Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions - Our Iceberg Is Melting

Perhaps the most simplistic business fable yet. It's nothing more than "Who Moved My Cheese" for dummies. If you're manager in a fast-changing business, and have people working for you who are unable to comprehend "Cheese", I'd suggest you either buy them this book, or screw-up the courage to fire them.

This was a simple way of understandng the complexities of a changing market and changing environments. It is geared towards management in larger companies. Entrepreneurs of smaller companies will find it less useful.

In this allegorical primer for corporate leadership, now apparently a must-read for university administrators, of all things, we learn how to create an effective leadership team, generate a sense of urgency among the peons--I mean revenue producing units--I mean workers--and dismiss dissenting voices in order to produce magical disrupto-change. It's all working really well until you realize that the course of action the penguins undertake--turning themselves into migratory birds--would completely wipe out an actual penguin colony in a matter of weeks. Read this if you work for a major corporation, or an American university, and want some insight into the rhetoric and tactics of "executive leadership." Or if you're interested in killing off a lot of penguins. Please do not read "Our Iceberg Is Melting" if you're an executive/administrator hoping to add a line or two about "transformative change" to your CV. Really. Your revenue producing units will thank you.

A complete waste of time. It tells you nothing you don't already know. Save your money. I was forced to buy this for a company training seminar, and I'm convinced that the author is somebody's brother-in-law.

I've enjoyed John Kotter's work in the past. I've found his work useful and effective. However I learned nothing new from this book. The story line is poor and the approach outlined in the narrative to effective change management does not provide any better or new approach.

I'd suggest Stephen Denning's books on business narrative (eg the Springboard) for those who are looking for a narrative-based or alternative approach to facilitate change.

I would certainly recommend against buying this book - where it is correct, it is trivially correct - truisms, and pat simple obvious, answers. Where it attempts to do more, it is more incorrect than correct. For example, the "urgency" paradigm, "create a sense of urgency" is false and unhelpful - do well-run companies lurch from "urgency to urgency". I maintain, that if change is urgent (a burning platform), then the business has been poorly run. Focus on long-term value, drivers of success, complexity, experimentation, prototyping, innovation, and change-agility are better answers (in my view) than those provided here.

Based on the concepts presented in his book Leading Change Kotter has written an allegory (he calls it a fable) that helps illustrate the key things all groups need to do in order to have their group face change in healthy ways. In his story, a colony of penguins faces a crisis when one of the penguins notices that the structural integrity of their iceberg has been compromised and will likely break apart the next winter. The leaders must decide whether to believe this penguin or not, and once they do, how to bring about change in the best possible way.

This is an easy to read book presented in an appealing layout with glossy pages, large font and full-color pictures that presents important well-researched keys for facing change with a group. The story of the penguins makes it a quick and entertaining read, but the main points are also easily understood. Definitely a great tool for anyone in leadership of a group of people. I may make this required reading for the Senior Council student leaders every year.

No content issues.

A great little book that uses the background of a colony of penguins on a melting iceberg to try and convey a number of simple messages around change management.

It is very important to know what you are getting here. This is not a text book. It is brief - and even briefer than it initially appears due to several pages being taken up with somewhat whimsical illustrations. What it is - and here is the kicker - is effectively a fable or almost a morality piece that uses the premise noted above to show a model of dealing with change. It is very much on the surface and very simply put together. It is a great introduction to the subject and at the same time a good source of internal dialogue. It's certainly deserving of its fame.

My suggestion is that if you are involved in management on pretty much any level then you want to get yourself a copy of this somehow. You'll plough through it in one session and you'll be the better for it.

I have gleaned so much wisdom from John Kotter’s scholarly writing over the years, and I also enjoy when someone can tell a compelling fable. In Our Iceberg Is Melting, I got the best of both of these!

John Kotter has written and taught extensively from Harvard Business School. His work on corporate culture, especially the area of changing corporate culture, is always spot-on. But sometimes people find academics a bit too “dry” to even read their work. So Dr. Kotter collaborated with Holger Rathgeber to create a fable that anyone can read.

In Our Iceberg Is Melting, we meet some penguins living on an iceberg that is about to break apart. Only one penguin recognizes the imminent danger at first, but this begins a series of conversations about the changes the penguin colony must confront. As you might imagine, there are some naysayers, some go-getters without a lot of information, some academics with a lot of information but not much drive, and a bunch of penguins who are totally apathetic. All in all, this accurately describes for too many organizations!

Buried in this fable is a treasure-trove of helpful ideas for how to successfully navigate change in whatever organization you may be involved. If you are a part of a leadership team, reading this book together will, I am certain, open the door for some meaningful and productive conversations. It’s a book that can be read in just an afternoon, but the conversations and treasure mining will take weeks!

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to stay ahead of needed corporate changes.

Our Iceberg is Melting presents as a children's book: it is in large print with colorful illustrations - a six year old probably would enjoy it, if he had the patience to sit for the 45 minutes it takes to read. It is the story of an Emperor Penguin colony faced with a potentially devastating problem that is threatening their home. Fred, a low-ranking quirky penguin discovers that the iceberg on which the colony has lived for unknown generations is melting and is likely to fracture. The story charts how a small group lead the colony through the process of coming up with a solution and effecting their plan.
As well written as it is, Kotter is no children's author. A Harvard Business School professor, he is one of the world's experts and best-selling author on leadership and change. "Our Iceberg is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world" and the characters that we meet in Our Iceberg is Melting are 'types' that are found in every organization. The tale "is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles" (quotes from dust jacket).
At first glance, Our Iceberg Is Melting seems easy to dismiss as an attempt to fuse a few hot topics — global warming, marching penguins — into a Who Moved My Cheese? fable-as-business-lesson best seller.
But this penguin parable has a pedigree in the form of Harvard Business School's John Kotter, author of Leading Change, the 1996 business guide that also sported our flat-footed, feathered friends on the cover. The Heart of Change was his 2002 follow-up. This time out, Kotter moves the penguins inside, using how a colony of them copes with a potential catastrophe — yes, their iceberg is melting — to illustrate his eight-step process of successful change.
Their story is short and peppered with the personalities organizations inevitably include: the naysayers and nitpickers, the innovators and agitators, the leaders and followers. The idea is that everyone in a group must play a role in navigating change.
In that vein, Kotter and co-author Holger Rathgeber write that their goal is to use a good story with visual stimuli (full-color, cartoon-like illustrations) to influence a broad range of people to better handle change and produce results. In other words, companies should buy a copy for everyone from the CEO to the stock clerk.
This approach paid off for Spencer Johnson of Who Moved My Cheese?, who writes the foreword
This book demonstrates the eight steps of successfully managing change. It is a story that is simple and easily related to managing change in a business. This is one book that will serve a purpose of reference in my personal library. I would recommend this to anyone facing a change no matter the situation. You can relate.

