A Sense of Urgency is a book that is sorely needed in today's times as the difference between urgency and change will make the difference between survival and liquidation in today's economy. Executives need to recognize the difference between the two. Urgency creates a motivating force on results and teaming. Change is imposed from above, the subject of skepticism and Dilbert cartoons.

Every organization needs to change, that is commonly understood and the subject of endless books, including those by John Kotter. We have become complacent in our approaches to change management as every one of those books deals with change as a process, an event something that happens and then happens again at a latter date. This gives executives the belief that there is a change management recipe, based on principles like the burning platform, communication, and executive sponsorship. That recipe has lost its meaning and its time for use to change the approach to change management.

I recommend this book to any executive, manager, team leader, and concerned professional as a way for them to lead and create results in a powerful way. The book is easily read over a weekend, a couple of airplane rides, etc. The charts and tools are clearly presented and actionable. Overall a must read part of any management library.

Why? Because change has lost its potency. It's become routine and we have lost sight of its fundamental roots. Change and enterprises have become internally focused, concerned with themselves, their processes, their investments etc.

Kotter reminds us that the root of success involves sense of Urgency. Urgency is the highly positive and focused forces that give people the determination to move and win now. It's a simple definition but one that is powerful and well executed throughout the book.

A sense of urgency is a focused book concentrating on the actions and practices involved in creating and sustaining a sense of urgency. Kotter provides four core tactics for driving urgency into an organization. These tactics are supported by anecdotal stories and detailed tools which make the book actionable and practical. The tactics are:

Bring the outside in

Behave with urgency every day

Find opportunity in crisis

Deal with NoNo's

This can give the reader the sense that there is `a recipe for urgency' and I guess that is unavoidable, but internalizing the books message you can readily get a sense of how this all fits into your context.

The strengths of the book centered on its clear and focused organization of these ideas in a way that Executives can easily read on a plane ride or afternoon and apply these practices right away. Kotter accompanies each Urgency Tactic with the details that not only make it real, but also really applicable. Here is a detailed example for the first tactic:

Bring the outside in:

a. Recognize the pervasive problem of internal focus
b. Listen to customer-interfacing employees
c. Use the power of video
d. Don't always shield people from troubling data
e. Redecorate
f. Send people out
g. Bring people in
h. Bring data in, but in the right way
i. Watch out that you don't create a false sense of urgency

Each sub tactic contains a focused page and a half discussion of what they are and how leaders can implement the idea. This detail and its presentation is what really distinguishes the book and brings something new to the debate.

The book's primary weakness is that it is not specific in their examples. There are discussions of nondescript companies that dilute rather than support the messages. Most of the case stories do not have a conclusion - the results companies were able to achieve. This makes the examples more fables that case studies. It's really a shame as strong specific stories are the one thing that is missing that would make this a killer book.

Finally, there are some surprising gaps in the book that by themselves do not diminish the book, but in total they certainly take away from its power. First the book does not recognize that there are other approaches to change management and urgency. This denies the reader the ability to put A Sense of Urgency in the context of the broader literature. This is really unfortunate as this book should replace some ideas and enhance others - Kotter leaves that up to the reader rather than providing a recommendation. Second, the book has no index, which not only makes it tougher to use after the fact, but also is a silly omission.

John Kotter's A Sense of Urgency builds on his earlier works on change - Leading Change, Heart of Change, and Our Iceberg is Melting. Unlike these other titles Kotter focuses on one step in the change process. He offers many useful suggestions about creating a sense of urgency. Anyone involved in leading change should take this seriously because urgency is foundational to change. No urgency, no change. And arousing a sense of urgency is not as easy as it sounds. People and organizations want to hang on to the familiar, the current way of operating. So, like No-No in Our Iceberg is Melting, they will stubbornly resist change, locking themselves into their comfort zone. My sense is that many change efforts fail because no sense of urgency has been created. So Kotter's book is a welcome addition to the literature and the practice of change.

Speed is an underrated and powerful aspect of business that oft goes ignored. "A Sense of Urgency" is a guide to business urgency and keeping the sense of it going to increase productivity and efficiency. Urgency brings speed, speed brings changes, and changes bring opportunities, and opportunities bring profit. A must for improving one's business while not stressing employees out, "A Sense of Urgency" is a solid read for any business manager.

