Our Iceberg Is Melting does a unique job of showing that most problems be it personal or

business under any condition can be solved with the right strategy in place and when that
strategy is properly supported by those in positions of authority you end up with a successful
change initiative.
This book is co-authored by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber and draws on the frameworks
addressed in Leading Change and The Heart of Change, as well as current knowledge in
neurology and the brains response to learning through stories and visual stimuli. They have
chosen to demonstrate their findings on the challenge of change through a Fable (a short
fictional narrative to teach a moral lesson, traditionally by means of animal characters who
speak and act like humans) as it takes serious, confusing and threatening subjects and makes
them clear and approachable. All of us encounter the basic issues in the story, be it at work or in
our private environments. Few of us experience effective ways of dealing well with those issues.
So who is Fred and what is his plight?
Fred is an unusually curious and observant penguin who lives amongst 268 other penguins in the
Antarctic. Fred has a briefcase full of observations, ideas and conclusions about their iceberg and
the sea. Fred was becoming unnerved but felt that he was in no position to make any
pronouncements or dictate how others should act.
He felt lonely.
The penguin colony, as you would expect, had a Leadership council The group of ten. They
were also known by another name but that was only for use within the teenage circles.
Alice was one of the Ten, tough, practical, with a reputation for getting things done. Fred
decided that she would be least likely to dismiss his concerns so he approached her with his
findings. Alice does not ignore Fred but skeptically requests that he take her to the place where
the problem was discovered. In essence, due to various scientific principles, not to be discussed
here today, the iceberg was at great risk of being broken into pieces. Alice is shaken but doesnt
show it, questions Fred extensively and then suggests he talk to the other leaders BUT warns him
that he should be prepared for denial.

Winter was now only 2 months away!
Louis heads up the Leadership council and deals with Alice diplomatically. She is of course
insistent and so Fred is invited to their next meeting. Freds initial plan is to write a speech and
present statistics but instead he builds a model of the iceberg to creatively demonstrate the
problem threatening them all.
Fred senses openness from Louis but some other leaders do nothing to hide their skepticism,
Alice insists that this situation can no longer be ignored. Now, let me introduce you to NoNo, the
weather forecaster who had trouble managing his emotions and that manifested in a physical
way.
NoNo is of the unswayable opinion that the iceberg is strong and can withstand the expansion
and shrinking and that Freds finding are just theory, speculation and fearmongering and
certainly not 100% accurate.
Things were not looking good. Alice knew it but urged Fred to respond. Fred responds simply
with What will you say to the families who have lost children when they ask you How could
you have let this happen? Well yes sorry. We had heard that there might be a problem, but the
information was not 100% credible.
As you may expect the leadership instinctively want to form a committee and keep it all secret
but Alices line of reasoning is that they need to get as many friends and family on board in order
to find a solution that many will accept. Fred cautiously suggests they fill a glass bottle with
water and see if it is broken by the force of the water freezing to prove his findings had merit.
Enter Buddy, a quiet and boyishly handsome penguin who everyone seemed to like and trust,
especially the ladies in the colony. Buddy oversees this experiment. The bottle cracks, Buddy is
convinced, NoNo is not and Louis decides to have an assembly. Alice made sure the topic of the
day was not leaked to the colony which built up a bit of interest and suspense. Alice told of her
swim with Fred, everyone had a chance to look at the iceberg model and bottle, ask questions of
Fred and complacency about this being the perfect iceberg began to dissipate. Fred, Louis and
Alice had implemented Kotters first step in the Process of Successful Change: Create a
Sense of Urgency, by reducing complacency, seeing the need for change and the importance of
acting immediately.
As soon as the meeting concluded the conversations in the hallways and restrooms began. NoNo
informed Louis that as head leader it was Louis duty to solve this problem on his own because
Thats what leaders do. Another penguin suggests that Louis should delegate to the younger
penguins as they were the ice experts. Louis does not like that idea because:
The younger ones have no credibility in the colony.
They have no known leadership skills.
They were very inexperienced.
Louis calls Alice, Fred and Buddy together, brings in the Professor and declares this to be the
team to guide the colony through this difficult period. The Professor is asked to define their
challenge clearly and make an assessment of each of their strengths. His assessment is as
follows:
Louis: Head penguin. Enough experience to be wise. Patient. A bit conservative. Not
easily flustered. Respected by almost all, except NoNo and the teenagers. Smart (but not
an intellectual heavyweight).
Alice: Practical. Aggressive. Makes things happen. Doesnt care about status and treats
everyone the same. Impossible to intimidate, so dont even try. Smart (but not an
intellectual heavyweight).
