Rating: 
Summary: The Duh Factor
Review: A few worthy stories, but more on the line of the duh factor...for example, the story titled Q and A. The lesson from the experts is prepare for a meeting where you will announce change...duh.
Rating:
Summary: The Duh Factor
Review: A few worthy stories, but more on the line of the duh factor...for example, the story titled Q and A. The lesson from the experts is prepare for a meeting where you will announce change...duh.
Rating: 
Summary: The Heart of Change
Review: As the title indicates it's a "how to" book of real life stories of how people changed their organizations. This is not a quick fix-it remedy book. It has real take-away values and merits applicable not only for the corporate environment but for any organization where people are recognized as the key to success through change. Kotter introduces his book with the premise that people are more willing to change if shown a "truth that will influence their feelings" rather than be bombarded with analytical data that force them to change their thinking. He then introduces his 8-step process which will lead to successful large-scale change. To further validate his viewpoint Kotter includes examples of real stories of individuals(managers, tech people, presidents, etc) who succeeded in bringing about positive change to their companies of course sometimes after much frustration and repeating of certain steps. I strongly recommend this book for those who are "change agents." The book also lists an interactive site for additional tips to one's personal change effort. The book is dynamic and forceful and an excellent resource for those organizations/communities of practice with the vision for the future and a "heart for change."
Rating:
Summary: The Heart of Change
Review: As the title indicates it's a "how to" book of real life stories of how people changed their organizations. This is not a quick fix-it remedy book. It has real take-away values and merits applicable not only for the corporate environment but for any organization where people are recognized as the key to success through change. Kotter introduces his book with the premise that people are more willing to change if shown a "truth that will influence their feelings" rather than be bombarded with analytical data that force them to change their thinking. He then introduces his 8-step process which will lead to successful large-scale change. To further validate his viewpoint Kotter includes examples of real stories of individuals(managers, tech people, presidents, etc) who succeeded in bringing about positive change to their companies of course sometimes after much frustration and repeating of certain steps. I strongly recommend this book for those who are "change agents." The book also lists an interactive site for additional tips to one's personal change effort. The book is dynamic and forceful and an excellent resource for those organizations/communities of practice with the vision for the future and a "heart for change."
Rating:
Summary: The Heart of Change
Review: As the title indicates it's a "how to" book of real life stories of how people changed their organizations. This is not a quick fix-it remedy book. It has real take-away values and merits applicable not only for the corporate environment but for any organization where people are recognized as the key to success through change. Kotter introduces his book with the premise that people are more willing to change if shown a "truth that will influence their feelings" rather than be bombarded with analytical data that force them to change their thinking. He then introduces his 8-step process which will lead to successful large-scale change. To further validate his viewpoint Kotter includes examples of real stories of individuals(managers, tech people, presidents, etc) who succeeded in bringing about positive change to their companies of course sometimes after much frustration and repeating of certain steps. I strongly recommend this book for those who are "change agents." The book also lists an interactive site for additional tips to one's personal change effort. The book is dynamic and forceful and an excellent resource for those organizations/communities of practice with the vision for the future and a "heart for change."
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Heartwarming and full of hope is just what this book offers. A very good read!
Rating:
Summary: Welcome back, Kotter.
Review: I loved Leading Change, but I just couldn't seem to get so into this book. Yes, it's good to give people a "sense of urgency" to get things done. But can that sense of urgency really come from anything outside themselves? The book was too wordy for me and came across as shlock much of the time. Still, it did have some good ideas and so I would say, make up your mind for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Good subject, bad book
Review: I think the book is raising some good questions and is trying to address very important issues and problems in organizational behavior, but the quality of the content leaves plenty room for improvement. The stories and cases that illustrate the concepts of the book are mostly highly artificial and oversimplified, they are poorly written and could not be read with trust. The examples of the ideas that should help to turn the companies around often are on this level: a new screen saver was installed on every computer in the company as a surprise to the employees and it had a graphic image and a slogan "We will be #1 in the UK market by 2001!". Boom! After that, the company turned around and conquered UK market!
This is definitely well below the bar that Harvard Business School Press should have set for its publications.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Book
Review: I thought "The Heart of Change" was terrific. John Kotter did a wonderful job building each new chapter on the preceding chapters, thus knitting everything together into a neat picture. Highly recommended. And, in agreement with other reviews I have read on leadership books, I must say that I too recommend that you also read the only book on understanding the philosophy of GOOD leadership, "West Point: Character Leadership Education..." by Remick.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the time to read...then pass it on.
Review: I will admit to being skeptical when I was first introduced to this book. I had not read the original book, "Leading Change" by John Kotter for the same reason that I was reluctant this time...books that focus on change mangement are generally too dry and formula driven. This book was also driven upon the 8-step process highlighted in the first book.However, I was told that the book focused this time more on the behavior changes of people that are needed to make change successful...and from experience, I knew that getting employees to really want to make a change makes all the difference to a successful change effort. The book uses stories to describe how to educate and motivate others to accept change through the 8-step process. If you just look at the eight steps, they appear dry and built on well-worn cliches. Increase Urgency, Build the Guiding Team, Get the Vision Right, Communicate for Buy-In, Empower Action, Create Short-Term Wins, Don't Let Up, and Make Change Stick. Certainly, anyone that has led change can figure this out. However, I found the stories to be very practical in describing the concept of See, Feel, Change that is needed by all employees to really embrace the change emotionally and not just logically. They have to want to change their own behaviors, not just for the project, but forever. The story I could relate to the most was "The Boss Goes to Switzerland". I have seen this happen numerous times for others and myself. This book has practical content that can be referred to over and over again...I will use this book each time a new change initiative gets underway. Recommended for all business leaders.
|
