Our Iceberg Is Melting

By
& John Kotter
Holger Rathgeber
o Place: Antarctica .
Near Cape Washington.

o Time: Two months to the end of the Antarctic Summer.

o Setting: an old big iceberg by the sea in a place that is

rich with food.
oThis iceberg has been the home for a colony of 268 Emperor
penguin birds.
oThey has been living there for as far as any of the penguins can
remember, no one in the colony could imagine living any where else.
This is our home, our
fathers’ home and our
grandfathers’ home
and will always be our
.home
o Every one in the colony learned to depend on each other they
often behaved like a big family.
o The birds were all much alike spending most of their time hunting
in the sea and socializing with relatives and friends, except for
one bird that was curious and observant, that was Fred.
o Fred socialized little and spend more time
watching the sea and observing.
o Fred had a briefcase full of observation,
ideas and conclusions.
 The Problem
o From his observations Fred concluded that the iceberg was
melting and it is going to break apart in the forthcoming
freezing winter.
o He discovered that the iceberg was melting from the inside
forming channels and caves that is filled with water, in the
winter water inside those caves will freeze and expand
pressuring the iceberg and eventually breaking it apart.
o Fred knew he had to do something but he was not one of the
leaders or even related to one, and he remembered what
happened to his fellow penguin Harold when he tried to
suggest that their home is becoming fragile, he was treated
differently ever since.
o Fred knew he had to contact one of the ten
penguins in the leadership council, so he decided to
choose Alice.
o Alice was a tough practical bird she was the kind
that made things done.
 This was not good. I will prepare
I must talk to all
oFred took Alice to dive the leaders, but I
presentation to
convince them
will need your
down the water and .assistance
showed her what he discovered.

oFred was relieved that he was

no longer the only penguin that
felt sense of urgency, but the
bad thing he did not yet find
any solution.
o Alice contacted all member of the leadership council, few
showed interest, but Alice was able to convince Louis – the
head penguin- to invite Fred to the next council meeting.
o Fred thought of the approach that could convince the council,
and he decided to make a model of the iceberg.
 The council
Alice, tough,
Louis the
practical,
head penguin
close to the
and the most
colony and
respected
get things
.one
.done

No No He was
accustomed to Buddy,
being blamed handsome,
for being wrong slightest bit
in his weather .ambitious
.forecast
Can you guarantee
that his data and Honestly no. But if our iceberg
conclusions are break into pieces in winter,
?100% accurate ?wouldn’t many of us die

Imagine parents
who lost their
children come and
ask “How could this
happened?” “What
were you doing?”
“Why didn’t you If Fred is right, we
”?foresee the crisis will have only two
months till winter to
prepare things. I
must order an
.assembly
oMost of the members objected the assembly
saying it will cause panic, we must keep it a
secret till we are sure.
oFred suggested an idea, he brought a glass
bottle fill it with water, close it tightly and put
it in the ice and said if the bottle by tomorrow
freezes and exploded our iceberg will, and all
agreed.
oBy the next day their worst
nightmare came true.
 The
The
iceberg
iceberg is
is So enough Stop
Stop
??melting
melting with the talk. Complaining
Complaining
and
and start
start to
to
Let’s do !!THINK
THINK
something

What
What will
will Oh
Oh
happened
happened Boy…
Boy…
??to
to me
me Oh
Oh
…Boy
… Boy

Create the sense of Urgency : 1

Louis choose the guiding team and got them aligned together.
1- Louis: Head penguin, wise, patient and respected by all the
birds.
2- Alice: Practical, aggressive and make things done and treats
every one the same.
3- Buddy: Handsome, well trusted.
4- Fred: Younger, curios and creative.
5- Professor: Logical, well read and
analytical.

Pull Together the Guiding Team : 2

 It could be very lost, but
Look up there! The bird. it does not seem to be
It can’t fly forever. It afraid. What if moving
must have home on the from one place to
.ground another was just the way
?it lives

Nomadic
life

We wouldn’t try to fix melting

icebergs. We would just face up
the fact that what sustains us
.cannot go on forever Develop Change Vision and Strategy : 3
 We will
move and
move
We will not
stick to a
.piece of ice

Louise called a General Assembly again to

.inform the new strategy

.communicate the vision:4

.Communicate the vision relentlessly
 A scout team should go
and look for another
iceberg. Take your men and
.find a good place Louis and the guiding team made some steps:
1- Formed the first scouts team from a
selected group of penguins.
2-dealt with all bothering lobbyist in a straight
and direct way by assigning the professor to
keep track of No No.
3- A major problem occurred “ The scouts
team will be busy exploring who will get them
food” as penguins shared food with only their
children.
Other problem occurred, No No’s opposite publicity spread fear among
the youngsters and they started to have nightmares about
killer whales eating them.
The team came out with two great ideas:
1- Buddy talked with the kindergarten teacher and convinced her with
her important role and she empowered the youngsters with heroic
tales about helping others in changing circumstances.
2- Sally Ann the kindergarten's teacher came up with the heroes day
celebration that include performance and a band, the ticket for the day
is two fishes for the adult, they set the date on the scouts return day.

.empower others to Act:5

Life was boring. This is
.FUN

oStrong, Bright, and highly

enthusiastic scouts jumped into the
.I must help
water and search for a new iceberg
that is good enough for them to
move to.

Jane will be proud

.of me
oAfter the scouts returned home safe they told amazing stories
about swimming long distances and new icebergs they had seen.

Produce Short Term Win : 6

The next day, wasting no time, the
second wave of scouts were out to
find the right iceberg which will be a
safe home, have tall snow wall to
protect from icy storm, close to
fishing sites, and the food gathering
process for the scouts became a new
..culture

Don’t Let Up, Press Harder and Faster : 7

.After the First Success
A perfect iceberg was found. Later the colony moved to the new
home. The year after, they were moving again to find a better
iceberg. Nomadic become their new culture.
Create a New Culture : 8
 Buddy
Buddy No
No one
one
Louise was
was believe
believe
Louise
retired Alice
Alice offered
offered NoNo
NoNo
retired
becoming
becoming took
took over
over many
many anymore.
anymore. Fred
Fred
only
only aa Louise
Louise jobs,
jobs, but
but His
His become
become
grandfath
grandfath job
job as
as turn
turn weather
weather
er
Head
Head of
of
er raising
raising the
the Head
Head them
them forecast
forecast
his the
the Scout
Scout
his many
many of
of the
the down
down job
job is
is
niece
niece and Council and
and Council and stay
stay handed
handed
nephews
nephews with to
with to
family
family Professor
Professor
 These are the
Change
Management
Process

Pull Develop Communic

Produce
Create a Together the ate for Empower Create a
Short-
Sense of the Change Understan Others to new
term
Urgency Guiding Vision & ding & Act Culture
Wins
Team Strategy Buy-in
That’s the end of the story, but what about
?you, is your iceberg is melting