Buddy: Boyishly handsome. Not the slightest bit ambitious. Well trusted and liked.
Definitely not an intellectual heavyweight.
Fred: Younger. Amazingly curious and creative. Level-headed. Insufficient data to judge
his I.Q.
The Professor: Logical (actually, very logical). Well read. Fascinated by interesting
questions.
Conclusion = Louis + Alice + Buddy + Fred + Professor, a strong group!
Fred is chuffed that he made the cut!
The first challenge they face is to approach a set task as a group rather than as 5 individuals. To
overcome this they break for lunch and go squid hunting. Squid can only be hunted in groups
since in a one to one situation the squid will win due to their ink shooting tactical advantage.
While the group bond the Professor analyses current situation: Fred finds melting iceberg, tough
sell to complacent group, goes to Alice, builds model, does the thing with the bottle, group
meeting, complacency reduced, team selected, interesting mix, turning nonteam into team with
squid and chitchat. It would appear that Louis has demonstrated Kotters second step in the
Process of Successful Change: Pull Together the Guiding Team with each member having
one of the following qualities leadership, credibility, communication skill, authority, analytical
skill.
Alice wants to talk to the colony members. For the most part the suggested solutions are centered
on fixing the iceberg and generally not plausible, but, they gave ear to those who needed to share
their anxieties.
During their research phase they discover a seagull that appears out of place in their
environment. The seagull describes his life as a scout and the nomadic lifestyle they are used
to. Alice knows that the penguins cant just copy the Seagulls way of life, but it is interesting
and so logical. The professor believed that the team had succeeded in creating a vision, Kotters
third step in the Process of Successful Change: Develop the Change Vision and Strategy by
clarifying how the future will be different from the past and how the future can be made a reality.
It was time to get the message out.
The Professor spends the morning preparing a 97 slide power point presentation to communicate
their vision that no one understands. Louis did not like risk but he decides to appeal to the
colonys emotions instead with a We are not an Iceberg speech, addressing the following:
That they are penguins who deeply respect one another.
That they strongly value discipline.
That they have a strong sense of responsibility.
That they stand for brotherhood and the love of their young.
Are that these beliefs and shared values are not linked to a large piece of ice.
Buddy is the one to inspire the group with the vision of a better life. Buddy was a great
storyteller and effectively demonstrated that the penguins were smarter, stronger and more
capable than the seagulls and so could do what they did but much better. By the end of the
meeting:

30% were convinced the vision had merit
30% were processing everything
20% were confused
10% were skeptical but not hostile
10% were convinced it was all absurd, and
NoNo was having major blood pressure issues.
Alice now needs ice posters to make sure that every day, everywhere the birds, are reminded all
the time of what they had heard. Kotters fourth step in the Process of Successful Change:
Communicate for Understanding and Buy-in ensures that as many penguins as possible came
to see and accept what had to be done.
Over the next week for the most part enthusiasm was growing and many expressed an interest in
scouting for new locations. But, an undercurrent of fear was beginning to spread. NoNo and
some of his posse were forecasting storms and dangerous currents and some of the very young
began having nightmares. The parents of these anxious youngsters became anxious, infighting
erupted within the leadership council and everyone realized that penguins out scouting would not
be out fishing and no other adult penguin would share their food with them. It simply was not
done. These problems of course encourage NoNo to work harder.
Amanda, who you have not previously met, is on the planning committee. She works 14 hours a
day and is totally sold out to the vision. However her husband has been spooked by NoNos fear
mongering and her childs nightmares had become chilling. When she hears about the scout
feeding problem her frustration begins to outweigh her initial excitement. Amanda stops
attending the planning meetings. So do many others. The team knew that this needed to be
addressed. NoNo was everywhere.
Louis pulls NoNo aside and explains that a scientific approach needs to underpin the weather
prediction and that henceforth the Professor would be assisting him in this role. NoNo is not
impressed but cannot escape the Professor or his constant citing of published literature on the
topic of iceberg trauma.
Buddy was tasked with the huge responsibility of addressing the kindergarten teacher and her
sudden new found passion for telling horror stories about the sea creatures that would devour
them all. Buddy is able to expose her fear of having to adapt and possibly being made redundant
in the new environment. Buddy was successful in reassuring her of how critical the role of
schooling would be after all the changes occurred. He was reassuring. He was patient. He was
calm and sincere because that was what Buddy was really good at.
