Lead change amid constant turbulence and disruption.

Get more of the ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management (Vol. 2). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you successfully transform your organization.

With insights from leading experts including John Kotter, Tim Brown, and Roger Martin, this book will inspire you to:

• Master the eight accelerators of strategic change
• Turn your culture into a catalyst for transformation
• Use your network ties to win over resisters
• Apply design thinking to secure buy-in
• Scale agile practices across your organization
• Get reorgs right
• Avoid pursuing the wrong changes

This collection of articles includes "What Everyone Gets Wrong About Change Management," by N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux; "Cultural Change That Sticks," by Jon R. Katzenbach, Ilona Steffen, and Caroline Kronley; "Culture Is Not the Culprit," by Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague; "The Network Secrets of Great Change Agents," by Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro; "Design for Action," by Tim Brown and Roger L. Martin; "Agile at Scale," by Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, and Andy Noble; "The Merger Dividend," by Ron Ashkenas, Suzanne Francis, and Rick Heinick; "Getting Reorgs Right," by Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood; and "Your Workforce Is More Adaptable Than You Think," by Joseph B. Fuller, Judith K. Wallenstein, Manjari Raman, and Alice de Chalendar.

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

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

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

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

Published by Harvard Business Review Press.

Most company's change initiatives fail. Yours don't have to.

If you read nothing else on change management, read these 10 articles (featuring “Leading Change,” by John P. Kotter). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you spearhead change in your organization.

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management will inspire you to:

• Lead change through eight critical stages
• Establish a sense of urgency
• Overcome addiction to the status quo
• Mobilize commitment
• Silence naysayers
• Minimize the pain of change
• Concentrate resources
• Motivate change when business is good

This collection of best-selling articles includes: featured article "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail" by John P. Kotter, "Change Through Persuasion," "Leading Change When Business Is Good: An Interview with Samuel J. Palmisano," "Radical Change, the Quiet Way," "Tipping Point Leadership," "A Survival Guide for Leaders," "The Real Reason People Won't Change," "Cracking the Code of Change," "The Hard Side of Change Management," and "Why Change Programs Don't Produce Change."

Why is organizational change so hard? Because in order to make any transformation successful, you must change more than just the structure and operations of an organization--you need to change people's behavior. And that is never easy.
The Heart of Change is your guide to helping people think and feel differently in order to meet your shared goals. According to bestselling author and renowned leadership expert John Kotter and coauthor Dan Cohen, this focus on connecting with people's emotions is what will spark the behavior change and actions that lead to success. Now freshly designed, The Heart of Change is the engaging and essential complement to John Kotter's international bestseller Leading Change.
Building off of Kotter's revolutionary eight-step process, this book vividly illustrates how large-scale business change can work. With real-life stories of people in organizations, the authors show how teams and individuals get motivated and activated to overcome obstacles to change--and produce spectacular results. Kotter and Cohen argue that change initiatives often fail because leaders rely too exclusively on data and analysis to get buy-in from their teams, instead of creatively showing or doing something that appeals to their emotions and inspires them to spring into action. They call this the see-feel-change dynamic; and it is crucial for the success of any true organizational transformation.
Refreshingly clear and eminently practical, The Heart of Change is required reading for anyone facing change and looking to build their leadership skills.
Published by Harvard Business Review Press.

You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group, but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead, shot down. You're furious. Everyone has lost: Those who would have benefited from your proposal. You. Your company. Perhaps even the country. It doesn't have to be this way, maintain John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead. In Buy-In, they reveal how to win the support your idea needs to deliver valuable results. The key? Understand the generic attack strategies that naysayers and obfuscators deploy time and time again. Then engage these adversaries with tactics tailored to each strategy. By "inviting in the lions" to critique your idea--and being prepared for them--you'll capture busy people's attention, help them grasp your proposal's value, and secure their commitment to implementing the solution. The book presents a fresh and amusing fictional narrative showing attack strategies in action. It then provides several specific counterstrategies for each basic category the authors have defined--including: * Death-by-delay: Your enemies push discussion of your idea so far into the future it's forgotten. * Confusion: They present so much data that confidence in your proposal dies. * Fearmongering: Critics catalyze irrational anxieties about your idea. * Character assassination: They slam your reputation and credibility. Smart, practical, and filled with useful advice, Buy-In equips you to anticipate and combat attacks--so your good idea makes it through to make a positive change.

As CEO, you set the vision, the strategy, and the tone of your organization.

You establish priorities, anticipate and address challenges, champion and lead change efforts, set people up for success, and manage risk. Though you may have a great senior executive team and a top-flight board, the success of your organization depends on your leadership.

