John P. Kotter Quotes

People change what they do less because they are given an analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.

To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.

Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action.

I cannot change others, but I can influence others... we can't change people, but we can and we do influence people, and we do it every single day.

You were born with the power to change others. You change people by the way you treat them. That is what changes the human heart.

The place for truth is not in the facts of a novel; it is in the feelings.

Truth does not lie beyond humanity, but is one of the products of the human mind and feeling.

Some people's lives are affected by what happens to their person or their property; but for others fate is what happens to their feelings and their thoughts -- that and nothing more.

You can't change the way people think, all you can do is give them a tool, the use of which will change their thinking.

You can change only what people know, not what they do.

Giving presents is one of the most possessive things we do, did you realize that? It's the way we keep a hold on other people. Plant ourselves in their lives.

Before I met her, I drank and swore without reason... now I have a reason.

If we walk down the sidewalk of any street in America a significant number of the people we pass by, if we dug into what they're going through in their lives, they're carrying burdens that they don't talk about but they're extremely heavy and painful. And so, one of the secrets of the human condition is that suffering binds people together. And when you go through something agonizing, others who know what you're feeling because they've been through it will so often reach out to you and connect with you, and give you strength and lift you up.

... people who'd led dull and blameless lives did not give thanks for second chances.

It's logical that people from bad times will reflect their feelings in their communication. Music is part of the communication. If you lived it, you can do it.

It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.

Hitler had this understanding that you speak to people's deepest, darkest emotions and give them voice that can be incredibly effective.

People are persuaded by reason, but moved by emotion; [the leader] must both persuade them and move them.

I've always thought there are two ways of getting what you wanted in life.Forcing people to give it to you,or making them want to give it to you.

Some say society must change in order to change people. No, people must be changed in order to change society.

There is a world of difference between facts and the truth. You can have so many facts that you don't deal with the truth. You never get to the truth. You have the places where, the people who, the times when, the reasons why, the methods how - blah blah. And never get to the human truth. The human truth is as elusive as the air. And as important as the air.

What are friends for? They are the ultimate reflection of yourself. Always surround yourself with people who inspire you and return the favor by giving them the best of you.

People need to realize that their thoughts are more primary than their genes, because the environment, which is influenced by our thoughts, controls the genes.

The simplest things give me ideas.

Some people naturally have a sense of empathy and an understanding of how to bring their followers to do things. They become great politicians.