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Leadership & “Our Iceberg Is Melting”

Our Iceberg is Melting
13 Mar

“Our Iceberg Is Melting” by John Kotter (2005) is a short story about a penguin colony in Antarctica that walks the reader through his 8-step framework for leading change. This leadership development book should be labeled a classic business book written by the Harvard Professor that can help anyone in positional authority or informal influence get tips on mobilizing teams.

Overview: The story is an engaging and an exceptionally quick read (132 pages). Kotter walks us through the story of penguins, particularly Fred. Fred notices that the iceberg is melting but doesn’t have the authority or solution to do something about it. He approaches Alice, a community penguin leader, and convinces her with data that there is a problem. Together they approach the penguin leadership council (with various strong personalities) in order to win over the colony’s approval to ultimately leave the melting iceberg and find a new home. The story examines what Kotter believes are the 8-steps to Leading Change. The eight steps are 1) Create a Sense of Urgency, 2) Build the Guiding Coalition, 3) Develop the Change Vision & Strategy, 4) Communicate the Change, 5) Empower Others, 6) Produce Short Term Wins, 7) Don’t let up and 8) Create a New Culture.

Key Message: To affect change, you need to get everyone impacted (even the no-nos) to accept the change.  If you can’t convince the no-nos, they need to go.

Areas of Strengths: This book is well written, moves quickly and leaves a lasting impression due to the solid parallels described between the penguin colony and human organizations. It shows how anyone (even those not in top leadership positions) can spark a movement and win hearts and minds. I particularly liked the colorful pictures and some of the change management tactics illustrated, such as the penguin children sponsoring a large iceberg fair, the scout team training to explore long distance icebergs, and the leadership strategy to overwhelm NoNo with theory and research.

Supplemental Information:

Where it Falls Short: I’m struggling with this question because it is so good. I will not give it a 10 because it doesn’t provide the perspective of a top leader coming in to affect change. The story would look very different if it wasn’t a “mid-level Fred” who saw the iceberg was melting and did something about it. Fred needed to “sell” up and down the hierarchy. I’ll need to review a better leadership book for the C-Suite, where they only need to “sell” down the hierarchy in a democratic way – maybe Kotter will write it.

Overall Assessment & Why: I rate it a 9 out of 10 in terms of a leadership development book. It takes you into the minds of the entire community; Their fears and hopes when facing change. I highly recommend Kotter’s work as a business leadership book. I wish I had written it!