In this book Kotter focuses on the first of the eight steps outlined in his book Leading Change. According to Kotter, creating a sense of urgency is the single most important part of a change effort. I would have to agree. In the company I just left, we could see the threats in the business environment at the unit level. But at the corporate level, there was an attitude of "we have time, we've been here before".

Kotter helps us identify complacency, and gives us strategies to fight it. Leading Change was one of the texts in the University of Nevada, Reno's 400 level change management course, and this book is a great tool to help build on the concepts in Leading Change.

Whenever I meet CEOs, they invariably tell me that they wish their people had more "fire in the belly" or more of a sense of urgency. What are they talking about? Their organizations go about saving someone's life in such a slow methodical fashion, that no life would ever be saved. It's as though a fire truck arrived at a fire and never unrolled any hoses or attached them to any fire hydrants. Instead, they are checking the equipment before getting started.

I have seen this in my own organizations. Hire a new marketing person, and you can be sure that not much more will be accomplished in the first six months than to have the company stationery, business cards, and promotional material redesigned.

What the leaders often don't realize is that their behavior facilitates this "business as usual" slow-motion sleep walk. If you want to get beyond that frustration into effectiveness, this book can help you.

Professor John Kotter knows all this. In his excellent books on change management such as Leading Change and The Heart of Change, he documented that change requires these characteristics be present:

1. A sense of urgency
2. An effective guiding team
3. Appropriate visions and strategies
4. Communications that cause the right messages to be understood by all
5. Allowing people to make necessary changes
6. Making regular progress that inspires people
7. Keeping at making useful changes
8. Not letting the helpful changes unravel

As you can see, it all starts with a sense of urgency. In this book, Professor Kotter gives us his most in-depth look at how a leader can instill and take advantage of a sense of urgency to overcome complacency and bad habits.

He proposes that leaders engage a strategy of continual action based on sensing changes outside the organization that provide opportunities or present threats while eliminating activities that don't add much value. Such a strategy should be implemented in a way that appeals to your organization both rationally and emotionally.

To implement that strategy he suggests these tactics (see pp. 60-61):

1. Bring the outside in with engaging information so that the outside is acknowledged, understood, and acted on.

2. Demonstrate urgency every day as a leader and expect everyone else to do the same.

3. Find appropriate opportunities to change and improve from crises that threaten the organization.

4. Wall off, neutralize, or eliminate those who oppose or slow down change for no good reason.

The book goes on to provide lists of questions, examples of good and bad behavior, and check lists to help you follow Professor Kotter's advice.

I found a few flaws in the ointment that concerned me about the book that I think you should be aware of:

1. In the book's beginning, there's a lot of attention paid to what is described as a "false sense of urgency." He characterizes people with this attitude as feeling that change must be made but whose actions aren't very helpful (like the new marketing people who spend a lot of effort redesigning the stationery). I don't think that's the only syndrome that you have to deal with. I also see people who have a real sense of urgency, but who don't have the management skills to know how to fix whatever it is that needs to be fixed. I would characterize that as incompetent management. Professor Kotter fails to address what to do about incompetent change management.

2. The sections on the tactics don't contain many examples, and many of the examples are ones that he has shared in earlier books such as The Heart of Change. I would have liked to see more examples and more details about how to pursue these tactics in organizations with different kinds of cultures. As a result, I didn't feel like I gained very much information about the tactics beyond what the description of the tactic provides.

3. Can leadership be defined and parsed like management is? To some extent. I think that Professor Kotter doesn't feel comfortable trying to do so. As a result, the book is a little on the superficial side for a reader who hasn't seen an effective change leader in operation.

4. There are many other tactics for leading successful change that require the use of new business models and those ideas are totally missing from the book.

But I don't know of a better book on the challenges of creating a sense of urgency in leading change. So do read this one and make the best use of it you can.

Back in the 70's I received a minor promotion on the job. My boss stated that the promotion was in large part due to my "sense of urgency". At the time, I really didn't fully understand what he meant but grew to love this attribute in others as the years and decades went by.

