Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: This book was on the required reading list for my MBA progam at UC Davis. It is one of the best business books I have ever read. When reading it, hold a pen, jot down notes, underline, and learn to communicate what you've learned. It will be valuable to both you and the organization that you work it. It clarifies thoughts and observations all of us have had about management processes, change, and the natural problems we have when trying to change. It is not fluffy, but at the same time not too technical.
Rating:
Summary: THE Standard for Organizational Change
Review: This book was recommended to me as being the standard for organizational change, and that recommendation was close to the mark. For any project manager who is involved in the mechanism of change, this is one book that should be right at the top their 'short list.' This may seem like a strong statement, but reading this book can be life changing. Its concepts apply across many other business ideas, and it is particularly useful for implementing project management into an organization. Lots of resources are wasted on unsuccessful efforts because often the leaders of some organizations don't know how to implement successful changes. The thought process gets tied up in the existing bureaucracy and remains stalled, going nowhere. In Leading Change, Professor Kotter has performed a commendable job of outlining all the elements that must be addressed. He identifies the most frequent mistakes in effecting change, and suggests eight steps to overcoming obstacles. The author offers some good business essentials, but also adds a solid structure for implementation that can be applied across organizational cultures. Following his recommendations should make it easier for an organization to know what they should be working on and how to progress to the next steps. There are good books that may be more recent than this, but you would do yourself and your organization a disservice if you passed this book by just based on that. As stated earlier, this book lives up to its reputation of being the standard for organizational change.
Rating:
Summary: Touchdown, Homerun, Ace, this book scores
Review: This easy quick read is direct hit after direct it of the right information required to facilitate change. Reader beware if your organization has problems adjusting to change this book will highlight your challenges. Take the medicine and share the book with any one you can get to read it. Great for change agents at all levels and key to successful mergers or acquistions in ths dynamically changing business environment. This book exceeded my expectations from initial reviews.
Rating:
Summary: Clear and direct to the point guide for management success.
Review: This invaluable reading helped me navigate through the numerous challenges encountered when establishing a long term direction for my organization. Kotter does an excellent job in breaking down the basic elements to developing a success vision. Most importantly, his book leads you into a self evaluation of your personal traits, skills , and leadership style and how they support or encumber your goal achieving process. I believe "Leading Change" is a must read for those of us who think we are high performers and certainly recommend it for pre-interview brush ups.
Rating:
Summary: a keeper
Review: This is still my favorite book on change management. I've lost track of the number of copies I've given away to clients and teammates. Kotter offers excellent advice on how to make a difference in your organization. Some of his examples are becoming a bit dated, but the lessons are as timeless as ever. Read this book and then re-read it.
Rating:
Summary: How To Make Change Happen
Review: This is the best book I've read dealing with how to lead a major change project. Abundant in useful information, concise, complete and logical, it really is a gem of a book . You need to remember the 8-step outline of the process and use the book as a reference when more detailed guidance is needed. I have succesfully used dr. Kotter recipe for change many times over in my career. Also, check out his articles in the Harvard Business Review with further details on the strategies of change as well as further insights into how to align others with your change vision.
Rating:
Summary: How To Make Change Happen
Review: This is the best book I've read dealing with how to lead a major change project. Abundant in useful information, concise, complete and logical, it really is a gem of a book . You need to remember the 8-step outline of the process and use the book as a reference when more detailed guidance is needed. I have succesfully used dr. Kotter recipe for change many times over in my career. Also, check out his articles in the Harvard Business Review with further details on the strategies of change as well as further insights into how to align others with your change vision.
Rating:
Summary: Transforming Organizations is Tough Without Leading Change!
Review: Transforming organizations is tough! It is more difficult than many people realize. Generally, leaders attempt change efforts that are too mild and then give them too little time to succeed. As a result, many transformations fail. Even though this book was published four years ago, it is still on the cutting edge of modern, linear change in organizations. In my own consulting work I see this book--more than any other--used as a reference point when dicussing change strategies. Kotter's ideas of establishing a sense of urgency and creating a guiding coalition brought great insight to the part of the change process known as readiness. Another great contribution is the idea that culture--being the most difficult thing to change--is generally the last change tackled, and the capping change that must take place for true lasting change to occur. John Kotter begins this book by sharing why transformation efforts fail. He then takes the reader on a journey through an eight stage process of creating major change. He concludes this three-part book with a look at the implications for the twenty-first cnetury related to organizations and leadership. Any facilitator or recipient of change efforts who has not read this book, has missed one of the mandatory books about the change process in North American culture. Buy it today!
Rating: 
Summary: CHANGE - EASIER SAID THAN DONE!
Review: Whether in business or on a personal level, nothing puts people on edge more than change, whether it be for the better or worse. Change means taking an individual(s) out of their secure environment and imposing a new set of rules, disciplines or policies that are unknown to them. Generally, people fear most what they do not understand, that which is new and set apart from the normal routine of things. Implementing change in the workplace, particularly if you are a large corporation, can have a dramatic impact on employees, productivity and motivation. In this book, the author points out the most common mistakes in effecting change and offers eight steps to overcoming the barriers to change. While the book is well-worth reading, the reader should be made aware that the author does not tell you what specific changes need to be made. Much of the information here is not new and can be found in a variety of other similar books, reports and reviews and for that reason the star rating of the book dropped significantly.
Rating:
Summary: REQUIRED reading for anyone involved in change management!
Review: Within my organization, we have recently implemented several change programs focused in improving quality and customer service. Most of what Kotter discusses we all know implicitly (the "things we don't know we know"). The value of this book is taking the implicit, organizing it and making it explicit (the "things we know we know"). For change leaders, the value is twofold; first, it is an excellent primer for members of the "guiding coalition." Second, it is an excellent executive briefing tool, surfacing many of the challenges that will be faced during the course of an organizational change.
| 
