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104th out of 152 books
—
105 voters
A Sense of Urgency
Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his international bestseller Leading Change, John Kotter revealed why change is so hard, and provided an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. The book became the change bible for managers worldwide.
Now, in A Sense of Urgency,...more
Now, in A Sense of Urgency,...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
August 5th 2008
by Harvard Business Review Press
(first published 2008)
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A Sense of Urgency
By: John P. Kotter
Read: September 2009
Reviewed: November 2009
Copyright: 2008
A Sense of Urgency is the second book I have read by Kotter. The first was Leading Change which was written about 11 years prior. A Sense of Urgency builds upon a subset of the content from Leading Change.
Kotter starts out by comparing a sense of urgency to complacency and false urgency. Often in business people become complacent when success has been had. Even if there is a brief sense of urgency, due...more
By: John P. Kotter
Read: September 2009
Reviewed: November 2009
Copyright: 2008
A Sense of Urgency is the second book I have read by Kotter. The first was Leading Change which was written about 11 years prior. A Sense of Urgency builds upon a subset of the content from Leading Change.
Kotter starts out by comparing a sense of urgency to complacency and false urgency. Often in business people become complacent when success has been had. Even if there is a brief sense of urgency, due...more
Exposition on the importance of urgency
Complacent organizations simply cannot keep pace with today's accelerating rate of change. Resting on your laurels is no longer viable. Competitors, evolving markets and technological developments will swamp organizations that try to sit things out on the sidelines. Today, organizations must adopt the "fierce urgency of now" ethos that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made famous in the 1960s. Business expert John P. Kotter explains why. His book tells leaders h...more
Complacent organizations simply cannot keep pace with today's accelerating rate of change. Resting on your laurels is no longer viable. Competitors, evolving markets and technological developments will swamp organizations that try to sit things out on the sidelines. Today, organizations must adopt the "fierce urgency of now" ethos that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made famous in the 1960s. Business expert John P. Kotter explains why. His book tells leaders h...more
Let me first disclose that my behavioral style and personal experience put me on the other end of the spectrum with this topic of urgency. The author did a good job explaining these areas at a basic level; however, I am still not convinced these tactics work effectively at the level this book covered the topic.
Kotter describes the types of urgency and the difference between real urgency and false urgency. He also shares scenarios for a person to create a shared sense of urgency with a team. The...more
Kotter describes the types of urgency and the difference between real urgency and false urgency. He also shares scenarios for a person to create a shared sense of urgency with a team. The...more
I rated the book a 3 and not a 4 because, while I agree with the underlying message, Kotter was unable to motivate me to do anything. One of his key points is that in order to lead people, you must have an equal (and perhaps greater) focus on the heart as opposed to the head. His writing style just didn't do that for me. Other points seemed a bit obvious to me, like identifying the people that can accelerate urgency vs. block it, and "bringing the outside in". In my experience, all that he says...more
Mar 07, 2010
Garland Vance
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
leaders
Shelves:
audio-book,
leadership-individual
John Kotter's "Leading Change" is an excellent read on creating change within an organization. A Sense of Urgency follows up on his seminal work by concentrating on the first necessity of change--creating a sense of urgency. I found the book motivational more than highly applicable. It is a good book worth listening to or perusing for quick insights.
The greatest insight I gained was: to create a sense of urgency we often need to look outside of our own organizations to see the problems we face....more
The greatest insight I gained was: to create a sense of urgency we often need to look outside of our own organizations to see the problems we face....more
This is a good one for those with a deep interest in a change project, and I am glad I read it. But for most of us, Kotter's Leading Change is all we need to truly understand the process of initiating and sustaining a successful change effort. The eight steps he elucidates there (and recaps in the fun little fable Our Iceberg is Melting) form a foundation for thinking through organizational change and for implementing it.
Step 1, Create a Sense of Urgency, is probably the most difficult of the s...more
Step 1, Create a Sense of Urgency, is probably the most difficult of the s...more
Apparently I needed to create a sense of urgency to read Sense of Urgency! This sat on my shelf for over a year! Given we're due to teach Kotter this spring and given one of my students just read it for independent study, I thought I should get started.
The book makes helpful distinctions between complacency, false urgency and true urgency within our organizations, discussing the signs and effects of each. The author defines urgency as "the determination to win and move, now". Four tactics for cr...more
The book makes helpful distinctions between complacency, false urgency and true urgency within our organizations, discussing the signs and effects of each. The author defines urgency as "the determination to win and move, now". Four tactics for cr...more
In Leading Change, Kotter laid out the 8 stages of how to lead change. The connection between this book, A Sense of Urgency, and that book is that the first stage in the change process is, "Establishing a sense of urgency."
Establishing this sense of urgency - which Kotter defines as, "a gut-level determination to move and win, now" - is important enough to warrant a book all on its own because change efforts most often fail because change leaders "did not create a high enough sense of urgency am...more
Establishing this sense of urgency - which Kotter defines as, "a gut-level determination to move and win, now" - is important enough to warrant a book all on its own because change efforts most often fail because change leaders "did not create a high enough sense of urgency am...more
A Sense of Urgency is my fourth and final recommendation for best business book of 2008. The other three were as follows:
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Never Eat Alone
Launching a Leadership Revolution (Best Business Book of 2008)
One of the author's earlier efforts was the fable Our Iceberg is Melting. A Sense of Urgency provides substance to this fable.
