A Sense of Urgency, John P. Kotter
A Sense of Urgency, John P. Kotter
6 Rating(s)
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A Sense of Urgency

Author: John P. Kotter

Narrator: Bill Weideman

Unabridged: 4 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 09/01/2008


Synopsis

True urgency is a gut-level determination to move and win, now.It’s practitioners are unusually alert. They come to work each day determined to achieve something important, and they shed irrelevant activities to move faster and smarter. Those with a sense of urgency are the opposite of complacent—but they are not stressed-out and anxious, generating great activity without much productivity. Instead, they move boldly toward the future—sharply on the lookout for the hazards and the opportunities that change brings.Bestselling author and business guru John Kotter knows about urgency. “Raising urgency” is the first step in his enormously successful eight-step framework, first articulated in Leading Change. But as Kotter illustrates, increasing urgency is the toughest of the eight steps, and the one without which even the most brilliant, high-powered initiatives will sputter and die. More importantly, as we transition to a world where change is continuous—not just episodic—he shows how urgency must become a core, sustained capability.With vivid and powerful stories, Kotter reveals a distinctive view of the kind of urgency needed in every organization. He also highlights the insidious nature of its nemesis, complacency, in all its guises. He explains the crucial difference between constructive true urgency, and the frantic wheel spinning that is so often mistaken for urgency. He provides key tactics for increasing urgency, as well as exposing and rooting out complacency, with chapters on: •Bringing the outside in
•Behaving with urgency every day
•Finding opportunity in crises
•Dealing with “NoNos” or naysayersA Sense of Urgency is a powerful tool for anyone wanting to win in a turbulent world that will only continue to move faster.

About John P. Kotter

John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, and is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on leadership and change. His has been the premier voice on how the best organizations actually do change.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gene on August 20, 2022

A Sense of Urgency is my fourth and final recommendation for Best Business Books of 2008. The other three were as follows: ~ What Got You Here Won't Get You There ~ Never Eat Alone ~ Launching a Leadership Revolution One of the author's earlier efforts was the fable Our Iceberg is Meltin......more

Goodreads review by Michael on June 05, 2017

Fluffy. Probably would have been better as a HBR article or two. Leading Change felt like it had more substantial content. In A Sense of Urgency, Kotter does clarify that the opposite of a sense of (true) urgency is not always complacency: Sometimes, organizations are beset by false urgency, whi......more

Goodreads review by Audrey on March 22, 2016

simple steps, good stories to illustrate the lessons. tactic 2 "behave with urgency everyday" was the one I responded to most......more

Goodreads review by Bob on August 27, 2022

I have read many of professor Kotter's works and am continuously impressed with what he and his colleagues are able to put together in the change management arena. Although I am more fond of his parables, his nonfiction works all support what I have personally observed in my 30 plus years in industry......more

Goodreads review by James on October 09, 2018

Very long-winded way of emphasizing the importance of having a sense of urgency, and the repercussions of not having a sense of urgency. Seems like a bunch of common sense (pardon the pun), or a duh, when it comes to the examples presented in the book. Not sure I could have read this cover to cover,......more