If you read nothing else on being an effective chief executive, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the best ones to help you toggle between long- and short-term views, manage risk and innovation, and cultivate productive relationships with your staff and your board. This book will inspire you to:

- Navigate the changing global business environment

- Customize your company's strategy to the environment you're working in

- Attract, engage, and retain the best talent

- Anticipate and address legislative and regulatory issues

- Sharpen your awareness of the tactical and soft skills you need to lead

- Adopt a founder's mindset and build new offerings, move into new markets, and create next-generation solutions

- Manage and build relationships with your board--and your shareholders

Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his international bestseller Leading Change, John Kotter revealed why change is so hard, and provided an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. The book became the change bible for managers worldwide. Now, in A Sense of Urgency, Kotter shines the spotlight on the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change. Why focus on urgency? Without it, any change effort is doomed. Kotter reveals the insidious nature of complacency in all its forms and guises. In this exciting new book, Kotter explains: * How to go beyond "the business case" for change to overcome the fear and anger that can suppress urgency * Ways to ensure that your actions and behaviors -- not just your words -- communicate the need for change * How to keep fanning the flames of urgency even after your transformation effort has scored some early successes Written in Kotter's signature no-nonsense style, this concise and authoritative guide helps you set the stage for leading a successful transformation in your company.

Based on the award-winning article in "Harvard Business Review," from global leadership expert John Kotter.
It's a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and appoint your best people to make change happen. And it does--but not fast enough. Or effectively enough. Real value gets lost and, ultimately, things drift back to the default status.
Why is this scenario so frequently repeated in industries and organizations across the world? In the groundbreaking new book "Accelerate" (XLR8), leadership and change management expert, and best-selling author, John Kotter provides a fascinating answer--and a powerful new framework for competing and winning in a world of constant turbulence and disruption.
Kotter explains how traditional organizational hierarchies evolved to meet the daily demands of running an enterprise. For most companies, the hierarchy is the singular operating system at the heart of the firm. But the reality is, this system simply is not built for an environment where change has become the norm. Kotter advocates a new system--a second, more agile, network-like structure that operates "in concert" with the hierarchy to create what he calls a "dual operating system"--one that allows companies to capitalize on rapid-fire strategic challenges and still make their numbers.
"Accelerate" (XLR8) vividly illustrates the five core principles underlying the new network system, the eight Accelerators that drive it, and how leaders must create urgency in others through role modeling. And perhaps most crucial, the book reveals how the best companies focus and align their people's energy and urgency around what Kotter calls "the big opportunity."
If you're a pioneer, a leader who knows that bold change is necessary to survive and thrive in an ever-changing world, this book will help you accelerate into a better, more profitable future.

Help your team excel. Go from being a good practitioner to being an extraordinary leader of healthcare professionals. If you read nothing else on leadership, read these articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones for healthcare leaders to help you and your team excel, maximize performance, and live into your mission. Leading experts, such as Thomas H. Lee, Daniel Goleman, Peter F. Drucker, John P. Kotter, and Amy C. Edmondson, provide the insights and advice you need to: Understand the difference between managers and leaders Motivate others to excel Create successful cross-functional teams on the fly Maintain your identity and values as a clinician as you move into an organizational leadership role Have an impact not only on your organization but on the surrounding system Work in complex environments where authority is diffuse Lead effectively in times of rapid change This collection of articles includes "What Makes a Leader?," by Daniel Goleman; "What Makes an Effective Executive," by Peter F. Drucker; "What Leaders Really Do," by John P. Kotter; "Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve," by Jim Collins; "The Work of Leadership," by Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie; "Teamwork on the Fly," by Amy C. Edmondson; "Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance," by Paul Rogers and Marcia Blenko; "In Praise of the Incomplete Leader," by Deborah Ancona, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda J. Orlikowski, and Peter M. Senge; "Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System," by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton; "Health Care's Service Fanatics," by James I. Merlino and Ananth Raman; and "Engaging Doctors in the Health Care Revolution," by Thomas H. Lee and Toby Cosgrove.

In 1996, John P. Kotter's Leading Change became a runaway best seller, outlining an eight-step program for organizational change that was embraced by executives around the world. Then, Kotter and co-author Dan Cohen's The Heart of Change introduced the revolutionary "see-feel-change" approach, which helped executives understand the crucial role of emotion in successful change efforts. Now, The Heart of Change Field Guide provides leaders and managers tools, frameworks, and advice for bringing these breakthrough change methods to life within their own organizations. Written by Dan Cohen and with a foreword by John P. Kotter, the guide provides a practical framework for implementing each step in the change process, as well as a new three-phase approach to execution: creating a climate for change, engaging and enabling the whole organization, and implementing and sustaining change. Hands-on diagnostics--including a crucial "change readiness module"--reveal the dynamics that will help or hinder success at each phase of the change process. Both flexible and scaleable, the frameworks presented in this guide can be tailored for any size or type of change initiative. Filled with practical tools, checklists, and expert commentary, this must-have guide translates the most powerful approaches available for creating successful change into concrete, actionable steps for you and your organization. Dan Cohen is the co-author, with John P. Kotter, of The Heart of Change, and a principal with Deloitte Consulting, LLC.

