Great leaders understand that historical success tends to produce stable and inwardly focused organizations, and these outfits, in turn, reinforce a feeling of contentment with the status quo.
John P. KotterRead
Because management deals mostly with the status quo and leadership deals mostly with change, in the next century we are going to have to try to become much more skilled at creating leaders.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Management focuses on maintaining the current state, while leadership emphasizes driving change.
This quote by John P. Kotter highlights the critical distinction between management and leadership. In a rapidly evolving world, effective leadership that fosters change will be essential for organizations to thrive, suggesting that we need to develop more leaders who can inspire and navigate through change rather than just uphold the status quo.
Themes
LeadershipChangeManagementSkillsFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a corporate training session focused on developing future leaders.
More from John P. Kotter
All quotes →We are always creating new tools and techniques to help people, but the fundamental framework is remarkably resilient, which means it must have something to do with the nature of organizations or human nature.
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Managers are trained to make incremental, programmatic improvements. They aren't trained to lead large-scale change.
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Outsiders have the intuitive ability to continually view problems in fresh ways and to identify ineffective practices and traditions.
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Those in leadership positions who fail to grasp or use the power of stories risk failure for their companies and for themselves.
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Many years ago, I think I got my first insight on how an incredibly diverse team can work together and do astonishing things, and not just misunderstand each other and fight.
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