Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
Summary:
This charming story about a penguin colony in Antarctica illustrates key truths about how deal with the issue of change: handle the challenge well and you can prosper greatly; handle it poorly and you put yourself at risk. The penguins are living happily on their iceberg as they have done for many years. Then one curious penguin discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home - and pretty much no one listens to him. The characters in this fable are like people we recognise, even ourselves. Their story is one of resistance to change and heroic action, confusion and insight, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It is a story that is occuring in different forms around us today - but the penguins handle change a great deal better than most of us.
Based on John Kotter's pioneering work on how to make smart change happen faster and better, the lessons you can learn from this short and easy-to-read book will serve you well in your job, in your family, and in your community. And these lessons are becoming ever more important as the world around us changes faster and faster. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
For being a short read, I found this book tedious and felt like I was taking some idiot-proof training. Frankly, while I understand the principles and good-intentions, the information presented in the fable is self-evident to anyone who has worked in the corporate world already. Since it was highly recommended to me by a colleague I was a bit surprised.
Though there may be some pragmatic recommendations in the book, I’ll be shocked if I see anyone who uses them as a practical skill. All that being said, if this book helps folks break down how to work with their colleagues during transformational change: power to them.
Rating: 2 stars!
Who should read it? Folks new to business who are looking for some background on corporate change, but otherwise I’d give it a skip