Book: “Change” by John Kotter

Kotter’s latest book on change is coming at a good time. As I am talking with clients, much of the change we experienced over the last year has not been the end; but the beginning of change. For many companies, while digital technical changes were made or business models disrupted and need new approaches, what we call transformational change is still in the early stages. In fact, for many companies, as they have reopened, its been more like a rubber band. They stretched and made some changes but the tendency now is not to have a strategy for the future but to snap back in terms of systems and practices. For those looking at how to create a longer term ESG strategy, or those that want to reap the benefits of digital transformation or pharma companies wanting to embed new innovation practices there are some important new components. Ultimately, Kotter’s book addresses how to lead in an uncertain and volatile world where the human survival mode can overpower our ability to see opportunities and change for the better.

While I see debate or declarations periodically that change management is dead or the organizations bring change management inside, many of those companies miss the mark. Corporate change or transformation involves addressing the people side of change which is the primary driver of success in major large scale changes. For the past several years I have seen Kotter reason that humans have two channels in response to change; the Thrive Channel and The Survive channel. In order to drive major change in a company which is the primary role of most executives, Kotter adds to his previous models some new concepts. Two worth mentioning are framing the change as opportunity, and involving a “diverse many.” It does what I have known for years in facilitating executive teams and especially start ups; the burning platform more often throws groups into survival mode rather than thrive mode. Second, in modern enterprises that are purpose and stakeholder driven, engaging the diverse many allows you to bring much more creativity, support and momentum to major change. In particular, I see ESG as an opportunity to understand risk and take advantage of opportunity but many U.S. businesses are on the front end of it and are resisting it.. aka in survival mode. Those that are thinking ahead see that it is a major change but that it is one that has enormous opportunity if they take a practical market centered approach. Those are the ones that are using ESG to improve talent attraction, and understand now the changes they need to make now. Those that wait will find that the long term arrives sooner than they are prepared for.