Blogs
Agile Evolution and Impact Blog
What 24 Leaders Reveal About the Blind Spots Hiding Inside Strategy
A blind spot rarely starts as missing information. It starts as information a leader is structurally unwilling to let in. The signal is often already circulating in the room. The plan simply has no…
The Conversational Brand Voice Starts With Removing the Armour
Most teams treat a conversational brand voice as a wardrobe change. Swap the formal jacket for something casual. Add friendly phrasing. Sprinkle in a few relatable lines. The tone shifts on the…
DiSC Isn’t Broken. The Way Organizations Use It Is.
There’s a version of this story I’ve watched play out more times than I can count. A company invests in DiSC assessments. Leadership rolls them out with genuine enthusiasm. Employees complete the…
The Manager Who Told Me I Was Lucky to Get Satisfactory Built My Entire Career
"You're lucky you're getting satisfactory." That is the sentence, verbatim, that my manager said to me in a small room during my year-end review....
When Communication Breaks Organizations
I used to think broken communication was a plumbing problem. Add a channel here, a weekly update there, and one more meeting to catch up on what...
Checkbox Agile Assessments Measure the Audit, and Little Else
You can game most agile assessments in an afternoon. I know because I used one of the leading ones for years. I ran it inside real organizations,...
The Meaning Of Agile When You Strip Away The Noise
I used to think leadership meant having all the answers and holding the reins. I believed a good manager stayed close to the work, checked it often,...
The Quiet Signals of Team Dysfunction
The first sign that a team is struggling is rarely a fight. It is a hush. I have stood in front of a group already worn down by change after change...
Agile Maturity Is a Category Error
In 2023, I gave a talk at an Agile conference on evolution versus maturity in agile environments. The idea came from years of walking into...
The Bully in the Corner Office Is Usually Afraid
A leader takes over a team during a stretch that matters. The stakes are high. The pressure is real. Everyone above them is watching. The numbers...
Your Leadership Team Isn’t Aligned. They’re Just Politely Waiting for Each Other to Fail
I've sat in enough executive meetings to recognize the pattern. Everyone nods. Everyone agrees. Everyone leaves the room and quietly continues doing...
Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement (The Systems and the Mindset)
There has always been a buzz about continuous improvement. It makes sense; without it, we wouldn’t have the advancements that shape our lives today....
Your Best People Aren’t Burnt Out. They’re Trapped
Burnout gets talked about like it’s a personal weakness. “Time management.” “Resilience.” “Better boundaries.” “Take a vacation.” Sometimes those...
You Don’t Need More Agile. You Need Fewer Lies in Your System
Most leaders don’t wake up and think, “How can I create a dishonest workplace today?” They do something more normal (and more damaging): they build...
AI Won’t Fix Your Delivery. It’ll Just Speed Up the Mess You Already Have.
AI is the new hope. Hope that your backlog will finally shrink. Hope that quality will magically improve. Hope that your team will “move faster”...
Compounding Beyond 1%: Values-Based Leadership & Cooperation
In every corner of personal development and leadership, the idea of improving “1% a day” has become a cultural mantra. You’ve seen the graphic:...
If You Measure “Activity,” You’ll Get Activity (Not Productivity)
When leaders roll out workplace monitoring software, it’s usually framed as a productivity move. “We just want visibility.” “We need to manage...
“Don’t Bring Your Authentic Self to Work” Is the Wrong Lesson
I was going through my news feed when I came across an article with former U.S. Secret Service agent, Evy Poumpouras, and she said something that...