BOOK REVIEW- OUR ICEBERG IS MELTING

- JOHN KOTTER

SUBMITTED BY-
NAME- SHASHANK PANDEY
ROLL NO- 46
BATCH- MBA+PGPCE (OMEGA)

SUBMITTED TO-
NAME-Prof. Noopur Surti
SUBJECT- Organizational Behaviour
Our Iceberg Is Melting

TITLE - OUR ICRBERG IS MELTING

AUTHOR – JOHN KOTTER, HOLGER RATHGEBER
PUBLISHER - PENGUIN PUBLISHING GROUP
PUBLICATION YEAR - 1 MAY 2016
John Kotter (1947) is an Emeritus Professor in organizational
science and change management at Harvard University. John
Kotter is known for being the founder of 8 step process for
leading change and the Six change approaches model. John
Kotter received his Bachelor’s degree (BSc.) from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He obtained his
Master of Science degree from the MIT Sloan School of
Management in 1970. Two years later he obtained a doctorate
in business administration (DBA) from Harvard Business
School.

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any

Conditions is a business fable about penguins who learn to
work together to deal with a dangerous change to their
environment, a lesson that also applies to people in the
workplace and in organizations. Written by award-winning
management consultant John Kotter with co-author Holger
Rathgeber, the book was first published in 2006 and became a
New York Times bestseller. It’s noted for its eight-step
process for successful change.
Summary

A colony of a few hundred penguins lives happily on a big

iceberg that floats off the coast of Antarctica. One penguin,
Fred, realizes there may be a crisis brewing deep within their
home. He brings Alice, a penguin leader, underneath the
iceberg to see the fissures, canals, and caves that have
formed in the structure and are filling with water: When the
water freezes and expands, this could crack open the iceberg.

Fred and Alice visit the Leadership Council with their

concerns, but the Council balks and wants merely to start a
committee to investigate. Alice points out that, if disaster
strikes, many penguins will die, and their relatives won’t take
kindly to leaders who explain their inaction on the grounds
that they weren’t absolutely positive that there was a
problem.

Fred fills a glass bottle with water and caps it; overnight, the
water inside freezes and breaks the bottle. This proves his
point, and the leaders resolve that something must be done.
They call a general assembly, where Alice and Fred explain
the situation. Most of the colony concurs. The leaders stress
the urgency and encourage everyone to think up ways to
solve the problem.

Head Penguin Louis calls together Alice, Fred, Buddy, and

leading intellectual Jordan as his team to manage the crisis.
Louis guides them in team-building exercises—hunting squid
together, talking about their hopes and dreams—and within a
few days they’re a tight-knit group.

Colony members propose lots of solutions, from drilling

down into the iceberg to relieve the pressure to moving onto
the Antarctic continent itself. Fred discovers a rare seagull on
the iceberg. Buddy speaks with the bird, who says he’s a scout
for his nomadic clan. Louis realizes that the penguins, too,
can search for a new place to live, and he convinces most of
the colony to take up that cause.
The penguins begin to prepare for the rigors of scouting, but
the naysayers raise doubts and stir up fears; participation
dwindles. Louis’s team responds quickly, providing
counterpoint to negative speakers, encouraging adults to join
the project, and inspiring children with stories of heroes who
help others.

To quicken progress, the leaders dispatch a hand-picked

group of scouts who search the nearby seas for places that
bear further scrutiny. When they return, they’ll need food, but
the colony’s penguins traditionally only feed their own
families. Kindergartener Sally Ann devises a workaround: She
suggests that the upcoming Hero’s Day festival charge
admission of two fish per adult. Her idea works beautifully,
and the returning scouts, famished from their trip, receive
bounteous meals. The scouts report that one iceberg in
particular should get another look.

The colony sends a second wave of scouts, including Jordan.

This group thoroughly explores the candidate iceberg and
pronounces it excellent. The colony promptly sets off for the
new home, and everyone gets there without a single loss of
life. They make it safely through the winter, and the following
year, scouts discover an even better iceberg that the penguins
promptly occupy. Here they thrive, and their population
grows.

Not wanting the newly learned lessons to fade, the penguins

develop a course in scouting and lectures on the history of
the colony; they also encourage discussion groups that keep
alive enthusiasm for exploration and creative problem
solving. Louis retires to become an elder statesman; Alice
takes over the role of Head Penguin; Jordan accepts the job of
chief weather forecaster; Fred becomes Head of the Scouts;
Buddy finds and recruits top candidates for important
support jobs. Louis notes with satisfaction that the biggest
change of all is that the colony became willing to change.
In the final chapters, the authors suggest how groups can
learn from the penguin colony’s experience.

Especially important is the Eight-Point Process for creating

successful change:

(1) generate urgency

(2) collect a guide team;
(3) create a vision and strategy;
(4) send out a clear, inspiring message;
(5) encourage others to take action;
(6) get momentum with quick wins;
(7) keep moving forward; and
(8) embed the new change in the group culture.

As the world modernizes, changes come harder and faster.

More than ever, there’s a need for organized teams of
problem solvers, continuous communication throughout
organizations, and an ongoing culture of creative innovation.

ANALYSIS –
One of the things that stands out throughout the book is their
team working accepting the different thoughts of different
birds. The secret to success seems to be the ability to ignore
negative things around the surroundings. Similarly, one should
ignore all the negative things around him in order to succeed.
Create new culture to replace old traditions. Be relentless be in
the momentum, adaption of the changes.

IDENTIFY THE PRACTITIONERS

 Louis the Head of the Leadership Council with enough

experience to be wise.
 Alice not very intellectual but very practical, aggressive
and make things happen.
 Buddy the handsome smart member of the Leadership
Council well trusted but with very less intellectual.
 Fred the very curious, observant, creative and level
headed bird with insufficient data to judge his I.Q.
 Jordan the professor is very logical and have very
fascinated by interesting questions.
 NoNo was the responsible for the weather forecasting

IDENTIFY RESISTANCE IF ANY

▪ Old tradition penguins are following find difficult to

adopt new culture or changes in their culture.
▪ NoNo who did the wrong forecasting and not letting other
birds accepting the change in their culture.
▪ Shortage of food which they faced at the time of finding
the new place to live.
▪ Its difficult to explain the situation were some are
confused and some are not agreed.
▪ Some birds have changed their minds after listening
NoNo.

IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS THE INTERVENTIONS USED

✓ Create the Sense of Urgency.

✓ Communicate with each other to make things understand.
✓ Empower other birds for the different ideas and solution.
✓ Create new culture over old traditions.
✓ Be relentless until vision is a reality.

IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE BOOK

 Pulling them together to work in team.

 Develop the change in the society.
 Communicate to understand others properly.
 Celebrate Short-Term Wins.
 Make them stick with each other.
 Create new culture.
 Change thinking to change in behaviour.
 Be creative, observant, and curious.
CONCLUSION –

From the book review, Kotter is very effective in illustrating

how one can implement change through effective leadership.
The book is very beneficial to individuals intending to develop
their leadership skills. A number of steps that should be
considered in the change process are outlined. One of these
steps entails ensuring effective communication of the intended
change. To achieve this, different communication strategies
should be put into consideration. Kotter’s book is similar to
the book by Goffee and Jones in that the two books have
outlined how one can become good in leading change.