The teacher now began to tell the children heroic tales with great enthusiasm. The colony was in
need of heroes to deal with all the new challenges. One of the students, Sally Ann was such a
hero in the making. She enquired of Alice as to how she could become one. Alice suggests that if
Sally Ann could make her parents understand that the Head penguins needed their help,
especially in catching fish to feed the scouts, then she would be a true hero.
With the help of the teacher and her class, Sally Ann births the Tribute to Our Heroes Day.
Some parents were nervous about Kotters fifth step in the Process of Successful Change:
Empower Others to Act as this was unprecedented in the colony but the kids loved making the
vision a reality.
The colony needed to see progress as quickly as possible so the scouts were deployed. They did
not need to find a new home, just a few possibilities. Fred had chosen well in selecting some
strong, bright and highly enthusiastic volunteers.
The biggest threat still remained. Who would feed the scouts when they returned? The adults
gather ONLY for their young and would not share. Enter in Sally Ann, the kindergartener with
her tribute day. There would be raffles, performances, a band and market: your typical
fundraising type fete. The price of admission was set at 2 fish/adult. As you would expect not
everyone was on board but the parents of the young birds were mightily proud of the creativity
displayed by their children.
NoNo worked harder this day than he had his entire career!
Sally Ann and her little colleagues had prepared ribbons for all the returning scouts: glittering ice
medals with the inscription, HERO.
By creating some visible success as soon as possible, the colony was observing the results of
Kotters sixth step in the Process of Successful Change: Produce Short Term Wins.
Aside from the penguins that were just nervous by nature, more birds started to volunteer for
scouting adventures. There were still reservations for some that were justifiable but no one was
paying attention to NoNo anymore. Alice was relentless in keeping up the momentum and
maintaining everyones level of courage. Gathering fish for the scouts was now part of the
normal routine.
Just before the start of the Antarctic winter the migration began. Chaotic at times but for the most
part it was well executed. Louis effective leadership earned him the admiration of the colony.
Buddy attended to the emotional needs of the worried and frantic and it is unknown how many
additional females fell in love with him during this period. Freds creativity was called upon to
tackle all problems no one had a solution for and the Professor began to enjoy the admiration of
those birds with whom he had no intellectual commonality. Alice worked 21 hour days and
NoNo preached failure to the bitter end.
The winter passed. Problems were encountered but they were not insurmountable. The next
season an even better iceberg was discovered. It could be argued that the colony had endured
enough change and should stay at their current location forever. They didnt. This was
importantly Kotters seventh step in the Process of Successful Change: Dont let up, to
relentlessly initiate change after change until the vision is a reality.
The preparation for each subsequent move was naturally less traumatic than the previous one.
This nomadic lifestyle had been accepted by most. Some love it. Some never will. As years went
by grandfather Louis lost count of the times he had told the story of The Great Change. He told
of the steps they had all taken and always concluded with the point that they should always hold
on to the new ways of behaving, making sure they succeed until they become strong enough to
replace old traditions. Kotters eighth step in the Process of Successful Change: Create a new
Culture is etched on one of Alices ice posters somewhere on the iceberg.

Most people within the business environment resist change. It is a stressful, mismanaged period
through which few emerge unscathed. So rather than fix a problem we simply keep flogging the
already dead horse. We just find novel ways of doing it and think that putting out a change
newsletter will answer everyones questions and solve all their problems. Personally I am not a
fan of change, or so I thought. What I have actually realized is that, for me, if change occurs in
an environment over which I am not in control then I am more likely to resist it then if I was the
champion of it. I have been both Fred and NoNo.
So what are others saying about this book?
Never have I read a parable in a business book that took a complex issue like change
management and distilled it down into a simple story for all to understand (Richard Kosinski,
Yahoo Inc).
It forces you to remember how much common sense is involved and how predictable some of the
process steps are but in relationships, patience and communication should never be
underestimated, and that change is emotional (an early reader who has overseen several
deliberate change initiatives)
It helps you see yourself as one of the heroes and envision yourself as an eligible champion for
change because it lets you decipher the mysteries of what you may have previously thought
was territory reserved for only the bosses with all the answers (an early reader who has never
been part of a change initiative).
The authors conclude the book by saying that a change in thinking can change behaviour and that
feeling differently can lead to even more of a behavioural change with even greater results.
After reading Our Iceberg is melting everyone has the opportunity to:
Find new and better ways to act
Find increased conviction to stay the course
Find ways to initiate change
Find ways to help with initiatives of others
Apply the eight steps
Achieve more, gain more pride, have more fun, suffer fewer problems
Make the organization more successful, and
Put everyone else less at risk.
John F Kennedy said When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters.
One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. This book definitely enables you to
see the subject of change in the least threatening light.