119 Quotes by John P. Kotter

What's really driving the boom in coaching, is this: as we move from 30 miles an hour to 70 to 120 to 180......as we go from driving straight down the road to making right turns and left turns to abandoning cars and getting motorcycles...the whole game changes, and a lot of people are trying to keep up, learn how not to fall.

Overcoming complacency is crucial at the start of any change process, and it often requires a little bit of surprise, something that grabs attention at more than an intellectual level. You need to surprise people with something that disturbs their view that everything is perfect.

Never underestimate the magnitude of the power of the forces that reinforce the status quo.

Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn't about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.

People change what they do less because they are given an analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.

In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes the way we do things around here.

In a change effort, culture comes last, not first.

A culture truly changes only when a new way of operating has been shown to succeed over some minimum period of time.

Most US corporations today are over-managed and under-led. They need to develop their capacity to exercise leadership.