Quotes from John P. Kotter

Produce Short-Term Wins.

Create a New Culture. Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions. Better still, make all of these steps a central part of the way you live to help you adapt to an ever faster changing world. Consider: Are we putting those who have helped make change happen in leadership roles? Have the scouts been rewarded? How can we institutionalize change, like adding scouting to the school curriculum?

Question: Is there one takeaway you want readers to carry with them? JK: Yes. In these turbulent times, sufficient leadership, not just from the top couple of people, is very important, far too rare, and it does not have to be that way. It often starts with only one person not looking away or waiting for something to happen, but seizing opportunities to act where others see problems, fault or threat. Why couldn't that one person be you, or anyone reading this interview right now?

In many cases, clever design of educational experiences can deliver greater impact at one-half or less the cost of conventional approaches. I also think that training can easily become a disempowering experience if the implicit message is "shut up and do it this way" instead of "we will be delegating more, so we are providing this course to help you with your new responsibilities.

Acceleration stalled

transformation is a process, not an event

Management makes a system work. It helps you do what you know how to do. Leadership builds systems or transforms old ones.

Nothing undermines change more than behavior by important individuals that is inconsistent with the verbal communication.

If you cannot describe your vision to someone in five minutes and get their interest, you have more work to do in this phase of a transformation process.

Whenever smart and well-intentioned people avoid confronting obstacles, they disempower employees and undermine change.

Employees in large, older firms often have difficulty getting a transformation process started because of the lack of leadership coupled with arrogance, insularity, and bureaucracy.

Major change is often said to be impossible unless the head of the organization is an active supporter.

A guiding coalition made up only of managers—even superb managers who are wonderful people—will cause major change efforts to fail.

A useful rule of thumb: Whenever you cannot describe the vision driving a change initiative in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest, you are in for trouble. Error

Without short-term wins, too many employees give up or actively join the resistance. Creating

Never underestimate the power of the mind to disempower.

Empower Others to Act. Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so. Encourage others to remove barriers and make true innovation happen.

reducing complacency and increasing urgency they had taken exactly the right first step in potentially saving the colony.

In a less competitive and slower-moving world, weak committees can help organizations adapt at an acceptable rate. A committee makes recommendations. Key line managers reject most of the ideas. The group offers additional suggestions. The line moves another inch. The committee tries again. When both competition and technological change are limited, this approach can work. But in a faster-moving world, the weak committee always fails.

Tradition dies a hard death. Culture changes with as much difficulty in penguin colonies as in human colonies. But with this colony, culture did change.

When people fail to develop the coalition needed to guide change, the most common reason is that down deep they really don't think a transformation is necessary or they don't think a strong team is needed to direct the change. Skill at team building is rarely the central problem.

The typical goal that binds individuals together on guiding change coalitions is a commitment to excellence, a real desire to make their organizations perform to the very highest levels possible. Reengineering, acquisitions, and cultural change efforts often fail because that desire is missing. Instead, one finds people committed to their own departments, divisions, friends, or careers.

Never underestimate the power of clever people to help others see the possibilities, to help them generate a feeling of faith, and to change behavior.

Human beings are sometimes slaves to the ugly and weak sides of human nature," he told employees. "However, if you set high goals for yourselves and every day continue to reflect on them, step by step you will be more focused and make yourself a better human being, becoming a happier person for it.