Testimonials

"Look around. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter how important you consider yourself to be, odds are that you’ll find yourself in an antiquated organizational setting surrounded by individuals devoting their energies to perpetuating rigidities, redundancies, and rivalries. Alas, many are merely tending organizational cemeteries.

"The unwelcome reality is that far too few of us dare to challenge the orthodoxy creatively, to pursue a constantly evolving vision, and to pre-position ourselves for the future by taking a long, hard look at the world of change around us. Clark Murdock is one of those few. Despite the scars of various bureaucratic altercations that he bears, Clark is a relentless supporter of challenging assumptions, taking the 360 view, and tearing apart structures and approaches that no longer conform to reality. He has shown little hesitation in taking on some of the most daunting organizational issues of our times—take the work he is now doing on reorganizing the nation’s foreign policy and national security structure, for example.

"There is no shortage of theory about leadership and how it can and should respond to change. The vast majority of it is ungrounded in practice, however. In this regard, Clark is a switch-hitter. He can trade theories with the best of them. But he is also a veteran of battles—both in government and in the non-governmental sphere—that have given him a birds-eye view of what works and what falls short. Either way, he can hit the ball out of the park.

"You should read this book. And you should allow yourself to become infected by Clark’s commitment to enabling the future. Or then again, you can go back to tending your organizational headstone…" 

Erik R. Peterson
Senior Vice President and Director, Global Strategy Institute
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

 

"Clark Murdock has had an extraordinary and varied career that might have rendered him unable to write a sentence intelligible to the rest of us. He has been a tenured academic, an intelligence analyst for the CIA, an NSC staffer, a congressional staff member, a Pentagon official, and now a successful business consultant. Consider the volumes of jargon and the culture-specific styles he has mastered. But Murdock emerges from these bureaucratic Towers of Babel with some of the clearest, most direct prose you will find in a business book. And he puts clarity to good use.

"He has not only triumphed over his experience, he has mined it deeply for an understanding of how individuals operate in organizations. He does not communicate spreadsheet to spreadsheet, he communicates person to person. His insights are broadly informed, thoroughly thought through, and delivered with laser focus. And they are actionable. Murdock serves up things you can actually do to do better."

Vernon Guidry
Director of Communications at a Fortune 300 company

 

"He gave an exceptionally candid and captivating talk in which his experience and expertise were highly evident. Dr. Murdock received outstanding reviews from program attendees. I would highly recommend Dr. Murdock with the utmost enthusiasm to any organization or establishment that is looking for a true policy professional to present complex material in an interesting framework and inspire dialogue and critical thinking within an audience."

Patricia Parker
President/CEO
Native American Management Services, Inc.

 

Comments after addressing an executive professional development program:

"Thought provoking; bring back!"

"Best presentation thus far in my opinion. Follow-up discussion was very useful for future."

"Exceptional and candid!"

"A highlight."

"The anecdotal-driven remarks within a historical context are excellent for provoking thought…"