Customer Reviews

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions (Kotter, Our Iceberg is Melting)

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Fables have been used to illustrate problem solving, among many other things, for hundreds of years. Remember Aesop's fables? Several years ago, Kenneth Blanchard successfully re-introduced using fables to teach problem solving techniques with his book, Who Moved My Cheese. John Kotter replicated that method of instruction with this fun little book, OUR ICEBERG IS MELTING. As with the aforementioned work, I believe this one will garner similar acclaim.

Kotter's engaging story introduces the 8 principles of problem solving. This can be used in a variety of venues from business, church, child raising, sports, etc. Kotter illustrates how the penguins, faced with a tumultuous dilemma, identified the problem, created urgency, developed a team-building structure, and stepped outside the box. Along the way, the story is entertaining and includes a diverse array of skepticism, cynicism and other challenges that we all face.

The book is also very well illustrated and can easily be read in a couple of hours. It is also readable for almost any age level and would probably make a good reading lesson for children as well. They will certainly be entertained, if not captivated by the illustrations and side notes. Well done.

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.

This is a children's book, and I read it in thirty minutes. The "lessons" are so simple that you won't need any extra time digesting them. The funny thing is, this book is aimed at adults, and not just any adults, but the kind of adults who want to be leaders or agents of change. Ha!

Yes, it's a problem solving fable, but not ordinary problems: Catastrophic, life-threatening problems. I suppose that you could modify the eight steps to solve ordinary problems, but even then it's too elementary to be useful.

Step number one is to create a sense of urgency in other people. In this fable, one penguin had to convince the other penguins that their home was doomed to destruction and many of them, especially the old and the young, would die if they didn't heed his warnings and take drastic action immediately. You see, these penguins had been living on an iceberg for many generations; indeed, it was the only homeland that any of them had ever known or heard about. But one curious penguin had discovered evidence that their iceberg was cracking and melting. The evidence was on the underside of the iceberg, easy enough to see if any penguin cared to look. The curious penguin was convinced that their home would break into little pieces within a couple of months, right in the middle of the dark and stormy winter season. Once the first step is accomplished (i.e. everyone is now convinced of doom and feeling panic), the next seven steps follow simple logic, such as building teamwork, coming up with possible solutions, etc. Yes, as with any decent children's story, this one has a happy ending. The penguins solve their problem by becoming nomads, moving from one healthy iceberg to the next.

Well, what can we take from this fable, then? If the iceberg is a metaphor for the Earth, shall the human race consider becoming galactic nomads and move from one good planet to another? These penguins didn't have to fix anything, or learn how to get along with each other, or learn how to share and use resources, or how to create a sustainable existence. All they had to do was move to another place (which, by the way, is precisely what the Europeans did when they came to the "New World"). And there was an endless supply of great places to move to, without the conflict of moving to a place that was already occupied by other penguins. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the human race could just pack up and, after a day or two of travel, arrive on another unspoiled Earth that had no other humans?

And how does this fable work for more ordinary problems? Let's say that you, a junior employee, think your company is going in the wrong direction. Okay, so you are first supposed to create a sense of urgency within your company: You try to convince fellow key employees that the company will fail under its present leadership. I can just hear The Donald yelling, "You're Fired!"

But really, how can this story help with the serious problems we are facing today? Did the Bush administration read this book, and did they tell us about WMD in Iraq in order to create a sense of urgency, so we could "solve" the problem of terrorism? Or, did Al Gore read this book, and is he right about the catastrophic consequences of man-made climate change? Ah, but if only the evidence was as clear, and the solution as easy, as in this fable! That is where this fable fails to deliver: Defining complex problems is tremendously more difficult than this fable implies, and creating and implementing solutions is more difficult still. OF COURSE we have to define the problem, find solutions, and have good leadership and teamwork to implement it! But in the real world, it's easier said than done, and this fable doesn't help at all with how to do it. In fact, I think that this fable hurts more than it helps, encouraging people, whatever their beliefs, to try to create a sense of urgency in other people, and to take quick, drastic action. That kind of thinking can get us involved in unnecessary wars and using "enhanced interrogation techniques." It can even create suicide bombers. Think about it.

Bottom line: I think that a 5-year-old kid, and an adult, would learn more about business, leadership, and group dynamics from Sesame Street.