As a corporate human resources director, I find this trait is needed more today than ever in the past. Amid the continual chaos in our markets, Kotter has written a timely book that every manager should have on their desk or night stand. In his book, Kotter explains the hurdles that pop-up preventing a sense of urgency mindset. He speaks the truth when writing about making the "business case" and the limited value of such for most people. More importantly, he details how to remove these roadblocks. One of the most helpful sections speaks to the actions we must take to maintain the urgency after the initial sell.

I found this to be a very helpful book that I will be sharing with management. I hope you find this review helpful. Michael L. Gooch, Wingtips with Spurs: Cowboy Wisdom for Today's Business Leaders.

Once again, Harvard guru Kotter addresses the issue of change in organizations. He suggests that we are made to change, but still defend against it with all our being. It is this defense, or resistance to change, that cause most organizational change initiatives to fail.

In Kotter's previous book, Leading Change, he outlined an eight-step process for implementing corporate transformations. In A Sense of Urgency he addresses how these change initiatives begin. Namely, how they are created inside the company through the development of a true sense of urgency. The biggest tricks and tools Kotter provides surround overcoming the fear, anger, and ingrown complacency that derail the change process.

Another book I recommend strongly because it changed me and I think it's a perfect complement to Kotter's book is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book

Organizations tend to acclimate people to do lists
of things. Sometimes, there is a difficulty in
distinguishing between the material versus immaterial
tasks in everyday life.

The author tries to instill in the reader a sense of
urgency. This sense is in contradistinction to the
myriad of things in our lives that can be postponed
now or indefinitely. Urgency provides us with an
incentive to act in the here and now. In addition,
a notion of urgency will help us to identify and
exploit current opportunities that would otherwise
be ignored due to "greater priorities in the bureaucracy".

We must transcend the status quo, deal with distractions
and embrace the right change. Ultimately, we must choice a course
of action, anticipate problems, choose a strategy and
employ the right tactics.

The author spurs us to choose to do the right things
rather than producing work aimlessly.
The book forces us to think more carefully about our daily regimen
and how our efforts fit within an overall pattern of progress
forward.

Kotter's description of "false" sense of urgency resonated with multiple situations I have encountered while working with different management teams. Creating the right sense of urgency is one of the most difficult challenges for leaders and Kotter has done a great job of providing valuable insight for all business leaders.

A Sense of Urgency - reviewed

About a month ago I received an email from Michelle Morgan, the publicist for John Kotter, my hero when it comes to the topic of organizational change. Ever since I read the seminal work "Leading Change", I have based a lot of my suggestions, consulting, coaching, and other advice on Kotter's 8-step process of change.

I was surprised and honored when I read that Michelle had reviewed a lot of my articles and blog posts and invited me to write this review of the newest book. Right up front I like to say that I believe "A sense of Urgency" is a good, valuable book, especially for its clarifications of what to look for to successfully begin the change process in an organization.

That being said, I also believe the book does not reach the full potential a discussion of this most important part of the 8-step change process could have. The 8 steps are mentioned in the book but the flow from developing a sense of urgency and then having it maintained by the guiding coalition (step-2) isn't very clear.

Let's start at the beginning: In a great review of previous writings and a clear development of the importance of "A Sense of Urgency", Kotter leads the reader into the topic. He begins to separate complacency, a false sense of urgency and true urgency from each other. At this early point in the book I realized that the title of the book is really unfortunate.

I believe this book should have an action-title and then use it as a continuous thread throughout. Having a sense of something is one state of being, taking action and actually creating something new is more than a sense. In several parts of the book the word `urgency' is used as an action-word. I am sure there would be better options. The best possible word is something an editor or a title developer is better suited to come up with, but I would have loved to see a title like : "Vitalization" or maybe "Excitation".

Besides the title that doesn't really fit the call for action, two other aspects of the book caught most of my attention, one positive, one not so appreciated. In "A sense of Urgency", John Kotter makes a great case and really detailed suggestions about tactics to be used to keep the change process flowing. I especially liked the part that deals with the NoNos he first mentioned in the 2005 book "Our Iceberg is melting". Fitting examples and great suggestions showing how to handle different circumstances help readers and anybody planning to implement Kotter's change process in a very practical way.

