Two years ago, I shared a list of 21 must-read books for leaders seeking inspiration on guiding their teams or organizations toward New Ways of Working. As summer vacation approaches and after reading over 30 additional books in the past two years, it’s time to refresh that list. This year’s list includes six new books,...
Disclaimer: This post might ruffle some feathers, but the conversation is raging, and I want to share my perspective on it. As a long-time advocate for Agile, it’s disheartening to see Agile getting a bad rap for reasons that entirely miss the point of its adoption. The intention here isn’t to diminish the value Agile...
When Walt Disney envisioned Disneyland, he waited to observe where visitors naturally walked before laying down sidewalks, allowing natural behaviors to dictate design. This approach, mirrored by Michigan State University (main image), emphasizes adapting to natural pathways rather than imposing predetermined routes. Unfortunately these examples are rare and more often than not, control is prioritized,...
In the ever-evolving complex landscape of modern leadership, the importance of effective communication cannot be overstated. It was therefore no surprise that effective communication was one of five themes ChatGPT identified when I tasked it with analyzing over 250 Harvard Business Review Management Tips of the Day from 2023. You can read a short summary...
On workdays, I get an email from Harvard Business Review with their Management Tip of the Day. As we embark on a new year, I got curious to see what we can learn from the approximately 250 tips I received in 2023. To help me with the analysis, I exported them all to a pdf and tasked ChatGPT with...
A friend recently pointed me to a very insightful 2018 post by Sam McAfee where he critically examines the trend of scaling Agile across organizations, drawing attention to the inherent contradictions in these approaches. In the article, McAfee highlighting the paradox of scaling Agile, a way of thinking that thrives on flexibility and adaptability. He...
In the dynamic landscape of leadership, there lies a fundamental question often overlooked: Why should anyone be led by you? This question isn’t just a mere curiosity but a profound exploration into the heart of effective leadership. Based on an extensive survey of 250 leaders, a striking revelation was made: merely a quarter of these...
I just facilitated my 20th Scrum.org Professional Agile Leadership – Essentials training, making me the 9th most experienced Agile Leadership trainer worldwide – go figure for a guy who is not big on repetitive work. One of the reasons why I am still passionate about Agile Leadership training is the almost 200 leaders I have...
I was recently involved in discussion with a group of leaders on project review gates and how to help a product team move forward. Part of the discussion centered on using the word gate and what that means. The more interesting debate, IMHO, is on how to empower a product team and support them in...
“You are definitely not a finisher,” responded my wife over lunch after I had explained the Working Geniuses model to her. To make her point clear, she followed up by giving me a couple of examples of projects I have enthusiastically started but haven’t gotten around to finishing (yet). A completely unnecessary elaboration if you...
Bringing 21+ years of experience in helping organizations adopt New Ways of Working.