Managing your boss: Isn't that merely manipulation? Corporate cozying up? Not according to John Gabarro and John Kotter. In this handy guidebook, the authors contend that you manage your boss for a very good reason: to do your best on the job - and thereby benefit not only yourself but also your supervisor and your entire company. Your boss depends on you for cooperation, reliability, and honesty. And you depend on him or her for links to the rest of the organization, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical resources.By managing your boss - clarifying your own and your supervisor's strengths, weaknesses, goals, work styles, and needs - you cultivate a relationship based on mutual respect and understanding. The result? A healthy, productive bond that enables you both to excel. Gabarro and Kotter provide valuable guidelines for building this essential relationship - including strategies for determining how your boss prefers to process information and make decisions, tips for communicating mutual expectations, and tactics for negotiating priorities. Thought provoking and practical, Managing Your Boss enables you to lay the groundwork for one of the most crucial working relationships you'll have in your career.

Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the culture of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments.
With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that strong corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even contextually or strategically appropriate cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments.
Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures.

In today's complex work world, things no longer get done simply because someone issues an order and someone else follows it.

Most of us work in socially intricate organizations where we need the help not only of subordinates but of colleagues, superiors, and outsiders to accomplish our goals. This often leaves us in a "power gap" because we must depend on people over whom we have little or no explicit control.

This is a book about how to bridge that gap: how to exercise the power and influence you need to get things done through others when your responsibilities exceed your formal authority.

Full of original ideas and expert insights about how organizations--and the people in them--function, "Power and Influence" goes further, demonstrating that lower-level personnel also need strong leadership skills and interpersonal know-how to perform well.

Kotter shows how you can develop sufficient resources of "unofficial" power and influence to achieve goals, steer clear of conflicts, foster creative team behavior, and gain the cooperation and support you need from subordinates, coworkers, superiors--even people outside your department or organization.

He also shows how you can avoid the twin traps of naivete and cynicism when dealing with power relationships, and how to use your power without abusing it.

"Power and Influence" is essential for top managers who need to overcome the infighting, foot-dragging, and politicking that can destroy both morale and profits; for middle managers who don't want their careers sidetracked by unproductive power struggles; for professionals hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and deadline delays; and for staff workers who have to "manage theboss."

This is not a book for those who want to "grab" power for their own ends. But if you'd like to create smooth, responsive working relationships and increase your personal effectiveness on the job, Kotter can show you how--and make the dynamics of power work for you instead of against you.

Most company's change initiatives fail. Yours don't have to. If you read nothing else on change management, read these 10 articles (featuring “Leading Change,� by John P. Kotter). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you spearhead change in your organization. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management will inspire you to: Lead change through eight critical stagesEstablish a sense of urgencyOvercome addiction to the status quoMobilize commitmentSilence naysayersMinimize the pain of changeConcentrate resourcesMotivate change when business is good This collection of best-selling articles includes: featured article "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail" by John P. Kotter, "Change Through Persuasion," "Leading Change When Business Is Good: An Interview with Samuel J. Palmisano," "Radical Change, the Quiet Way," "Tipping Point Leadership," "A Survival Guide for Leaders," "The Real Reason People Won't Change," "Cracking the Code of Change," "The Hard Side of Change Management," and "Why Change Programs Don't Produce Change."

The key concepts every manager and aspiring leader must know—from strategy and disruptive innovation to financial intelligence and change management—from bestselling Harvard Business Review authors. Build your professional library, and advance your career with these five timeless, ground-breaking business classics. Includes Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition; The Innovator’s Dilemma; Leading Change; Playing to Win; and Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition.

Help your team excel. Go from being a good practitioner to being an extraordinary leader of healthcare professionals. If you read nothing else on leadership, read these articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones for healthcare leaders to help you and your team excel, maximize performance, and live into your mission. Leading experts, such as Thomas H. Lee, Daniel Goleman, Peter F. Drucker, John P. Kotter, and Amy C. Edmondson, provide the insights and advice you need to: Understand the difference between managers and leaders Motivate others to excel Create successful cross-functional teams on the fly Maintain your identity and values as a clinician as you move into an organizational leadership role Have an impact not only on your organization but on the surrounding system Work in complex environments where authority is diffuse Lead effectively in times of rapid change This collection of articles includes What Makes a Leader?, by Daniel Goleman; What Makes an Effective Executive, by Peter F. Drucker; What Leaders Really Do, by John P. Kotter; Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve, by Jim Collins; The Work of Leadership, by Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie; Teamwork on the Fly, by Amy C. Edmondson; Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance, by Paul Rogers and Marcia Blenko; In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, by Deborah Ancona, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda J. Orlikowski, and Peter M. Senge; Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System, by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton; Health Care's Service Fanatics, by James I. Merlino and Ananth Raman; and Engaging Doctors in the Health Care Revolution, by Thomas H. Lee and Toby Cosgrove.

