KotOuri 06-12-177 OUR ICEBERG IS MELTING Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber St. Martin’s Press, 2005, 146 pp., ISBN 0-312-36198-X

Kotter is the leadership and change guru at Harvard Business School. I particularly liked his book Leading Change. Rathgeber is a global manager for Becton Dickinson, a medical technology company. Iceberg is a fable in the train of Who Moved My Cheese, illustrating eight steps to produce change in any group. “Handle the challenge of change well, and you can prosper greatly. Handle it poorly, and you put yourself and others at risk. All too often people and organizations don’t see the need for change. They don’t correctly identify what to do, or successfully make it happen, or make it stick.” (Welcome) Fred, a rather observant penguin in his Antarctic group, saw the potential for an iceberg disaster. He was not a leader. What to do? First he used a model iceberg to demonstrate his observation of melting. This was pretty much met with denial and a recommendation to keep it a secret so as not to worry anyone. But he won over a few and together they figured it out. Here are the eight steps of penguin power: 1. Reduce complacency and increase urgency. 2. Pull together a team to lead the change. 3. Create a vision of a new future. 4. Communicate the new vision – all the time. 5. Make everyone feel empowered. 6. Create short-term wins. And celebrate. 7. Don’t let up. 8. Ensure the change will not be overcome by hard-to-die traditions. The fable is followed by some suggestions on how to use it, some questions to ask, and an outline of Kotter’s eight steps. See also www.ouricebergismelting.com and www.theheartofchange.com

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