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About the Author
John Kotter has been on the faculty at Harvard Business School since 1972. He is the author of eleven award-winning titles and frequently gives speeches and seminars at Harvard and around the world. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Holger Rathgeber spent his early professional career in Asia. He has worked in industry since the early 1990's and is now with one of the leading medical technology companies, Bectom Dickinson. Raised in Frankfurt, Germany, Rathgeber currently resides in White Plains, New York.

Watch a video clip featuring author John Kotter

Customer Reviews:

• Applicable to Nonprofit organizations too
  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 www.ouriceburgismelting.com, 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....more info
• SIMPLE, AND YET, DEEP.
  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.
  ...more info
• Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing And Succeeding Under Any Conditions
  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. ...more info
• Highly effective in our healthcare change efforts....
  Using prepublication versions of Dr.Kotter's excellent allegory, we have challenged our workshop attendees to read this book in the evening and be prepared to spend the next morning in group exercises focusing on the book, the penguins and their plight as their iceberg is melting. The characters and their approaches to change are readily applicable as we make a rapid transition from Antarctica to our healthcare organizations. The participants are engaged, understand Kotter's 8-steps to effective change, and quickly translate the lessons learned to the change efforts we are guiding toward improved teamwork, communication and patient safety. The story engages everyone. People are energized and ready to apply the principles to their healthcare settings with a deeper understanding of the steps, the barriers and success factors. This book is fun, highly effective, profound in its message and usable in nearly any organizational change effort. Congratulations to Dr. Kotter, his co-author and the illustrator for creating such a valuable, concise and meaningful tool. If we can get doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers to "get the message" and successfully orchestrate necessary change...you can inspire your organization, too. ...more info
• Putting a great theory into practice
  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....more info
• Excellent for team building
  This book was recommended by my boss, it is amazing. It is put in such a simple format you'll find yourself naming coworkers! Great read and very insightful....more info
• Disappointed
  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....more info
• Mirror of our 9-5 life
  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. ...more info
• Our Iceberg is Melting
  "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.
  ...more info
• Simple, but effective, Story
  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. ...more info
• Required Reading
  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. ...more info
• Its all about the penguins!
  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....more info
• Amusing & Enlightening
  I am usually more into serious literature, but one of my team mates in an on-line course suggested that our group use this book for an educational leadership project. It was an excellent suggestion. Not only was the book "short and sweet", but within its pages, I could actually see myself and the role that I play within the structural system of my school. I am a die hard for doing things the "old way" and this little fable opened my eyes to seeing the importance of change. If we don't adapt, we won't survive. It is also very amusing to read about the plight of these little penguins and their cooperative effort to solve the crisis of their iceberg population. The illustrations are also well done and very entertaining. I would definitely recommend this book. It's great! It really brings the point home without becoming offensive....more info
• Our Iceberg is Melting
  Great book. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a job or family. It presents a humorous way of looking at change and gets the point accross very well....more info
• Really a good bussiness book to read
  Easy to read. Easy to understand. And, easy to apply....more info
• Mobilizing Change
  Organizational culture change has always been a fuzzy concept to communicate. Being an airline pilot at a major US commercial carrier, I have been involved in the safety culture change effort known as Crew Resource Management (CRM) for the past 20 years. This effort targeted improvement of knowledge, skills and attitudes for safer flight crew performance and accident prevention. Faced with similar human factors challenges, the healthcare industry is adopting CRM principles to create change across large health systems including the Military Health System. As a member of this change team, we were fortunate to be able to use a pre-publication copy of Our Iceberg is Melting in our change management course for core change leaders. These clinicians have little time to read other Kotter books so this book is perfect as a simple 45 minute homework assignment. The characters are easily identified in all of our workplaces and particpants come away with a clear focus of the challenges and path they must take towards real, sustainable change in their organizations. I wish we had this book in aviation during our change efforts, in fact, I felt a strong connection to the seagulls. Some particpants have reported reading the book as a bedtime story to their kids. Hmm, school work? Chores? Read this book and use it as a front line resource for lasting change.
  
