The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations

The only constant, the pundits remind us, is change: ubiquitous, continual, and absolutely essential for organizational survival. In The Heart of Change, change management expert John P Kotter and consultant Dan S. Cohen argue persuasively that successful change is reflected in behaviors that support change efforts. When people begin to feel and view the world around them differently, change occurs as a result of their new perception of the circumstances.

Kotter and Cohen offer many arguments heard before, but in an updated, and eminently readable form. The authors have translated recent change theories and research findings into an efficient and useful overview.

The concept of successful change as a result of shifting personal attitudes isn't a new idea. More than 50 years ago, David Krathwohl and Benjamin Bloom, renowned for their revolutionary work on learning taxonomies, argued that behavioral change is grounded in valuing. Valuing must be preceded by an openness to listen, see and entertain new ideas, according to those two learning experts.

Now, many preachers of organizational change tend towards extremes. At one...