My first impression of this book was that the authors/publishers *really* wanted to be able to sell this as an expensive hardback, so they spread out the page count as much as possible. And while this is no work of literature and its authors are definitely businessmen rather than poetic writers, I have to admit that I became more enamored with (hmm, that's way too strong a word, but I guess it'll do) the book as I went on.

I read/skimmed this entire thing in about an hour, and only because I was required to for a course at work. And despite my early feelings as described above, the tale of the penguins and the purpose behind the "fable" grew on me. It really is a nice way of illustrating the author's structure of integrating change, if it is a bit drawn out. And it certainly keeps the reader's attention longer than an official business report of statistics would.

Overall, an innovative and effective way to relay what might normally be a boring business book. (Though it could really be a very thin paperback.) 3.5 stars.

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've been doing this "work" thing long enough to know that when a boss suggests a particular book to read, you may want to pay attention and pick up a copy. That's how the book Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber ended up on my radar screen. Granted, I probably would have been inclined to read it anyway, as it's on a topic that seems to define my life. Written in a style that brings to mind Who Moved My Cheese?, Iceberg is a quick read that uses a fable to make its point about how to be open to changes in all areas of your life.

The authors use a waddle of penguins (yes, I had to look that up!) to tell a story about change. One penguin who goes by the name of Fred is an observant sort, and starts to realize that the iceberg they live on is in danger of collapsing. When he tries to bring that to the attention of others, he's written off as alarmist, strange, or just plain wrong. He finally gets someone in the leadership pack to see and understand the situation, and together they have to convince the others that there 1) is a problem, and 2) is a need to change in order to survive. As you might expect, the waddle goes through all the typical behaviors such as denial, acceptance, resistance, and so forth. But though hard work and careful choices, they learn to change and adapt to a different (and perhaps better) way of life.

Kotter structures the story around his eight step process for successful change:
Set the Stage
1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team
Decide What to Do
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
Make it Happen
4. Communicate for Understanding
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-Term Wins
7. Don't Let up
Make It Stick
8. Create a New Culture

Admittedly, the story used to present the process is simple and perhaps overly cute. But it's a whole lot more memorable and easier to apply than just having the eight steps written out so you can read and memorize them. For many readers who are facing change that they didn't necessarily choose, this would be a good choice. They can get their minds wrapped around the change process, and perhaps identify with the different characters in order to help them navigate the path ahead. Personally, I think Our Iceberg Is Melting is one of the more approachable books on change for the average person trying to make sense of it all.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed

This was a short, to the point, and enjoyable read. I have no doubt there is a main character like Fred in every organization who is ignored by the seniority and arrogance of organizational leaders when a junior penguin professionally attempts to address the possibility of a catastrophic problem.

This fable can easily relate to any organization or business since all must deal with change under various conditions. John Kotter did an amazing job getting his point across, and I look forward to his next fable. A must read for teams, families, labor unions, managers, bosses, and any aspiring leader. You will learn how important it is to "listen" to others. If you unscramble the letters in the word "listen" you will quickly recognize that it also spells SILENT.

Fred and his persistence saved the penguin organization from a future meltdown. You are going to love it!

On the surface, this book appears to be ridiculously simple, unless you've read Leading Change, also by John Kotter and realize that changing an entire organization is never simple.

This is another easy to read book in the business fable genre that takes advantage of the appeal of a good, if light, story. The characters of the story are the members of a penguin colony who slowly - some more slowly than others - come to realize that the iceberg that they call home is in danger and that they must find another.

Predictably, at first many penguins don't accept that there is really a problem and even as realization dawns on most, there are strong hold-outs that attempt to sabotage the change effort underway. Someone who had not read Leading Change might miss the execution of each of the eight steps for leading a successful change effort. But those who have read that previous book will appreciate the complexity and importance of the issue that Kotter and Rathbeber have handed the penguins.

Equally predictable: the penguins solve their problem, make a big change successfully, and the story has a happy ending. Otherwise, there would not be much point to reading the story.

This is a light read, to be sure, but one that will appeal to those that would like to see the execution of the eight steps outlined in Kotter's previous book.

This book is unique writing - I like it! It tells a fable involving a colony of 268 penguins, seemingly living in relative comfort on an iceberg in Antarctic. A seemingly great life because one penguin, Fred, is observing a life-altering event occurring all around the colony - "the iceberg is melting and might break apart soon." The observation raises a series of questions among them the following three: (a) How does one demonstrate that there is a problem and it is serious one? (b) How does one convince the residents of the colony to change successfully? (c) What do they change to?

Fred, though observant, is a natural leader. First he approaches Harold who is popular, but Harold laughs him off. Unwilling to quit Fred finally finds an ally in Alice. He takes Alice around the iceberg and convinces her of the unavoidable collapse of the iceberg. With Alice's help, or because of her help, Fred secures a meeting with the leadership of the colony, especially Head Leader Louis. Despite tremendous resistance, and sometimes even ridicule, Fred, Alice, Louis, and a few others help the colony avoid danger.

