John P Kotter on What Leaders Really Do (Harvard Business Review) [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

There's a niche of people out there who are "intuitive / analytical" people. The works of other leadership / management "gurus" seem, well, mystical or overwhelmingly positive.

I personally understand and practice the passion of leadership but personally had a hard time understanding the framework of human relationships and motivations that lead to most management hierarchies. In traditional management hierarchies, passionate people are also labelled as "over the edge". immature, unrealistic.

From an analytical engineering / scientist approach, what occurs in executive management just doesn't seem to make sense. Frankly, I'm blown away by the rampant "peter principle" in executive management. I've not understood why I who have significant leadership skills haven't made it into "the higher echelons".

John Kotter is the first author I've encountered who has been able to layout for me the framework of human interactions. He's the first author who feels to me like he is looking over my shoulder giving me useful guidance, not just pumping me up.

The article on "Leading Change, Why Transformation Efforts Fail" included in the book landed in my lap at a time when I'm attempting to lead cultural changes.

The chapter on "Managing and Power" helped me understand how my independent / contra-dependent leanings might actually be hindering me in a management hierarchy of over dependent managers.

I've gotten more condensed information from Kotter than from any other source to date. However, in this case, I must concur with one of the other reviewers: I'd like greater depth of information on how to better adapt.

Still, Kotter's terse, analytical perspective has been phenomenally valuable in giving me insights into my behaviors (that I'm not the only person who acts, feels, or believes in the things that I do) and a framework for understanding the behaviors of others.

Only time will tell if I've been able to take away anything of any real value and apply it successfully.

I seem to be in a minority in thinking that Kotter's views of leadership are over-rated. Although his commentary recognises complexity, his prescriptions seem to me to be instrumental, linear and unduly inwardly focused. He takes a very analytical view of an intensely human art. One of the central features of successful leadership is passion, and another is a strong and well articulated sense of values. The author recognises both, but does not appear to be engaged by them. They appear to be treated as merely two more ingredients in the mix. Above all, it does not ask the questions that are becoming so dominant - questions about societal values, about balancing the need for profit with issues of sustainability and even about the role of the corporation in a globalised world.

Having said that, there is a lot of good material available. His '8 steps' are sufficiently well known not to need repetition, and the article "What Leaders Really Do" is a good summary of the distinction between leadership and management concerns.

The introduction is written largely around ten 'observations', which add up to saying that leadership and management are different, that high complexity and high rates of change make leadership increasingly important, with a large part of the leadership role being concerned with building vision, providing inspiration and building networks of relationship.