Leading Change by John P. Kotter Author Introduction John P. Kotter, a world-renowned leadership expert at Harvard Business School, was a graduate of MIT and Harvard. He joined the faculty of Harvard Business School in 1972 and was appointed full professor at age thirty-three in 1980. Kotter's honors include an Exxon Award for Innovation in Graduate Business School Curriculum Design and a Johnson, Smith and Knisely Award. for new perspectives in business leadership. He again earned the title "No. 1 Leadership Guru" in a survey of 504 businesses by Business Week magazine. Description of this book Leading Change was named book of the year on top management by General Management. There are three main sections in this book. The first section is "the change of the problem and its solution"; which discusses why businesses fail. The second is the “eight-step process” which deals with methods for making changes. Finally, as a conclusion, the “implications for the twenty-first century” are discussed. The eight steps of the process are as follows: (1) Establish a sense of urgency. (2) Create the guiding coalition. (3) Develop a vision and strategy. (4) Communicate the change in vision. (5) Empower employees to take broad-based action. (6) Generate short-term wins. (7) Consolidate gains and effect further change. (8) Anchoring new approaches in culture. Perspective on this Book This book contains great discussions and enhances our perspectives regarding business management in various ways. The frequent and common mistakes encountered by managers were a key element to the ¡§ Eight Mistakes in Change Management. ¡§Many follow other ¡¦common mistakes and fail to change as they reform their organization. The possibility of failure is that they perceive the methods from those who have succeeded, but have never understood the reasons why some people fail to change.