A fable that powerfully conveys management ideas - Rated 
This book shows how powerful story-telling and the use of metaphor can be in illuminating ideas about business change, without becoming open to charges of 'dumbing down'. The authors are also able to create interesting penguin characters who display the human foibles all too recognisable in large organisations. Altogether a short,entertaining and thought-provoking read for anyone facing a major change at work or elsewhere.
A really good introduction to a new mindset for the non management person - Rated
Along the lines of "who moved my cheese" this book shows some points, and some people you are bound to run into in an organization in change. Bear in mind it IS a fable, and i generalizes a lot, and is not an in depth guide to implementing the systems. Sometimes though, this is what is needed to make sure people are on the same page, without everyone having to study the field in depth.
It's a good use of a few hours of reading if you are interested or involved in change in an organization of any size.
Adapt or Perish - Rated 
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.
Penguins Learn to Stick Their Heads in the Ice Beneath Them - Rated 
My favorite part of John Kotter's classic, Leading Change, is the cover image of a penguin leaping across a space between two blocks of ice while 10 other penguins look on from the side the penguin leaped from. Here is one case where you can tell the book by its cover.
Obviously, that wonderful image penetrated deeply into the consciousness of Holger Rathgeber in designing this penguin-based version of how a leader might deal with the problem in Who Moved My Cheese? (changing conditions affect survival)? If you miss that connection to Who Moved My Cheese? there's a foreword by Spencer Johnson to make it clearer.
The Emperor Penguins have lived on an iceberg in Antarctica for many years. They planned to always live there. But Fred had a different idea: The iceberg was melting in a way that meant the possibility of a catastrophic collapse in mid-Winter. The rest of the book explores how Fred's knowledge is translated into useful action for the 268 penguins that lived in the colony.
The fable naturally draws on John Kotter's famous eight steps for leading change which I have paraphrased below into seven to make them easier to understand:
1. Get peoples' attention.
2. Establish a change-leading team.
3. Agree on the results you want.
4. Allow needed changes.
5. Show regular progress.
6. Stay focused.
7. Build new habits that will serve you well after the change is done.
Fables are difficult to write. I admire John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber for taking a crack at it.
But if you pay attention to the facts, you'll find that their story doesn't quite make sense. Emperor Penguins live on the pack ice that forms seasonally. As the pack ice retreats, they simply move to the edge. Seldom would they stay on an iceberg. Why? Because the ice breaks up when the youngsters are old enough to swim to the main ice pack. If you read science articles, you'll also learn that what is more likely to threaten a penguin community is that their iceberg drifts into an area where the winter freeze isolates the colony too far from the open sea. The penguins have to walk to the sea rather than dive in to get food.
Also, most icebergs are going to eventually release into warmer seas and melt that way rather than be split by freezing water as described in this book.
If you look at the leadership, it's also very male dominated. The story would be more realistic if it included more male-female interaction.
The problem of survival in the face of the environment seems more akin to what a town council might face in deciding to relocate away from a leaking dam that what a business organization might face.
I could go on, but I'm sure you see the point: A better fable could have been written (even if it had to involve penguins).
I also compared the book to Leading Change and The Heart of Change. Unless you are only able to learn by reading fables, both of those books are much better on this subject.
My suggestion is that you let the iceberg melt and read about how people lead instead in Dr. Kotter's other excellent books.
Penguins Learn to Stick Their Heads in the Ice Beneath Them - Rated
My favorite part of John Kotter's classic, Leading Change, is the cover image of a penguin leaping across a space between two blocks of ice while 10 other penguins look on from the side the penguin leaped from. Here is one case where you can tell the book by its cover.
Obviously, that wonderful image penetrated deeply into the consciousness of Holger Rathgeber in designing this penguin-based version of how a leader might deal with the problem in Who Moved My Cheese? (changing conditions affect survival)? If you miss that connection to Who Moved My Cheese? there's a foreword by Spencer Johnson to make it clearer.
The Emperor Penguins have lived on an iceberg in Antarctica for many years. They planned to always live there. But Fred had a different idea: The iceberg was melting in a way that meant the possibility of a catastrophic collapse in mid-Winter. The rest of the book explores how Fred's knowledge is translated into useful action for the 268 penguins that lived in the colony.
The fable naturally draws on John Kotter's famous eight steps for leading change which I have paraphrased below into seven to make them easier to understand:
1. Get peoples' attention.
2. Establish a change-leading team.
3. Agree on the results you want.
4. Allow needed changes.
5. Show regular progress.
6. Stay focused.
7. Build new habits that will serve you well after the change is done.
Fables are difficult to write. I admire John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber for taking a crack at it.
But if you pay attention to the facts, you'll find that their story doesn't quite make sense. Emperor Penguins live on the pack ice that forms seasonally. As the pack ice retreats, they simply move to the edge. Seldom would they stay on an iceberg. Why? Because the ice breaks up when the youngsters are old enough to swim to the main ice pack. If you read science articles, you'll also learn that what is more likely to threaten a penguin community is that their iceberg drifts into an area where the winter freeze isolates the colony too far from the open sea. The penguins have to walk to the sea rather than dive in to get food.
Also, most icebergs are going to eventually release into warmer seas and melt that way rather than be split by freezing water as described in this book.
If you look at the leadership, it's also very male dominated. The story would be more realistic if it included more male-female interaction.
The problem of survival in the face of the environment seems more akin to what a town council might face in deciding to relocate away from a leaking dam that what a business organization might face.
I could go on, but I'm sure you see the point: A better fable could have been written (even if it had to involve penguins).
I also compared the book to Leading Change and The Heart of Change. Unless you are only able to learn by reading fables, both of those books are much better on this subject.
My suggestion is that you let the iceberg melt and read about how people lead instead in Dr. Kotter's other excellent books.
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