John Kotter Quotes

31 Sourced Quotes

The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.

John Kotter
Because management deals mostly with the status quo and leadership deals mostly with change, in the next century we are going to have to try to become much more skilled at creating leaders.

John Kotter
A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent.

John Kotter
Never underestimate the power of clever people to help others see the possibilities, to help them generate a feeling of faith, and to change behavior.

John Kotter
Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces that reinforce complacency and help maintain the status quo.

John Kotter
Complacency is almost always the product of success or perceived success

John Kotter
One of the most powerful forms of information is feedback on our own actions.

John Kotter
Analytical tools have their limitations in a turbulent world. These tools work best when parameters are known, assumptions are minimal, and the future is not fuzzy.

John Kotter
In a change effort, culture comes last, not first.

John Kotter
Motivation is not a thinking word; it's a feeling word.

John Kotter
One of the most common ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about it beforehand. Communication of ideas helps people see the need for and the logic of a change. The education process can involve one-on-one discussions, presentations to groups, or memos and reports.

John Kotter
We keep a change in place by helping to create a new, supportive, and sufficiently strong organizational culture.

John Kotter
Valued achievements connect to people at a deeper level—and a deeper level can change behavior that is generally very difficult to change.

John Kotter
Neurologists say that our brains are programmed much more for stories than for abstract ideas. Tales with a little drama are remembered far longer than any slide crammed with analytics.

John Kotter
This is true even in organizations that are very focused on analysis and quantitative measurement, even among people who think of themselves as smart in an MBA sense. In highly successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just thought.

John Kotter
The central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people.

John Kotter
Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think.

John Kotter
Changing behavior is less a matter of giving people analysis to influence their thoughts than helping them to see a truth to influence their feelings.

John Kotter
Without credible communication, and a lot of it, the hearts and minds of others are never captured.

John Kotter
A culture truly changes only when a new way of operating has been shown to succeed over some minimum period of time.

John Kotter
People change what they do less because they are given an analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.

John Kotter
Great vision communication usually means heartfelt messages are coming from real human beings.

John Kotter
Without conviction that you can make change happen, you will not act, even if you see the vision. Your feelings will hold you back.

John Kotter
In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes the way we do things around here.

John Kotter
Budgeting is a math exercise, number crunching. Planning is a logical, linear process. Strategizing requires a great deal of information about customers and competitors, along with conceptual skills. Visioning uses a very different part of the brain than budgeting. As the name implies, it involves trying to see possible futures. It inevitably has both a creative and emotional component (e. g., How do we feel about the options?). When you use orthodox planning to create a vision, frustration and failure are inevitable.

John Kotter
Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one's life, and the ability to live up to one's ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response.

John Kotter
Anyone in a large organization who thinks major change is impossible should probably get out.

John Kotter
Never underestimate the power of the mind to disempower.

John Kotter
Good communication is not just data transfer. You need to show people something that addresses their anxieties, that accepts their anger, that is credible in a very gut-level sense, and that evokes faith in the vision.

John Kotter
Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles.

John Kotter