Capturing Change

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BOOK REVIEW // BY TERRY TORY

Capturing Change

Tri-C president’s new book examines transformation and continuous improvement.

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the pandemic, it’s that the only constant is change. Today, however, technological advancements, financial crises, supply chain disruptions and natural disasters also are forcing change in organizations across the globe.

It may seem that change is coming with unprecedented speed in these arduous times. However, leaders around the world and throughout history have needed to adapt to change and embrace it in order to be successful.

In his new book, Capturing Change: Creating Systems of Transformation Through Continuous Improvement, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) President Alex Johnson looks at commonly held beliefs regarding change management, exposing counterproductive flaws in thinking and processes that cause many organizations to falter and fail in the face of change. Building upon the “Uninterrupted Cycle of Leadership Effectiveness (UnCLE)” introduced in his acclaimed 2018 book Change the Lapel Pin, Johnson offers new ideas and solutions to change management issues that challenge new and experienced leaders alike.

Johnson starts by examining the benefits of continuous improvement over change management, the former offering a more natural approach to leading ongoing change. He then goes on to offer an understanding of change and how it should be defined and categorized.

Later in the work, Johnson expands upon his UnCLE system introduced in his first work, embracing the reasons change itself is an important component of organizational development. He further describes the natural leadership skills needed to structure change within an organization while further exploring how change leads to organizational excellence. Johnson even offers case studies presented in the framework of his UnCLE concept. At the end, there’s “something a little extra” in a section the author calls “Lagniappe” — a Creole term.

Capturing Change prepares readers to integrate change in a sustainable fashion, weaving it into the very fabric of an organization’s operations, in sync with all stakeholders. The lessons Johnson imparts provide a framework for becoming a leader of transformation — going beyond merely meeting and overcoming the challenges of change to harnessing it as a necessity for continuous improvement, essential to an organization’s long-term health.

The book has been extremely well received by Cleveland’s business, civic and community leaders. Despite its complex and scholarly theme, it’s a very easy read. It includes a foreword by Rick Chiricosta, chairman, president and CEO of Medical Mutual of Ohio, and is endorsed by numerous other Cleveland business leaders, including Andrew Randall, president and CEO of Cleveland Private Trust Co.; Beth E. Mooney, former chairman and CEO of KeyCorp; and John Skory, vice president of utility operations at FirstEnergy Service Co.

Johnson has been a higher education administrator in a career spanning more than 40 years, including 28 as a college president. He has been president of Tri-C since 2013, leading the college to numerous awards, including the Community College Futures Assembly Bellwether Award, the Kisco Foundation Kohlberg Prize, the Aspen Institute STEM Award, the Aspen College Excellence Program Top 150 and eligibility for Achieving the Dream’s Leah Meyer Austin Award.

Capturing Change is available online at tri-c.edu/capturing-change and through Tri-C campus bookstores. The cost is $17.50. Proceeds from the book will go toward student scholarships through the Tri-C Foundation. 