Leading in the Fog (using Agility) w/ Brad Farris

When nobody can predict the next five months, let alone five years, what does it mean for a leader to be agile? Brad Farris coaches owners and CEOs of professional services firms through what he calls a polycrisis: AI reshaping the work, shifting expectations between owners and the people who deliver it, and geopolitical shocks on top.

We talk about what agility looks like in practice for a managing partner, not a product team: admit you don't know how this will go, stay anchored on the mission and the people you serve, agree on outcomes before debating how, and take the smallest step that moves you toward them. Then we turn to the harder question for anyone who built their reputation in product and engineering: how do you bring these ideas to the rest of the organization without arriving as the person who is there to fix them?

Key takeaways:

• Start by admitting "I don't know how this is going to go." Without that, planning is pretending.
• Get agreement on the mission and outcomes before anyone jumps to the how.
• In the fog, take the smallest step toward the outcome, check what you learned, and repeat. More people running experiments means more information.
• Don't show up as the fixer. Sit on the same side of the table and let people create the solution through small experiments.
• Move from expectations to agreements: both sides can negotiate, and that is the first step toward trust.
• Agile principles fit well beyond product and engineering, but distill them to first principles and leave the mandates behind.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Fog, uncertainty, and the need for agility
• 01:09 Brad's path from consulting to executive coaching
• 02:22 The polycrisis facing professional services firms
• 05:30 What agility means in practice for a CEO
• 06:27 Admitting "I don't know" and renewing the mission
• 08:16 Outcomes as the North Star
• 10:13 Developing your company like a product
• 13:39 Small experiments when you can't see ahead
• 16:07 Bringing agility beyond product and engineering
• 20:03 Getting on the same side of the table
• 22:41 Consulting vs. coaching: who owns the problem
• 24:29 Agile coaches and leader accountability
• 29:54 Co-creation and accountability
• 34:31 What leaders do between sessions
• 36:05 Agreements vs. expectations
• 37:49 Principles without the mandates
• 40:02 Where to find Brad

About Brad:

Brad Farris is an executive coach at Anchor Advisors in Chicago. For 25 years he has worked with leaders of growing businesses, mostly professional services and creative firms in the $2M to $50M range.

Join Brad's weekly email, The Conversation: https://anchoradvisors.com/join-the-conversation/

Brad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfarris/

Brad on why there are no generalized solutions: https://anchoradvisors.com/there-are-no-generalized-solutions/

Further reading from Yuval on developing your company like a product: https://yuvalyeret.com/category/develop-the-company-as-a-product/

Scaling AI: From Activity to Impact, yuvalyeret.com

Insights (and help/advice) on scaling AI from activity to impact, yuvalyeret.com/insights

Yuval's Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuvalyeret/