Crisp's Blog

Fostering Agency in Daily Leadership

Tomas Björkholm — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:32:57 +0000

This is the third and final part of the series on agency. Part one explained what agency actually is, and part two looked at what a lack of agency looks like in practice. This part could almost be short. Most of it is already captured in the fifth principle of the Agile Manifesto: “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to…

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Lack of Agency – When the system swallows the human

Tomas Björkholm — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:56:45 +0000

In my previous article, I explored the concept of agency — the capacity and freedom of individuals to act independently, make choices, and meaningfully influence their circumstances. But what does it look like when agency is entirely absent? I learned the hard way when I tried to rebook a cancelled flight. The perfect trip cancelled

MobAI: From Copilot to Team Pilot

Michael Göthe — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:34:44 +0000

AI can make individuals faster. For leaders, the bigger question is whether it helps teams build shared context, judgment, and better decisions. AI can make individuals faster. It can also make teams more fragmented. That is one of the risks I see in how many organizations approach AI adoption right now. One person gets a copilot. Another learns better prompts. A third builds a…

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Beyond “Taking Responsibility”: Why Leading for Agency is the Future of Modern Management

Tomas Björkholm — Sun, 31 May 2026 09:12:14 +0000

In recent years, a new word has steadily climbed the ranks of leadership literature and corporate strategy sessions: Agency. While many managers intuitively grasp that it has something to do with employees taking ownership, the concept goes far deeper than simply “taking responsibility.” In an era of remote work, rapid market shifts, and high competition, understanding and fostering agency…

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Från att driva fram resultat till att skapa miljöer som genererar resultat

David Barnholdt — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:28:47 +0000

För några år sedan satt jag i ett möte med en grupp chefer på ett stort bolag. De berättade om sina utmaningar: leveranser som drog över tid, team som inte tog ansvar, en omvärld som rörde sig snabbare än organisationen hann med. När jag frågade vad de gjorde åt det blev svaren förutsägbara: tätare uppföljning, mer detaljerad planering, fler statusmöten. Det är så lätt att hamna där.

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Catalyst Leadership: You Cannot Optimize the Whole System if Your Inner System Optimizes for Safety

Michael Göthe — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:40:35 +0000

Most leaders are not held back by a lack of competence. They are held back by an inner system that was built for a different kind of world. According to Bob Anderson and Bill Adams at Leadership Circle, their research suggests that 70-80% of leaders lead reactively. That does not mean they are bad leaders.

Coachande samtal – vad är det?

David Barnholdt — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:22:35 +0000

Har du någonsin känt att dina samtal med medarbetare eller kollegor inte leder till de resultat du önskar? Kanske känner du att du ger råd som inte följs eller att kommunikationen bara inte flyter som den ska. Har du kanske prövat med ett få till ett mer coachande samtal, men ändå inte lyckats? Coachande samtal är en strukturerad metod för att stödja medarbetares utveckling och öka…

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Leading Complexity 2025 — Just Two Weeks Away!

Michael Göthe — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:50:37 +0000

We’re just two weeks away from the launch of Leading Complexity 2025, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome the amazing group of participants who’ve signed up from around the world. This year marks the fourth season of the program — and the theme feels more urgent and relevant than ever: In 2025, we’re focusing on how to lead, learn, and adapt in the age of AI and accelerating…

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How to Lead—and Not Be Led—by AI in Complexity

Michael Göthe — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:46:38 +0000

A conversation with long-time Crisp collaborator Jonathan Reams Summary (Abstract) AI is accelerating our tools—and our context. In this Leading Complexity Podcast episode, Jonathan Reams argues that leaders must grow their inner capacity at least as fast as AI evolves, or risk being led by the very systems they deploy. We explore how adult development, complexity science…

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Trying Out Lovable – A New Way to Build Websites with AI

Tomas Björkholm — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 06:36:47 +0000

Recently, I explored a new tool called Lovable. It’s an AI-powered platform that helps you build websites and web apps just by describing what you want. You write a short description (called a “prompt”), and Lovable builds the code and design for you. As someone who works with Agile methods and enjoys testing new tools, I was excited to give it a try. I decided to use Lovable for a real…