One of the big disappointments for me is the view on outside help. As a coach and consultant I am biased. Still I feel that John Kotter missed a great opportunity to describe how outside help can actually support the leader, the guiding coalition, and the change teams to maintain the urgency needed to succeed. Consultants are shown in a neutral to slightly negative way, but coaches aren't really mentioned at all.

Several of the examples describing failed initiatives or attempts to get an organization to change actually beg for the introduction of a coach, much more so than a consultant. The profession of coaching is rapidly growing and has gained a lot of trust in the business world. To leave it out when speaking about developing and maintaining a sense of urgency and then taking the necessary actions to establish the desired changes throughout the organization has been a great disappointment for me.

In a time when institutions we believed to be secure and trustworthy are crumbling all around us; when the way fundamental resources used to keep our economy and our lives running are rapidly being replaced by new, cleaner alternatives, and competition is accelerating on a global scale, we need ways to establish change in a successful way. "A Sense of Urgency" provides added and modernized details to the first two steps of the seminal 8-step process John Kotter developed about 15 years ago. We all should find ways to increase the likelihood of successful organizational change from the 30% Kotter describes for the last two decades to something much closer to 70% or even 80%.

Anybody who ever wrote a book knows that there are things that could have come out better. "A Sense of Urgency" is a valuable contribution for anybody planning or involved in a tough change effort. Reading this book will prepare us for what to expect when these changes are needed and teaches us to try to implement them preventively rather than in the middle of a crisis. I look forward to added details to the other steps in Kotter's change process. This is a solid start.

Through good times and bad, through crises and times of change, businesses that thrive, grow and succeed are those best able to maintain a sense of urgency. But just what does that mean, to maintain "a sense of urgency?"

Many people equate urgency to lots of tasks being done quickly and frantically. And that's exactly the wrong approach when a business is contending with a crisis or profound change. While complacency is certainly the wrong way to respond to challenging circumstances, a false sense of urgency can often be more dangerous.

In his latest book, A Sense of Urgency, John P. Kotter ably explains the difference between the three responses and provides a very useful guide for businesspeople facing change, crises and challenges.

[...]

Kotter's book makes the argument that we're moving from a time of episodic change to continuous change in organisations. Episodic change is when things are stable and then you are thrown a big IT system and everything is chaotic for a few years, then it settles down again. Continuous change is when you keep getting these things thrown at you all the time. So, having a sense of urgency built into the organisation becomes more and more not just something to do with being part of a change process, but a more central organisational capability that might help you differentiate you from others.

So, why does he think so much organisational change is doomed to failure? Because no change can get off to a good start unless you can take the false urgency - this kind of anxiety-driven, running around in circles, activity - or the complacency out of the system. That, and getting enough people who are absolutely determined deep in their hearts to get up every day and find the real problems and opportunities within the organisation and taking some action, even if it's teeny. Until you get enough people doing that you do not have a strong enough foundation to be able to launch an effort that has any chance of succeeding. More often than not, if people don't do that, any change is doomed from the beginning.

He argues too that his book has a particular resonance during the current downturn, and we should always look at difficult situations not just as difficult situations but as an opportunity to launch some changes that will make you stronger in the future. Just firing a few people isn't going to make you stronger. Nobody has ever shrunk themselves to greatness.

The most important piece of advice to take away from the book, he argues, is this: The world is dangerously full in an age of change with too much complacency and too much of this wretched, stressed-out, frenetic activity that we associate with false urgency. This is not producing outcomes that are good for the human community, and it will produce worse outcomes in the future. But we can do something about this. It is not an inevitably negative story if we recognise it and know the various methods for correcting it.

All in all, another great book on business strategy from John Kotter.

I read another leadership book this week after having come across it in a review for another one of Kotter's books. It's great and I also recommend it highly: Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results

Years ago, Stephen Covey suggested that many (most?) executives spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough on what is important. In Chapter 1 of this book, John Kotter suggests that, in fact, the problem is that many (most?) workers -- including executives -- do not have "a true sense of urgency [that is a] highly positive and highly focused force [and] the result of people, up and down the hierarchy, who provide the leadership needed to create and re-create this increasingly important asset. These sorts of people use a strategy that aims at the heart as well as the mind. They use four sets of tactics." Kotter devotes the balance of his book to explaining what the strategy and tactics are, why they are essential to the success of individuals as well as to the success of their organization, and how those who read his book can execute the strategy and tactics to achieve the given objectives, whatever they may be.

