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Book Review: John Kotter's "Leading Change"

Kotter offers a tantalizing thesis of why organizations fail: (1) too much complacency, (2) lack of a powerful guiding coalition, (3) underestimating the power of vision, (4) undercommunicating the vision, (5) permitting obstacles to block the vision, (6) failing to create short-term wins, (7) declaring victory too soon, (8) neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the culture.

Every captive insurance leader can profit from Kotter's thinking on the a practical eight stage process that should help achieve successful change. Those steps include; (1) establishing a sense of urgency, (2) creating a guiding coalition, (3) developing a vision and strategy, (4) communicating the change vision, (5) empowering employees for broad-based action, (6) generating short-term wins, (7) consolidating gains and producing more change, and (8) anchoring new approaches in the culture. These steps can be adapted to organizations of all sizes.

The Leading Change author and Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School also shares his insights regarding organizations for the twenty-first century. He compares the structure, systems, and culture of the Twentieth Century with those of the Twenty-First Century and argues that organizations can't get where they need to be through incremental change.

This practical resource makes a convincing case that the twenty-first-century employee will need to know more about both leadership and management than his or her counterpart. Kotter suggests that the mental habits needed to support lifelong learning are: (1) risk taking, (2) humble self-reflection, (3) solicitation of ideas and opinions of others, (4) careful listening and (5) openness to new ideas. The last chapter of book includes a flow chart that succinctly outlines the relationship of lifelong learning, leadership skills, and the capacity to succeed in the future.

This book should encourage you to make a commitment to leap into the future as well as help yourself and others develop leadership skills.

Professor John P. Kotter has received many honors, is a frequent speaker on leadership and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Squam Lake, NH.

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Leading Change book review by John Salisbury, President, Captive.com llc, former captive President/CEO and currently Chief Operating Officer of Compensation Funds of New Hampshire.

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