One-page summary · 2 min read
That's Not How We Do It Here!
A Story about How Organizations Rise and Fall--and Can Rise Again
by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber
The big idea
Told as a fable about a meerkat clan, the book argues that organizations which once thrived on well-honed routines can be destroyed by those same routines when conditions change, unless they deliberately build a dual operating system of both disciplined management and adaptive leadership.
Kotter and Rathgeber argue mature organizations need two systems running side by side: a management hierarchy that keeps daily operations efficient and reliable, and a more informal, volunteer-driven leadership network that senses change and drives new ideas. In the fable, the meerkat clan's rigid procedures, originally a source of strength, become a liability once the environment shifts, and the clan only recovers by building a parallel structure that lets urgent new ideas move fast without dismantling the operational system that still works.
This tool is Kotter's own reframing of the 8-step model from Leading Change into a fable aimed at a broader, non-executive audience, the underlying idea is the same, packaged differently.
Key ideas
Success can breed rigidity
Standardized practices that made an organization efficient in stable times can become exactly what prevents it from noticing or responding to real threats.
One character challenges the status quo
The fable follows a meerkat who becomes frustrated by leadership's reflexive that's-not-how-we-do-it-here response to new ideas from the front line.
Learning from other colonies
Traveling to see how other groups operate, some well-managed but poorly led, others the reverse, helps the protagonist recognize that management and leadership are separate capabilities.
Most organizations lean one way
Kotter and Rathgeber argue most companies land in one of two default states, well-managed but unable to innovate, or full of ideas but operationally chaotic, and rarely achieve both at once.
Renewal is possible
The clan's eventual recovery models how a change-resistant culture can rebuild adaptive capacity without abandoning what makes its operations reliable.
Fable format as a teaching tool
The book is designed to make change-management concepts accessible to non-specialist audiences and easy to discuss as a team.
Try it this week
- Name one that's-not-how-we-do-it-here response your team has given to a new idea in the last few months, and ask whether the underlying rule still serves its purpose.
- List which of your team's processes exist to keep operations reliable versus which exist to sense and drive change, and notice if one list is much longer.
- Identify one colleague who consistently pushes new ideas and consider what would happen if you routed one live problem through them outside the normal hierarchy.
- Read or assign the fable as a team discussion piece and ask each person to name one rigid process worth questioning.
Is it for you?
Best for
- Teams and leaders newer to change-management concepts who want an accessible, story-based entry point
- Middle managers trying to explain the tension between how we operate and how we adapt to their own teams
Less useful if
- Readers who've already read Leading Change and want new analytical depth rather than the same ideas in fable form
- Anyone looking for step-by-step implementation detail rather than a narrative illustration