Our Iceberg Is Melting “Once upon a time a colony of penguins was living in the frozen Antarctic on an iceberg near what we call today Cape Washington.” Introduction to Parts 1 and 2: Part 1: Our Iceberg Is Melting is a fable about how to manage change. The story is about penguins in Antarctica who really behave like people. Similar to how people get comfortable, the penguins get complacent with life on their iceberg. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the iceberg is flawed and starts to melt. The iceberg represents both a problem and an opportunity. The problem, once solved, allows the penguins to thrive again. The melting iceberg is also an opportunity in that some of the penguins get to challenge their perceived boundaries, learn new things and actually lead! The story is also a parable in the classic sense. At every turn of the story, the authors of the story, John Kotter and Holger Rathgerber, instruct the reader about learning how to deal effectively with change and importantly, how to derive positive action from the status quo. Part 2: You will read a summary of Kotter's 8-Step Change Model from the Mind Tools website and complete the study questions and submit them to Professor Tarbi by the beginning of class next week. Part 1: Story Summary: As is often the case with humans, the colony of Emperor Penguins was content with doing what they did yesterday. Ahhhh…no change is good change! The fishing was good and the living was easy. Then, one of the more curious penguins, Fred, discovers something is wrong with the iceberg the colony inhabits. Upon observation, he uncovers that the iceberg is melting and may ultimately break apart. Initially, he is frozen with doubt and worry. He’s aware that previous attempts to inform the senior management team (aka The Leadership Council) resulted in “shooting the messenger”. Like any self respecting, large wingless bird, getting shot is low on his list of priorities. Ultimately, Fred realizes that if he is to get the right level of attention, he has to plan his approach. His first step is to influence Alice, an action oriented, just-the-facts kind of leader who is a member of the Leadership Council. Initially, she is skeptical and wants to see hard evidence that Fred’s contention is accurate. In a rather commanding tone she utters, “Take me to the place that you think most clearly shows the problem.” In our modern day more human parallel, she’d like to see the facts and just the facts! In an effort to convince her, Fred suggests that they take a swim under the iceberg to check it out. Once a penguin gets off of their iceberg, they are vulnerable to attack from killer whales and elephant seals. However, once under the iceberg, the evidence becomes irrefutable. In a big cave under the iceberg you could see that there were cracks under the iceberg that the colony called “home”. Alice wasn’t a researcher or a scientist but after an explanation from Fred as to what happens when water in a fissu.

1. Our Iceberg Is Melting
“Once upon a time a colony of penguins was living in the frozen
Antarctic on an iceberg near what we call today Cape
Washington.”
Introduction to Parts 1 and 2:
Part 1: Our Iceberg Is Melting is a fable about how to manage
change. The story is about penguins in Antarctica who really
behave like people. Similar to how people get comfortable, the
penguins get complacent with life on their iceberg.
Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the iceberg is flawed and
starts to melt. The iceberg represents both a problem and an
opportunity. The problem, once solved, allows the penguins to
thrive again. The melting iceberg is also an opportunity in that
some of the penguins get to challenge their perceived
boundaries, learn new things and actually lead!
The story is also a parable in the classic sense. At every turn of
the story, the authors of the story, John Kotter and Holger
Rathgerber, instruct the reader about learning how to deal
effectively with change and importantly, how to derive positive
action from the status quo.
Part 2: You will read a summary of Kotter's 8-Step Change
Model from the Mind Tools website and complete the study
questions and submit them to Professor Tarbi by the beginning
of class next week.
Part 1: Story Summary:
As is often the case with humans, the colony of Emperor
Penguins was content with doing what they did yesterday.
Ahhhh…no change is good change! The fishing was good and