How the colony avoids danger is the moral of the fable, and is nicely summarized on pp. 130-131 of the book: "Set the stage. Decide what to do. Make it happen. Make it stick." Doing so requires "reducing complacency and increasing urgency" (p. 43), "pulling together a team to guide the needed change" (p. 55), "creating a vision" (p.69), "communicating the new vision" (p. 81), "empowering everyone" (p. 97), "not letting up" (p. 117), "ensuring that the changes would not be overcome by stubborn, hard-to-die traditions" (p. 123), and, I must add, rewarding the effort. Following these simple steps the colony changed successfully to a new life style and it thrived thereafter.

Leadership principles in an easy-to-understand fable. An excellent piece of work!

Amavilah, Author

National Wealth Accounting and Baseball Player Exports: Economic Implications for Performance ISBN: 978-3838330099

Economic Versus Non-Economic Dimensions of the Well-being of Nations. ISBN: 9783838320984

Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies. ISBN: 1600210465

Quotable Arthur Schopenhauer. ISBN: 9781430324959

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a short and cute book discussing a serious adult topic. It was lent to me by one of my employees, which made me interested in reading it. The book by change management experts John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber is a fast and easy read and features several adorable illustrations depicting penguins and their habitat. Our Iceberg Is Melting, likely picking up on the theme of Climate Chaos and the recent penguin-themed films, creates a fable of penguins and habitat change to parlay a story about change, how to manage it, deal with it and get groups to adapt and adopt it.

One of the best-known books regarding change is undoubtedly Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson. That book was also a succinct read wrapped in the coat of a fable and so comparisons would be logical - even if Johnson had not penned the introduction to this book. Unfortunately, while understanding and being sensitive to the theme and the importance of the topic, I was not a fan of Who Moved My Cheese and the same could be said regarding Our Iceberg...

The author attempts to enamour us and simplify the topic by picking a fable and using lovable penguins to boot, but lost in the shuffle is whether a change was necessary in the first place. No proof is offered. One needs to beware and watch for 'change' being used as a crutch and as an excuse for lack of willingness to address issues or drill into problems and challenges. More honestly in this regard would benefit most corporations and entities. Taking for granted that a change was indeed a necessity it is unclear why moving to another iceberg would mean a move to a better environment. Could the new iceberg be undergoing the same change and, therefore, the same problems? Moreover, could the birds be fleeing their problems in lieu of facing and repairing them?

The authors' allegories and paradigm might well stand, yet a blanket pro-change statement, without examining need or necessity in the first place, is partly what ails many an organization and is unfair to the reader who is told to stop resisting change or else... and no justification is required. Indeed, the author insinuates that a resistance to change or demanding empirical evidence make one a "NoNo."

Nevertheless, Kotter and Rathgeber offer the following process for enacting change. This seems simplistic, but essentially rational, although, never mind the propaganda effect of posters, signs and visual cues, alongside the need to sidestep and replace opposing views, which the authors advocate.

The process is:

1- Create A Sense Of Urgency (act immediately)
2- Pull Together The Guiding Team (leadership skills and credibility required)
3- Develop The Change Vision And Strategy (contrast the future with the past)
4- Communicate For Understanding (convey the vision)
5- Empower Others To Act (help those who are onboard)
6- Produce Short-Term Wins (an immediate win, no matter how small, is helpful)
7- Don't Let Up (accelerate the momentum and push hard)
8- Create A New Culture (the new ways need reinforcement for a while).

I came into work today to find this on my desk, a gift from my boss. Since there have been a lot of changes going on in our department she thought it would be good reading for me. I found it very interesting, but sometimes too simplistic. Still, I'm grateful she brought it to my attention.

Our Iceberg is Melting on the surface is just a little fable about a group of penguins living out their life. But the lesson shows how to work with personalities of all types and how to make things happen. This is expressed through Fred, the penguin who found that the iceberg they were living on was no longer safe and had to set out to change the top committee's minds, and also help them express the plans to the others of the community and try to convince everyone that change was good. It elaborated on the teamwork that they used as well.

Each of the penguins was supposed to be a different type of person in this book so they were all very different personality types from one another. They weren't really developed well, you were just told what their attributes were and how they meshed with the other penguins.

There was a good story to this book. But since it was geared towards adults, I found the actual storyline and penguin fable a little too simplistic. It seemed like it could have been written for kindergarteners. I know that it was just too show how easy the concept was, but it made the read so fast and I would have loved to delve more in depth to what the book was saying. It did offer good points on working with people of different types and personalities though which was the main goal of the book. It also showed how to move people to action.

Definitely an interesting read if you're trying to interact with people in the business world, but it could have been developed and expanded on more in my opinion.

Our Iceberg is Melting
Copyright 2005
146 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011

John Kotter has given change agents like me a great manual to introduce the concepts of change to a board audience. As a professed change agent who has worked in the academic and public sector for over 40 years, I have found this little book and its story to be an extremely powerful teaching tool. The penguin and iceberg metaphors work and resonates with even the most sophisticated audiences. I have used this book in conjunctions with workshops on change in the area of patient safety to health care professionals and it is a powerful story. Having grown up professionally with Everett Rogers and diffusion of innovation and other planned change models, I have found this small book a very practical tool to convey the complex issues around change.

Our Iceberg is Melting is a must read for change agents or anyone hoping to bring about change in their organization.

Long live the Penguins

James B. Battles, Ph.D.

A professed change agent and proud of it

Heard OUR ICEBERG IS MELTING by John Kotter and
Holger Rathgeber . . . this is a short, yet insightful fable about
a group of penguins faced with a potentially devastating problem.