As I read this book, I was reminded of recent research conducted by the Gallup Organization indicating that 29% of the U.S. workforce is engaged (i.e. loyal, enthusiastic, and productive) whereas 55% is passively disengaged. That is, they are going through the motions, doing only what they must, "mailing it in," coasting, etc. What about the other 16%? They are "actively disengaged" in that they are doing whatever they can to undermine their employer's efforts to succeed. They have a toxic impact on their associates and, in many instances, on customer relations. These are stunning statistics. How to explain them? Reasons vary from one organization to the next. However, most experts agree that no more than 5% of any given workforce consists of "bad apples," troublemakers, chronic complainers, subversives, etc. How to get as many as possible among the other 50% to become positively engaged?

It is important to note that, for many years, Kotter has conducted rigorous and extensive research of his own on employee engagement and has a wide and deep range of hands-on experience with hundreds of major corporations that were either planning change initiatives or had only recently embarked on them. In three of his published works (Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and Our Iceberg Is Melting), he explains why more than 70% of change initiatives fail. "The number-one problem [organizations] have is all about creating a sense of urgency - and that's the first step in a series of actions needed to succeed in a changing world...Winners first make sure that a sufficient number of people feel a true sense of urgency to look for an organization's critical opportunities and hazards now." It is not that Kotter disagrees with Covey. On the contrary. If I understand what Kotter shares in this book, one of his key points is that workers must devote most of their time to what is most important...and do so by creating and recreating "a true sense of urgency" at all levels and in all areas.

In this context, I am reminded of a hospital emergency room. Its success requires adequate resources as well as a highly skilled staff with cross-functional capabilities. All of its members share "a true sense of urgency" when responding to all manner of health crises. More often than not, they are treating strangers about whom they know little (if anything) and sometimes must deal with a life-or-death situation. There is no time for complacency. Everyone must be fully engaged. For the ER team to be successful, its members must be both intellectually and emotionally committed to assist those entrusted to their care. There is no place on the team for anyone who is unwilling and/or unable to accept these responsibilities. Kotter's point (and I wholeheartedly agree) is that no team can succeed unless and until each of its members feels as well as understands "a true sense of urgency" and that is as true of executives and those on the shop floor as it is of ERs. "Get that right and you are off to a great start. Get that right and you can produce results that you very much want, and the world very much needs."

The other three tactics are best revealed within Kotter's narrative, in context. Now I wish to shift my attention to some material in Chapter 6 as Kotter discusses two perspectives on the nature of crises. "The first group, by far the larger, sees crises as horrid events, and for obvious reasons." Therefore, every effort is to avoid them or at least to prepare for them with comprehensive plans for crisis management and damage control. "A very different perspective on the nature of crises is described with the metaphor of a `burning platform.' In this view, crises are not necessarily bad and may, under certain conditions, actually be required to succeed in an increasingly changing world." Which perspective is correct? "Neither," Kotter responds, and then he explains various downside risks of a damage control mind-set or when using a crisis to reduce complacency and create. Again, what he recommends is best revealed within the narrative. However, I want to reassure those who read this brief commentary that Kotter fully appreciates the potential value of that contingency planning and crisis management. (He is a world-renowned expert on both.) He also clearly aware of problems that could occur when crying "Wolf!" in the absence of such a threat. In this context, his objective is to help his reader to understand how and why there are times when judicious use of created crisis can be appropriate. That said, "any naiveté about the downside risks can cause disaster" and for that reason, he identifies and briefly discusses four "Big Mistakes" (Pages 136-141) and then suggests that crises can be used to create true urgency if eight principles he recommends are followed. (Please see Pages 142-143.) In a world in which change is the only constant and seems to be occurring at an every-increasing velocity, Kotter notes that "finding opportunities in crises probably reduces your overall risk." It seems to me that in this chapter, Kotter explores a previously neglected dimension of crisis of management, and once again, he indicates still other applications of the eight-step pattern introduced in the aforementioned earlier books, Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and Our Iceberg Is Melting.

