Leading Change action plan from the worlds foremost expert on business leadership hdbk
ISBN:9780875847474 read summary

I found the book to be an easy read, with some solid concepts for driving top down change. My only criticism is that the book reads like a giant advertisement for Harvard or Mr.Kotter which at times comes across as condescending.

This is a great book if your leadership style involves beatings until morale improves. Really tired of pompous executives who think like this author. Funny thing is, if anything happened to them like they think should be done to other people they'd probably implode. Kotter has some parts right in the book in terms of getting the right people in the right jobs, but the method of doing so leaves something to be desired.

One of the best books on organizational change. Not simply a discussion of the subject, but a concise set of recommendations on how to implement an organizational change management project.

In this book, John P. Kotter shares his view of change in more than a hundred companies. He maintains that there are eight common errors in leading change:
1. Allowing too much complacency among fellow managers and employees.
2. Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition to overcome the firm's inertia.
3. Underestimating the power of vision to inspire large numbers of people.
4. Undercommunicating the vision by a factor of 10 (or 100 or even 1,000).
5. Permitting obstacles (such as the company's structure) to block the vision.
6. Failing to create short term wins that create momentum & widespread support.
7. Declaring victory too soon, before the original goals are completely met.
8. Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture.
These errors are not inevitable. With awareness and skill, they can be avoided. This book provides a framework to understanding why organizations resist needed change, what exactly is the multistage process that can overcome destructive inertia, and, most of all, how the leadership that is required to drive that process in a socially healthy way, means more than good management.

Leading Change gives the reader the eight steps believed necessary toward creating change in an organization. From the steps given, they are plausible and realistic.
While the author gives the steps for change, the premise of the book is based on the fact that before you can create change you have to have a Vision that your organization subscribes too. Therefore, while you may want to create change in your organization, don't even bother that effort unless you have a specific Vision for what you want the organization to become.

My challenge with the book is the Vision concept. Working in the government space where I want to create change, it is unknown as to what Vision the organization should adhere too. I think if I were to apply this book to the campaign theme of President Obama which was "Change", this book would not help, since Vision is the key to the change.
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The end of the book gives the reader a chapter on leadership. I believe a chapter should have been dedicated to Vision. After all, the author encourages those at the top to embrace the change, but yet left out the road map to get there with Vision.

If you have a vision, and want to instill it in your organization, Leading Change will offer you the steps to get there.