John Kotter quotes - page 2

Nothing undermines change more than behavior by important individuals that is inconsistent with the verbal communication. (John Kotter)
Whenever smart and well-intentioned people avoid confronting obstacles, they disempower employees and undermine change. View quote
John Kotter
Great vision communication usually means heartfelt messages are coming from real human beings. View quote
John Kotter
Anyone in a large organization who thinks major change is impossible should probably get out. View quote
John Kotter
Managers are trained to make incremental, programmatic improvements. They aren't trained to lead large-scale change. View quote
John Kotter
Leadership is about setting a direction. It's about creating a vision, empowering and inspiring people to want to achieve the vision, and enabling them to do so with energy and speed through an effective strategy. In its most basic sense, leadership is about mobilizing a group of people to jump into a better future. View quote
John Kotter
The central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people. View quote
John Kotter
One of the most common ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about it beforehand. Communication of ideas helps people see the need for and the logic of a change. The education process can involve one-on-one discussions, presentations to groups, or memos and reports. View quote
John Kotter
Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. View quote
John Kotter
Effective leaders help others to understand the necessity of change and to accept a common vision of the desired outcome. View quote
John Kotter
Producing major change in an organization is not just about signing up one charismatic leader. You need a group - a team - to be able to drive the change. One person, even a terrific charismatic leader, is never strong enough to make all this happen. (John Kotter)
Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one's life, and the ability to live up to one's ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response. View quote
John Kotter
Never underestimate the magnitude of the power of the forces that reinforce the status quo. View quote
John Kotter
We learn best - and change - from hearing stories that strike a chord within us. View quote
John Kotter
Leadership produces change. That is its primary function. View quote
John Kotter
Overcoming complacency is crucial at the start of any change process, and it often requires a little bit of surprise, something that grabs attention at more than an intellectual level. You need to surprise people with something that disturbs their view that everything is perfect. View quote
John Kotter
In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes the way we do things around here. View quote
John Kotter
We worry about appearing awkward in a presentation. But up to a point, most people seem to feel more comfortable with less-than-perfect speaking abilities. It makes the speaker more human - and more vulnerable, meaning he is less likely to attack our decisions or beliefs. View quote
John Kotter
In terms of getting people to experiment more and take more risk, there are at least three things that immediately come to my mind. Number one, of course, is role-modeling it yourself. Number two is, when people take intelligent, smart risks and yet it doesn't work out, not shooting them. And number three, being honest with yourself. View quote
John Kotter
Management is a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling, and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organizations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. View quote
John Kotter
Budgeting is a math exercise, number crunching. Planning is a logical, linear process. Strategizing requires a great deal of information about customers and competitors, along with conceptual skills. Visioning uses a very different part of the brain than budgeting. As the name implies, it involves trying to see possible futures. It inevitably has both a creative and emotional component (e. g., "How do we feel about the options?”). When you use "orthodox planning” to create a vision, frustration and failure are inevitable. (John Kotter)
Over the past decade, I have watched more than 100 companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors. They have included large organizations (Ford) and small ones (Landmark Communications), companies based in the United States (General Motors) and elsewhere (British Airways), corporations that were on their knees (Eastern Airlines), and companies that were earning good money ((Bristol-Myers Squibb). Their efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, right-sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnarounds. But, in almost every case, the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. View quote
John Kotter
In successful transformations, the president, division general manager, or department head plus another five, fifteen, or fifty people with a commitment to improved performance pull together as a team. View quote
John Kotter
Management makes a system work. It helps you do what you know how to do. Leadership builds systems or transforms old ones. It takes you into territory that is new and less well known, or even completely unknown to you. View quote
John Kotter
Globalization is going to bring us closer and closer together across nations and technology you can't stop. View quote
John Kotter