Foreword by Spenser Johnson: One the surface, the story of this book appears to be a fable that is relatively easy to grasp, but it does subtly impart an invaluable lesson on change. The book covers John Kotter’s Eight Steps to bring about successful organizational change and can be equally useful for a high-school student as it is for a CEO of a multi-national organization.
Welcome Note by John Kotter: People do not often understand the need for change. Businesses, school systems and even nations do not know understand what to do, how to make it happen and how to make it stick. This book shows the traps in which people often fall while facing the challenge of change - using a fable. A fable is used in here because fables are so powerful tool of learning because they can turn a serious and threatening subject into something fun and easy to decipher and remember.
Summary
Once upon a time a colony of Emperor Penguins used to reside in the frozen Antarctic in on an iceberg near what we know today as Cape Washington. The penguins have always lived there and but of-course loved their home very much were assured of its being their home forever. Since they lived in a harsh cold environment they needed each other to huddle together and fight of the cold. Probably this need made them a big happy family. In this big happy family there were two hundred sixty-eight penguins and out of them all, was one Fred. Fred was a curious and observant penguin who spent more time observing sea and the iceberg than fishing like others. Though he was a social bird with a wife and a son, but unlike others he spent more time by himself. He used to take notes of his observations and had a briefcase stuffed full of observations, ideas and conclusions. All the stuff from his briefcase gave him disturbing information – The iceberg is melting and might break apart soon!!
Melting and breaking apart of the iceberg would spell death of his fellow penguins as the colony was not prepared to counter this eminent danger. Fred knew he should do something very quickly, but he could not dictate terms for what others should do. He was not an important penguin and had seen what happened of Harold when he tried to warn other penguins about the danger. His warnings were ignored and he was almost ostracized. With all this going in his mind, Fred started feeling lonely.
The colony was governed by a Leadership Council which had ten members led by a Head Penguin. Out of the ten members was Alice, who was a tough, go-getter but approachable to other penguins. Fred went to Alice and told her about the melting iceberg. On the first thought Alice thought he is having some personal problem with his wife or has eaten some mercury infected squid. Still partly because of curiosity and partly because of her open mind, Alice agreed to swims below the iceberg with Fred. Once under the water they saw fissures and a canal on the side wall of the iceberg which led to a cave filled with water. As the temperature falls, this water would freeze and thus dramatically increase in volume breaking the iceberg into pieces. Alice was shocked and told Fred that she’ll talk to fellow leaders and will find a way. She also warned Fred that some of the birds would not want to see any problem and will resent him. Fred was left with a mixed feeling of relief and sadness and the awful Antarctic winter was just two months away.
After realizing the danger, Alice somehow got a nod from Louis, the head Penguin, for having Fred present his finding to the leadership counsel. Fred chose a noble approach of explaining the issue with a real model of iceberg instead of presenting the stats and concluded that the iceberg is melting. As he presented his observations an old penguin from the leadership council called NoNo who was responsible for weather forecasting, interrupted and said “It is just a mere speculation. It may happen or it may not. Can you guarantee it to be 100% accurate Fred”. Fred was an unknown penguin and NoNo was a veteran, so some birds nodded in agreement. At this point Alice came in and asked the council “It might not be 100% accurate but God forbid if something bad happens and penguins die, what will we answer the orphaned kids? Will we answer that we knew and did not act?” She continued “We should let everyone know about it and arrive at a solution which everyone will agree with.” On this again a section of council led by NoNo said that it would create “unnecessary” panic and we should stick to creating a committee like we do in normal problems. Hearing this Fred came up with an idea and said while showing a glass bottle “This looks like ice, but is not ice. It does not melt and my father had found it near the shore. What we can do is to fill it with water and seal it with a fish bone. If on freezing during the night it explodes, we call an assembly or we go with business as usual.” Everyone agreed and the bottle was kept under supervision of a penguin called Buddy. Next morning the bottle was found broken and Louis ordered to call an assembly without letting the birds know why it is being called. The meeting began and Alice told abut her swim to the cave, Fred about his observation and Buddy about the bottle to all the penguins. Louis concluded by saying that they will find a way out of it – together. Penguins were shocked but aware and were all thinking. As leaders Alice and Louis had taken the first right step by “reducing complacency and increasing urgency”.
After the meeting, a lot of people gave all kinds of advice to Louis on who should be assigned to solve the problem. Louis however kept his head and called Alice, Fred, Buddy and Jordan aka Professor to form the core team for finding the solution to the problem. Louis had experience and commanded respect of others, Alice was aggressive and treated everybody as equal, Buddy was well-trusted and liked, Fred was curious and creative and Professor was well-read and fascinated by challenging questions. The team looked perfect but had their initial struggle because they were trying to contribute as individuals. At this time Louis took them out for a team building activity in form of hunting for squids. Louis had been successful in taking the second step of “pulling together a team to guide the needed change.”
