The Web changes everything -- including change. And it's not just the Web. Digital technologies, wireless technologies, the Human Genome Project, complexity theory, and the emergence of new science have all changed how we think about change: why change has to happen in companies, how change happens, and, most important, who makes change happen. Power has shifted from inside to outside, from corporate planners to aggressive buyers. Now all customers, all clients, all investors, have a huge array of choices -- and can switch to something better instantly.

Change today happens suddenly, unexpectedly, unpredictably. It occurs in companies the way that we see it occur in biological systems or in technological breakthroughs: Change is sudden, nonlinear, and constant. Its amplitude and direction can't be forecast. Killer apps can come from anywhere; new competitors are lurking everywhere. Markets emerge, flourish, inspire imitators, breed competitors, and disappear seemingly overnight. Brands, which once took years to establish and which, once established, seemed unassailable, now burst on the scene like a new strain of virus, finding competitive spaces and market niches that were previously invisible. Internet buzz can make a product overnight -- or break it. There is more choice than ever, more challenge than ever -- and more change than ever. As a result, products and markets are continuously morphing, so organizations that want to prosper over the long term need to practice the art of continuous change.

In this environment of constant change, companies are known both for the products that they create and for the speed and agility with which they move to create them. A communication device becomes a means of finding a great buy on a car over the Web. It becomes a financial instrument to buy a car. It becomes an interactive tool enabling a customer to design a car from scratch. "Company" no longer refers to a fixed set of assets and employees operating with a set strategy and in a defined market. A company is a living organism competing, collaborating, and cocreating in a network of other companies. It is moving and morphing into different revenue streams where it can add value, extract profits -- and change the rules of competition in entire industries.

Companies that can't change in this new environment can't play in this new economy. Companies that can't change the way that they think about change won't be able to change the way that they compete. And hiring change agents, who used to carry the banner for change inside large companies, is no longer the right way to think about or to practice change.

Change today demands the change insurgent.

The Job of the Change Insurgent

The old change agent is as much a thing of the past as the old environment for change is. The old change agent could help a company do things faster, cheaper, better. He could try to push the company toward a linear improvement in its performance -- cutting costs, questioning bad practices, applying new technology to an old task, inching the company closer to its customers. But the mind-set for change -- as well as the process for change -- was limited, mechanical, point-to-point.

The change insurgent operates with a different mandate and a different mind-set.

Rather than coming up with better products, the change insurgent continually invents better organizations. For the change insurgent, doing "it" faster, cheaper, and better is no longer the goal -- because "it" keeps changing. As a result, the change insurgent focuses less on specific products or specific markets, and more on organizational readiness. The whole organization has to scan technologies for possible applications, scan markets for possible needs, scan all other organizations for newly emerging technologies or markets -- and then move like lightning.

Rather than aiming for growth, the change insurgent aims for dexterity. In the 1990s, the Web gave companies a new mandate: Stop cutting costs, and start growing revenues. In the 2000s, the next phase of the Web is giving companies another mandate: Get more disciplined about growth and more focused on adaptation. It's no longer enough just to grow. The job of the change insurgent is to focus companies on their ability to maneuver and to change direction.

Rather than just cutting costs, the change insurgent has to explode the organization and put it on the Web. The change insurgent's job is to turn an old-line company into an online company. And in the course of making that change, the change insurgent has an opportunity to change the larger context within which the company operates. Rather than keeping operations in-house, the insurgent relies on B2B Web-based auctions and partnerships. Instead of paying suppliers a fixed price, the insurgent gives them equity. In place of fixed payrolls, the insurgent relies on performance-based pay, stock options, project teams, and contract workers.

Rather than working from the top down, the change insurgent works from wherever he is. Many change agents used to depend on title, authority, or official sanction to undertake their change programs. Change insurgency doesn't depend on formal rank; it depends on great ideas, powerful visions, and daring examples. There's no way that the people at the top can know enough about technology, markets, or the potential of people in and around the organization to be the major instigators of change. There's no way that change can be planned as a formal "program." The job of the people with the most formal authority, the "chiefs" -- chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer -- is to create an environment in which change insurgency can flourish.

