Harvard Business Publishing

"We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare."

With these words Hillary Clinton crystallized the theme of the Democratic National Convention's second day: the urgency and focus required for change to happen. Even if behind the scenes she left the door open to a future presidential run, on stage she appealed to her supporters to redirect their passion away from her and toward Barack Obama.

His primary win was no ordinary upset: at this convention, Clinton would have been the first woman to accept the presidential nomination for a major party, 160 years after the history-making Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott to advocate for wider civil rights for women. For Clinton's most ardent supporters, getting behind the man who dashed her hopes--and theirs--is a bitter task indeed. So bitter that some are getting behind John McCain, Obama's Republican rival, instead or vowing to stay home. Others say they will vote for Obama but won't actively campaign on his behalf.

Clinton's platform so closely resembles Obama's that their differences are visible only if you squint, observe the pundits, whereas very few similarities exist between hers and McCain's. This argument has done little to win Clintonistas over to Obama's side.

And this is hardly a surprise. Change rarely happens when the appeal is made all to the head and not to the heart, says John Kotter, an emeritus Harvard Business School professor who's studied and written about organizational change for decades. True change requires true urgency, he says, and "underlying a true sense of urgency is a set of feelings: a compulsive determination to move, and win, now."

In his latest book, A Sense of Urgency, Kotter distinguishes between true urgency (an intense will to win) and false urgency (directionless anger and anxiety). Clinton's speech sought to turn false urgency into true urgency. It sought to transform the immense rage and angst of her most disappointed followers into a resolute determination to put a Democrat in the White House.

This is a group with stamina; Clinton appealed to this trait when she quoted the advice Harriet Tubman gave to passengers on the underground railroad: "If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going."

Hillary has stamina, too, and this campaign has honed her skill as a change agent. I fully expect that we'll see it deftly wielded on the Senate floor soon again--and on later convention stages.

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For audio and video interviews with John Kotter, and more about his work, go to our John Kotter page: Click Here.

Is your company too complacent to allow real change to happen? Take this interactive quiz to find out. At the same time, download free a chapter from A Sense of Urgency.

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To read my post about the convention's first day, click here: "DNC Day 1: Michelle Obama and Authentic Leadership."