Later in day Alice suggested that the core team should take suggestions from the rest of the population and the team agreed after a brief discussion. After a few well, weird suggestions from some birds one old penguin suggested that they should now try something new. Professor nodded and took the team westwards. Just then Fred spotted a seagull flying in the sky. Everyone was surprised because seagulls are not normally found in Antarctica. Fred said that seagulls do not have fixed houses and so can we and doubled the shock of the group. Regaining her composure Alice said “I guess we should find out some information about it first.” When they finally found the seagull again, Buddy approached him in a gentle manner and asked about him. Seagull now comfortable with their presence told “I am a scout and I go ahead of my group to find out where we go next. We are traveling nomads, you see.” Hearing this, everyone got thinking and could see it as a way of life for themselves. Of course, with some modifications. Even though Professor had a lot of questions in mind, he slept well that night. He knew that they have succeeded in creating a vision.
Next morning Louis called for an assembly of the entire colony again. He wanted to talk about what the core team saw yesterday and wanted to keep it simple for there were a lot of slower birds in the colony. He was very charismatic in his approach and asked the colony “Do we respect each other? Are e disciplined? Do we have a strong sense of responsibility? Do we all stand for brotherhood and love for our young?” Each question followed with an enthusiastic “Yes” from the audience. He then to make a point asked “Is this because of an iceberg? Are we an iceberg?” Many got his point and some were confused and after a lull, a big “No” came up. Louis then called Buddy to talk of the seagull story and penguins were mesmerized with his wonderful story-telling. After the assembly was over, Alice suggested that ice-posters should be placed all over the colony and even under the sea, to remind the birds of the vision which was communicated in the meeting.
A small group of thirty to forty birds started working on selection of scouts, mapping the trips and logistics of moving the colony. Louis was happy but then he received mixed set of news from various quarters of the colony. The enthusiasm in the birds was increasing and a lot of teenagers wanted to be scouts, less for the vision and more for the excitement. NoNo and his friends were trying to brain-wash the colony, and a few were listening. Young kids were getting nightmares because of the stories kindergarten teacher was telling, nobody knew why she was doing it. Some members of the Leadership Council wanted a committee to select scouts and were infighting for its chairmanship. Penguins needed to eat a lot of fish to build up the fat for fighting the winter and the scouts would not get enough time to fish. Moreover it was not a tradition in the colony that adults fish for other adults. All these factors led a lot of birds to give up the work they were doing to realize the vision. Concerned by all these events the core team met and got their heads together to fix the problems. To start with Louis got Professor to go wherever NoNo went and prevent birds from being brainwashed with his immaculate logic. He then addressed the infighting of the members of the leadership council with a firm “Enough”. Meanwhile Buddy met the teacher of kindergarten and removed her fear by telling her that she will still be needed to teach even more in a changing world. Inspired by this the teacher told encouraging stories to the children and inspired them to be a hero. Alice inspired a young chick called Sally Ann and with the help of the teacher she got the students to celebrate a “Tribute to Our Heroes Day” wherein the parents of the chicks would catch fish for the scouts. It was a new thing; everyone was feeling empowered, even the small children.
Looking ahead Louis told Fred that now they need to get some evidence that they are moving forward in the right direction. He asked him to dispatch a chosen group of scouts while ensuring they all return safely. While NoNo was spreading more and more fear, Sally Ann’s idea of “Tribute to Our Heroes Day” worked wonders to gather the fish for the scouts. This day was to include a raffle, performances, a band and a flea market and entry fee was two fishes per adult. Children ensured that both their parents attended it: awkwardness on the parents died a slow death. Eventually the scouts returned with a lot of information and some injuries. A quick response team set up by Alice tended to their injuries, but the scouts were beaming with joy of accomplishment. They feasted on the fishes from “Tribute to Our Heroes Day” and were given an ice-medal with hero written on it from the children. Sally Ann too received one of those. Colony had tasted what an MBA looking penguin called “short term win”.
Inspired by the work of the first wave of scouts a lot more birds volunteered for the next wave. Louis knew that it will be more crucial than the last wave, selected scouts for this trip himself. The scouts from this wave again returned with safety and were engaged in discussion by the Professor to filter the opinions from the facts. With what he gathered they had found a new iceberg which looked suitable. Under the able leadership of Louis the migration began. Problems arose but were addressed successfully by collective efforts of the core team. NoNo was still predicting doom. However the new home had lesser problems than some skeptic birds had anticipated. Next season the scouts found yet another iceberg which looked better – bigger and with better fishing grounds. The colony moved and the migration this season was easier. It was a critical step: not being complacent and “not letting up”.
The colony was happy and its then Alice convinced Louis that he should shake up the leadership council and let go of the stuck-up members. A tough selection process was put in place for scout selection and the scouts were fed extra fish with their status going up in the society. In the school “Scouting” was added as a required curriculum. Fred was made head of scouts, Professor was made the chief weather forecaster and Alice subsequently took over as the Head penguin from Louis. All this to ensure that the hard brought changes would not be overcome by “stubborn, hard-to-die traditions”.
Changing and Succeeding: Read and Reflect, this two point approach will do wonders.
The Eight Step Process to Successful Change:
- Set the Stage
1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Pull Together the Guiding Team
- Decide What to Do
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy
- Make it Happen
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In
5. Empower Others to Act
6. Produce Short-Term Wins
7. Don’t Let Up
- Make it Stick
8. Create a New Culture
