Imagine this: you’ve just taken on a new product. You’re expected to drive value, align your team, and make critical decisions—but the business requirements you’re used to aren’t landing on your desk. Instead, you’re left facing a blank page, a swarm of stakeholder opinions, and a creeping fear: “What if I get this wrong?” Many […]
Observations from Consultants Across agile organizations, consultants are picking up on a worrying pattern: mid-level leaders – especially managers – are becoming increasingly disengaged. Where they once energized teams, they now often appear overextended, undervalued, and disconnected from purpose. The latest Gallup 2025 report echoes what we’re hearing on the ground: global employee engagement has […]
The Waiting Game: How Fear of Mistakes Freezes Organizations There’s a familiar pattern we see in many organizations: decisions are postponed, watered down in meetings, or ignored entirely. The fear of being wrong – or unpopular – often outweighs the desire to make progress. One striking public example? The EU’s long-standing debate over abolishing daylight […]
A Parable of Assumptions: “The Story with the Hammer” and the Product Leader Once upon a time, a product leader in a bustling tech company faced a familiar predicament: he needed his team’s help to deliver an important feature on time. But instead of asking directly, doubts clouded his mind. “What if they don’t respond […]
If there’s one thing we’ve noticed in most organizations, it’s this: ambiguity is everywhere, and it’s quietly killing productivity. It sneaks in through unclear strategies, muddled priorities, and half-communicated goals. Teams become hesitant to act because they don’t fully understand what’s expected of them. This hesitation leads to delays, endless rework, and a cycle of […]
Act I: The Hamster Wheel Alex had always been a high achiever. Early in his career, his knack for solving problems made him a rising star in the organization. Tight deadlines, demanding clients, operational hiccups – Alex handled them all effortlessly. So, when he was promoted to lead the product team, everyone thought it was […]
In a bustling product development company, there was a leader named Sarah, known for her strategic acumen and her uncanny ability to deliver results. Sarah had a talented team, tools like Slack, MS Teams, Google Chat and a well-structured calendar packed with meetings. On the surface, her organization seemed a model of modern efficiency. But […]
Observations from the field In organizations, problem-solving has long been the cornerstone for dealing with challenges. Leaders and teams often spend a lot of time analyzing failures, exploring their causes and identifying culprits. While this process satisfies the human need for understanding, it can inadvertently trap organizations in cycles of negativity. Problem-solving alone rarely generates […]
The term BANI was coined as a framework by the American Jamais Cascio, who presented the idea to a wider audience in 2020 after working with it for two years. For Cascio, VUCA is no longer sufficient to understand the disruptions and chaos in global systems. The main reason for this is that VUCA describes […]