Agility at the Leadership Level: Lessons from JJ Sutherland

Not long ago, I had the privilege of attending the CI Agile Forum, (Thank You sir @https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansoo/ ) an event that brought together professionals and enthusiasts from around the world to explore the evolving practice of agility. Among the distinguished speakers was none other than JJ Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum and one of the most recognized voices in the Agile community.

For many of us in the forum, this was a rare opportunity to learn directly from someone who has fundamentally shaped the way organizations think about agility. JJ’s session was engaging, thought-provoking, and—true to the Agile spirit—challenging in the best possible way.

Toward the end of his talk, I found myself with a question that had been nagging me for some time:

“While agility is well defined at the team level, how would you approach agility at the leadership level?”

I’ll admit, my question seemed to catch JJ slightly off guard. At first, his tone carried a hint of irritation—perhaps because this is a question that often reveals a painful truth: Agility at the leadership level is far less clear than it is at the team level.

Yet after a pause, JJ leaned in and gave a thoughtful answer. He acknowledged that my observation was right: Yes, agility is well defined at the team level—through Scrum, Kanban, XP, or any of the frameworks and practices teams adopt. But at the leadership level, it can feel vague, abstract, and even confusing.

Then he shared an insight that stuck with me:

“The best way to approach agility at the leadership level is to include business metrics. That’s how you know whether the Agile journey is actually adding value to the organization or business.”

That single sentence reframed the way I think about leadership agility.

Why Teams Get It—But Leaders Struggle

At the team level, agility feels tangible. Teams have daily stand-ups, retrospectives, backlogs, and demos. There are ceremonies, roles, and artifacts that clearly define what “being Agile” looks like in practice. Teams can measure progress through velocity, lead time, or throughput.

But leaders don’t live in that world. Their decisions are often about funding, priorities, strategy, and culture. There are no daily stand-ups for the C-suite. There is no shared backlog of strategic initiatives with a neat burn-down chart. And so, for leaders, agility can easily drift into buzzword territory—a set of principles to nod at without a concrete way to act or measure.

This is why JJ’s advice matters.

Leaders don’t need another ceremony or framework. They need to connect agility with what keeps them awake at night: business outcomes.

Agility as a Business Imperative

When JJ pointed to business metrics as the anchor for leadership agility, he was highlighting something essential:

Agility is not about adopting rituals. It’s about delivering better outcomes, faster, and with greater adaptability.

So what might these business metrics look like for leaders?

Customer Impact Metrics: Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer retention, time-to-market for new features.
Financial Metrics: Revenue growth from new products, cost of delay avoided, return on investment (ROI) from Agile initiatives.
Operational Metrics: Cycle time reduction, defect rates, productivity improvements.
Employee Metrics: Engagement scores, attrition rates in critical roles, speed of decision-making.

When leaders frame agility in terms of these outcomes, it stops being a vague cultural aspiration and becomes a business imperative.

The Leadership Shift

But numbers alone aren’t enough. Agility at the leadership level also requires a shift in mindset and behavior.

Here are a few shifts that JJ’s advice inspires:

From Control to Empowerment Leaders traditionally focus on command, control, and reporting. In an Agile world, the focus must shift to enabling teams, removing barriers, and trusting expertise closer to the work.
From Projects to Products Leaders often think in terms of projects with fixed deadlines and budgets. Agile organizations thrive when leaders instead invest in long-lived products or value streams that continuously evolve with customer needs.
From Efficiency to Value Leaders love efficiency—but efficiency without value is waste. Agility demands that leaders ask not just “Are we doing things right?” but “Are we doing the right things?”
From Plans to Adaptation Strategic plans are necessary, but agility demands that leaders adapt to feedback and data—pivoting when the market, technology, or customers change direction.

Each of these shifts ties directly back to business metrics. If leaders empower teams, focus on products, pursue value, and adapt quickly, they’ll see it reflected in customer satisfaction, revenue growth, and innovation speed.

A Story Leaders Can Relate To

Imagine a traditional bank. Leadership launches a massive multi-year digital transformation program. Milestones are set, vendors contracted, budgets allocated. Eighteen months later, the app is still in beta, competitors have already launched new offerings, and customers are leaving.

Now imagine the same bank approaching this with agility at the leadership level. Leaders don’t just say, “Be Agile” to their teams. They set clear business metrics—customer adoption rates, time-to-market, and customer satisfaction targets. They break down the initiative into smaller increments, fund product teams, and review outcomes quarterly. When metrics show low adoption, they pivot to features customers actually value.

In the first scenario, leadership was “doing Agile” in name only. In the second, they were living agility—and the difference shows up directly in the business metrics.

Why This Matters Now

The world leaders operate in today is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Market disruptions happen overnight. Competitors emerge from unexpected places. Customers demand personalized experiences and instant gratification.

In this context, agility is not just a team-level practice—it’s a leadership survival skill.

Leaders who cling to rigid plans, slow governance, and outdated metrics risk steering their organizations into irrelevance. Leaders who embrace agility—anchored by business outcomes—position their organizations to thrive in uncertainty.

Closing Reflections

Looking back at my conversation with JJ Sutherland at the CI Agile Forum, I realize why his answer struck me so deeply.

Agility at the leadership level doesn’t have to be vague. It doesn’t need new frameworks or complicated structures. It simply needs clarity of outcomes.

If leaders anchor their Agile journey in the business metrics that matter most—customer impact, financial performance, operational health, and employee engagement—then agility stops being a theory and becomes a driver of real, measurable value.

So the next time you hear someone say, “Agility is for the teams, not the executives,” remember JJ’s words. Leadership agility is not about doing Scrum at the C-suite. It’s about asking one simple, powerful question:

“Is our Agile journey adding value to the business?”

When leaders can answer yes—with data to prove it—that’s when true organizational agility comes to life.