The Agility Shift

July 27, 2015
Meyer, the president of consulting firm Meyer Creativity Services, has expanded her work with companies seeking greater "agility" into an overextended book-length admonition to business leaders to prepare themselves for change. The titular agility shift is "the intentional development of the competence, capacity, and confidence to learn, adapt, and innovate in changing contexts for sustainable success." This quality, according to Meyer, is essential for companies looking to navigate fast-changing times. Peppered with buzzwords, the text revolves around the care and maintenance of the "relational web," the network of relationships that allow organizations to move with "competence, capacity, and confidence." Meyer instructs readers on methods for making the shift happen, which include challenging the status quo, training up fresh talent, shifting long-ingrained mind-sets, and empowering new leadership. The case studies are interesting and entertaining (Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, the airline pilot known for safely landing his plane on the Hudson River, is a standout), but there's not much new here, and the dense, dry writing is likely to leave readers feeling uncomfortably like they're reading an outsize PowerPoint presentation.