Prof. Dr. John Kotter

John P. Kotter, a world-renowned expert on leadership at the Harvard Business School, has been the premier voice on how the best organizations actually "do" change. His international bestseller ‘Leading Change’ -- which outlined an actionable, 8-step process for implementing successful transformations -- became the change bible for managers around the world. In October 2001, Business Week magazine rated John Kotter the No.1 "leadership guru" in America. He is ranked in the Thinkers 50.

Prof. Kotter is a graduate of MIT and Harvard. He joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 1972. In 1980, at the age of thirty-three, he was voted tenure and a full professorship. His honours include an Exxon Award for Innovation in Graduate Business School Curriculum Design. In 1996, ‘Leading Change’ was named the No 1 management book of the year and in 1998, ‘Matsushita Leadership’ won the Financial Times Book Award for biography/autobiography.

Professor Kotter's goal is to mobilize an audience to action, spurring them to re-examine their practices and provide more leadership in their spheres of activity. The process he uses is not the norm at business meetings. His method is both intellectual and emotional. It involves audience participation as well as one-way lecturing.

In his presentations he uses humour, videotape, prepared slides, case studies and a little theatrical flourish. He presents to groups as small as ten and as large as many thousands. Audience members are quite often senior executives in their organisations but may also be middle managers, staff, or mixed groups. Regardless of the group size or make-up, audience feedback is consistently positive and enthusiastic.