P.S. This book has now been out for 4 years and is still available only in the more expensive hardback edition. I'd like to convince the author of the URGENT! need to publish a less expensive paperback edition, because young kids don't have so much money to spend on books. Suggestion: Make a manga edition! :-)

In Our Iceberg Is Melting, Harvard professor John Kotter and co-author Holger Rathgeber tell the story of a colony of penguins who are facing change. The story is written in fable format similar to Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson.

An astute penguin named Fred observes that the iceberg the colony lives on is melting and that they will face potential disaster if it breaks apart in the middle of winter. He proceeds to present his findings to Alice, a member of the leadership council. Once the need for action is realized, there is no small amount of squabbling amongst the council as to next steps.

They eventually determine to let the rest of the colony know of the great risks and solicit ideas for solutions. After arriving at a creative solution through interactions with a seagull, they implement a migratory initiative to seek out new icebergs. The change is not without detractors who question the findings and argue for maintaining the status quo without addressing the risks of the melting iceberg. However, through strong leadership of the head penguin and a small action team, the penguins drove efforts to eventually relocate to a safer home.

The story has multiple examples of personalities seen commonly in organizations. There are those who are interested in arguing for the sake of arguing, the cautious, the hard driving but consensus building leaders, the creative but sometimes ignored penguins, the naysayers, those being academic in mindset but who ask tough questions, and those who just want everyone to be happy, among others.

Kotter and Rathgeber use the story to demonstrate an eight step process of successful change which includes:

1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together a Guiding Team
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-term Wins
7. Don't Let Up
8. Make It Stick

The book is fun, has great change management principles, and can be read in no more than an hour or so. While change for change's sake is not necessarily wise, for those in any organization facing challenges, this book provides easy to understand concepts for managing change.

I thought "Who Moved My Cheese" was a simple, but insightful book. Our Iceberg Is Melting is just not worth the 45 min it takes to read... especially for anyone that has already read his prior work such as Who Moved My Cheese. It feels like they just wanted to crank out another book, with as little effort as possible. I'm not sure why so many people rated this book so high... I can only conclude that they are completely new to such concepts or have never read other books on the subject. I know a great appeal of the book is the short length and easy to read style, but do yourself a favor and just get Who Moved My Cheese, and if you already read that, invest the 45 min of your time in something else, anything else... even a nice nap.

This is a wonderful gem of a little book. It uses a parable about a colony of easy-to-relate-to penguins to teach us how to understand and manage successful change. It marks a departure from the data-based research John Kotter is so respected for, and takes us into the realm of everyday life. Everyone, no matter who we are or what we do in life, should read, enjoy and learn from this gem!

This book is driven by the author's political agenda. His thinly veiled references to the Bush administration's famed bungles and his over-the-top global warming theme shine throughout the book. There is no place for this load of rhetoric in the business word.

To be clear, I am a believer in global warming and I understand where our government fell short on the Katrina and 9/11 crises. I also know that there are two sides to everything. Something the author tries to convince us is not the case. A big part of change management is to identify and validate all perspectives. Fred and Alice are incapable of such insight.

What the author fails to tell us is that No No and his crack team of iceberg engineers have been studying the iceberg for years and have determined that the fissures actually serve to aid the iceberg during times of expansion/contraction. While No No may not have been aware of the newly developed cave, his assessment of the fissures and the constant and consistent melting patterns of the iceberg are normal and have never posed any danger. If you want to get No No on your side, don't slam your skewed statistics and underdeveloped theory in his face. It is far more effective to listen to his perspective, accept his knowledge and experience, modify your perspective using the new facts that No No has provided, then (respectfully) show him the evidence of the new facts of which he is not aware. Chasing No No around and yelling at him is not effective change management.

I am especially concerned with the book's idea of creating a sense of urgency. It sounded more like inciting panic and fear-mongering to me. Another tactic used by those who have no real facts to rely on.

In a nutshell...Kotter is a nut-job.

"Our Iceberg is Melting" is a unique book that presents some of the key business tools for leadership and change in simple terms that anyone can understand. This fast read gives you take home points to make the necessary changes in your company or even your personal life, in order to gain more success. It's fun to relate the characters in the book to your own company and see how each personality is a vital part in running the business. It's nice to go back to the basics and realize that in order to achieve the leader's goals, the leader should make it a priority to get everyone on the team involved and allow them to feel important.