Though I don't usually like animal stories that show what humans
are like, for some reason this one struck home . . . I could relate
to the characters in the story, Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy the Professor
and NoNo, particularly because they were so similar to individuals
I have encountered in my life . . . you'll recognize them as well.

You'll also be able to relate the story to change that needs
to take place in your company or organization, and how to
implement these "Eight Step Process of Successful Change"
that were originally developed by Kotter at the Harvard Business
School:

Set the Stage
1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team

Decide What to Do
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy

Make it Happen
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-Term Wins
7. Don't Let Up

Make it Stick
8. Create a New Culture

One added bonus I gained from the CD version was that it contained
an informative discussion with both authors on ways to put the ideas
from the book into practice.

The authors use a story about penguins to reveal their 8 step process for implementing change successfully. A penguin discovers that the iceberg that is home to his colony is melting and it's only a matter of time before it goes crashing into the sea. Not surprisingly it is hard to convince others of the gravity of the situation, and even harder to get them to act. Success is achieved, however, as the penguins waddle their way through the process below...

Set the Stage
1) Create a Sense of Urgency
2) Pull Together a Guiding Team
Decide What to Do
3) Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
Make it Happen
4) Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in
5) Empower Others to Act
6) Produce Short Term Wins
7) Don't Let Up
Make It Stick
8) Create a New Culture

The change process is sound, and the book is a quick read with a story that holds the reader's interest.

-- Nick McCormick, author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager

Make no mistake...if you are asked to read this book or "Where's My Cheese?", you can expect some drastic changes in your organization. It's management's way of preparing people for these events.

This change will be in the form of restructuring, layoffs, budget cuts, position eliminations, and anything else associated a "crisis".

You, the reader, also need to make your own choices based on the information available to you and I don't believe this is sufficiently covered in the book. Ultimately, you need to decide for yourself if a different career path or retirement is the best course of action for yourself and your family...and not blindly buying in to the vision of the current management.

The fable is an adorable children's story. It is easy to read and easily points out the personality styles in dealing with change along with the 8 steps to change. The end contains a review of the steps. [...]

The book's value does not come from listing the steps. Those are online. It comes from keeping people entertained enough to read the story and creating a common vocabulary to discuss change within a corporate environment.

I only gave three stars because I was expecting a bit more on the "how to apply" change side.

Not sure why anyone would rate this higher than two stars. The story line is flat - and there is no tie whatsoever to business. Just because you are supposed to like it there really is no reason to bother reading this book. The not so subtle push for worrying about the myth of global warming is a total turnoff to anyone with a working mind.

Maybe the other book will be better. Not holding out hope.

Years ago when I was a student hit by the initial waves of change happening in urban India, I was given a book by one of my all time gurus..a book that tells the story of a seagull that wanted to fly - Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Batch. I am not sure if it is a coincidence or my guru realized that we are going into an increasingly changing world and to face it we need to be armed with lessons to be different and face all kinds of difficulties to achieve what we want. It has changed the way I thought and reacted.

When we reached the thick of change being a part of the evolving software industry in India I faced the situation of inability to understand the change that may come and react to the same. I found Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese?.

While going through the blues of middle management and not finding which way will bring deliverance I found an all time classic Sidhdharth by Herman Hesse.

Now when I am moving into my first level leadership role and learning the lessons of working on strategies and handling large groups of people to achieve business success I was hit by the challenge of changing people to orient them towards the expected performances - in a nutshell demanding excellence from the team. This needs change of mindset which can be achieved only with a strong action plan..I started reading Leading Change and started looking at the eight step process to achieve the same. That is the time I found this new book `Our Iceberg Is Melting'. This book reflected the eight step process in a subtle way to impact each reader even without knowing the eight step process. In addition, it has provided lessons of different behaviour patterns of leadership and each one leading to different success. Each character Louis, Alice, Buddy, Fred and the Professor represent five different characteristics required to make a complete personality. Each one of us need to be level headed and show ability to take responsibility like Louis at the same time we also need to be go getters like Alice. The humility of Buddy, Inquisitiveness of Fred and the Intellect of the Professor will make each one of us a complete personality.

I am now looking at using this in my next team training program to measure its impact on the teams. Gem of a book a must read for each one of us irrespective of what we are doing.

We had to read this as part of a company training. Two things stood out: 1...create a sense of urgency to get the penguins stirred to action and 2...use of peer pressure to get independent thinking penguins to enter group mind.
Would you want to be related to in this manner as an employee?

This book is an excellent and powerful message to understand and manage change especially in turbulent times of the current century. Prof Kotter's earlier books on the theory of understanding and managing change might appear a little overwhelming for an ordinary reader. This book fills the void since the entire concept and framework is brought out in the form of a simple and interesting story of a colony of penguins residing on an iceberg oblivious of the fact that their home is actually melting. If they do nothing about it, their sweet and comfortable home for decades could soon break into pieces and all of them would be easy prey for their predators in the icy waters of Antarctica. The book certainly deserves praise for taking this situation forward and to bring it to a happy ending where the penguins learn to migrate to newer and safer icebergs, using the eight step framework of change.

However, we need to ask a broader question on the root cause of why the iceberg is melting in the first place. While it is a good setting to narrate a story around penguins, the point is that we humans are responsible for the irresponsible plundering of earth's natural resources that has led to global warming. In the story of penguins, the colony migrates to another iceberg. Does this mean that we humans should, taking the analogy further, prepare ourselves to migrate to another planet? My point is that Prof Kotter should now look deeper into the question of "Why change if we collectively behave well?" One needs to embrace change caused by technology, globalization and the better aspects of progress. But if change, especially the kind that is painful and tragic in nature is caused by human wrongdoings and the sufferers are a totally different section of society or a continent, Prof Kotter's current prescription and methodology may not work.

Despite these comments, this book deserves a 5 Star rating for what it intends to convey.