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Leveling Up Leadership: A 5-Year Journey Boosting Engagement at a Game Studio

Michael Göthe — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:14:21 +0000

How a long-term leadership program helped build stronger leaders, increase engagement, and boost collaboration across teams. When the executive team at a large game studio noticed a dip in employee engagement in their biannual survey, they took it as a signal, not just a statistic. They knew that leaders play a crucial role in shaping culture and driving engagement and…

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Leading Complexity – Year 4: Navigating the Age of AI (and Everything Else)

Michael Göthe — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 21:24:25 +0000

Three years ago, we launched the Leading Complexity Program with a simple but urgent question: How do we lead when the world is changing at an exponential pace? Organizations everywhere were feeling the pressure of complexity—messy systems, rapid change, and no playbook for how to lead when everything’s connected, changing fast, and increasingly unpredictable. As

Mob Programming with AI: Inside a High-Performing Team’s Journey

Michael Göthe — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 21:22:54 +0000

What happens when you combine a passionate development team, a dash of Tesla-inspired thinking, and the principles of Mob Programming, with AI as an active participant? At Traton-Scania, the AI-Enablement team is doing just that, transforming how they build software and collaborate. This is their story. The AI-Enablement team at Scania (now Traton) is on a mission: to empower developers…

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Three Strategies for Leading in Complexity

Michael Göthe — Tue, 27 May 2025 11:24:52 +0000

Summary of my talk from Agile Sverige 2025 A few years ago, I heard the quote: That felt true then—and it’s even more true now. After co-hosting the LeadingComplexity.com program for several years with over 30 world-class thought leaders on the topic of leading in complex environments, I’ve come to see more clearly what leadership requires when the pace of change accelerates…

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How we deploy confidently with Canary Deployment

Max Wenzin — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:27:41 +0000

When you push to production multiple times a day, the stakes are high — and manual rollbacks slow. Here’s my experiences from deploying services using Canary Deployments for an important backend service for a large global streaming service. We adopted Canary Deployment for a couple of reasons. We had one or two incidents where an automatic rollback would have given us…

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1-2-4-All and Meetings People Actually Want to Attend

Michael Göthe — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:34:29 +0000

Have you ever found yourself stuck in a meeting where one person does all the talking… and everyone else just tunes out? Or where it’s so open-ended that nothing really gets done? Even with smart people in the room, the best ideas often never get heard. That’s precisely the problem Liberating Structures were created to

Unlock Your Team’s Full Potential: Dive into a Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop

Ruben Klerkx — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 07:06:23 +0000

Are you ready to revolutionize the way your team collaborates, innovates, and solves problems? Welcome to the world of Liberating Structures, where conventional meeting formats are transformed into dynamic, inclusive, and highly productive sessions. Liberating Structures are a collection of innovative facilitation methods designed to “liberate” groups by enhancing collective engagement…

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Align Your Strategies

Tomas Björkholm — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 14:49:14 +0000

In the past few weeks, I’ve received similar questions from two different companies, which I’d like to reflect on here. Both organizations were in the process of crafting strategies for critical areas: one for AI and the other for cybersecurity. Their question to me was whether it would also be important to develop a strategy for process and culture. Specifically, one asked if an Agile…

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Why your teams aren’t really empowered (and how to fix It)

Christophe Achouiantz — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:15:29 +0000

What actually empowers a team? Despite all the talk about empowered teams in tech, there's often confusion about what real empowerment looks like. At its core, an empowered product team is given significant customer or business problems to solve, rather than being handed features to build. But it's not enough to simply assign problems - true empowerment requires the right environment to succeed.

If You Lived in Germany in 1939, What Would You Do?

