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.
Rating: 
Summary: Show, don't tell
Review: If you've ever felt like you're not powerful enough to make needed changes in your organization, this book has a powerful message for you: Approach change in the right way and you'll make things happen. Filled with real-life stories, this book offers lots of inspiration. Perhaps the strongest anecdote is the story of an executive presentation made by a mid-level manager and an intern about revamping a wasteful purchasing process. Instead of cranking out a fancy report, the manager and intern filled a box of 424 different pairs of gloves (with attached price tags ranging from $5-$17) that the company was buying. Then they dumped the box on the boardroom table, clearly making a point that this process needed to be fixed. The moral: Communicate change by appealing to emotions. And often, emotions are stirred by showing people, not just telling them. A solid read.
Rating:
Summary: Change Management - an Oxymoron?
Review: In this book Kotter explains how people change less because they are given analysis and facts about why change is needed and more because we show them a truth that influences their feelings. This concept is not adopted by all those writing on change management. Yet it is a concept that does fit with my experience. Unless the facts, figures, and general information presented by those wanting to effect change is compelling enough to generate the feelings that change is a requirement, then change will not happen. Kotter puts it this way: See, Feel, Change. So the information and analysis must be geared toward the "seeing," and the "feeling" in order to prompt people to change. If we do not actively pursue the task of driving necessary change, change management becomes an oxymoron - change forced upon us becomes chaos and we do not manage the change, it manages us. One of the things I enjoyed most about reading this book was the clear and logical layout with the interesting web-page navigation graphics. Also the case studies from "real life" gave practical examples of what successful change might look like in our companies. His eight steps to successful change are: 1. Increase Urgency, 2. Build the Guiding Team, 3. Get the Vision Right, 4. Communicate for Buy-In, 5. Empower Action, 6. Create Short-Term wins, 7. Don't let up, 8. Make Change Stick. All of this helps in building a practice of Shaping the Corporate Culture, which is, of course, near and dear to our hearts at dbkAssociates. Many of the insights in this book will be of practical use to us and to our clients.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but...
Review: Organizational change is a very difficult endeavor. In John Kotter's book The Heart of Change, he explains in detail using real life stories the steps needed to bring about long term meaningful change. In his first book Leading Change, he described eight steps people followed to produce new ways of operating. These were sequential steps that organizations utilized as they progressed through their transformation. In The Heart of Change, Kotter takes the eight steps to a more in depth level. He interviewed over two hundred people in more than ninety organizations. Through his findings during these interviews, he developed his basis for The Heart of Change. His main discovery is change is not strategy, structure, culture, or systems. These are all important; however, the core of real change involves people's behaviors and feelings. He states, "In highly successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just through feelings that alter behaviors sufficiently to overcome all the many barriers to sensible large scale change." As the work world becomes more and more turbulent, change happens whether we want it to or not usually at a fast paced rate. John Kotter gives some sensible strategies that can be utilized by change agents in every type of organization.
Rating:
Summary: A Practical Guide to Leading Change
Review: Organizational change is a very difficult endeavor. In John Kotter's book The Heart of Change, he explains in detail using real life stories the steps needed to bring about long term meaningful change. In his first book Leading Change, he described eight steps people followed to produce new ways of operating. These were sequential steps that organizations utilized as they progressed through their transformation. In The Heart of Change, Kotter takes the eight steps to a more in depth level. He interviewed over two hundred people in more than ninety organizations. Through his findings during these interviews, he developed his basis for The Heart of Change. His main discovery is change is not strategy, structure, culture, or systems. These are all important; however, the core of real change involves people's behaviors and feelings. He states, "In highly successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just through feelings that alter behaviors sufficiently to overcome all the many barriers to sensible large scale change." As the work world becomes more and more turbulent, change happens whether we want it to or not usually at a fast paced rate. John Kotter gives some sensible strategies that can be utilized by change agents in every type of organization.
Rating:
Summary: An Exhaustive Expose on the Nature of Change
Review: The authors' professed thesis is the following: "The core of [change] is always about changing the behavior of people." [Found in the book's Preface] After reading this all-encompassing dissertation however, the seasoned scholar may glean a slightly different message. Perhaps the authors say it best in Chapter 8 when they proclaim that: "To use all of the ideas in this chapter, and to avoid the mistakes, it is essential to understand... In a change effort, culture comes last, not first." In any event, the authors set forth a multitude of stories to support the crux of their argument. This tact falls in line with their firm belief in a "see-feel-change" process. It is clearly evident that they intended to "practice what they preached" in the book's overall design. Readers who are thoroughly invested in the creation of change for their organization will probably find this book somewhat "eye-opening." The authors' use of stories is exceptional in their dissemination of an eight-step process. Some may also find this book a bit scholarly in its mission to thoroughly pound each point home. It's probably fair to say that this book is meant to be either read in its entirety or not at all. Each of the eight steps build off of each other. Despite some seemingly lengthy segments however, the authors' larger message is worth taking in.
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but...
Review: This book is okay for the novice. But, it is simply more of the same "theory." For "tools" for chance I would recommend Beitler's "Strategic Organizational Change." Kotter's "Leading Change" is a good introduction, but managers need the tools, checklists, and insights found in the Beitler book.
Rating:
Summary: Let us change
Review: This book is the distilled summary of 400 detailed interviews from over 130 companies on the topic of managing change. The common thread across success stories is 1. Change is best done in big leaps than in gradual increments. 2. Change is an EIGHT-STAGE process. 3. The vital challenge at each stage is to bring about change in behavior - not strategy, systems or culture. 4. The "see, feel and change" approach is sustaining than the "analyze, think and change" approach since it influences feelings. The book goes on to explain each of the "eight stages" in detail with relevant case studies or stories narrated in first person. At the end of each chapter there is a small exercise that is recommended done with a team. There is also a crisp summary of what works, what does not work and stories to remember. It is interesting to see that at the end of the book, it is recommended that to introduce change, it is better not to attempt to change the Culture at the outset. ("A controversial but very important point. In a change effort, culture comes last, not first"). Such an attempt would be futile since culture evolves over a long period. It is the change in behavior through the eight-stage process that is key and cultural change would follow. Each of the eight stages - Increase urgency, build the guiding team, get the vision right, communicate for buy-in, empower action, create short-term wins, don't let up, make change stick- are equally important. There are several examples to reinforce the importance of each stage and also to demonstrate that the lack of attention to any one of these is a prescription for failure. The "see, feel and change" approach appeals to the heart. Human beings as we are, our hearts will continue to be an indispensable part of our anatomy irrespective of the technological changes and economic compulsions. We would be better off as a society if our hearts guide our decisions and actions affecting human beings. Changes are sweeping across businesses at an increasing pace. This book gives us a winning option - Let us see, let us feel and let us change.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, plus...
Review: This is a good book. But, I also recommend "Strategic Organizational Change" by Beitler.
Rating:
Summary: the John Kotter how-to-do-it change book with good stories
Review: What I love about this book is how John Kotter identifies in clear-cut steps the learning from each of the chapters and how the chapters track John Kotter's acid-clear eight steps for leading change. The stories he uses as benchmarks are riveting and easy to read. I frequently get asked by my clients to advise them on how to work through change. This is the book that they need to read. It is much like the same style that Jim Collins uses in his new book, Good to Great. These are the two best books for managers this year--without question. You want to keep this book in a handy spot. I will not put it on my book shelf.
| 