The 10 Rules of the Change Insurgent

In a time of constant change, one thing hasn't changed: Organizations are still resistant to change. The change agent of the old economy worked in an environment where incremental change was all that was needed -- and all that was tolerated. He counted it a victory if he could move the organization toward better products in a slow and steady fashion. Today, change has changed -- the speed, the pace, the type, the purpose. The balance has shifted. The change insurgent has to keep altering the organization's fundamental form, focusing on its capacity to change constantly.

Here are 10 important rules for the change insurgent.

reich@brandeis.edu [1]) is an author, a professor, a former labor secretary, and a change insurgent. His new book, The Future of Success (Alfred A. Knopf), will be out in January.

Sidebar: How to Detect Change Resisters: It's in Their Talk

It's as much a law of work as it is a law of physics: For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Change insurgents are bound to evoke their opposite: change resisters. How can you tell who's a change resister and who's not? Listen to what people say.

1. "That seems risky." Of course it's risky. The question is whether the risk is worth it, given the chance that it might work -- and also the inherent risk of not changing.
2. "Let's go back to the basics." What basics? Mass production? Command-and-control organizations? The idea that "basics" exist is usually wrong, because the world has changed profoundly since the time when there was one right way to do everything.
3. "It worked before." Past success is the enemy of change -- especially when it's offered as a safe alternative to blazing a new trail.
4. "We're fine just the way we are." Maybe -- but it's unlikely that you'll stay fine unless you change. Success breeds complacency.
5. "There's no threat." There's always a threat, there are always dangers -- and if they're not "out there," they're "in here": Internal threats are often the most destructive.
6. "That's not in our core competence." Too bad. You'd better learn. Any organization that lets itself be bound by its old competencies is building its own coffin.
7. "The numbers don't work." Old models are often irrelevant to the new economy. Pay attention to cash flow, but don't let the "green eyeshades" prevent change from happening.
8. "It's a slippery slope. Once we start down that road, there's no stopping place." The real message: I'm not in control anymore! That part is true: Customers are in control. Old-fashioned control freaks are not in control. Anything that's not working can be ended immediately. What can't be stopped are successes.
9. "There will be unforeseen consequences." Naturally there will be, because the new economy is nothing but unforeseen consequences -- which is why constant change is necessary.

Sidebar: You Can Be a Change Insurgent

In the lexicon of job titles of the future, being a "change insurgent" is something that anyone can claim. In fact, "change insurgent" is the kind of title that you can add to your existing title, like an abbreviation for an honorary degree: "vice president, marketing, CI." Here's how you can qualify.

You don't have to be at the top of the organization.

In the old economy, leadership was another way of saying "formal authority." In the new economy, power comes from knowledge and creativity -- which means that change insurgents can, and should, be anywhere.

Power lies with people who know the technology.

People closest to the technology (programmers, designers, engineers) are in the best position to discover what the technology is capable of doing -- what can be tweaked or altered to get a different result. Geeks are also most likely to be in the "gossip circle" about what's cooking elsewhere. The job of every change insurgent is to bring that information to bear on the company's operations.

Power lies with people who know the market.

People closest to the customers are in the best position to know what the customers want. They're in the best position to gauge competitors -- and to detect the next competitor. And they're also most likely to pick up hints from companies in other industries that are dealing with the same customers.

Change insurgency can be a team sport.

The most effective change insurgents aren't loners, mavericks, or revolutionaries. They work the system. They enlist others. They sell their ideas upward and outward, and they grab good ideas from others.

The best managers foster change insurgency throughout their organization.

People in positions of responsibility know that high-performing organizations are rife with change insurgents. So they reward people for their ability to sell their ideas. The more someone is imitated, the higher that person's value. Good managers also reward insurgents for finding good ideas and spreading them. Great organizations create a culture of insurgency.