I've always been a fan of Kotter's 8 step change model and use it as the foundation of my consultative work. What I really enjoyed about this story is how the fable brought the change model to life in a way that I will now always reference it and recommend it to my clients whenever they are struggling with a change initiative.

This bok is a quick read, probably less than an hour. The book talks about how to recognize when change is needed, and how to manage a group through the process of change, but does it in a fun way. The book is a fable, the story of a group of penguins who discover that the iceberg they live on is melting, and have to figure out what (if anything) to do about it.

While it sounds silly, and does contain some humor, sometimes a simple story can convey many important lessons. This is one of those times. In reading the story, I kept thinking back to teams I'd worked on, and seeing similarities between particular colleagues and particular penguins.

As the authors point out at the end, much of the power of this story is in it's simplicity. By stripping it down to the essential details, it's much easier to follow the process. They also point out that if a group of people are all familiar with the story, it gives them a common language to use when dealing with these issues.

This is a well written, easy to read story which highlights several key aspects of corporate change. I was able to apply the lessons of the story immediately to my own organizational context.

The only weakness is that the end of the book does little to assist the reader in incorporating the lessons in a practical fashion. I would suggest that this book be read in conjunction with Kotter's "The Heart of Change."

Usually a fan of short easy to read concept books, Our Iceberg is Melting is definitely a disappointment given the outstanding work that John Kotter does in the area of change and change management.

A fable, ok- but if you need to keep interrupting the story with the obvious such as penguins don't have arms, they can't smile or other human non-penguin like traits, perhaps another animal or mammal or even human should have been chosen. The constant references to the fact that we need to use our imaginations was a huge distraction.

Even the section of the book titled "case for the book" (pgs 139-146) is put together better then the entire rest of the book. At least there, he is describing the need for change in a manner relevant to the readers who would be interested in a book on change.

The author is correct in that "fables can be fun" but this one missed the mark.

Everyone should read regardless of career. We are all the characters at different times. Change happens and the book addresses who you are in change, however, it does so in a non textbook, lecture way. Great.

I read this book after seeing a review in the New York Times. It is a quick read, and I totally fell for the fable, as a way to tell a story with a message.

I realized after reading Our Iceburg is Melting, that this process sounded familiar, and remembered that I had Kotter's Leading Change on my bookshelf from the time I was working on my MPA. So I took that book off the shelf and read that one again. It reinforced the story of the penguins. I also checked out Kotter's web site [...] which has some really cute videos that illustrate the specific steps in the 8 step change process.

There are a variety of testimonials and training videos there, which I found useful. From that web site I learned that Kotter had just finished a book on the first step A Sense of Urgency. This step, which is by far the hardest to accomplish, was the real issue for me. I bought that book too.

I have been working in the nonprofit or government sector my whole career and realize that change is hard everywhere, but especially in places that are not motivated by money. How do you get complacent organizations to move forward and take risks? Kotter spends virtually half of Our Iceburg is melting on the first step, creating urgency.

Fred, the middle management penguin who identifies there is a problem (melting), has to manage up and down the penguin food chain to make people understand the iceburg is indeed melting. He is thwarted by No No, the penguin who resists change, actively and passively. No No is my favorite in the entire book, if only because Kotter has personalized through this penguin, the folks who are basic blockers for change in organizations where I consult. Kotter offers some great insights in A Sense of Urgency about how to deal with No Nos (and those of their ilk) that could be useful in a nonprofit context.

Kotter's 8 step change process makes sense. This fable is an easy way to engage a group of people in the many steps needed to make organizational change happen. This book is worth your time.

"Our Iceberg Is Melting" is a fable which deals with the subjects of change management, human behavior, and team building in similar form as "Who Moved My Cheese". Some interesting insights may be drawn concerning human behavior - specifically how people react to change, differing personalities, and the challenges that one may encounter when working in a small team environment. There are at least a couple disturbing techniques (at least in my opinion) that encourage crowd behavior and lessen independent thinking. Not my cup of tea but may be a good fit for someone seeking guidance in a corporate environment.

John Kotter has successfully written a tale of change management incorporating leadership with a fun, simple twist around perceptions. The story line is simplistic and easy to read, yet invokes passion about each character. The charismatic leaders of the penguins, his strong willed chief of staff, the energetic analytical newbie and the relates to everyone member.

John walks through his 8 steps around change and how to handle the cynics, pessimists, perception is reality, traditions and multiple generations effectively and clearly. It is easy to associate yourself, your leadership teams and staff with every character in the book. He writes a powerful message that does not end with their success, yet shows how the penguins must continuously change and improve to survive. An easy read and one that is designed to reinforce his Heart of Change book, not as a new concept.

In 1997 I read Leading Change and had a wonderful opportunity to put what I learned into practice in 1998 when the Russian economy crashed and our organization was in crisis. I wish I had been able to provide all of our employees with copies of Our Iceberg is Melting. John Kotter's newest book illustrates many of the challenges we faced as an organization when following the eight step process to lead significant change in order to survive.

After 14 years of living and building a business in Russia I more fully understand the importance Dr. Kotter puts on successfully leading change efforts, especially the necessity of emotional involvement. This book is easy to read but thought provoking as the behavior of many penguins remind us of people we know and work closely with. Investing less than one hour could pay big dividends in saved time and money when you face the next change.

John P. Kotter, America's Number One "leadership guru" in his best-selling book, "Leading Change", he analyzed the change process by inventing an eight-step process for implementing successful organizational transformations. Later on, in his book, "The Heart of Change", written with Dan Cohen of Deloitte Consulting, he showed how to use the power of feelings effectively to navigate each of the eight steps. Now, Professor Kotter, in his latest remarkable book "Our Iceberg is Melting" he takes us all on to a beautiful journey to a penguin colony in Antarctica to experiment the importance of continuing change as we evolve in life, as persons in private and as managers.

