New Alex Johnson Book Examines Transformation

In ‘Capturing Change,' Tri-C president offers critical leadership lessons

The past year has served as a stark reminder that organizational leaders will face change and must adapt to it. However, the need to lead effectively in a time of change is not limited to major crises like a global pandemic. It is a constant for all leaders.

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.

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 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 the Cleveland Private Trust Company; Beth E. Mooney, former chairman and CEO of KeyCorp; and John Skory, vice president of utility operations at FirstEnergy Service Company.

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. Cost is $17.50. Proceeds from the book will go toward student scholarships through the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation.

August 16, 2021

Erik Cassano, 216-987-3577 or erik.cassano@tri-c.edu