Al frente del cambio

Escrito por John P. Kotter

Narrado por Jaime Collepardo

Las estrategias de cambio son un requisito indispensable para competir en el siglo XXI. Sin embargo, las fórmulas no bastan por sí solas si descuidamos el papel determinante de un liderazgo eficaz para coordinarlas. La prueba está en el elevado índice de fracasos que se asocia a las transformaciones dentro del ámbito de la empresa. John P. Kotter, con su bagaje de veinticinco años de experiencia, nos muestra los errores básicos que surgen en todo proceso de cambio y qué podemos hacer para corregirlos. Al frente del cambio ofrece un modelo de ocho pasos que puede aplicarse en cualquier iniciativa comercial. Éste método, pormenorizado y con numerosos ejemplos prácticos, nos ayuda a evitar la inercia empresarial y a integrar de forma correcta las innovaciones en la estructura de nuestra compañía. Un libro que demuestra la importancia de no bajar jamás la guardia: la necesidad de una nueva reestructuración es siempre impredecible. / Harvard professor Kotter breaks from the mold of M.B.A. jargon-filled texts to produce a truly accessible, clear and visionary guide to the business world's buzzword for the late '90s change. Kotter emphasizes a comprehensive eight-step framework that can be followed by executives at all levels. Kotter advises those who would implement change to foster a sense of urgency within the organization. ""A higher rate of urgency does not imply everpresent panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which




The international bestseller—now with a new preface by author John Kotter.

Millions worldwide have read and embraced John Kotter’s ideas on change management and leadership.
From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented M&A activity to scandal, greed, and ultimately, recession—we’ve learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. It’s the rule. Now with a new preface, this refreshed edition of the global bestseller Leading Change is more relevant than ever.

John Kotter’s now-legendary eight-step process for managing change with positive results has become the foundation for leaders and organizations across the globe. By outlining the process every organization must go through to achieve its goals, and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work. Leading Change is widely recognized as his seminal work and is an important precursor to his newer ideas on acceleration published in Harvard Business Review.

Needed more today than at any time in the past, this bestselling business book serves as both visionary guide and practical toolkit on how to approach the difficult yet crucial work of leading change in any type of organization. Reading this highly personal book is like spending a day with the world’s foremost expert on business leadership. You’re sure to walk away inspired—and armed with the tools you need to inspire others.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: BookaVivo
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 13 jul 2021
• ISBN: 9781638110873

John P. Kotter

John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, and is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on leadership and change. His has been the premier voice on how the best organizations actually do change.

Comentarios para Al frente del cambio

[Carolina Pérez · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

El contenido del audiolibro es muy enriquecedor, actual y aplicable. Detalla los pasos a seguir, ayuda con ejemplos vivenciales que hace que el contenido sea claro y preciso.
Los capítulos se duplican, por lo que la duración del audiolibro puede reducirse a la mitad.

[razinha-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I’m doing research for something and I was encouraged to look deeper into “change management.” It’s a management trend that’s been trending for a long time. I remember back in the 1990s hearing at almost every turn “change is the new norm.” Now, that encouragement I was given was more toward looking to the internet but I like books first. Mr. Kotter seems to be thechange management guru, and the title of this is about leading and not managing, so it seems a good starting point.

This book is both dated (1996 original pub, and this, the second edition, 2012), and still relevant: “The simple insight that management is not leadership (chapter 2) is better understood today, but not nearly as well as is needed.”

Kotter starts out with identifying eight common mistakes of organizational change. I noted of the first four:
“Error #1: Allowing Too Much Complacency”
{Organizations that rest on their laurels get left behind}
“Error #2: Failing to Create a Sufficiently Powerful Guiding Coalition”
{This is wordy, and loses its impact}
“Error #3: Underestimating the Power of Vision”
{Of the first three, I don't think this is as common. If anything, "vision" is overestimated, and overused.}
“Error #4: Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of 10 (or 100 or Even 1,000)”
{Okay, this aspect of vision is quite true. Overall, for any changes - even ones where the concepts are socialized well - there will be some. missing communication.}

He says “Normally, people skip steps because they are feeling pressures to produce.” I wonder if people might skip sections of this because it is can be a bit academic. Still, there is a lot of value in this.