Using a very smooth and playful style, Professor Kotter speaks to all of us through Fred's mouth. He speaks for the need to be alert and ready to leave behind our old patterns, habits, and behaviors if we are to survive in this turbulent, continuously changing, and sometime hostile environment.

Reading this book made me, mentally, travel to a parallel to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" world. A world we are experiencing in our every day transactions and where in the eyes of the little emperor penguins we recognize ourselves, our friends, our colleagues, our partners.

I believe that this book can exercise a significant impact on someone life decisions regarding the need and the meaning of change and of the way to participate in the journey of making change happen.

I strongly recommend this book to all of my colleagues, friends, and clients. I strongly recommend this excellent piece of work to everyone who is in the quest of making things happen by firstly changing himself and the way he sees things. I find this little book to be a remarkable companion to all fellow passengers in the never-ending journey towards The Great Change.

Basil Nicholas Tsaras, President

PROTHESIS Business Consultants SA

Athens, Greece

Okay, maybe not, but change agent John Kotter sure does. His acclaimed change agent book uses an easy to read fable to illustrate the timely and sensitive topic. Using a penguin colony faced with news that their iceberg is melting, he demonstrates the team struggle and creates scenarios similar to the ones us non-penguins encounter daily in our quest or resistance to change and shows how a collective, driven and organized process can bring results.

How individuals manage and respond to change is the difference between success and disruption. Most literature on change deals with a logical process, in Kotter's case: setting the stage, deciding what to do, making it happen and making it stick. Read by itself, the effect on the reader is minimal. Read through the lens of a heroic story makes it easy for the educated mind to drop its analytical reasoning and put change in the context of the human element.

Whether or not you have a melting iceberg, the roadblocks the colony faces and triumph of innovative thinking creates a story that we all want to be a part of as we navigate our organizational changes. If penguins can be successful in change, why can't we?

Review by Brandy Gonsoulin, Account Executive at Stinson Brand Innovation

Our Iceberg Is Melting is an easy to read book with a very sticky message that makes it incredibly useful for helping people quickly understand, internalize and remember key change factors. In fact, we gave the executive steering committee of one of my clients the book on a Monday, and by Wednesday of the same week the book had already influenced the language of the team as they began to make references to Fred and NoNo in a steering committee meeting. The book provides explicit and implicit lessons around the importance of communicating tough news and the need for change, engaging a broad population in being part of the solution, finding wins for key resources that help them embrace change, training people to be successful in the new environment and getting people excited about getting there. Our Iceberg Is Melting is a good resource for any change leader.

John Kotter's "Leading Change" and "The Heart of Change" laid out a prescription for the serious and difficult work of implementing change, in an increasingly more competitive and faster paced global marketplace.

This latest work, "Our Iceberg is Melting" is, to my knowledge, a first. It is a fable, which brings ALIVE, in a very AMUSING and ENTERTAINING QUICK forty-five minute read, the widely accepted logic and concepts of an author's previous writings. It makes understanding, and discussing, difficult change FUN!

Any manager/executive looking for a way to add some energy and fun to his change initiatives should make this required reading for his team/employees. Then have a non-threatening discussion, with his team/employees, comparing their situation and team to that of the group of penguins in this book. The behavioral similarities will amaze you. The insights gained will be invaluable.

We read this book at a management off-site meeting and it worked very well as a way of getting people on the same page about change. It is a simple and quick read so that meant everyone had finished the book before we got together. It also has a fable like story that everyone could grasp whatever their background or education. The eight points at the back of the book all make sense and as someone who works with people dealing with change either at work or in their career, they were spot on the money. We are planning to have our whole department read it as a common language for change.

There are many many leadership books on the market that will help you be a better leader. "Our iceberg is Melting" is one of those books that's is in the 'best in class' category. It's a book that truly makes leadership easy to understand and easier to apply principles because the story is told in a simple way.

There are no silver bullets in leadership. It takes time, effort, and a "serving others" attitude. Kotter does a great job of conveying to the reader what it takes to be a leader.

It took me less than two hours to read this book, and it was truly worth the time. Presented in "fable" format about a group of penguins, the story contains a true test of how to deal with change...a change that will come whether you want it to or not.

I work in the media world, and would make this mandatory reading for anyone in that space. Most people in our world even see the iceberg melting, but are hesitant to do anything about it. This book throws out learning principles like Dr. Seuss, with style and effectiveness. Highly recommend.

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.

This book is a very easy read, As a Realtor we are faced with changing market conditions all the time, trying to get people to think and do instead of waiting and do nothing. I am passing it around to all.
Sincerely
Cindy Larson
Tarbell Realtors
Highland CA.

If you are proficient in some topic, it is easy to write 400 pages book about it. To make it short and straight to the point, you have to be more than that. But, to make it short, straight to the point and so interesting to read - you really have to be a master.

Kotter condensed his knowledge in easy to read book which you can digest in one afternoon. Absolutely perfect and must have for anybody thinking about change management. I would say - rather read this short book 10 times, than any other 300+ pages book once.

I have never before read such a masterpiece.

"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.

If the theme had been "Let's Invade Iraq" would your opinions change regarding NoNo despite him being a straw-man villain. The book advocates dictatorship methods. North Korea uses many of the methods trumpeted in the book.

John Kotter defined leadership for all of us, when he stated that "leaders cope with change". Ever since, the concept of leading change is used every day in academia and industry as if they were always linked this way. I handed out thirteen copies to my students at Pace University today. I believe that Our Iceberg Is Melting is the best place for young up and coming leaders to start their training. I wish that I had read it when I began my leadership studies over a decade ago.

Decptively simple read. Like an iceberg, the real power of this book lies beneath the surface. It is as germane to an organization as it is to an individual. We all face change, but the move forward only begins when there is a realization that change is needed and is a good thing. The book lays out a clever and nonthreatening way to define the need and implement the change . Read it more than once; mine the iceberg!

