Forbes.com 

A few days ago, I posted a clip of a conversation I recently had with Bill Taylor, my Kotter International colleague, where we talked about some of the telltale signs of complacency — contentment, inward focus, cynicism, and so forth.

While these forces can be destructive to an organization — as I explained in my article on Kodak a few weeks back — there is some good news: they can also be eradicated. In the clip below, Bill and I continue our chat about complacency, and offer a few tips for leaders looking to eliminate it from their organizations.

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Forbes.com 

Last week, I explained how complacency overtook Kodak and all but guaranteed the company’s demise. Some of you may be asking, “But how could Kodak’s leaders have known that complacency had taken root? How will I know if it has set in at my organization?”

Well, when is the last time you had a conversation with a line worker, took a walk on the factory floor, or sat down to lunch with a member of your company’s entry ranks? At Kotter International, those are among the first steps we take when working with a new company. And what we often find are workers watching the clock, employees putting in just enough time and energy to get by, and people — good, talented people — unwilling to go the “extra mile.”

Why?

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Forbes.com 

Kodak has recently declared bankruptcy. Usually, when this hits the news it is analyzed by the numbers people who, looking at five years’ worth of financial data, give their quantitative and financial explanation of the failure. More qualitative types will go back 10 years sometime, and even go beyond finances to talk about strategy, CEOs, competition, and the like. Recent well-done Financial Times articles go back even further for Kodak.

And yet people still fail to see Kodak’s real problem. Complacency.

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