by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber

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I love this book as it’s a quick, charming fable (reading time average is under an hour) from the Harvard Business School leadership and change management guru, John Kotter. It is a book that I have read and gone back to lots of times:

Being involved in change, and leading it, can be challenging: however Kotter uses this fable about a penguin colony living in Antarctica to help us. It brings his 8 step process for leading change theory to life.

I find this book useful as a way to help me reflect on where I need to concentrate my efforts and to reassure myself that the personalities that play out in different teams are all normal human behaviour- it brings me reassurance, humour and guidance every time I read it. Each time I can find myself thinking which penguin I am/which penguin others are…in this week when the NHS Long Term Plan is out it may be useful – as we know lots of change needs to happen and the direction is good – but the implementation feels tough – this book brings some leadership theory to help!

“Fables can be fun…but the power of the penguin story lies in helping you act smarter”

​Which penguin can you relate to?

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Hannah Morgan, Next Gen GP Wessex