Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

Penguin Fred is a nice guy and bright, but he’s a bit of a recluse. He spends lots of time observing the iceberg and the sea around it and taking notes. Though not unpopular, his status is fairly low, so when he warns of an impending disaster, he must struggle to be heard. Fred represents those who think unconventionally and discover flaws in an organization and, in warning others, risk becoming isolated when vested interests campaign against them instead of listening. Freds need high-ranking champions, such as an Alice, on their side.

Head Penguin of the Leadership Council, Louis is smart, wise, and fair-minded but somewhat timid and conservative. When the penguins discover the danger to their iceberg, though, Louis swings into action and supports a general effort by the colony to protect itself. He assembles a crisis team that, under his gentle prodding, rises quickly to the occasion. His great strengths are listening carefully and delegating responsibilities to the best people. Louis’s experience leading the colony to its new home serves as a lesson to CEOs everywhere: They, too, despite hoary traditions and organizational complacency, can lead their teams out of crises if they stay humble, hear their people’s concerns, and give them enough lead to pull the group into a better future.

Jordan, “the Professor,” is one of the Group of Ten and “the closest the Leadership Council had to an intellectual” (45). Relentlessly logical, well informed, and somewhat standoffish, Jordan is part of Louis’s crisis team and is valued for his technical expertise. Jordan stands in for intellectuals who can vet new ideas, check the engineering, predict technical problems, and devise methods for overcoming complex obstacles.

A kindergartener, Sally Ann solves the problem of feeding the penguin scouts by thinking up a Hero’s Day festival admission fee of two fish per adult. Declared the colony’s “youngest hero” for her efforts, Sally Ann symbolizes the contributions that even the least powerful and least experienced members of a group can make. She also represents the creative originality often found among the young, who are unburdened by tradition and old ways of thinking.

Buddy is a good friend of Fred’s, and he’s trusted by all. Fred gives him the bottle filled with saltwater for safekeeping, and, when it bursts from the expanding frozen water, Buddy shows it to the Leadership Council, and they accept his word and begin to act. Buddy represents group members who make a difference because they’re credible and well liked. They often can convince skeptics to join projects.

Louis puts together a small, highly diverse team—himself, Alice, Jordan, Fred, and Buddy—to lead the colony’s efforts to save itself from the natural disaster that looms over the iceberg. The members are a diverse group with a variety of ways of thinking and acting; they include managers, innovators, persuaders, and an intellectual or two, a good mix for a balanced and effective team. Louis spends a couple of days putting the group through team-building efforts that help align them with one another; this gets them, and any group that faces a threat to its organization, on the right track and in the right direction early on.