Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

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Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber

Here is a brief review of how the eight principles of managing change by Kotter are illustrated with the Penguins situation. Our Iceberg Is Melting is fantastic—offbeat, but right on. We should make everyone in Washington, D.C., read it.” Step Four – Communicate for Understanding and Buy In. Louis, intriguing to the emotion of the penguins, communicated the vision and obtained buy-in during a colony meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting 30% could see the new way of life, 30% were digesting the information, 20% were very confused, 10% were skeptical but not hostile, and 10% thought the idea was completely absurd. After the meeting, the vision was communicated around the iceberg on posters.

Lead author and Ph.D. student Eric Hester said: "While icebergs are only one part of the global climate system, our improved model provides us with a dial that we can tune to better capture the reality of Earth's changing climate." Dr. Vasil, who is Mr Hester's Ph.D. supervisor, said: "Before Eric started his Ph.D. the computational tools to model these kinds of systems didn't really exist. Empower others to act: The team found ways to include other penguins to become part of the solution. Because others felt part of the solution the opposition decreased. At one point, even the Head Penguin suggested that the right step might be to slow down. But Alice wouldn’t hear of it. “We are constantly at risk of losing our courage. Some birds are already suggesting we wait until next winter. Then, if we are still alive, they will say the danger was overstated and that any change is not needed.” It was a good point.” In considering the effect of iceberg melt upon ocean structure, it is found that the total Antarctic melt is equivalent to the addition of 0.1 metre (0.3 foot) of fresh water per year at the surface. This is like adding 0.1 metre of extra annual rainfall. The dilution that occurs, if averaged over a mixed layer 100–200 metres (330–660 feet) deep, amounts to a decrease of 0.015–0.03 part per thousand (ppt) of salt. Melting icebergs thus make a small but measurable contribution to maintaining the Southern Ocean pycnocline (the density boundary separating low-salinity surface water from higher-salinity deeper water) and to keeping surface salinity in the Southern Ocean to its observed low value of 34 ppt or below.

Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any

The Gulf Stream that takes warmer water from the tropics across the Atlantic keeps western Europe milder than it otherwise would be, he said. I have followed Kotter’s work for years, respect it greatly, use it with my clients, and know its unique power to help people and organizations perform better. This latest effort—this little penguin tale—is, in my opinion, the best and most useful book he has ever written.” Melting glaciers add to rising sea levels, which in turn increases coastal erosion and elevates storm surge as warming air and ocean temperatures create more frequent and intense coastal storms like hurricanes and typhoons. Specifically, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are the largest contributors of global sea level rise. Right now, the Greenland ice sheet is disappearing four times faster than in 2003 and already contributes 20% of current sea level rise.The characters in the story—Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo—are like people you probably recognize in your own organization, including yourself. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. The penguins offer an inspiring model as we all struggle to adapt to new circumstances. This is the easiest-to-read yet most informative book I have ever seen. Setting one of management’s biggest challenges—‘what problem, I don’t see a problem’—in the context of a melting iceberg and a determined penguin was a stroke of sheer genius.” If you want a great book that you can use to teach your co-workers or family about leading during a time of ever changing conditions, read this book, Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions . It is so easy to understand! Our Iceberg is Melting Review The author of the book, John Kotter, found that 90% of organizations were either ignoring relevant changes or trying to adjust in ways that were not meeting their aspirations. This was leading to too much time and money being wasted. So he decided to turn a story about a group of penguins and a melting iceberg to illustrate the process and tools of a successful change.

icma.org Lessons on Change from a Penguin Colony | icma.org

Today, the Arctic is warming twice as fast as anywhere on earth, and the sea ice there is declining by more than 10% every 10 years. As this ice melts, darker patches of ocean start to emerge, eliminating the effect that previously cooled the poles, creating warmer air temperatures and in turn disrupting normal patterns of ocean circulation. Research shows the polar vortex is appearing outside of the Arctic more frequently because of changes to the jet stream, caused by a combination of warming air and ocean temperatures in the Arctic and the tropics. Communicate for Understanding and Buy-In. Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and the strategy. Go beyond “stopping resistance” to creating more and more people who want to help you.” Step Three – Develop the Change Vision and Strategy. After searching for ideas and answers, the penguins decided to try something new, “walk around and keep your eyes and minds open.” Along came a seagull that challenged their thinking and intrigued them with his nomadic lifestyle. The team clarified the future vision and established a strategy to make it reality; they too would become a nomadic colony.The old models assumed that stationary icebergs didn't melt at all, whereas our experiments show melting of about a millimetre every minute," Mr Hester said.

Our Iceberg Is Melting - Classy Career Girl Book Review: Our Iceberg Is Melting - Classy Career Girl

The next season, the scouts found a still better iceberg, larger and with richer fishing grounds. And though it was tempting to declare that the colony had been subjected to enough change, and should stay forever on their new home, they didn’t. They moved again. It was a critical step: not becoming complacent again and not letting up.” Our paper proposes a very simple model that accounts for iceberg shape, as a prototype for an improved model of iceberg melting," Dr. Vasil said.

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple story about doing well under the stress and uncertainty of rapid change. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard Business School’s John Kotter, it can help you and your colleagues thrive during tough times. All of us encounter the basic issues in this story. Did I mention that it was about penguins and has gorgeous photos! Few of us know effective ways to deal with these issues. As a manager, it is so important to know how to drive change and how to manage during a time of change. How do you manage when your future is so uncertain? Everyone is looking to you to guide them and tell them how to proceed into the future. And what those who work for you that are so opposed to change. They ask you, “Why do we have to change to a new computer system and learn to do our jobs in a different way when I have everything down the way it is now? And will these new systems make do my job for me so there isn’t even a need to keep me at this company anymore?” Or maybe you are trying to convince your management that by changing a few things, the company could save so much money and time but they refuse to listen to you. Are you living on a melting iceberg or an iceberg that could melt? Kotter challenges the reader to reflect on icebergs in their organizations. For local government this could be in many forms, infrastructure, irrelevant services, fiscal stability, old traditions, etc. Beyond the eight steps, he also challenges the reader to look at the roles of thinking and feeling. Who are the skeptics? Who are the Fred’s? Who am I? All of which are important to consider when pulling together your guiding team. Sea ice, on the other hand, is often compared to ice cubes in a glass of water: when it melts, it does not directly change the level of water in the glass. Instead, depleting Arctic sea ice triggers a host of other devastating consequences—from depleting available ice on which walrus can haul out or polar bears hunt to changing weather systems around the world by altering the pattern of the Jet stream. Why are glaciers melting? Develop the change vision and strategy: The inspiration from the seagull led to a solution which would change the way the penguins lived. They would become a nomad colony that moved to locations suitable for living if where they were currently living was not safe. This would be a big change to the penguins who had lived in one location for years and were used to their current way of life.