Executive Reality Check: Fear of Agile Is Quietly Making You Obsolete

“CIRCA isn’t about weathering the storm. It’s about learning to navigate in any weather the future throws at you.”

In leadership circles, there’s often an unspoken belief:
That resisting Agile, avoiding decentralisation, and clinging to control somehow keeps the business safe.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
That fear is costing you your future.
…And in a world being redefined by AI and systemic volatility, the cost is accelerating.

The Game Has Changed—And Moved On Without You

Many executive teams are still asking how to regain predictability. How to return to “normal.” Meanwhile, the world has moved on.

We’re operating in what I call a CIRCA environment:

Complex – The systems you work in are interconnected and unpredictable.
Insecure – Stability is a myth; fragility is now the default.
Rapid – Change isn’t just fast—it’s relentless.
Contradictory – You’re asked to grow and cut, automate and humanise.
Anxious – People, markets, and decisions are all clouded by uncertainty and emotion.

Now throw AI into that mix. It’s changing how we work, learn, compete, and deliver value. You’re not just facing change.
You’re facing compounding disruption.

In this world, agility isn’t a toolset or a transformation program.
It’s a necessary condition for survival.

The Signs Are Already There

You might not notice the slip immediately. Obsolescence doesn’t show up like a quarterly loss—it arrives silently, through dysfunction and delay:

Your governance is too slow.
While others adapt in weeks, you’re still waiting for sign-off.
Your top talent is disengaged.
They want purpose, flow, and growth—not bureaucracy.
Your decisions are bottlenecked.
Execution is throttled because authority is hoarded.
Your technology outpaces your culture.
You’ve invested in tools but neglected ways of working.
You’re still measuring outputs.
Others are compounding insight, adaptation, and value.

You’re not being outperformed.
You’re being out-adapted.

And often, not by the biggest players—but by leaner, faster, more learning-focused organizations. Or increasingly, by smarter machines.

Obsolescence Doesn’t Make Noise

There’s no loud crash.
Just a creeping irrelevance:

The customer who quietly moves on.
The competitor who outpaces you, again.
The talent who doesn’t reapply.
The board meeting where no one can quite explain what went wrong. Until it’s too late.

So What’s the Alternative?

You don’t need another buzzword initiative.
You need to build core capabilities for today’s reality.

The shift starts with three things:

Courage – To challenge comfort and legacy thinking.
Candour – To speak plainly about what isn’t working.
Capability – To sense, respond, and learn at speed.

These principles are embodied in a human-centred framework I call CLEAR—the antidote to CIRCA:

CIRCA Challenge	CLEAR Leadership Response	Elements
Complex	Clarity	Strategic sensemaking, system thinking, and scenario planning.
Insecure	Learning	Experiments, feedback loops, and capacity for ambiguity.
Rapid	Empathy	Human-centred change that preserves trust and cohesion.
Contradictory	Agility	Navigating tensions through polarity thinking and iteration.
Anxious	Resilience	Psychological safety, wellbeing, and adaptive leadership.

These aren’t soft skills.
They’re the infrastructure of adaptability.

Ask a Better Question

Many leadership teams are still asking:

“How do we get back to normal?”

But normal is gone.

The better question is:

“What must we become to thrive in this?”

Because your customers aren’t waiting.
AI isn’t waiting.
And your people?
They’re already deciding whether your organisation is still worth growing with.

Final Thought: Obsolescence Is a Choice

If your strategy is still based on returning to the comfort of the past, you’re already behind.

The future belongs to the adaptive.
To those bold enough to lead—not for recovery, but for reality.

So the question for you, and your executive team, is this:
Will you protect the past—or build the capabilities to stay relevant in the future?

I am currently developing my book, Ingenious Agility, which delves into twelve core themes of organizational agility. Each theme is explored through incisive questions that probe the cultural, operational, and strategic dimensions of agility. Central to this exploration is the evolving CIRCA Model, which offers a framework for understanding and advancing organizational adaptability.

The book is designed to equip leaders with the insights needed to architect organizations that not only withstand chaos but also foster ingenuity and sustained innovation. To bridge theory and practice, I ground these insights in real-world case studies—such as Microsoft’s DevOps transformation, which highlights the power of cultural change and cross-team collaboration, and Haier’s pioneering microenterprise model, which demonstrates how structural innovation can unleash entrepreneurial energy at scale. Through these examples, Ingenious Agility provides actionable guidance for leaders seeking to create organizations that thrive amid uncertainty and drive meaningful, lasting change.

NEIL WALKER