MICROSC

PE

Leadership
Secrets

from

Penguins

John Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership at the

Harvard Business School, has been the premier voice on how
the best organisations actually do change. Here, he shares
his views with Thomas Goh on what is needed to succeed in a
fast-changing world.

f you were a penguin accustomed to the peace and

serenity around you, what would you do when you wake
up one day to find the iceberg melting?

That is the premise of John Kotters latest book, Our Iceberg

is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions. In
it, he tells the story of a penguin colony in Antarctica realising
one day that the iceberg theyve been living on is melting,
threatening their sense of security and certainty.
The story of how the penguins deliberate on what to do
resonates with the situation companies and individuals are
facing today. In a world where disruptions and surprises are
fast becoming the norm, companies are facing tremendous
pressure to remake and restructure their strategies and
operations to compete successfully.
To find out more, I asked the Harvard Business School
professor to share his latest insights and thoughts on change
and what motivated him to write his new book.
Dr Kotter is best remembered for his best-selling book,
Leading Change, in which he outlines how companies could
remake themselves into better competitors. Ten years and two
million copies later, people are still clamouring to learn more
about leading successful change and the pitfalls to avoid.
We were asked by executives how they can better help
people in their organisation understand some of those ideas
in Leading Change so that they in turn, can help in the various
kinds of changes they (the executives) are leading, Dr Kotter
says of the motivation behind Our Iceberg is Melting.

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The book is written in a breezy style that caters for easy

reading, so that people who are unaccustomed to reading business
books could understand what it takes to help their organisation
grow, evolve and adapt to changing circumstances. Dr Kotter
also feels that people learn better through stories, fables and
parables. Never underestimate the power of a story. Our Iceberg
is Melting might be easy to read, but it contains deep intellectual
underpinnings, he says.
Although it is scheduled for release only in September 2006,
Our Iceberg is Melting has already sold some 15,000 copies, six
months before its launch, through word-of-mouth referrals.
LEADING CHANGE, LEADING LIVES
In Our Iceberg is Melting, Dr Kotter lists the eight steps to lead
change:
Step 1 : Create a Sense of Urgency
Step 2 : Pull Together the Guiding Team to Lead Change
Step 3 : Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
Step 4 : Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in (at all
levels)
Step 5 : Empower Others to Act
Step 6 : Produce Short-term Wins
Step 7 : Dont Let Up
Step 8 : Create a New Culture
Dr Kotter says that not doing these steps well will produce results
that fall below expectations. He adds that leadership is the key to the
success of the eight steps above. Leadership is needed to engage and
unleash the energy and talent needed to make the new organisational
vision a reality.
Successful companies of the future are those that are able to ensure
there is leadership at every level to lead, dene and communicate the
companys vision, align its stakeholders to that vision, and inspire and
engage people to make change happen.

But leadership does not stop at the organisational level. At the

individual level, it is important to lead our own lives, which is also
the subject of his next book.
We all say we lead a life, but in reality, very few of us lead our
lives. People often let others take charge of their lives. They get
frustrated. They begin to have less fun, says Dr Kotter.
The increasing need for work-life balance is perhaps an
indication that people are losing control of their lives and therefore
seeking to gain back some form of control.
We talk about work-life balance, thinking it is great for
everybody because everyone gets your time and attention. Actually,
I dont like it. I dont like it because the word balance implies that
dierent people will get dierent slices of your time, and you still
work within constraints and expectations
set by others, Dr Kotter explains.
He continues, When you balance
your life, you are managing it in an orderly
manner. People who lead their lives take
charge of their lives. They have their own
mission and purposes in life. They proactively remove the unproductive activities
that get them frustrated, drag them down
and make it hard for them to move.

most importantly, people are not rushed and have the time to make
adequate preparations to change.
Elaborating on this point, Dr Kotter says that the skills and
capabilities needed for such kinds of leadership include a bias for
action, credibility, communication, analytical skills and a keen
interest for lifelong learning.
A good way to learn these capabilities is through good role
models.
It is important to have role models. People learn from their
role models, especially those who can inspire, coach and lead. Role
models help people visualise how the right connections between
their personal values, behaviours and attitudes can lead to superior
performance, Dr Kotter elaborates.

KEEPING IT REAL
If leadership is the key to a companys success,
it stands to reason that it is also behind a
companys failure. Today, news headlines are
littered with stories of seemingly successful
companies that went from boom to bust.
Change isnt the issue. Arrogance and
complacency are (the issues), Dr Kotter
explains.
Sometimes, leaders of successful
companies get overly complacent with their
BUILDING CHANGE CAPABILITIES
achievements that they shut themselves
From individual capabilities, we move on
out from the real world. The fruits of their
to talk about organisational capabilities.
success sow the seeds of their downfall.
Dr Kotter observes that when companies
The more successful you are, the more
are growing fast, they tend to hire
you got to stay connected to life-on-earth,
and promote managers to manage the
THE BEST TIME TO PREPARE FOR CHANGE IS WHEN
Dr Kotter adds, which means you dont
growth.
THINGS ARE GOING WELL. YOU WANT TO PROVIDE
spend all your time in large houses with
However, he advises companies to
BETTER PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO APPEAL
people who also live in large houses and
constantly stretch their readiness and
TO CUSTOMERS AND SHAREHOLDERS. AT THE
make lots of money. You got to go out there,
capacity to change by doing the following:
SAME TIME, YOU WANT TO DEVELOP THE SKILLS
seeing, rst-hand, what real life is.
Reducing and eliminating obvious
AND CAPACITY TO PREPARE FOR BAD TIMES, HE
EXPLAINS. WHEN A CRISIS STRIKES, YOU RARELY
He continues, If you look at history,
examples of excesses.
HAVE TIME TO BUILD YOUR CAPABILITIES TO
the great leaders have always been those
Setting business and operations targets
CHANGE. YOU DONT HAVE TIME TO LEARN NEW
who are out with the people, who are
so high that they cannot be reached
WAYS OF DOING THINGS.
connected with the people.
by conducting business as usual, thus
With 16 books to his credit that are
challenging people to change.
printed in over 90 languages, how does Dr Kotter stay connected
Sharing customer satisfaction and nancial performance
with the real world?
information with more employees.
He says he walks from home to work at his Harvard Business School
Insisting that people talk regularly to unsatised customers
oce so that he gets to see people at work and at play and talk to people
and other key stakeholders.
along the way. On a personal level, he relishes time with his family,
Using consultants to share the hard realities at management
especially his children 16-year old Caroline and 14-year old Jonathan.
meetings.
You can start by spending time with your children. They are
Energising and engaging people with information on future
real, concludes Dr Kotter, reminding leaders to keep it real.
opportunities.
homas Goh is Director of Towers Perrin - ISR overseeing it
To Dr Kotter, the best time to build the capacity and capability
researchs business in the Greater China region. He has extensive
to change is when the company is doing well. This is the time
experience in helping organisations change to more competitive
when resources are plentiful, morale of employees high and,
ones.

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