2. the living was easy.
Then, one of the more curious penguins, Fred, discovers
something is wrong with the iceberg the colony inhabits. Upon
observation, he uncovers that the iceberg is melting and may
ultimately break apart.
Initially, he is frozen with doubt and worry. He’s aware that
previous attempts to inform the senior management team (aka
The Leadership Council) resulted in “shooting the messenger”.
Like any self respecting, large wingless bird, getting shot is low
on his list of priorities.
Ultimately, Fred realizes that if he is to get the right level of
attention, he has to plan his approach. His first step is to
influence Alice, an action oriented, just-the-facts kind of leader
who is a member of the Leadership Council. Initially, she is
skeptical and wants to see hard evidence that Fred’s contention
is accurate. In a rather commanding tone she utters, “Take me to
the place that you think most clearly shows the problem.” In our
modern day more human parallel, she’d like to see the facts and
just the facts!
In an effort to convince her, Fred suggests that they take a swim
under the iceberg to check it out. Once a penguin gets off of
their iceberg, they are vulnerable to attack from killer whales
and elephant seals. However, once under the iceberg, the
evidence becomes irrefutable. In a big cave under the iceberg
you could see that there were cracks under the iceberg that the
colony called “home”. Alice wasn’t a researcher or a scientist
but after an explanation from Fred as to what happens when
water in a fissure freezes, she quickly understands that it would
expand and crack the iceberg. She is shaken by this reality. She
then wisely proposes to Fred that she will need his help in
getting others to “see and feel the problem….And be prepared
that some birds won’t want to see any problem
Thanks to Alice, a few days later, Fred is invited to a council
meeting to pitch his case. He realizes that he needs to dramatize
his point. He can’t simply present facts and figures. He realizes

3. that he needs to create a sense of urgency. He cleverly
constructs a model made out of ice to demonstrate how the
fissures under the iceberg, when filled with water, would likely
freeze and cause their iceberg to crack and crumble into the
ocean.
Some are intrigued. However, others are skeptical. For example,
NoNo, who was responsible for the weather forecasting and a
member of the Leadership Council, simply goes “negative”. He
spoke up barely able to control his emotion, “What he saw or
what he thinks he saw is nothing new. There is no reason to
worry! Our iceberg is solid and strong and can withstand
fluctuations!” As a result, others started questioning the idea. A
debate ensues. NoNo asks for a guarantee. Alice says, “I can’t
give you a guarantee…But should our melting iceberg break
into many pieces, it will be winter, when it’s dark both night
and day, when the storms and winds will make us the most
vulnerable. Wouldn’t many of us die?” Then, Alice concludes
by reminding them of the greater responsibility to the colony
and its chicks.
In an effort to further convince the Leadership Council, Fred
comes up with another novel approach. He locates a glass bottle
which has many of the same properties of an iceberg. It is rock
hard, translucent, and can hold liquid. He puts water in the glass
bottle, seals it up with a fishbone, and sets it outside for the
night. If successful, his experiment will demonstrate that water,
once frozen, will expand and shatter even the rock hard bottle.
However, if this experiment is to be seen as objective, they need
another penguin to run it. Another penguin, Buddy, is chosen
for this task. Buddy isn’t the smartest of the birds but he is
trusted by most. Consequently, he is given the bottle to keep
overnight.
The Leadership Council returns the next morning with Buddy
also returning with the bottle shattered by the expanding water
(aka, ice). Louis, the Head Penguin, then calls an assembly of
the entire colony. Alice opens the meeting with her first hand
experience of the swim to the cave. Fred then explains to the

