John Paul Kotter is the
Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at the
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
,
an author,
and the founder of Kotter International, a
management consulting
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
firm based in Seattle and Boston.
He is a
thought leader
A thought leader has been described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field.
A thought leader is a person who specializes in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance. As the term implies, ...
in business, leadership, and change.
Career
John Kotter is an
emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
from Harvard Business School where he started teaching in 1972.
He is the founder of Kotter International, and started his business in 2010 with locations in
Cambridge Massachusetts and
Seattle Washington. He currently serves as Chairman of Kotter International alongside CEO, Rick Western, Chief Commercial Officer, Kathy Gersch, Chief Financial Officer, Tanya Kruger and many more.
Kotter is also an author, speaker, and entrepreneur in the lines of business and leadership.
Personal life
Kotter lives in
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
with his wife, Nancy Dearman. They have two children, Caroline and Jonathan.
Written work
Kotter is the author of 21 books, as listed below. 12 of these have been business bestsellers and two of which are overall
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
bestsellers.
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Successful change
In ''Leading Change'' (1996), and subsequently in ''The Heart of Change'' (2002), Kotter describes an eight stage model of successful change in which he seeks to support managers to ''lead'' change and to understand how people accept, engage with and maintain successful organisational change. The eight stages or steps include the creation of "a sense of urgency" and the use of "short-term wins".
Short-term wins, within a 6–18 month window, are considered necessary because "
norganization has to realize some benefits from
change effort to maintain stakeholder commitment".
[Tanner, R.]
Leading Change (Step 6) – Generate Short-Term Wins
Business Consulting Solutions LLC., updated 11 July 2021, accessed 8 August 2021 Kotter asserts that to be useful or influential, short-term wins need to be "visible and unambiguous" as well as "closely related to the change effort".
Arguing against a belief that there is a "trade-off" between wins in the short-term and wins in the long-term, Kotter argues from experience that both are achievable.
References
External links
Harvard Business School Faculty Bio2006 IMNO InterviewKotter International home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotter, John
1947 births
American business theorists
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
Living people
Harvard Business School alumni
Harvard Business School faculty
Writers from San Diego
People from Ashland, New Hampshire
Businesspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts