A short life of the author
John P. Kotter (b. 1947) is an American business scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Business School who is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on leadership and organizational change. His book Leading Change (1996) introduced an eight-step model for transforming organisations that has become a standard framework in corporate change management worldwide.
Kotter’s other influential works include A Sense of Urgency (2008), Our Iceberg Is Melting (2006, a business fable co-authored with Holger Rathgeber), and Accelerate (2014). His distinction between “management” and “leadership” — arguing that organisations need both but systematically undervalue leadership — has been enormously influential in business education.
Collecting Kotter
Leading Change (1996, Harvard Business School Press) first editions are modestly priced and widely available. Kotter’s works are collected by management scholars and corporate trainers.
His Harvard Business Review articles, particularly “What Leaders Really Do” (1990), are among the most frequently reprinted in the publication’s history.