The New Rules [Paperback]

John P. Kotter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 1997

Based on a landmark twenty-year study of 115 members of the Harvard Business School's Class of 1974, this vital and important book describes how the globalization of markets and competition is altering career paths, wage levels, the structure and functioning of corporations, and the very nature of work itself.

THE NEW RULES INCLUDE:

New Rule #1: Conventional career paths through large corporations no longer lead to success as they once did;

New Rule #4: The greatest opportunities have shifted away from professional management in manufacturing to consulting and other service industries;

New Rule #7: Success requires high personal standards and a strong desire to win.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School and author of numerous business books dealing with leadership and management, the most recent being Corporate Culture and Performance (1992), with James L. Heskett. Kotter's "new rules" prescribe how to win success at work and were formulated after tracking the careers of 115 Harvard Business School graduates for the last 20 years. In those two decades, Kotter detected a significant shift in what is required to succeed, but he notes that many are still attempting to use old strategies. He claims that the globalization of markets and competition is driving the shift and that those who do well today have "[capitalized] on globalization by pursuing career paths that are less linear, more dynamic, and more unstable." These often lead to starting and "growing" small businesses, consulting, organizational leadership, and dealmaking. Kotter also warns that to succeed, one must posses extraordinary competitive drive and take advantage of lifelong learning opportunities. A national publicity campaign and a large first press run will help generate demand for this book. David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Stephen R. Covey Author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People An absolutely fascinating account of the...emerging...paradigm shift in the workplace.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter Harvard Business School, author of When Giants Learn to Dance An essential guide for leaders of the future and an inspirational call to embrace more entrepreneurial and personally fulfilling careers.

Georgette Mosbacher CEO, Georgette Mosbacher Enterprises, author of The Feminine Force After 20 Years in the corporate and small business worlds, I thought I knew everything about succeeding in today's tough market. I was wrong. Drop everything and read this book. It will change your life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (June 19, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684834251
• ISBN-13: 978-0684834252
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,394,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Professor John P. Kotter

John P. Kotter is internationally known and widely regarded as the foremost speaker on the topics of Leadership and Change. His is the premier voice on how the best organizations actually achieve successful

transformations. The Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and a graduate of MIT and Harvard, Kotter's vast experience and knowledge on successful change and leadership have been proven time and again. Most recently, Kotter has been involved in the creation and co-founding of Kotter International, a leadership organization that helps Global 5000 company leaders develop the practical skills and implementation methodologies required to lead change in a complex, large-scale business environment.

When speaking to groups, Kotter draws on the history of recent successes and failures in the business world. He explores the new rules of leadership and the importance of lifelong learning in the post-corporate world. Kotter offers the leadership tools necessary to achieve success in a business world that reinvents itself every day. He continues to speak at Harvard Business School Executive Education Programs, including the prestigious Advanced Management Program (AMP). These highly competitive professional seminars were created by Kotter to teach the important steps needed for successful leadership and change. When John Kotter speaks to an audience he speaks with one and only one goal: to motivate action that gets better results.

Kotter has authored 17 books, twelve of them bestsellers. His works have been printed in over 120 languages and total sales exceed two million copies. His latest book, A Sense of Urgency, focuses on what a true sense of urgency in an organization really is, why it is becoming an important asset and how it can be created and sustained. Just released in September of 2008, Urgency reached #7 on the New York Times bestseller list in early October.

John Kotter's international bestseller Leading Change--which outlines an actionable eight-step process for implementing successful transformations--has become the change bible for managers around the world. Our Iceberg Is Melting, the New York Times bestseller, puts the eight-step process within an allegory, making it accessible to the broad range of people needed to effect major organizational transformations. His books are in the top 1% of sales on Amazon.com.

John Kotter's articles in The Harvard Business Review over the past twenty years have sold more reprints than any of the hundreds of distinguished authors who have written for that publication during the same time period. Kotter has been on the Harvard Business School faculty since 1972. In 1980, at the age of 33, he was given tenure and a full professorship, making him one of the youngest people in the history of the University to be so honored.