Kotter uses a simple, yet powerful story to illustrate the Leading Change model from his earlier books. This makes the concepts memorable and presents them naturally- the storyline is fun and engaging. It's a very quick read and yet shares the "meat" of his research. It would be a great book to read as a team- and my 9 year old is even interested in it! Good stuff.

The book is short and the contents sweet. A copy was loaned to me and I wanted to pass on the favor. Change is hard for everyone and so is the ability to convince others of the merits of leaving the old ways - even when they are dangerous - to try new ways. The author used a theme of leadership by successful exploration. A good story especially for working adults.

Die Idee, Change Management als Fable zu erklären, fand ich witzig und habe deshalb das englische Original gekauft (leider nicht für den Kindle verfügbar - dann halt als Printbook). Hatte vermutet, dass es auch ein bißchen lustig zugehen würde und man trotzdem etwas lernt. Bin aber ziemlich enttäuscht, auch wenn es viele gute Kritiken gibt. Demnach können offenbar viele etwas mit dieser amerikanischen soft lecture Art anfangen, ich gehöre allerdings nicht dazu. Die Konflikte und Handlungsweisen der Pinguine erscheinen mir doch sehr eindimensional und aufgesetzt. Wenn es in der Praxis so einfach wäre, dann bräuchte man nicht so viele Bücher über Change Management. Jetzt soll eine Fabel natürlich gerade vereinfachen und auf's Wesentliche reduzieren, bloß tut sie das für mich nicht. Mein Fazit: Entweder mit Tiefgang oder aber richtig einfach und lustig. Aber so ein Mittelding ist mein Ding zumindest nicht...

Everyone loves penguins, as long as you don't have to smell them. This avian parable, set on a fragile iceberg in Antarctica, not only reminds us of the precarious condition of our planet but also gives gentle lessons in how to promote, prepare for and respond to change.

The book is extremely easy to read and some of the more subtle points will probably emerge more clearly on a second reading. Professionals involved in mamaging change will find it useful not so much as a handbook on the process but rather as an aid to raising awareness of all the complexities involved in leading transformation. The message which pulsates through the fable is the overwhelming importance of vertical communication, an obvious point perhaps but one which is often obscured in companies both large and small.

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.

The book is short and the contents sweet. A copy was loaned to me and I wanted to pass on the favor. Change is hard for everyone and so is the ability to convince others of the merits of leaving the old ways - even when they are dangerous - to try new ways. The author used a theme of leadership by successful exploration. A good story especially for working adults.

Die Idee, Change Management als Fable zu erklären, fand ich witzig und habe deshalb das englische Original gekauft (leider nicht für den Kindle verfügbar - dann halt als Printbook). Hatte vermutet, dass es auch ein bißchen lustig zugehen würde und man trotzdem etwas lernt. Bin aber ziemlich enttäuscht, auch wenn es viele gute Kritiken gibt. Demnach können offenbar viele etwas mit dieser amerikanischen soft lecture Art anfangen, ich gehöre allerdings nicht dazu. Die Konflikte und Handlungsweisen der Pinguine erscheinen mir doch sehr eindimensional und aufgesetzt. Wenn es in der Praxis so einfach wäre, dann bräuchte man nicht so viele Bücher über Change Management. Jetzt soll eine Fabel natürlich gerade vereinfachen und auf's Wesentliche reduzieren, bloß tut sie das für mich nicht. Mein Fazit: Entweder mit Tiefgang oder aber richtig einfach und lustig. Aber so ein Mittelding ist mein Ding zumindest nicht...

Everyone loves penguins, as long as you don't have to smell them. This avian parable, set on a fragile iceberg in Antarctica, not only reminds us of the precarious condition of our planet but also gives gentle lessons in how to promote, prepare for and respond to change.

The book is extremely easy to read and some of the more subtle points will probably emerge more clearly on a second reading. Professionals involved in mamaging change will find it useful not so much as a handbook on the process but rather as an aid to raising awareness of all the complexities involved in leading transformation. The message which pulsates through the fable is the overwhelming importance of vertical communication, an obvious point perhaps but one which is often obscured in companies both large and small.

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.

This condescending fable was written by scholarly experts who can only imagine what life is like in the trenches. As such they believe the masses are simply stupid and easily swayed. A member of their leadership team is "Buddy" who also is simply stupid and easily swayed and thus has the role of spokesman.

What is forgotten is that the other leaders may be just as stupid or inept as Buddy, but are too conceited or obstinate to realize this. How does one get rid of or even recognize ineffective leaders? How simple and grand can you be to just assume that the chosen leaders will always have a positive impact? What does history tell us?

Also, how does this condescending fable solve its problem and institute the change? By taking tremendous risks to avoid it; by relying on sheer luck. Great lesson.

Our organization is currently going through a structure change in one of our divisions. We are using this book as pre-work to attending our training on the change. We've found that having the book as a reference tool has really helped our team leaders relate better to the various stages of change that their team members (and themselves) are going through.

Not only is this book informative but it is also light-hearted, funny and thus, easy to read. Not one person in our organization has said that they did not enjoy reading the book and that they couldn't relate to a character in the book. I would highly recommend it to any organization preparing their team members or team leaders for change.

Why did the author have to use an Emperor penguin? Many penguins do live on icebergs but the Emperor penguin does NOT ! They take great effort and undergo severe hardships to be sure they are not on an iceberg and have solid ground below the ice they are standing on. They breed during the winter and have to withstand -40% C and winds approaching 90 miles/hr. They can't take the chance that their young would hatch while still being on an ice shelf that could melt before the young could survive.. (See the movie "March of the Penguins".) Besides that is the fact that most icebergs don't last for more than a year! The low rating is not based on the concepts laid out in the book - which are great - but is based on the author's selection of the Emperor penguin which is the only penguin that does not live on an iceberg.

