Coming soon · Book Profile
Leading Change
A field-tested eight-stage framework for leading successful large-scale organizational transformation, driven by leadership rather than management.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Drawing on analysis of dozens of corporate change efforts, John Kotter explains why most transformation initiatives fail and how a disciplined eight-stage process can beat the odds. He identifies eight common errors—from allowing complacency to neglecting to anchor changes in culture—and maps each to a corresponding corrective stage: establishing urgency, building a guiding coalition, developing and communicating vision, empowering broad-based action, generating short-term wins, consolidating gains, and embedding new approaches in culture. Above all, Kotter argues that transformation is 70-90 percent leadership and only 10-30 percent management, and that in an ever-faster-moving world, organizations and individuals alike must cultivate leadership through lifelong learning. Practical, vivid with examples, and grounded in Harvard research, the book is the definitive roadmap for anyone charged with making big change stick.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A manager, executive, or change agent who wants to lead a successful transformation in their organization.
- The problem
- Their change initiatives stall, fail to stick, or waste resources amid resistance and inertia. They feel frustrated, anxious, and powerless watching good efforts sink in complacency and cynicism.
- The plan
- Establish a sense of urgency by confronting complacency with honest data.
- Create a powerful guiding coalition built on trust and a shared goal.
- Develop a clear, communicable vision and supporting strategy.
- Communicate the vision relentlessly through words and deeds.
- Empower broad-based action by removing barriers.
- The payoff
- Change that sticks, embedded in culture, producing better products and services at lower cost. · An adaptive, less bureaucratic organization that thrives amid rapid change. · Empowered employees and distributed leadership driving continual improvement.
See our guide
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Additional reading
- Leadership Without Easy Answers · Ronald Heifetz
The book's core distinction between 'technical' and 'adaptive' challenges, which frames the entire problem this book seeks to solve, is borrowed directly from Heifetz's work.
- The Fifth Discipline · Peter Senge
Referenced as a seminal work on 'learning organizations.' This book aims to provide a missing developmental dimension to Senge's work to take organizational learning to the next level.
- The Reflective Practitioner · Donald Schon
Cited along with Senge for highlighting the importance of 'the mind at work.' This book offers a concrete technology to engage in the kind of deep reflection Schon advocated.
- Organizational Learning · Chris Argyris and Donald Schon
Their work is cited to illustrate the growing demand for leaders who can not just run their organizations but reconstitute them, a task requiring a more advanced, Self-Transforming mind.
- Inside the Tornado · Geoffrey A. Moore
This is the author's follow-up book, which describes the market dynamics *after* crossing the chasm, including the 'Bowling Alley,' the hyper-growth 'Tornado,' and the mature 'Main Street' phases of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle.
- The Gorilla Game · Geoffrey A. Moore, Paul Johnson, and Tom Kippola
Expands on the 'Tornado' phase, focusing on the investment strategies for identifying and backing the dominant 'gorilla' company that captures the lion's share of value in a new high-tech market.
- Consumption Economics · Todd Hewlin and J. B. Wood
Cited by the author as describing the new economic dynamics of software-as-a-service (SaaS) business models, where vendors must focus on ensuring customer adoption and consumption to prevent churn and drive success.
- The Marketing Imagination · Theodore Levitt
The author credits this book as the source for the 'Whole Product Model,' a foundational concept for the strategy of crossing the chasm.
- Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock Potential in Yourself and Your Organization · Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
This is the authors' previous book, which provides a deep dive into the ITC framework that is presented as a key tool in Chapter 6 and used by the fledgling DDOs in Chapter 7.
- In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life · Robert Kegan
This book lays out the foundational theory of adult development and mental complexity that underpins the entire DDO concept, explaining the 'adaptive gap' that DDOs are designed to address.