Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions [Hardcover]

 

 

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Although fables have been written and shared for many centuries dating back at least to Aesop (said to have lived as a slave in Samos around 550 B.C.), it has been only in recent years that the business narrative in the form of a fable has become popular, notably with the publication of Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson who wrote the Foreword to this volume, co-authored by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. I was amused when noting its subtitle, "Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions," having seen the Luc Jacquet's documentary film March of the Penguins, co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society, in which the Emperor Penguins and those who filmed them endured (and most of the penguins survived) temperatures around the French scientific base of Dumont d'Urville in Antarctica that fell to -80° Fahrenheit. How many human enterprises could function under such conditions?

Kotter and Rathgeber offer a fable in which the central character, an Emperor Penguin named Fred, struggles without much success to convince his colony's Leadership Council that his research statistics indicate "the shrinking of the size of their home, the canals, the caves filled with water, the number of fissures, causing by [their iceberg's] melting." If they do not relocate to another iceberg soon....

What happens next is best revealed by Kotter and Rathgeber within their narrative. They are brilliant storytellers who first introduce their lead characters, and create a situation, then identify conflicts that build tension as the plot develops, until its conclusion (sort of). As with George Orwell in Animal Farm, their primary purpose, however, is not to entertain but to instruct. As they explain, "Our goal in writing Our Iceberg Is Melting was to draw upon the incredible power of good stories to influence behavior over time - making individuals and their groups more competent in handling change and producing better results."

Specifically, to use their story to illustrate "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change" that Kotter introduced in his book Leading Change (1996). In a sequel to it, The Heart of Change (2002), he and Dan Cohen examine "the core problem people face in all of those steps, and how to successfully deal with the problem." And the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. "All these elements, and others, are important. But the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings." (Those who do that effectively have what Daniel Goleman characterizes as "emotional intelligence.") Kotter and Cohen structure this book around the eight steps "because that is how people experience the process. There is a flow in a successful change effort, and the chapters follow that flow."

Fred follows "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change" (without identifying it as such, of course) and achieves at least some temporary success but Kotter and Rathgeber leave no doubt in their reader's mind that change is a never-ending process rather than an ultimate destination. Precisely the same barriers that Fred encounters are certain to reappear when the Leadership Council is called upon to consider other proposed changes when the colony seems threatened. In many (if not most) organizations today, their decision-makers are facing one or more meltdowns of various kinds (sales, profits, ROI, attrition of valued employees, client and/or market share, etc.). What Kotter and Rathgeber recommend in their business fable is, effect, a framework by which to understand and then respond effectively to whatever challenges may appear, challenges that require changes of what is done and (especially) how it is done, so that these organizations can succeed "under any conditions."

I presume to offer a specific suggestion when concluding this brief commentary: Purchase a copy of this book for each of several key people and then bring together to discuss it in ways and to the extent that Fred and his colony are relevant to the given enterprise...but don't stop there. Take full advantage of this opportunity to formulate, together, a plan by which to institutionalize "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change." To repeat, beneficial change is an on-going, never-ending process and has one requirement more important than any other: adapt or perish.

Simple and very easy to read, yet sophisticated in delivering the core messages. For those like me who love to learn through the use of analogies and fables, this book is for you. Nothing in the book is new in terms of leadership concepts; however, the beauty is in the delivery.

The book itself is very easy to understand and easy to apply to plenty of ideas. While reading the book and reviewing the concepts you can easily relate them to real life situations. Changes and improvements in almost everything in your life. For example how a website you use regularly has changed the layout to how an organization is changing. The ideas are spelt out and given in a relatively entertaining story though it is definitely not a literary masterpiece in that sense.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Penguins Learn to Stick Their Heads in the Ice Beneath Them
My favorite part of John Kotter's classic, Leading Change, is the cover image of a penguin leaping across a space between two blocks of ice while 10 other penguins look on from... Read more

Published on April 14 2007 by Donald Mitchell

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