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Our Iceberg Is Melting  By  cover art

Our Iceberg Is Melting

By: John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
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Publisher's summary

A new edition of the classic business parable that has sold more than a million copies since 2006.

Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard's John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations.

The fable is about a penguin colony in Antarctica. A group of beautiful emperor penguins live as they have for many years. Then one curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home - and pretty much no one listens to him.

The characters in the story, Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo, are like people we recognize - even ourselves. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles, and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It's a story that is occurring in different forms all around us today - but the penguins handle the very real challenges a great deal better than most of us.

Our Iceberg Is Melting is based on pioneering work that shows how eight steps produce needed change in any sort of group. It's a story that can be enjoyed by anyone while at the same time providing invaluable guidance for a world that just keeps moving faster and faster.

©2016 John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Whether you work in a business or the business of life, everyone from CEOs to high school students can gain from what they take from this story." (from the foreword by Spencer Johnson, MD, author of Who Moved My Cheese?)

"...companies should buy a copy for everyone from the CEO to the stock clerk" (Michelle Archer, USA Today)

"I ordered and distributed sixty copies, evaluated its effect on our change effort, and then ordered five hundred more.... This is a gem." (Heidi King, Department of Defense)

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What listeners say about Our Iceberg Is Melting

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meh

underwhelmed fabelization of the previous two books. basic concepts are sound. no nuance. it's a story with too little surprise.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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speed up the reading

I was able to follow the book while playing it at 2x. This cut my read time in half (math).

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2 people found this helpful

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Great book!

This story was a great analogy for life, particularly in the workplace. I can apply what I learned to my own strategies when navigating this game of life.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, but narration skipped over some parts.

I enjoyed this book. I read a hard copy as I listened to the audiobook. The narrator skipped over some parts of the book, sometimes entire paragraphs. This may have been agreed on by the author and coauthor.

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Recommended by my boss

The book wasn't for me. I found the story too drawn out. I found myself dreading turning on Audible because I just wanted to get to the part where they discussed the 8 steps and how they applied to real life non iceberg related change.
I find value in a story full way to remember the Kotter 8 step process for leading change. I wanted to like it more so I could connect more with my boss.

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The imagery of this book was fabulous.

This book was used for a business class I was in and I have to say the imagery and use of little penguins made this book enjoyable to listen to. It makes the work seem less like work.

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Cool Change management story

Great way to simplify change process and identify skills needed to achieve change in all businesses and organizations

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Not worth my time

I bought this book because of the good reviews. However, I found this to be a cute story on change behavior that was not helpful if you already understand many of the basic concepts. I would not recommend this book, but I do appreciate Kotter’s articles on change.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Digestible tips

Cute story to give you business tips on successful change. My type of self help book

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Get the audible version!

I am so glad that I chose to listen to this fantastic book narrated. The lessons of this fable were applicable to so many sectors and the take aways are priceless. I can’t wait to make this my team’s next book!

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