A note from
Prof. John Kotter…
We believe Europe needs a stronger Kotter presence
My career started in Cambridge MA, at Harvard Business School. Over 50+ years, I taught and did research at HBS. More recently, I have continued this research program at Kotter International, where I and my colleagues also directly help people to lead needed changes in their organizations.
From the start, I worked with a diverse and global network of leaders and organizations from around the world, who attended programs at HBS or in the context of Kotter international. Many of them from Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. But now, at Kotter, we are taking a more intentional approach to expanding our presence in Europe.
We know this will require that we focus and invest, and also that we receive guidance and support from leaders like you to help us bring our 50+ years of expertise to the European leaders and organizations that can benefit from it. Our mission has always been Millions leading, billions benefiting. We see European organizations as an important step in fulfilling this altruistic mission.
Why now?
The world today is markedly different from 20 or even 10 years ago in fundamentally important ways. Key events triggering change include a “post-security” era (2001), global financial meltdown (2008) crippling the underlying trust in our globalized systems, a global pandemic (2020) testing government response capabilities, and more recently, multiple wars or open conflicts around the world. All of this has happened against the backdrop of a climate crisis that is upending industries and societies in unpredictable ways.
These events point to three ways the world is now different:
- NPace of change - things are happening faster and there is more need for “good change” in a disrupted and disruptive era.
- NLack of predictability - we can’t forecast the future as well as even a decade ago, so we need to improve our response capability.
- NSpeed matters more than ever - because of increased competition but also consumer expectations driven by the “always on” world.
This is causing businesses, leaders, and individuals to behave in different ways – some helpful and some not. Winning in this context requires new approaches, skill sets, and ways of working.
Session on 23 May
I’m excited to announce that my colleague Nick Petschek will travel to The Netherlands to cover these important topics in his master class speech during the Change Management Platform in May. We are really looking forward to meeting you all – the change leaders at the Top 100 organizations – during this event facilitated by SPRING TODAY.
During the session, Nick will draw upon new research on:
Introducing Nick Petschek
Nick Petschek – our Managing Director of EMEA – will lead this expansion and explore how to more deeply support European leaders and businesses. I have been working closely with Nick on our research and consulting innovation efforts over the last few years. We have asked him to head this effort because of his in-depth knowledge of what we do and the cutting-edge research and innovation we are working on, because of his humility (we believe that most people don’t want an American coming and telling them what to do), because of his ability to listen and meet leaders and organizations where they are, and because of his skill in finding creative ways to move Kotter toward its mission, which at its core is about helping you.
A shared mission
We’re eager to connect with the change experts of CMP to discuss our latest research findings. This kick-starts our collaboration with SPRING TODAY, with whom we share a similar mission. SPRING TODAY has a significant presence and has played a key role in building change capabilities within organizations in The Netherlands and beyond. A specialized agency in change management, focusing on delivering change expertise, is unique.
I look forward to this collaboration and the potential connections that come out of the upcoming Kotter masterclass.
Warmest regards,
Prof. John Kotter