ABSTRACT
John P. Kotter wrote Leading Change in 1996, after his well-received article "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail", published in the March-April 1995 issue of Harvard Business Review. The book's practical tone and presentation is its key strength. Rather than focusing on academic arguments, Kotter presents his change principles clearly and succinctly, regularly using examples from real but mostly anonymous firms to support his ideas. Leading Change is also notable for its foresight. Kotter sets his argument about organizational change in the context of an increasingly global and fast-changing business environment. Kotter's work has been influenced by globalization, which is characterized by rapid technological change, international economic integration, the evolution of domestic markets in more developed countries, and the collapse of communism. He argues that because companies are not immune to global economic and social forces, they have had to embrace organizational change more intensely.