The many honors won by Professor Kotter include an Exxon Award for Innovation in Graduate Business School Curriculum Design, a Johnson, Smith & Knisley Award for New Perspectives in Business Leadership, and a McKinsey Award for Best Harvard Business Review Article. Professor Kotter's Leading Change was named the #1 Management Book of the Year by Management General. In 1998, his Matsushita Leadership won first place in the Financial Times, Booz-Allen Global Business Book Competition for biography/autobiography. In 2003, a video version of a story from his book The Heart of Change won a Telly Award. In 2006, Kotter received the prestigious McFeely Award for "outstanding contributions to leadership and management development." In 2007, his video "Succeeding in a Changing World" was named best video training product of the year by Training Media Review and also won a Telly Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Gem, March 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Rules (Hardcover)

Dr. John Kotter of Harvard Business School is one of the few scholarly business writers who consistently blends leading edge, visionary concepts with the tough-mindedness that most successful executives admire. I bought this book while looking for something else entirely, but it was well worth it.

I certainly discovered a real gem. Kotter gives us straight talk about the hard realities of today's executive business world. He disabuses us of the notion, if any of us still hold it, that there will be any safety or security in a career based on steady upward mobility in a traditional corporation. He wraps his stoic "new rules" around a twenty-year longitudinal study of the careers of Harvard Business School graduates of the Class of 1974. Showing the actual career paths of a plethora of genuine American success stories is not only fascinating reading, but highly educational.

Kotter bluntly states what it will take to be successful at work in the 21st century: "Settling for good, much less mediocrity is dangerous..Large numbers of people have been taught by big business, big labor and big government that fair-to-good is adequate...ten years from now fair-to-good will probably NEVER lead to success."

In order to get beyond the "fair-to good" range of performance, Professor Kotter makes a strong case for executive assessment, maintaining that a careful, realistic and candid self-examination is imperative, and he places special emphasis on the need for self-awareness regarding gaps in one's development. He couples this with counsel on the need for constant learning.

What does Kotter's study imply for our concept of Executive Community? He says that for those who aim to lead large organizations, their role should be that of the revolutionary, breaking down hierarchies and replacing then with a "flexible network organization" with many more people taking up the responsibilities for leadership. There is a need, he says, to create "self-confidence in competitive situations" through education in both schools and business organizations.

Kotter calls the new business environment "Phase III", marked by globalization of markets and competition. He urges readers who feel that they are working in a business environment "that is not helping prepare him or her for an even tougher Phase III future should move out of that environment as fast as possible. AS FAST AS POSSIBLE."

I love Kotter's sense of urgency. And he is right about so many things, that, if you have not done already, get this book AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. It may be the best business book you have read in a very long time, and one of the few that may stir you to self-improvement.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding advice for workers of all levels..., July 5, 2000

By 

Steve Finnie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Rules (Hardcover)

Similar to the advice offered by Darden finance professor Bob Bruner, himself a member of the HBS class profiled in this book, Kotter demonstrates that those who shunned the corporate world in favor of more impactful jobs with smaller companies have succeeded beyond the levels of their corporate ladder classmates.

Go to small companies and make a difference in the world. Push yourself. Don't accept a slow climb up a bureaucratic corporate ladder.

The book has numerous student profiles to demonstrate the benefits of the road less traveled. Kotter fleshes out the backgrounds and experiences of the students as effectively as character development in a Stephen King novel. The characters come to life and you really feel the urge to break out and go with the start-up company of your own or others. Considering today's dot-com world this advice from the mid-90's appears ahead of its time.

Relative to his other books this one is average, but what's average for Kotter would be exceptional for most.

Also by Kotter: "Leading Change" and "What Leaders Really Do" are also outstanding works by Kotter. HBR article Managing Your Boss (incorporated into "WLRD") is a great reading for MBAs, managers, and workers of all levels.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for future MBA's, June 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Rules (Hardcover)

Harvard Business School professor John Kotter has followed the career paths of the members of the Harvard Business School Class of 1974 -- and what he has found will astonish you if you are like me -- an MBA hopeful working for a large corporation. Kotter observes that the Harvard MBA's have succeeded financially and personally because they have followed volatile and nontraditional career paths outside of large firms. He argues that the world economy is so globalized and the boundaries of corporations are so blurred that the best career opportunities abide in the virtual corporation. In this new career marketplace, great rewards accrue to competitive risk-takers who continually renew their skills. Read this, but be warned: You may decide to quit your job and never work for a large corporation again. -- Dan Green, Harvard Business School Class of 1999.