Leading Change, an interview with John Kotter

When was the last time you wanted to make a change at work? Maybe it was an approach on a project or something bigger, like wanting to introduce a new way of doing projects, such as using principles from agile project management. Chances are you faced some resistance to your proposed changes.

Yet one of our key responsibilities is to lead change, even when our ideas are getting shot down. Well, to give us insight on this topic, you could argue one of the best people in the world to talk to is Professor John Kotter. John's most recent book is entitled Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down and is a great follow-on to his classic books on change.

I had the opportunity to spend some extended time talking with John earlier this year and look forward to sharing that discussion with you over the course of two episodes.

For our premium subscribers, your extra coaching podcast episode will come out with the second cast. In this first cast, John and I focus on the topic of change. Enjoy the interview!

To learn more about John's organization, check out http://www.kotterinternational.com/. You can follow John's Harvard Business Review blog at http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/.

By the way, my two favorite (and highly recommended) John Kotter books on change include:

• Leading Change
• The Heart of Change

Hey, there's still time for a few more of you to join our Leadership Fast Track Program. I'd love to have you join our learning sessions, and it would be a pleasure to coach you one-on-one. Learn more at http://www.i-leadonline.com/LeadershipFastTrack-2011.asp.

Join me in our next cast when John tells us more about how to avoid letting our ideas get shot down. Thank you for joining us for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Download episode 52