like an issue, sooner or later the change ultimately fails to achieve the desired outcome. In addition, despite that big changes take time to complete, it is vital to build and achieve small wins to maintain the change momentum. John offers extensive examples from his professional career, through which he illustrates both successful and unsuccessful changes. One of the pivotal points he makes is around leadership and management, what their role is in the change and the differences between them. For a change to succeed both strong leaders and strong managers are needed. Overall a very interesting read for anyone leading a major project/change initiative. I will conclude from a quote from the last chapter, which I particularly enjoyed reading on personal development and the concept of competitive capacity: "In attempting to explain why most (students of HBS) were doing well in their careers...I found the two elements stood out: competitive drive and lifelong learning." Competitive drive is characterized by a level of standards, a desire to do well and self-confidence in competitive situations. Lifelong learning is characterized by a willingness to seek new challenges, and a willingness to reflect honestly on success and failures.

This book may have been written over 10 years ago, but the information is relevant. Kotter understood how organizations and the workplace were changing, and he has great strategies for how to adapt.This book is a great contribution to ongoing learning.

If you're part of any digital transformation or general change, the 8 step model remains a great tool to teach, learn and execute through the process.