4. colony the danger they all were in and why. Buddy follows with
the story of the bottle. With all of the evidence and examples
provided by the team, the typical complacency of the penguins
begins to disappear. There is a growing sense of urgency which
then causes something to happen.
Louis, a smart and deliberate kind of leader, decides that there
needed to be a “posse” of sorts to solve the problem. He states,
“The colony needs a team of birds to guide them through this
difficult period. I cannot do the job alone. I believe that the five
of us are the best team for the task ahead.” This small team
must assure that the colony both understands the changes
needed, and is emotionally ready for those changes. This group
has to be varied in skill set, able to engender trust, and be seen
as credible.
Membership of this group is critical. The problem is large and
complex. So the team must bring a variety of capabilities to the
table. The membership of this team is as follows:
· Louis, the head of the Leadership Council, could perhaps be
considered the CEO of the penguin colony. He is unflappable (
and a bit conservative in nature.
· Alice is a smart, aggressive member of the council. She is a
real “doer” and quite impatient.
· Then there is Buddy. He is a young penguin council member
who may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but brings an
element of trust among the council members.
· Fred is the most curious of all of the penguins; although he
was an ‘unknown’ penguin in the beginning, he ultimately plays
a very important role in the change process.
· Jordan, also known as the “Professor,” was the brains of the
council; he could perhaps be considered the ‘researcher’ of the
group. He can be a bit obtuse, but clearly brings a good deal of
intellectual capital to the problem.

5. Like most groups, they started out as individuals. But in order
to be effective, they had to become a team. Louis wisely
conducts what in modern business parlance would be seen as
“teambuilding”. They started with a known shared task of
hunting for squid together. Then, of course, they lunched on the
squid. Then, wisely, Louis facilitated a “getting to know you”
session where they had a chance to get past assumptions about
each other and truly get to know each other as penguins. Louis
knows that if they are to build trust in others, they must trust
each other.
They start looking for solutions to the problem. Their initial
efforts to collect viable solutions fail. None of them seem to be
very practical. Then a bluebird of sorts drops into their laps.
They encounter a seagull. He is a bit different then themselves.
He actually flew in the air rather than the water. His job was to
go ahead of the group to look for their next home. But in this
difference they saw the nucleus of a solution. “…We can’t copy
them…” Alice points out, “I can almost see how we might live.
We’d learn to move around. We wouldn’t stay in one place
forever. We wouldn’t try to fix melting icebergs. We would just
face the fact that what sustains us cannot go forever.” Then they
quickly understand the nomadic lifestyle that seagulls lived,
could be the life that they lead. This created a vision which all
members of the guiding team were in agreement with.
Essentially, if another creature who flies can scout out new
homes, why can’t the penguins? They determine that they could
be nomadic and not sedentary.
Since the group had a new vision of what was possible, it was
time to get the message out. The Professor proposes a 97 page
PowerPoint to be presented to the entire assembly of the colony.
It is going to be rich in scientific evidence and full of facts and
figures. They should plan to be there for at least 2-3 hours to
get the full story from the PowerPoint. Buddy (not the brightest
bulb on the tree) confusingly states, “I’m sorry but I’m a little
lost.’

6. Fortunately, this idea is scuttled and a less ponderous approach
is decided upon. Louis decides to give a “we are not an iceberg”
speech to the colony. This is more of an emotional appeal than
the Professor’s approach. He presents to the colony what their
real values are and suggests to them that they are not tied to a
place (the iceberg), but rather a set of values that unifies them
as a community.
Once the assembly is over, there is a buzz about the new vision
around the iceberg. It is now the responsibility of the team to
keep the concept of being migratory at top of mind for the
colony. They create posters and creative slogans. They engage
other penguins in the process of making posters and putting
them in places where the colony members would be reminded of
the direction they were taking. This consistency of
communication gradually creates buy-in and slowly the colony
members start to overcome their fear of change.
However, all ideas cannot always hit the ground running with
visible results, and every group will want to turn back from
change as it draws nearer. As such, the guiding team realizes
they needed to re-assess the situation immediately. As a result,
they change their communications tactics so that the message is
consistently presented in novel and unexpected ways.
The team realizes that they will need capable swimmers to serve
as scouts. Their job is to find a new home for the colony. Fred
is now put in charge of selecting an elite group for scouting.
Similar to the seagull, their role is to find icebergs that are safe,
stable and capable of supporting the entire population of the
colonies. These scouts would not have the time to fish on their
own prior to the winter. So, they’d have to be well fed upon
their return. The team realizes that a long standing tradition of
penguin families only feeding themselves and their immediate
families is an obstacle to success.
A very young penguin named Sally Ann has the very practical
solution of holding a “Tribute to Our Heroes Day”. The price of