My company just moved office locations, so the timing was great for me in relating to some of the issues involved with what the penguins experienced in this story. It's refreshing to take a step back and see that it's not about where you are, but the people, values and support that you have around you that matter most.

Our Iceberg Is Melting takes a complex, institutional subject -- how organizations change -- and puts it into a simple and accessible form - in this case, a fable. How accessible? It's a 45-minute read, with humor and delightful illustrations. My teenagers picked it up voluntarily, liked the characters, and got the message - that changing how a group does things requires a process, or otherwise the obstacles win. Kotter and his co-author have put Kotter's 8-step change model into reach of any and all. I'm going to leave my copy on my desk at work. It's the perfect business book for those who never thought they'd read a business book.

Although "Our Iceberg" is written in the style of an illustrated children's book, my first reaction to this fable was a bit of confusion. That was especially true of JK's first point, creating a sense of urgency. How does one identify when it's appropriate to do this? The fable conveniently is based on a life-and-death matter facing the penguin colony. But are all changes a company needs to make of the same priority? Isn't there a "cry wolf" effect if you don't modulate the volume on some matters? The book doesn't give any guidance about this.

But the more I thought about the book, the more surprised I was to find some parallels with, of all things, Communism. (NOTE: SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW.) For example:
@ the communal sharing of fish for the Scouts (@102-103);
@ the Heroes Day Celebration (like Heroes of the Revolution) (@102-109; attribution of this idea to a child is also a typical literary trope from Maoist propaganda);
@ the use of saturation propaganda, in the form of slogans and posters all over the iceberg and even underwater (@80-81);
@ the silencing of dissent (No-No, the dissenting penguin) in the form of constant harassment by a team member who followed him everywhere and jabbered at him (@90-91)-- like the techniques used against dissenters during the Cultural Revolution in China;
@ the glorified image of the team of five change leaders, especially the picture @ 55-56, where they have a kind of glow behind them -- very similar to all those Soviet-style pictures;
@ the way the the original Head Penguin becomes a "grandfather figure" for the whole colony (@122) -- much like propaganda posters showing Lenin and, later, Mao similing at children and dandling babies; and even
@ the threatened destruction of the iceberg "from within" due to its own internal weaknesses -- like the Communists said would happen to capitalism (@16-17, and elsewhere), and
@ the new nomadic way of life of the penguins, who would forever be expanding their territory (@117-119)-- like the Marxist-Leninist idea that the Revolution would spread all over the world.
Isn't it ironic then, that this book is being handed out in the hundreds by some CEOs, and even shared with children?

The quashing of dissent is one of the more troubling features of this tale. Thanks to the device of its being a story with an omniscient narrator, we are able to "know" in advance that the prognosis about the iceberg is probably right. Moreover, it's an event based on the laws of physics, and can be demonstrated using physical principles (with the shattered bottle). In real business, we seldom have such a priori knowledge of the rightness of our predictions, nor is that rightness often so neatly demonstrable. This book teaches that we shoud just trust the leader's "visionary" speeches regardless, and that those who don't should be marginalized.

If this comparison is apt, it wouldn't be the first time capitalists have handed out Communist literature within a company. In 1939, the scion of Standard Oil (and future US Vice President) Nelson A. Rockefeller made company executives in Venezuela read Marx's Das Kapital, in order to understand unrest among the company's oil field workers there. (See G. Colby & C. Dennett's "Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon - Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil" (1995) @90.) Unlike the case with "Our Iceberg", though, Rockefeller's goal wasn't to convert his staff to believe what was in the book.

I recognize this analysis might not persuade everyone. You might believe "Our Iceberg" is 100% capitalist all the way, without questioning whether capitalist and Communist glorifications of leadership might have more in common than we'd like to admit. If so, then when you're handed this simplistic fable and told to read it, you might at least pause to consider: why can't modern CEOs emulate Rockefeller's respect for his staff's intellectual level? Is it the respect or the intellectual level that has fallen farther? If you can figure that out, you're probably on your way to identifying some real problems in your organization.