Most institutions of higher education need to undergo self-directed and deep change; but few do it. In the late 1990s, Zamorano College, an international institution located in Honduras, Central America stopped resting on its laurels and carried out an ambitious, multifaceted, rapid transformation program. The author recounts the details of the process and presents a number of the hypotheses that were generated. Readers are encouraged to apply and judge these lessons within their institutional contexts. This study emphasizes the need for internal change agents to base their transformation efforts simultaneously on the evolving needs of the college's external constituencies and a re-evaluation and ultimately a reaffirmation of the enduring values of the institution. By making difficult programmatic changes that were consistent with the strengthening of the institution's deepest values and the key external constituencies' needs, Zamorano assured that its programmes would respond to the priorities of society at large, not just those of a complacent or defensive internal constituency. Other institutions can do the same.