In Chapter 9, he shares his thoughts about how to sustain a high sense of urgency in an organization. That is indeed a major challenge, especially when thinking in terms of doing so throughout an entire enterprise. Obviously, leadership is needed at all levels and in all areas. "The ultimate solution to the problem of urgency dropping after successes is to create the right culture. This is especially true as we move from a world in which change is most episodic to a world in which change is continuous." Completing that transition is never easy but is far easier in what Kotter characterizes as "the right culture." Although significantly different in most ways, all high-performance companies seem to have a culture in which a majority of those involved take pride in what they achieve but are convinced that there is always room for improvement, that they can always do better. They are never satisfied. They view mistakes, errors, detours, dry wells, blind alleys, etc. as valuable learning opportunities. Their change initiatives to sustain improvement tend to be customer-driven and with, you guessed it, "a true sense of urgency."

Is this also true of your culture? If not, I urge you to read this book first and then each of the other three (Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and then Our Iceberg Is Melting) to prepare yourself to attract and engage others in urgently needed change initiatives. If not now, when? If not you, who?

Meanwhile, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....

Years ago, Steven Covey suggested that many (most?) executives spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough on what is important. In Chapter 1 of this book, John Kotter suggests that, in fact, the problem is that many (most?) workers -- including executives -- do not have "a true sense of urgency [that is] highly positive and highly focused force [and] the result of people, up and down the hierarchy, who provide the leadership needed to create and re-create this increasingly important asset. These sorts of people use a strategy that aims at the heart as well as the mind. They use four sets of tactics." Kotter devotes the balance of his book to explaining what the strategy and tactics are, why they are essential to the success of individuals as well as to the success of their organization, and how those who read his book can execute the strategy and tactics to achieve the given objectives, whatever they may be.

As I read this book, I was reminded of recent research conducted by the Gallup Organization indicating that 29% of the U.S. workforce is engaged (i.e. loyal, enthusiastic, and productive) whereas 55% is passively disengaged. That is, they are going through the motions, doing only what they must, "mailing it in," coasting, etc. What about the other 16%? They are "actively disengaged" in that they are doing whatever they can to undermine their employer's efforts to succeed. They have a toxic impact on their associates and, in many instances, on customer relations. These are stunning statistics. How to explain them? Reasons vary from one organization to the next. However, most experts agree that no more than 5% of any given workforce consists of "bad apples," troublemakers, chronic complainers, subversives, etc. How to get as many as possible among the other 50% to become positively engaged?

It is important to note that, for many years, Kotter has conducted rigorous and extensive research of his own on employee engagement and has a wide and deep range of hands-on experience with hundreds of major corporations that were either planning change initiatives or had only recently embarked on them. In three of his published works (Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and Our Iceberg Is Melting), he explains why more than 70% of change initiatives fail. "The number-one problem [organizations] have is all about creating a sense of urgency - and that's the first step in a series of actions needed to succeed in a changing world...Winners first make sure that a sufficient number of people feel a true sense of urgency to look for an organization's critical opportunities and hazards now." It is not that Kotter disagrees with Covey. On the contrary. If I understand what Kotter shares in this book, one of his key points is that workers must devote of their time to what is most important...and do so by creating and recreating "a true sense of urgency" at all levels and in all areas.

In this context, I am reminded of a hospital emergency room. Its success requires adequate resources as well as a highly skilled staff with cross- functional capabilities. All of its members share "a true sense of urgency" when responding to all manner of health crises. More often than not, they are treating strangers about whom they know little (if anything) and sometimes must deal with a life-or-death situation. There is no time for complacency. Everyone must be fully engaged. For the ER team to be successful, its members must be both intellectually and emotionally committed to assist those entrusted to their care. There is no place on the team for anyone who is unwilling and/or unable to accept these responsibilities. Kotter's point (and I wholeheartedly agree) is that no team can succeed unless and until each of its members feels as well as understands "a true sense of urgency" and that is as true of executives and those on the shop floor as it is of ERs. "Get that right and you are off to a great start. Get that right and you can produce results that you very much want, and the world very much needs."

