Rating: 
Summary: A useful book for a changing world of business
Review: "Change is the only permanent thing" has become an extremely popular idea and everybody's talking about it everywhere. The difference with this book is that - unlike other authors - John P. Kotter systematizes the analysis of change inside organizations and he succeeds almost a 100%. I say almost a 100% because I think "Leading change" emphasyses a little bit more on "what" to do in order to face changes than on "how" to implement changes. Yes, I know that every company is a different world by itself and that many possible ways of implementation do exist, but in my humble oppinion this book should have had 20-30 more pages in order to explore in more detail this crucial aspect of change. Anyway it is an enlightening book on the topic.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Eight Steps to Transformation"
Review: "Over the past decade," John P. Kotter writes, "I have watched more than a hundred companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors. They have included large organizations (Ford) and small ones (Landmark Communications), companies based in United States (General Motors) and elsewhere (British Airways), corporations that were on their knees (Eastern Airlines), and companies that were earning good money (Bristol-Myers Squibb). Their efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, right-sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnaround. But in almost every case the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. A few of these corporate change efforts have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. The lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of the coming decade."In this context, John P. Kotter lists the most general lessons to be learned from both (I) the more successful cases and (II) the critical mistakes as follows: I. Lessons from the more successful cases: 1. Establishing a sense of urgency * Examining market and competitive realities * Identifying and discursing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities 2. Forming a powerful guiding coalition * Assembling a group with enough power to lead the change effort * Encouraging the group to work together as a team 3. Creating a vision * Creating a vision to help direct the change effort * Developing strategies for achieving that vision 4. Communicating vision * Using every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies * Teaching new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition 5. Empowering others to act on the vision * Getting rid of obstancles to change * Changing systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision * Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions 6. Planning for and creating short-term wins * Planning for visible performance improvements * Creating those improvements * Recognizing and rewarding employees involved in the improvements 7. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change * Using increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don't fit the vision * Hiring, promoting, and developing employees who can implement the vision * Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents 8.Institutionalizing new approaches * Articulating the connections between the new behaviors and corporate success * Developing the means to ensure leadership development and succession II. Lessons from the critical mistakes: 1. Not establishing enough sense of urgency - A transformation program requires the aggressive cooperation of many individuals. Without motivation, people won't help and the effort goes nowhere. 2. Not creating a powerful guiding coalition - Companies that fail in this phase usually underestimate the difficulties of producing change and thus the importance of a powerful quiding coalition. 3. Lacking a vision - Without a sensible vision, a transformation effort can easily dissolve into a list of confusing and incompatible projects that can take the organization in the wrong direction or nowhere at all. 4. Undercommunicating the vision - Transformation is impossible unless hundreds or thousands of people are willing to help, often to the point of making short-term sacrifices. 5. Not removing obstacles to the new vision - Sometimes the obstacle is the organizational structure: narrow job categories can seriously undermine efforts to increase productivity or make it very difficult even to think about customers. Sometimes compensation or performance-appraisal systems make people choose between the new vision and their own self-interest. Perhaps worst of all are bosses who refuse to change and who make demands that are inconsistent with the overall effort. 6. Not systematically planning and creating short-term wins - Creating short-term wins is different from hoping for short-term wins. The latter is passive, the former active. In a successful transformation, managers actively look for ways to obtain clear performance improvements, establish goals in the yearly planning system, achieve the objectives, and reward the people involved with recognition, promotions, and even money. 7. Declaring victory too soon - Instead of declaring victory, leaders of successful efforts use the credibility afforded by short-term wins to tackle even bigger problems. 8. Not anchoring changes in the corporation's culture - Change sticks when it becomes "the way we do things around here," when it seeps into the bloodstream of the corporate body. Until new behaviors are rooted in social norms and shared values, they are subject to degradation as soon as the pressure for change is removed. Finally, John P. Kotter writes, "There are still more mistakes that people make, but these eight are the big ones. In reality, even successful change efforts are messy and full of surprises. But just as a relatively simple vision is needed to guide people through a major change, so a vision of the change process can reduce the error rate. And fewer errors can spell the difference between success and failure." Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Successful manufacturing change begins with this book.
Review: A great book! Leading Change gives a wonderfully accurate and detailed description of the leadership prerequisites required to accomplish manufacturing change. Leading Change supports and augments the implementation of the advanced manufacturing techniques which are explained and developed in our book, Implementing World Class Manufacturing. Leading Change is a must read!
Rating:
Summary: Book is Better Than His Seminars
Review: A must and easy read for anyone looking for a step by step way to lead change in any organization. Great book but I was dissapointed on his seminars which are very boring and somewhat improvised. His "Book is Better Than His Seminars".
Rating:
Summary: John Kotter - Even Dilbert Would Like Him
Review: After plowing through scores of management books written by people who probably couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag, I was overjoyed to find this book. It will be immensely useful to anyone who wants to actually accomplish change in an organization. Read this book before you waste money buying inspirational posters and hiring high-priced "organizational change" consultants. Mr. Kotter has done his research and it shows -- he is a breath of fresh air in a field crowded with blowhards. In my opinion, he is the foremost business theorist/analyst today.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Set Light to the Platform?
Review: Another "expert" on change management offers the following scenario: If you were on a North Sea oil platform it is very unlikely that you'd jump 40 feet into the icy water just because someone said you should. If the platform were on fire, on the other hand, you'd probably jump without having to be told. So, if you want to make a change management programme successful, just frighten people by demonstrating that they have more to lose by staying put than they do if they "jump". Sound familiar?
Isn't Kotter's recommendation to establish a sense of urgency by analyzing competition and identifying potential crises another version of the same strategy? The problem is that we know that people under threat/stress become LESS flexible, LESS creative, LESS willing to take risks. In short, they are in the worst possible state to successfully implement a change management programme. So what price the "burning platform" strategy - by any name you care to give it? This is the sort of book that appeals to a certain type of executive because it allows them to blame everyone else when their change programme fails. Whast it doesn't tell them is that "command and control" management is the root cause of fiascos like BPR, "burning platforms" and the like. With all due respect this is a blueprint for failure.
Definitely one to avoid like the plague.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, just insert your vision
Review: Anyone who wants to know why most change efforts fail should read this book. It is a sort of handbook for transformational leadership, rich with examples on how to enact a change initiative. The only thing that I didn't like about the book is that Kotter didn't give the names of the CEOs and companies he talked about, something that would have given some perspective on the size of the transformations he talked about. But that is a minor complaint. All told, this book is a good departure from most leadership books today (which use so many recycled ideas). Kotter's insights are original and useful.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Truth About Change
Review: As with all of Kotter's work, this has the personal perspective of someone who has been there. It deals with the realistic problems of leaders who don't take the time to actually understand the dynamics of organizational change. Kotter also puts the accountability where it belongs, with the leaders. So many companies have been damaged by poorly led change efforts, and the misperception that failed change is the result of people just not liking change. In truth it is because they don't follow the processes that Kotter advocates. This is a must read for people involved with change. A good supporting handbook is "Change and the Challenge of Leadership by Service Advocate a Massachusetts change leadership organization.
Rating:
Summary: Still the standard in organizational change
Review: Even though this book is almost 5 years old, it is still the 'gold standard' for organizational change. Reading this book can be life-changing. Its precepts apply across many other business ideas. It is particularly useful for implementing project management into an organization.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource - a must-have for leaders
Review: Having just been promoted as director of a department whose purpose is to effect change in one faction of our firm's IT division, I found this book to lead me through the most important of considerations. Highly recommended for anyone who finds themselves in a position of needing to effect change and cannot afford a fatal error.
| 