7. admission to this affair is two fish for adults! This solves the
problem of getting enough fish for the returning scouts. Louis
schedules this Heroes Day to coincide with the anticipated
return of the scouts.
As the first wave of scouts returns, they tell of possible new
homes for the colony. This proves that the theory of finding the
right location is quite possible. Now the only problem is to find
the right iceberg, since the first wave of scouts found icebergs
that were insufficient in some way.
At the event, the first wave of scouts receives HERO metals
and, for her creativity and ingenuity, Sally Ann is presented
with the original glass bottle. These short-term wins kept spirits
high and maintain belief that the change was probable.
Still any obstacle gives fuel to the fire of discontent with the
change. NoNo leads the coalition of the doubting and critical.
He continuously plays on everyone’s fears and points out the
flaws in the approach.
However, when Alice catches wind of his ongoing negativity,
she has the Professor provide the overwhelming evidence to
NoNo. The Professor spends an inordinate amount of time
following NoNo advising him of the wisdom of the change. The
Professor basically brow beats NoNo with facts, figures, theory
and references. “Did you read the article by Himlish on iceberg
trauma?” the Professor asks. “I believe it was published in the
late 1960’s.” Eventually, NoNo can’t take the barrage of logic
anymore and cries “Enough!”
Unfortunately, when penguins or people are in the middle of a
change, doubt and worry can spread only too rapidly. In one
such instance, a kindergarten teacher of the youngest penguins
started signaling alarm to her students: This will never work!
This worry got back to the parents who then get cold feet(. This
is again where Buddy’s skills as a trusted advisor come into

8. play. Buddy speaks with the teacher, in his kind way, and
reassures the importance of the change. He also presents a
WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) to the teacher. Once the new
colony is found, there will be a greater need for teachers. After
all, many more penguins will need to learn new behaviors and
skills that will be a part of this new nomadic lifestyle. He
explains: “in a world that will be ever changing a kindergarten
will be more important.” After this heart to heart conversation,
the teacher reassures her student chicks that the change is
positive.
Later, Fred is asked again to form a second wave of scouts,
which includes the Professor. This time it is easier. More
penguins want to be a part of this exciting change. The
momentum builds. This time the second wave finds a suitable
iceberg. On May 12th, the chaotic move begins. The task of
finding a suitable iceberg is different than moving the entire
colony across perilous seas. Nevertheless, everything works out
as well as could be expected.
The very next season they do not let up in keeping with the new
vision and change. They worry the colony will be resistant to
change again. Yet, they find a better home with more fish
supply, so they move again.
They continue to change and adapt by gradually phasing out
Leadership Council members who were too slow to adapt. The
Professor becomes the new weather forecaster. Fred is head of
scouts as well as a new member of the Leadership Council.
Buddy is offered a position but turns it down. Ironically, his
lack of ambition is seen as humility. Louis becomes the
“grandfather” and the colony begins to rely on Alice as the new
Head Penguin. The colony ensures that changes will not be
overcome by stubborn, hard-to-die traditions. They have to
work towards creating a new culture. In some instances, this
means new leadership and in another instance, the school
curriculum is revised to include “Scouting” as a core subject.
Not only must change be initiated and implemented, it must also

9. be maintained. Otherwise, everyone falls back to their old
habits and traditions.
The story didn’t really end there. The only constant is change.
Part 2: Read Kotter's 8-Step Change Model in Mind Tools
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm
Complete the Study Questions below
1. What were the changes that the penguin colony had to
overcome?
2. A coalition for change needed to be formed to facilitate
change? Why was it necessary? What was the role that the
various penguins played?
3. If any change can occur, urgency must be present. What was
urgent? What were the feelings it generated? Could any of these
feelings get in the way? Alternatively, facilitate change? How?
4. If there weren’t penguins in this story, can you identify an
organizational change you were involved with? What worked?
What didn’t? Why?
1