David Barnholdt — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 07:30:04 +0000

Imagine the following: You live in Germany in 1939. Or perhaps it’s 1938, or even as early as 1935. The Nazis are in power. If you’re an average German, your material conditions are probably quite good. Unemployment is low, and the Nazis have introduced extensive “welfare programs,” so you’re likely living a decent life. But if you’re not a Nazi, you’re likely troubled by the persecution…

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Interview with Petra Wille

Leading Complexity — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 05:15:39 +0000

Jennie Mårtensson interviews Petra Wille, a renowned product leadership coach and author of Strong Product People and Strong Product Communities. Petra shares her insights on why being a product manager is one of the most exciting jobs, drawing from her extensive experience across various industries. She discusses the key elements of building a strong product culture, including leadership behavior…

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Interview with Henrik Kniberg on Generative AI

Leading Complexity — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 13:37:44 +0000

We chatted with our colleague Henry Kniberg at Crisp about his latest work on generative AI and his upcoming master class in the Leading Complexity program. He shared some very insightful comments: Check out the short video interview below (6 min) and Henriks’s session on “AI Transformation Guide”. Join our Leading Complexity Program to learn more from Henrik and the…

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Learn to lead in complexity with Erin Meyer’s insights on Netflix’s Success

Leading Complexity — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 13:52:05 +0000

In today’s fast-changing world, understanding how to lead in complex environments is more important than ever. That’s why our program, “Leading Complexity” includes lessons from some of the best minds in business. One of these is Erin Meyer, whose insights into Netflix’s groundbreaking culture are invaluable for any leader. Erin Meyer co-wrote “No Rules Rules”

Learn to Lead Complexity with Insights from Gary Hamel

Leading Complexity — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 07:23:40 +0000

Are you ready to tackle the challenges of today’s complex business world? Join our program, “Leading Complexity,” where you can learn from the best, including the innovative thinker, Gary Hamel. Gary Hamel is a big name in the world of business management. He has been called “the world’s leading expert on business strategy” by Fortune magazine and “the management innovator without peer”…

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Interview with Woody Zuill – Software Teaming (Mob Programming) – addressing complexity with genuine collaboration.

Leading Complexity — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:33:21 +0000

We are excited to have Woody Zuill teach a Master Class in this fall’s leading complexity program. The topic is Software Teaming (Mob Programming)—addressing complexity with genuine collaboration. Woody coined the concept of Mob Programming/ Software Teaming, wrote books on the topic, and traveled the world spreading the ideas. Recently, we had the opportunity to

Interview with Bonnitta Roy – Thinking with Complexity

Leading Complexity — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 09:17:35 +0000

We spoke with Bonnitta Roy about her upcoming Master Class in this year’s leading complexity program for the fall. The topic is Thinking with Complexity: Post-Formal Actors, Protocols, and Complex Potential States. Bonnitta is an author, researcher, complexity thinker, business developer, and teacher. She integrates many fields: Natural Sciences, Living Systems, Consciousness Studies, Relational Processes,

Interview with Gary Hamel – Thriving in the Age of Upheaval

Tomas Björkholm — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:36:02 +0000

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, traditional management practices are being challenged like never before. Gary Hamel, a leading authority on modern management, offers a fresh perspective in his latest book, “Humanocracy.” We had the fortune to have a chat with him. In the interview, Hamel discusses the pitfalls of bureaucracy and the need for a new management paradigm that empowers…

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Interview with Peter Block – Leader as Convener

Leading Complexity — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 09:39:23 +0000

You have been missing out on whether you are a consultant, coach, or leader and have yet to become familiar with Peter Block. We are fortunate to have Peter in this year’s leading complexity program for the fall. He is mainly known for his books on Flawless Consulting and Stewardship. However, his latest writing on the Leader as Convener is more relevant than ever.

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Interview with Esther Derby – A Leader in Navigating Complexity

Tomas Björkholm — Thu, 30 May 2024 07:20:19 +0000

In the interview, Esther Derby discusses complexity in organizations, contrasting it with a mechanistic approach. She likens it to creating conditions for a forest to emerge rather than controlling a factory’s output. Derby emphasizes different leadership skills required for various roles within an organization: setting macro-level conditions for senior leaders, enhancing conditions for enabling roles,

Interview with Erin Meyer: Insights on Netflix and Organizational Culture

Leading Complexity — Fri, 24 May 2024 07:43:41 +0000

In the interview, Erin Meyer discussed her collaboration with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on “No Rules Rules,” a book exploring Netflix’s innovative organizational culture. She described the extensive research and interviews undertaken to understand and systematize Netflix’s unique culture into a model that other organizations could learn from. Erin emphasized that successful companies like Netflix,