Diagnose the pattern. Apply the right lever. Build capability that lasts.
Hi, I’m Neil Walker — welcome.
This is where transformation leaders come when the frameworks aren’t working.
For over 30 years, I’ve been the strategic troubleshooter organisations call when escalations multiply and established approaches fail. From the Bank of England to Royal Bank of Scotland, from Barclays to UK Government — I’ve recovered failing programmes, coached executives through complexity, and built operating models that actually deliver.
That pattern recognition is now documented in Thriving in Turbulence — a diagnostic framework (CIRCA-CLEAR) born from 200+ real-world interventions across banking, government, technology, and professional services.
The core insight: Most transformation failures aren’t execution problems — they’re misdiagnosis. Teams apply the wrong intervention because they haven’t accurately read the conditions. CIRCA-CLEAR fixes that gap.
Whether you’re navigating turbulence, building adaptive capability, or simply trying to work out why progress has stalled — you’re in the right place.
Thriving in Turbulence
Diagnose conditions. Apply the right lever. Build capability.
Published November 2025 | Available on Leanpub and Amazon
The book organisations need when transformation stalls despite everyone working harder than ever. CIRCA-CLEAR provides:
- Pattern recognition that diagnoses conditions in 2-3 days
- Matched interventions with 2-4 week testing cycles
- Leading indicators (ThroughFlow, Human Pulse) that predict problems before they escalate
- Framework integration that makes your OKRs, SAFe, and Team Topologies work better
Foreword by Giles Lindsay, author of Clearly Agile and The Adaptive Leader.
👉 Get the book → Available on Leanpub and Amazon
CIRCA-CLEAR Framework
CIRCA diagnoses five turbulence conditions: Complex, Insecure, Rapid, Contradictory, Anxious.
CLEAR provides five matched responses: Clarity, Learning, Empathy, Agility, Resilience.
Most frameworks tell you what to do. CIRCA-CLEAR tells you why it’s not working — so you apply the right intervention at the right time.
👉 Learn about CIRCA → 👉 Explore CIRCA-CLEAR →
Latest insights
-
Push Past the Status Quo: A Guide for Change Activists in Organizations
For change activists in organizations, pushing past the status quo can feel like an uphill battle. It’s easy for teams and individuals to fall into the comfort of routine, relying on the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset.…
-
The Illusion of Predictability: Navigating Uncertainty in Complex Projects
In the realm of complex projects, predictability often emerges as a top priority for executives. The allure of being able to forecast outcomes, timelines, and budgets with precision is undeniably attractive. Predictability promises control, stability, and a semblance of certainty…
-
Book Recommendation: “Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders”
One of my all-time favorite reads on business agility and leadership is “Turn the Ship Around!” by L. David Marquet. This book brilliantly chronicles the true story of how Marquet, a former nuclear submarine commander, transformed the USS Santa Fe…
-
Agility is a Strategy, Agile is a Tactic
I’ve been catching up on some of the conference sessions I have added to my personal Kanban over the year. One of the sessions from the recent Lean Kanban Central Europe 2015, truly caught my eye. “Turn Your Organisation Into…
-
Celebrating World Usability Day 2015
World Usability Day “occurs annually to promote the values of usability, usability engineering, user-centered design, universal usability, and every user’s responsibility to ask for things that work better. The day adopts a different theme each year”. 2015 is the Ten…
-
Reflecting on the Evolution of Product Design and Usability
In the mid-90s, Alan Cooper’s About Face introduced a compelling narrative on product design, one that placed the end-user experience at the heart of software development. For me, that book was pivotal, galvanizing my early views on how products should…
-
Tom Peters: 20 Years Later – A Visionary Still Leading the Charge
June 2015 marks 20 years since I had the privilege of meeting Tom Peters in London, during his visit to the pioneering Usability Group at Reuters. A select few of us invited to attend his conference, which brought the book…
Categories
Adaptability (17) Agile (50) Agility (111) Change (21) CIRCA-CLEAR meta-framework (6) Coaching (5) Complexity (22) Culture (15) Curiosity (6) Design Thinking (4) Events (10) Future of Work (26) Futures Thinking (14) Leadership (62) Lean (5) Methods and Approaches (23) Patterns (6) People (11) People-Centric (8) Product (18) Simplicity (12) Strategy (24) Systems Thinking (8) Thriving in Turbulence (7) Workshops (5)
Tags
Adaptability (14) Agile (15) Agile Coaching (4) Agile Culture (16) Agile Leadership (42) Agile Mindset (6) Agile Transformation (7) Agility (110) Americas Cup (6) Artificial intelligence (5) BANI (6) Book Launch (8) Business Agility (69) Change (6) Change Management (5) CIRCA-CLEAR (15) CIRCA-CLEAR meta-framework (5) CIRCA model (28) Co-creation (4) Collaboration (8) Collaboration Tools (4) Complexity (10) Continuous Improvement (62) Continuous Learning (45) Crystal Clear (5) Cultural Catalyst (4) Culture (8) Culture Change (5) Curiosity (23) Customer centricity (4) Design Thinking (4) Digital Transformation (6) DSDM (4) Employee Engagement (4) Enterprise Social Networks (5) Future of Work (27) Ingenious Agility (5) Innovation (24) Leadership (114) Leadership Development (4) Lean (6) Lean Change (9) Lean Product (4) Methods (6) Organisational Transformation (4) Organizational Agility (69) Organizational Change (8) Organizational Transformation (5) Product (21) Product Mindset (8) Product thinking (4) Project Management (6) Scrum (4) Simplicity (8) Strategy (4) Systemic Thinking (7) Systems Thinking (7) Value Delivery (5) VUCA (9) XP (4)