John P. Kotter
John P. Kotter, author and leadership consultant, was the guest of honor at Tuesday’s Keynote Luncheon here in Orlando.
He began his intriguing presentation with the comparison of two CEOs. Those in attendance were forced to focus on how the leadership and management styles of the two men differed drastically. After in-depth studies and interviews were done with each CEO’s employees, it was revealed that CEO number two (GE’s Jack Welch) was praised as a better superior because he focused more on leadership than management, especially in times of change.
This, in a nutshell, is what John P. Kotter is all about: telling the corporate world that leadership, not necessarily management, is how successful companies operate. “The critical ingredient in all of this is leadership — and you can learn it.”
In addition, he offered his eight steps for successful large-scale change:
- Increase urgency
- Build the guiding team
- Get the vision right
- Communicate for buy-in
- Empower action
- Create short-term wins
- Don’t let up
- Make it stick
If you want to hear more from Kotter on the topic, you can buy his book Leading Change on Amazon.
Emily Holbrook is co-editor of Risk Management Monitor and editor of Risk Management magazine, where she has worked since 2008. You can follow her on Twitter @RiskMgmtMonitor.
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Yea, but couldn’t get pass his use of 25-year old videos (did you see the haircuts on those guys?) not to mention the fact that he was using transparencies in his presentation. Was he rebelling against the use of PowerPoint? I’m guessing that this guy is walking around with one of those brick-sized mobile phones, you know the kind that was around when mobile phones were introduced?