Based on a landmark twenty-year study of 115 members of the Harvard Business School's Class of 1974, this vital and important book describes how the globalization of markets and competition is altering career paths, wage levels, the structure and functioning of corporations, and the very nature of work itself.

THE NEW RULES INCLUDE:
New Rule #1: Conventional career paths through large corporations no longer lead to success as they once did;

New Rule #4: The greatest opportunities have shifted away from professional management in manufacturing to consulting and other service industries;

New Rule #7: Success requires high personal standards and a strong desire to win.

He was one of the most inspirational role models of all time. Thrown into poverty at age four, Konosuke Matsushita (Mat-SOSH-ta) struggled with the early deaths of family members, an apprenticeship which demanded sixteen-hour days at age nine, all the problems associated with starting a business with neither money nor connections, the death of his only son, the Great Depression, the horror of World War II in Japan, and more. Yet John P. Kotter shows in this fascinating and instructive book how, instead of being ground down by these hardships, Matsushita grew to be a fabulously successful entrepreneur and business leader, the founder of Japan's General Electric: the $65 billion a year Matsushita Electric Corporation.

His accomplishments as a leader, author, educator, philanthropist, and management innovator are astonishing, and outshine even Soichiro Honda, J.C. Penney, Sam Walton, and Henry Ford. In this immensely readable book, Kotter relates how Matsushita created a large business, invented management practices that are increasingly being used today, helped lead his country's economic miracle after World War II wrote dozens of books in his latter years, founded a graduate school of leadership, created Japan's version of a Nobel Prize, and gave away hundreds of millions to good causes.

The Matsushita story expands our notion of the possible, even for a sickly youngster who did not have the benefit of a privileged background, education, good looks, or a charismatic presence. It tells us much about leadership, entrepreneurship, a drive for lifelong learning, and their roots. It demonstrates the power of a longterm outlook, idealistic goals, and humility in the face of great success.

Matsushita Leadership is both a biography and a set of lessons for careers and corporations in the 21st century. An inspirational story and a business primer, the implications are powerful, for organizations and for living a meaningful life.

In this unprecedented study of America's leading executives, John Kotter shatters the popular management notion of the effective "generalist" manager who can step into any business or division and run it. Based on his first-hand observations of fifteen top GMs from nine major companies, Kotter persuasively shows that the best manager is actually a specialist who has spent most of his or her career in one industry, learning its intricacies and establishing cooperative working relationships. Acquiring the painstaking knowledge and large, informal networks vital to being a successful manager takes years; outsiders, no matter how talented or well-trained seldom can do as well, this in-depth profile reveals. Much more than a fascinating collective portrait of the day-to-day activities of today's top executives, The General Managers provides stimulating new insights into the nature of modern management and the tactics of its most accomplished practitioners.

As CEO, you set the vision, the strategy, and the tone of your organization. You establish priorities, anticipate and address challenges, champion and lead change efforts, set people up for success, and manage risk. Though you may have a great senior executive team and a top-flight board, the success of your organization depends on your leadership. If you read nothing else on being an effective chief executive, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the best ones to help you toggle between long- and short-term views, manage risk and innovation, and cultivate productive relationships with your staff and your board. This book will inspire you to: Navigate the changing global business environment Customize your company's strategy to the environment you're working in Attract, engage, and retain the best talent Anticipate and address legislative and regulatory issues Sharpen your awareness of the tactical and soft skills you need to lead Adopt a founder's mindset and build new offerings, move into new markets, and create next-generation solutions Manage and build relationships with your board--and your shareholders This collection of articles includes "Your Strategy Needs a Strategy," by Martin Reeves, Claire Love, and Philipp Tillmanns; "Managing Your Innovation Portfolio," by Bansi Nagji and Geoff Tuff; "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail," by John P. Kotter; "Reinventing Your Business Model," by Mark W. Johnson, Clayton M. Christensen, and Henning Kagermann; "Leadership Is a Conversation," by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind; "Strategic Intent," by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad; "When Growth Stalls," by Matthew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry; "The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution," by Gary L. Neilson, Karla L. Martin, and Elizabeth Powers; "The Focused Leader," by Daniel Goleman; "Managing Risks: A New Framework," by Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes; "21st-Century Talent Spotting," by Claudio Fernandez-Araoz; and "How CEOs Can Work with an Active Board," by Ken Banta and Stephen D. Garrow.