John P. Kotter
John P. Kotter
change
Kotter International is about leading large-scale change, not just managing it.
billion billions million people
The world has 6 billion people and counting. We need to help 500 million people become better leaders so that billions can benefit.
change efforts failure large majority means people scale trying vast
The vast majority of large scale change efforts fail. Which means that the probability that you have actually experienced a failure, and your people know that and are pessimistic, therefore, about trying something again, is very high.
issues people culture
The central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people.
leadership communication ideas
One of the most common ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about it beforehand. Communication of ideas helps people see the need for and the logic of a change. The education process can involve one-on-one discussions, presentations to groups, or memos and reports.
leadership motivation powerful
Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one's life, and the ability to live up to one's ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response.
stories hearing storytelling
We learn best - and change - from hearing stories that strike a chord within us.
effort lasts firsts
In a change effort, culture comes last, not first.
leadership helping-others common-vision
Effective leaders help others to understand the necessity of change and to accept a common vision of the desired outcome.
coping
Leadership is about coping with change
smart successful helping-others
This is true even in organizations that are very focused on analysis and quantitative measurement, even among people who think of themselves as smart in an MBA sense. In highly successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just thought.
issues innovation vision
No vision issue today is bigger than the question of efficiency versus some combination of innovation and customer service.
underestimate force status-quo
Never underestimate the magnitude of the power of the forces that reinforce the status quo.
smart intelligent two
In terms of getting people to experiment more and take more risk, there are at least three things that immediately come to my mind. Number one, of course, is role-modeling it yourself. Number two is when people take intelligent, smart risks and yet it doesn't work out, not shooting them. And number three, being honest with yourself. If the culture you have is radically different from an experiment and take-risk culture, then you have a big change you going to have to make—and no little gimmicks are going to do it for you.