The other three tactics are best revealed within Kotter's narrative, in context. Now I wish to shift my attention to some material in Chapter 6 as Kotter discusses two perspectives on the nature of crises. "The first group, by far the larger, sees crises as horrid events, and for obvious reasons." Therefore, every effort is to avoid them or at least to prepare for them with comprehensive plans for crisis management and damage control. "A very different perspective on the nature of crises is described with the metaphor of a `burning platform.' In this view, crises are not necessarily bad and may, under certain conditions, actually be required to succeed in an increasingly changing world." Which perspective is correct? "Neither," Kotter responds, and then he explains various downside risks of a damage control mind-set or when using a crisis to reduce complacency and create. Again, what he recommends is best revealed within the narrative. However, I want to reassure those who read this brief commentary to know that Kotter fully appreciates the potential value of that contingency planning and crisis management. (He is a world-renowned expert on both.) He also clearly recognizes problems that could occur when crying "Wolf!" in the absence of such a threat. In this context, his objective is to help his reader to understand how and why there are times when judicious use of created crisis can be appropriate. That said, "any naiveté about the downside risks can cause disaster" and for that reason, he identifies and briefly discusses four "Big Mistakes" (Pages 136-141) and then suggests that crises can be used to create true urgency if eight principles are followed. (Pages 142-143) In a world in which change is the only constant and seems to be occurring at an every-increasing velocity, Kotter notes that "finding opportunities in crises probably reduces your overall risk." It seems to me that in this chapter, Kotter explores a previously neglected dimension of crisis of management, and once again, he indicates still other applications of the eight-step pattern introduced in the aforementioned earlier books, Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and Our Iceberg Is Melting.

In Chapter 9, he shares his thoughts about how to sustain a high sense of urgency in an organization. That is indeed a major challenge, especially when thinking in terms of doing so throughout an entire enterprise. Obviously, leadership is needed at all levels and in all areas. "The ultimate solution to the problem of urgency dropping after successes is to create the right culture. This is especially true as we move from a world in which change is most episodic to a world in which change is continuous." Completing that transition is never easy but is far easier in what Kotter characterizes as "the right culture." Although significantly different in most ways, all high-performance companies seem to have a culture in which a majority of those involved take pride in what they achieve but are convinced that there is always room for improvement, that they can always do better. They are never satisfied. They view mistakes, errors, detours, dry wells, blind alleys, etc. as valuable learning opportunities. Their change initiatives to sustain improvement tend to be customer-driven and with, you guessed it, "a true sense of urgency."

Is this also true of your culture? If not, I urge you to read this book first and then each of the other three (Leading Change, The Heart of Change with Dan Cohen, and then Our Iceberg Is Melting) to prepare yourself to attract and engage others in urgently needed change initiatives. If not now, when? If not you, who?

Meanwhile, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....

Throughout my career I have read other books by John Kotter, most notably Leading Change. I came across Our Iceburg is Melting this summer after reading about it in the NY Times. That book, a fable using the same decison making process outlined in the 1994 Leading Change book, was very accessible and made it plain that Kotter's 8 step methodolgy really had merit.

For the last three years I have been working with nonprofit organizations that are being forced, because of the changing economy, demographic shifts and fundraising realities, to make fundamental changes in their organizations. I have found the greatest problem has been creating urgency in complacent organizations.

This book A Sense of Urgency is a perfect distillation of Kotter's theories. No change happens anywhere without someone deciding "we have to change NOW." But how do you get complaicent people to change? Kotter's book answers that question and provides examples from his consulting practice. I found this book helpful even for nonprofit organizations. Having worked with countless boards of directors who fear change because of the impact the change could have on their own perception of their status in the community, this book provided good clear answers.

My favorite part of the book was how to deal with the "No Nos," those people who actively and passively try to thwart change of any kind. Kotter provides examples of techniques that work, and those that do not, so that readers can confront these naysayers immediately and repeatedly, so the change agenda does not get derailed.

A worthwhile book.

What's missing and needed in almost all organizations today is a real sense of urgency, an attitude that makes people want to make something important happen today and shed lower-priority activities to make it happen. Thus, Kotter doesn't mince any words in getting started. My experience in a government health care setting, unfortunately, was 20 years of "we'll get to that later."

