I first saw it at an airport newsstand, a book on change entitled Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. This is a fable book, the category pioneered by Ken Blanchard. Fable books are simplistic stories printed in large type on small pages. I suspect these shallow books are written for people who don’t like to read. The Iceberg book concludes with a one-page list from John Kotter’s best seller Leading Change.
As it happens, I know John Kotter. I was in the first class he taught at Harvard Business School. Later I participated in John’s 20-year project tracking members of my class which he describes in The New Rules. I know his writing sufficiently well to say that he wrote none of the penguin story.
I doubt penguin parables ever build leadership skills. What’s a trainer to do? How about making it blended? The International Speakers Bureau has put together a workshop that reinforces the penguin story and “translates it into a powerful tool for orchestrating fundamental change.”
Tonight I was invited to attend the Leading Bold Change certification workshop in Traverse City, MI, Oct. 22nd and 23rd, 2007. “Seating is very limited!”
I tempted. I’d get another certificate to hang on the wall. I’d get to tour Traverse City for the very first time. Alas, my budget cannot handle the price, even though uition for the two days is a mere $2,500! If any of you attend, please tell us what you found out. I’ve love to know what sort of people show up for an event like this.
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