Leading Change
Author: John P. Kotter
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 0875847471
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (15 January, 1996)
Sales Rank: 1,151
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Excellent book on leadership & the change process
I highly recommend Leading Change and believe it will be helpful to leaders and managers at all levels. The concepts Kotter puts forth are equally helpful to the executive trying to introduce sweeping change or the project manager trying to gain support and momentum for a project. The book focuses on explaining the change process and the role of leadership in that process. I chose not to give it five stars because it could have included more instruction and examples. However, its concise nature is also a benefit because (at less than 200 pages) it is easy to read. It is also extremely well written. In particular, I am impressed by how well Kotter summarizes his theories towards the end of each chapter. He is adept at succinctly reinforcing concepts without undue repetition.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Make Change Irresistibly Attractive
The leaders of some organizations have no idea how to make successful changes, and are likely to waste a lot of resources on unsuccessful efforts. Professor Kotter has done a solid job of outlining the elements that must be addressed, so now your organization will at last know what they should be working on.On the other hand, if you have not seen this done successfully before, you may need more detailed examples than this book provides or outside facilitators to help you until you have enough experience to go solo. I suspect this book will not be detailed enough by itself to get you where you want to go.
Here's a hint: The Harvard Business Review article by Professor Kotter covers the same material in a much shorter form. You can save time and money by checking this out first before buying the book.
I personally find that measurements are very helpful to create self-stimulation to change, and this book does not pay enough attention in that direction. If you agree that measurements are a useful way to stimulate change, be sure to read The Balanced Scorecard, as well, which will help you understand how to use appropriate measurements to make more successful changes.
If you want to know what changes to make, this book will also not do it for you. I suggest you read Peter Drucker's Management Challenges for the 21st Century and Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline.
Good luck!
Rating: 4 out of 5
How to lead change
Kotter's eight-step formula for leading change provides some practical and valuable strategies, but it does not get to the core of the problem. When an organization hires and retains only those who have made the commitment to do their best regardless of the circumstances, then complacency is never a serious problem and the leader does not need to falsely impose a sense of urgency. I recommend this book, and suggest Optimal Thinking: How to be your best self is read along with it. We are integrating Optimal Thinking into our company (mission statement and culture) and moving away from the old paradigm of managers and employees to the new optimized paradigm of corporate optimizers. Similar Products
John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do (Harvard Business Review Book)
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations
Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
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