Kotter has repeatedly found that in 70% of cases where large-scale change is needed, either the effort was not fully launched, the effort failed, or the effort was disappointing because it was over budget and late. Another problem pointed out by Kotter is misguided urgency - frantic running from meeting to meeting and producing volumes of paper, while accomplishing little or nothing.

Complacent people pay too much attention to what is happening internally than externally. One of the most important reasons for this, says Kotter, is historical success. Other complacency red flags include calling for a consultant study (and taking one's time selecting them), creating a follow-up task force without the CEO and other key people on it, long delays between task force meetings, and no decisions being made.

Kotter suggests bringing in outside information, and "decorating the walls" with it. Examples include market share and comparative financial trends, feedback from customers. Some leaders bring in the CEOs of major customers to get feedback directly, or better yet - go to their locations.

One suggestion for "A Sense of Urgency" - my review of organizations undertaking substantial turnaround efforts (eg. IBM before Gerstner) is that, per Kotter, change usually comes from the outside - in fact, it may be forced by the firm's banks, board of directors. More often than not it requires changing the CEO, who in turn will usually change a number of other leaders.

Good, but Kotter probably would have been able to provide a much more specific guide to change by measuring change and deciding what to change as explained in How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business. He barely mentions the real reason why atheletes have a sense of urgency during competition - measurable feedback and time limits. And the issue of what we should be targeting with our sense of urgency is at least as important as the urgency itself and that is addressed only by good (quantitative) decision support. But we can give Kotter a pass on the latter since his topic is focused on the part that comes after the business case (and he doesn't entirely reject the need for a business case).

The communication points and the advice for dealing with obstacles are, no doubt, based on Kotter's own extensive experience. But I tend to read management books of any kind with some skepticism. Other than a clever and pithy delivery, we aren't given much reason to believe that each specific observation or piece of advice is actually true. There are lots of books written by lots of experienced managers. The problem is that they feel their resumes alone are reason enough for us to believe them and they can avoid the questions researchers have to answer.

The weaknesses are only the weaknesses I see in most management books, so I don't so much fault Kotter that. All that said, this is a great read and it has great stories.

John Kotter, professor emeritus of the Harvard Business School, has just written his newest book, A Sense of Urgency. It's an excellent explication of the first tenet of Kotter's now well known 8-step change theory (From his book Leading Change):

1. Establish a sense of urgency.
2. Create a guiding coalition.
3. Develop a vision and a strategy.
4. Communicate the change vision.
5. Empower employees for broad-based action.
6. Generate short-term wins.
7. Consolidate gains and produce more change.
8. Anchor new approaches in the culture.

Kotter believes that urgency is critical to this whole process; simply put, no urgency--no change.

Kotter drills down into the weeds on establishing a sense of urgency and gives the reader some clear reasons for improving companies:

Successful companies tend to be complacent and do little; companies that raise a false sense of urgency run around like chickens with their heads cut off--frazzled; only those companies working off a true sense of urgency tend to produce change that matters. Kotter further explains that complacent and under-fire companies are too focused on the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and very little on the external threats and opportunities. If you'll recall the well-known strategic planning mantra S.W.O.T (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats), Kotter's urgency theory makes a lot of sense. Again, the progressive and productive companies look not just inward but especially outward--at how opportunity and threats must be faced squarely.

To increase this sense of urgency, the author provides a simple but effective strategy: "Create action that is exceptionally alert, externally oriented, relentlessly aimed at winning, making some progress each and every day and constantly purging low value-added activities--all by always focusing on the heart and not just the mind."

You'll need to read the book for the valuable detail that Kotter provides. The following is a cursory overview:

1. Bring the outside in (connect to the customer and the world outside the corporate walls).
2. Behave urgently every day (make urgency--not anxiety or anger--part of the culture focused on external opportunities and threats).
3. Find opportunity in crisis (be careful but look for opportunity in the midst of any crisis).
4. Deal with the NoNos who block change (neutralize and remove those urgency-killers, who will keep the group in a deadly complacent static state in an ever-changing world. Healthy skeptics are not a threat, but the NoNos are).

Kotter has hit the nail squarely in this easy-to-read book. Having seen all sorts of companies up close, I think Kotter has described a practical method for getting people to be productive--by creating a real sense of urgency.