Our Iceberg is Melting

Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

De: John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber

In Our Iceberg is Melting a simple fable about penguins illustrates how to conquer change, with profound lessons for working and living in an ever-changing world.

This charming story about a penguin colony in Antarctica illustrates key truths about how we deal with the issue of change: handle the challenge well and you can prosper greatly; handle it poorly and you put yourself at risk. The penguins are living happily on their iceberg as they have done for many years. Then one curious penguin discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home – and pretty much no one listens to him.

The characters in this fable are like people we recognize, even ourselves. Their story is one of resistance to change and heroic action, confusion and insight, seemingly intractable obstacles and the most clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. It is a story that is occurring in different forms around us today – but the penguins handle change a great deal better than most of us.

Based on John Kotter's pioneering work on how to make smart change happen faster and better, the lessons you can learn from this short and easy-to-read book will serve you well in your job, in your family and in your community. And these lessons are becoming ever more important as the world around us changes faster and faster.

©2026 John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber (P)2026 Macmillan Publishers International Limited