Every business owner or manager should make this book required reading. Perfect story that will really help your business develop vision, make productive and smart changes happen much faster and with great results.

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.

Congratulations for the simple and pleasant way you've found to talk about such a complex and deep subject.

The book caught my attention in a way that I could not wait to finish it. It's easy to read and makes you crave for "what kind of creative solution Fred will provide to the penguin colony?" Alice is fantastic: objective and fast. And what about the Head Penguin? I simply loved the way he got the message out to the colony, telling them who they really are! And you know what? At that point, this chapter also touched me not only professionally but also in a personal way. Who you really are is deep and made me think a lot about it.

The book is a very easy read just like a story.
However once you start connecting the dots well, you can easily relate it to the corporate culture and map the characters to people at your job.

The book does the job of bringing the thinking at various levels into perspective.

I have great respect Kotter, which is why I bought this book. But after I read it I wondered what in the world he had in mind. I felt insulted reading it. It really is a book aimed at little kids. If you are an adult manager go back and read Kotter's primary opus.

This is a DIFFERENT book. It made me see myself, my subordinates, colleagues and bosses in the characters. It fully utilizes fable "tools" to guide us through the process of change. Choosing the pengiun, that resourceless creature, was very intelligent in order to prove that change is ALWAYS possible - when there is a will there is way.

Most of us contemplate change after the most damage has occurred or the moment of opportunity has passed. We simply see it too late. Collectively, in our organizations, families, teams and countries, we keep our heads in the sand, ignoring hints and omens and then denying wake-up calls. This book is a brilliant and delightfully engaging story on how a lone voice of reason or insight can prevail and help us adapt to the future instead of living (and dying) in the past!

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.

I am a huge fan of "The Alchemist" by Coelho and this book ranks up there for me in terms of impact it has had on my life decisions. If you ever get a chance to see John Kotter speak, don't pass it up. You can't help but give the man a standing ovation. He will make you question your purpose and make you realize the impact you can have on the world through your business decisions. I never thought I would rank a business book high on my list, but this is a book to pass on to colleagues and friends.

...and you get what you pay for. The parable was really cute, but I kept waiting for the lessons and applications. Part of my job is acting as a change agent and convincing people to change, so I am always on the lookout for good books on simplifying the change process. This was not one of them. Cute story, clear concepts, but no lessons for real-life application.

Great story, and it gets the point across. In today's business world you must be ready to change or be left behind. This book is elementary on purpose, and rightly so - anyone can read it and get the point.

Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber

Edit

Yet another work read and this one sticks in my mind. Probably as much for the entertainment value as the educational one. How to identify and work with those resistant to change (for whatever reason) without letting them, yourself, or your work get sidetracked.

Kotter & Rathgeber produced an amazing book in a very simple way to make people get deep into the story and to realize the things that happen in their lives, sometimes, without any attention. This book allows people to re-think about theirselves, where they are living and the most important, how to deal with changes. I'm pretty much sure, within all skills, the most important in the past, presently and forever will always be how to lead changes. And this is the right book for learning.

Another simple-minded book that talks down to people. Maybe if you were 5 this would be cute, but for adults...don't think so. Too often books like these are given as a "band-aid" to "help" people with the change. Maybe some people need that.

I think that if a corporation is going to go through a change, at least for me, just tell me what you're doing, why you're doing it, and if I can get on board with it, fine, and if not, then that's my problem.

Keep it simple. End of story.

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!

A must read fable for anyone getting into a path of change: The book beautifully captures the essence of any change; it successfully describes basic change management principles in an 8-step process capturing the various characters in a typical organizational set up. All the more, reemphasize the need for acquiring ability to change drastically in today business world.

I really liked the format of the book. Using the examples of birds to simulate different types of personalities and how look at change was terrific. I also started using the illustrations to think through processes I use on the job and how to be more efficient. Thanks!

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.

Just about evey kind of situation you might encounter managing change in a big company exists in this easy to read book. Makes a great team building exercise having everyone read the book, then discuss all the different personalities one must work with in any change management situation.

The book is a must-read for anyone involved (leaders, managers, participants, etc) in organizations and/or processes that need change (and who isn't!!). Easy to understand and internalize, but still sufficiently profound to demand a second read.

I have already given mine away ... I might have to buy anther.

Kotter did a fantastic job translating his proven change management process into a format that leaders can understand and use. Through his powerful fable, Kotter tells the story about the phases of leading change and helps us anticipate the roadblocks along the journey. Very well done. Love the useful tools and tips on the website that support it as well...ouricebergismelting.com

This is an excellent quick read to get in the mindset of change, thinking outside of the box and working together. Great to provide to a team for upcoming strategic discussion. It is a fun book so that everyone will complete the read prior to any meeting. Recommend highly.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I could relate very much to many organizational changes that have taken place over my career in IT. There are some key lessons learned from the book that I will take away and will definitely keep this on the shelf in my office to share with current and future colleagues.

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 the store - 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.

Found it to be both entertaining and educational, it's a perfect balance of real world application packaged in an easy to read book. I would pickup Leading Change for more information on the items that are discussed in this book.

Excellent reading when preparing for a change process.A new way of introducing the complexities of this process.The story is easy to read.Through the small sociaty on the Iceberg the reader is brought in
touch with the human nature in a changing enviroment.

I used this book as a part of a book study with the senior staff at my company. It was very useful in setting the stage for discussions of how our business must change over the next 6 months. I encourage its use also with staff who are facing change.

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! :-)

There are six main characters in this story. These six characters make up the leadership team charged with helping the penguins find a solution to their melting iceberg problem. Why is only one of these team members a female? The fable isn't bad, and the 8 steps are worth considering, but this 5-1 ratio turned me off from the get-go. Tell me I'm not the only one bothered by this.