Creating a sense of urgency is the first of eight steps that leaders in any organization need to master in order to improve business operat...more
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Never Eat Alone
Launching a Leadership Revolution (Best Business Book of 2008)
One of the author's earlier efforts was the fable Our Iceberg is Melting. A Sense of Urgency provides substance to this fable.
Creating a sense of urgency is the first of eight steps that leaders in any organization need to master in order to improve business operat...more
Un artículo alargado para llenar 200 páginas. Una idea clara con propuestas concretas que podrían haber sido resumidas en 30 páginas o 50 como mucho. Vale la pena notar la idea de capitalismo a ultranza que subyace a través de esa "urgencia continua", explicitado de manera única casi al final, cuando habla sobre "mirarse desde el punto de vista del inversionista". Hasta me dio cosita y todo.
"De auteur legt in 8 stappen hoe naar zijn mening veranderingen succesvol te organiseren en te realiseren zijn. Interessant is zijn visie wat zelfgenoegzaamheid kan doen in een organisatie en wat het verschil is tussen valse urgentie en echte urgentie. De rest van zijn boek gaat over 4 tactieken bij het realiseren van veranderingen. De simpelheid van de aanpak is aanstekelijk."
This is not Kotter's best book. It is more of a synthesis of his previous work, with a focus on explaining in greater detail his thoughts behind "My Iceberg is Melting."
That said, it is full of useful ideas/suggestions about how to build a sense of urgency in the workplace . . . something that he contends (and I agree) that is critical to surviving in this rapidly changing world.
That said, it is full of useful ideas/suggestions about how to build a sense of urgency in the workplace . . . something that he contends (and I agree) that is critical to surviving in this rapidly changing world.
The author, an illustrious professor at a leading US business school, makes the case that a sense of urgency is essential for change, and for success, in modern organizations. He further argues that complacency, often brought on by past successes, is the enemy of urgency and of new successes. His strategy for fostering true urgency is to address peoples' hearts and minds when seeking change, and not making business cases which address only the intellectual side of the problem. He quotes that "Gr...more
Excellent point, not-so-good writing. This would have been much better as an article length study in a magazine. Filling this out to a book forced the author to stretch a lot of points to where they seemed to be creaking. Read the first couple of chapters and you will have the main ideas that you can take from this.
Kotter argues that a sense of urgency is necessary to drive change. The book define urgency (as distinguished from complacency and "false urgency") and offers techniques for maintaining, crating and/or benefiting from urgency in a business setting. It's useful, concise, and pretty dull.
This one was assigned by work for all in the leadership team to read. It talks about how the correct sense of urgency is needed to drive change. It includes examples of urgency both good and bad, how to install it and manage it. A good read along with John Kotter's other books on change.
After reading the book I don't feel confident enough to review it. The overall idea seems quite simple and more or less obvious: only urgent people make change happen. However, it takes the whole book to properly deliver it and discuss in details. No doubt those, striving for a change, will benefit greatly reading it.
I'll definitely reread the book in future to brush up and better understand all the concepts mentioned.
Must read for management and executives.
I'll definitely reread the book in future to brush up and better understand all the concepts mentioned.
Must read for management and executives.
This was a good book with application to the workplace. It is great to read if you are in a work environment that is either going through change or needs to be enlightened about changes. Personally, I'd focus on the easy read of "Our Iceberg Is Melting" first.
Kotter's discussion about what it takes to drive change and progress in an organization has been very relevant to the work I'm doing right now. I struggle with his advice on the "No-Nos," but have taken a number of his points to heart and apply them daily.
Great book! Change initiatives take time and require setting a reason to change. The pain of staying with the status quo must be more than the pain required to change, if not why would people change?
Meh. Lots of over-generalizations, not a lot of specifics. Some good bits, but they were sparse. It was relevant to a current project, so I'm glad I read it. But I wouldn't recommend it.
A good book for those working in the change management field. It provides some language that can be helpful in bringing others on board to engage in change management also!
I read this in conjunction with a work retreat. It's an okay book all about how to create the true sense of urgency necessary to facilitate necessary change in an organization.
Great, accessible business book. Minimum of jargon, with broader lessons from examples explicitly set out too. I plan on rereading this, though I've yet to do it.
Interesting view of the need to have a positive sense of urgency in our business culture. Not as good as his book Our Iceberg is melting, but interesting.
It's hard to believe someone needed to write a book on how to convince people that problems are real and should be acted on instead of ignored. But it was a fast read, I enjoyed it, and I learned quite a bit.
I somehow liked the book but it was too long for what it had to say. A lot of pages about obvious stuff. But it is worth reading...
This is a very easy read about how to handle change management in the workplace. The concepts are fairly simple, but the colorful examples used to reinforce them are well done. The book is clearly targeted for mass distribution within an organization (in fact, this is how I heard about Kotter's work). I am glad I read it, but can't say there is anything earth-shattering inside it.
Don't wait. Read this book now.
One strategy and four tactics to get you and your team moving at the speed of business.
One strategy and four tactics to get you and your team moving at the speed of business.
Excellent book about maintaining an authentic sense of urgency without exhausting yourself and your team. Highly recommend.
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John P. Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership, is the author of many books, including Leading Change, Our Iceberg is Melting, and The Heart of Change. He is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, and a graduate of MIT and Harvard. He is co-founder of Kotter International, a leadership organization that helps Global 5000 company leaders devel...more
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