Epic Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age

Epic Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age By Timothy R. Clark (Jossey-Bass, 272 pp., $29.95)

Business advisor, scholar, and former CEO Timothy R. Clark analyzed initiatives at 53 different organizations-including schools, government agencies, businesses, non profits, and healthcare facilities-to understand what exactly constitutes effective and sustained change. Some of the change processes he studied were institutional mission shifts, new business models, succession planning systems, mergers and acquisitions, and business process redesigns. Epic Change documents the patterns he observed and the results he found.

Entitled the "EPIC" methodology, Clark breaks successful change efforts into a sequence of four steps: evaluation, preparation, implementation, and consolidation. The various phases involve leaders overseeing completion of technical tasks, as well as preparing and enabling employees to move forward productively as a cohesive workforce (or, "the human factor"). Employees need motivation to make change possible. Clark encourages setting measurable and communicable goals to give employees confidence for the future. He also suggests that leaders be credible and transparent in their behavior, and demonstrates how these qualities can lead to success.

Aparna Nancherla

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