John P. Kotter Quotes

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John P. Kotter

Profession : Educator

Birth : February 25, 1947

Tradition is a very powerful force.

John P. Kotter

Kotter International is about leading large-scale change, not just managing it.

John P. Kotter

Managers are trained to make incremental, programmatic improvements. They aren't trained to lead large-scale change.

John P. Kotter

The world has 6 billion people and counting. We need to help 500 million people become better leaders so that billions can benefit.

John P. Kotter

If you're overbooked, you can't manage pressing problems or even recognize they're pressing until too late.

John P. Kotter

Congress is full of people who get reelected and reelected. How can you have urgency when there are all of those safe seats?

John P. Kotter

Leadership is always about change: it's not about mobilising people to do what they've always done well to continue to do it well.

John P. Kotter

At any one time the world has a very limited number of Steve Jobs or Winston Churchills or Thomas Watson the firsts. These are wonderful people and we can learn much from them, but praying for a few more of them to solve the world's problems is not a great idea.

John P. Kotter

The dry academic tomes I wrote very early in my career were earnest reflections of the research I conducted, the analysis I applied and the conclusions I drew. And they had few readers, mostly other academics. I learned along the way and started including more and more stories in my work.

John P. Kotter

Those in leadership positions who fail to grasp or use the power of stories risk failure for their companies and for themselves.

John P. Kotter

I am always looking for stories that will shed light on how companies define themselves - for better or for worse. When shared with others, such stories can have an enormous impact on how well we move forward in the changing world around us.

John P. Kotter

More and more I'm finding that I'm reading history, I'm reading biography, I'm reading autobiography for a sense of people who've been able to provide leadership. I don't read leadership books anymore.

John P. Kotter

It's very difficult to innovate without requiring people to do something different. And whenever you require people to do something different, you're talking about change.

John P. Kotter

Innovation is kind of a sub-piece of change.

John P. Kotter

I am often asked about the difference between 'change management' and 'change leadership,' and whether it's just a matter of semantics. These terms are not interchangeable.

John P. Kotter

Every organization goes through a lifecycle where they eventually lose their initial speed or agility at a strategic level.

John P. Kotter

All organizations start with a structure that looks like a dynamic solar system. They can be very fast, agile. They attract people who play around with crazy ideas.

John P. Kotter

Sometimes it doesn't hurt to talk around a little and see what lights people's eyes up and what makes them cloud over.

John P. Kotter