Curated notes and highlights:

“With a strong emphasis on management but not leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over.”
{Ouch. And spot on.}

“After a while, one might easily conclude that the kind of leadership that is so critical to any change can come only from a single larger-than-life person.
This is a very dangerous belief.”
[...]
No one individual, even a monarch-like CEO, is ever able to develop the right vision, communicate it to large numbers of people, eliminate all the key obstacles, generate short-term wins, lead and manage dozens of change projects, and anchor new approaches deep in the organization’s culture.”
{Single point of direction, single point of failure.}

“Characteristics of an effective vision
• Imaginable: Conveys a picture of what the future will look like
• Desirable: Appeals to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and others who have a stake in the enterprise
• Feasible: Comprises realistic, attainable goals
• Focused: Is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making
• Flexible: Is general enough to allow individual initiative and alternative responses in light of changing conditions
• Communicable: Is easy to communicate; can be successfully explained within five minutes”
{Good summary}

“I am sometimes amazed at how many people try to transform organizations using methods that look like the first two scenarios: authoritarian decree and micromanagement. Both approaches have been applied widely in enterprises over the last century, but mostly for maintaining existing systems, not transforming those systems into something better. ”
{And yet, authoritarian and micromanaging are ubiquitous.}

“While the [vision] statement does not give anything close to a detailed directive, it does provide focus ”
{Vision is an abstract goal of a future impact. Mission should be a definition of what is now. And an action plan gives the direction. }

“Vision creation can be difficult for at least five reasons [...] First, we have raised a number of generations of very talented people to be managers, not leaders or leader/managers, and vision is not a component of effective management. ”
{Focus is on management, not leadership. In the military, it is the opposite. In both, a mix of the two is necessary (with emphasis on leadership, of course.)}

“Key elements in the effective communication of vision
• Simplicity: All jargon and technobabble must be eliminated.
• Metaphor, analogy, and example: A verbal picture is worth a thousand words.
• Multiple forums: Big meetings and small, memos and newspapers, formal and informal interaction—all are effective for spreading the word.
• Repetition: Ideas sink in deeply only after they have been heard many times.
• Leadership by example: Behavior from important people that is inconsistent with the vision overwhelms other forms of communication.
• Explanation of seeming inconsistencies: Unaddressed inconsistencies undermine the credibility of all communication.
• Give-and-take: Two-way communication is always more powerful than one-way
communication.”

“If I hear the word empowerment one more time,” someone recently told me, “I think I’ll gag.”
A few years ago, I might have agreed with his reservations. Today, I don’t. I’m still not enthusiastic about using faddish words, but in this ever faster-moving world, I think the idea of helping more people to become more powerful is important.”
{good point}

“Short-Term Wins Aren’t Short-Term Gimmicks”
{Another good point}

“Cultural Change Comes Last, Not First”
{This is too seldom realized, recognized, and called out.}

“I can imagine a day not long from now when succession at the top of firms may no longer be an exercise in picking one person to replace another. Succession could be a process of picking at least the core of a team.
[…]
I can also imagine a day when big egos and snakes are eliminated from promotion lists, no matter how smart, clever, hard working, or well educated they”
{He has a good imagination. That is a change that will be long in coming.}

[bederson-208717 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Good, clear, short. Nice framework, good examples. A little hard to apply a very $$$/business oriented perspective to higher ed, but still valuable.

[jpsnow · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I'm rating this a top choice based on the depth and practicality covered in such concise form. Kotter's model based on 8 steps make sense. He explains well why they are all necessary, and why they need an ordering in order to work. This is one to keep handy and refer back to.

[sandrafelker · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Review: John Kotter is considered the expert on Change Management. Although, I thought his arguments for the Eight step process were valid, this book doesn't offer the information one would need to actually implement change. I thought it was more of a sales book than a functional book. The highlight of the book for me was the important difference between Leadership and Management. I hope that this information becomes more mainstream - because of the projects I've worked on, that is definitely the missing piece.

[jtfairbro · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Great book on leadership and how to drive gchange

[dbjones_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Effective change management is one of business; holy grails and its Percival is John Kotter. Any treatise on change management will inevitably refer to this text and the program that Kotter developed is a great look at what needs to be done and the issues that usually go awry. While by no means a blueprint for success, this is an essential read for everyone who manages people.

[verber_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Kotter's eight step process is a great framework to think about how a planned change can be deployed in an existing organization. There was also a good discussion about the difference between management and leadership. One think not discussed was how the vision might be modified as the process proceeds. The material in this book is 5 stars, but the book itself has a lot of filler. I think the original HBR article was better than this book because it captured all the critical issues without the extra verbosity.

[billlund · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

Management psychobabble.