  Steve Powell, Airline Captain ...more info
• Myth-tery Solved!
  Myths and fables hold important lessons within their memorable plots and characters -- and that is part of the appeal of this new book from John Kotter. Our ability to relate to and identify with these characters helps us to imagine applying Kotter's 8 change steps to our own complex situations. Fred, Jordan, Louis, Sally Ann, Nono, Alice, and the rest of the 'plucked from real-life' characters in this change fable want you to see the plan in action. This quick, entertaining read is also beautifully illustrated. Those who have seen Kotter teach will attest to his extraordinary skill as a storyteller. To some extent, that experience of seeing him "live" is captured in the pages of this charming little book....more info
• Anyone in Business Should Read this Book
  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....more info
• Great Parable
  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....more info
• Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
  
  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.
  ...more info
• For those who lead a good read,
  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....more info
• Excellent Book Covering Multiple Facets of Handling Change
  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.
  ...more info
• Brilliant Book
  Are you a quite leader?
  Read the book to make make positive change within your organizations. ...more info
• Our Iceberg Is Melting
  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. ...more info
• The most important management skill
  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....more info
• Fantastic tool to drive transformational change
  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...more info
• Too simple
  This book was entirely too elementary. I was expecting some insight into managing change, not a grade school level story....more info
• Excellent quick read
  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....more info
• Our Iceberg Is Melting
  It was a quick CD. Allows you to think outside of the box. Very similar to "Who Moved My Cheese", but I liked "Who Moved My Cheese" better. I would recommend this book/cd....more info
• Great Tool to Help Explain the Change Process
  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....more info
• Better for corporations
  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....more info
• Simple and extremelly effective
  A trully inspiring book. It gives you with and incredible simple and enteraining story the basics to manage a succesful busines.
  ...more info
• A Problem Solving Fable
  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.
  ...more info
• Adapt or Perish
  
  Although fables have been written and shared for many centuries dating back at least to Aesop (said to have lived as a slave in Samos around 550 B.C.), it has been only in recent years that the business narrative in the form of a fable has become popular, notably with the publication of Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson who wrote the Foreword to this volume, co-authored by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. I was amused when noting its subtitle, "Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions," having seen the Luc Jacquet's documentary film March of the Penguins, co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society, in which the Emperor Penguins and those who filmed them endured (and most of the penguins survived) temperatures around the French scientific base of Dumont d'Urville in Antarctica that fell to -80¡ã Fahrenheit. How many human enterprises could function under such conditions?
  
  Kotter and Rathgeber offer a fable in which the central character, an Emperor Penguin named Fred, struggles without much success to convince his colony's Leadership Council that his research statistics indicate "the shrinking of the size of their home, the canals, the caves filled with water, the number of fissures, causing by [their iceberg's] melting." If they do not relocate to another iceberg soon....
  
  What happens next is best revealed by Kotter and Rathgeber within their narrative. They are brilliant storytellers who first introduce their lead characters, and create a situation, then identify conflicts that build tension as the plot develops, until its conclusion (sort of). As with George Orwell in Animal Farm, their primary purpose, however, is not to entertain but to instruct. As they explain, "Our goal in writing Our Iceberg Is Melting was to draw upon the incredible power of good stories to influence behavior over time - making individuals and their groups more competent in handling change and producing better results."
  
  Specifically, to use their story to illustrate "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change" that Kotter introduced in his book Leading Change (1996). In a sequel to it, The Heart of Change (2002), he and Dan Cohen examine "the core problem people face in all of those steps, and how to successfully deal with the problem." And the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. "All these elements, and others, are important. But the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings." (Those who do that effectively have what Daniel Goleman characterizes as "emotional intelligence.") Kotter and Cohen structure this book around the eight steps "because that is how people experience the process. There is a flow in a successful change effort, and the chapters follow that flow."
  
  Fred follows "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change" (without identifying it as such, of course) and achieves at least some temporary success but Kotter and Rathgeber leave no doubt in their reader's mind that change is a never-ending process rather than an ultimate destination. Precisely the same barriers that Fred encounters are certain to reappear when the Leadership Council is called upon to consider other proposed changes when the colony seems threatened. In many (if not most) organizations today, their decision-makers are facing one or more meltdowns of various kinds (sales, profits, ROI, attrition of valued employees, client and/or market share, etc.). What Kotter and Rathgeber recommend in their business fable is, effect, a framework by which to understand and then respond effectively to whatever challenges may appear, challenges that require changes of what is done and (especially) how it is done, so that these organizations can succeed "under any conditions."
  
  I presume to offer a specific suggestion when concluding this brief commentary: Purchase a copy of this book for each of several key people and then bring together to discuss it in ways and to the extent that Fred and his colony are relevant to the given enterprise...but don't stop there. Take full advantage of this opportunity to formulate, together, a plan by which to institutionalize "The Eight Step Process of Successful Change." To repeat, beneficial change is an on-going, never-ending process and has one requirement more important than any other: adapt or perish. ...more info
• Working with change
  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.
  
  ...more info