The 6 Enablers of Business Agility

CHAPTER 2

Introducing Business Agility

Whom the gods want to destroy, they send forty years of success.

—ARISTOTLE

IN THIS CHAPTER, WE WILL EXPLORE

■ why it can take a long time for paradigm shifts to be accepted

■ the emergence and evolution of the agile movement

■ some real-world examples of business agility in action.

Breaking Out of the Status Quo: Beyond Belief Perseverance

In 1844, a Hungarian named Ignaz Semmelweis was appointed assistant to the professor at an obstetric clinic in Vienna. At the time, puerperal fever, also known as childbed fever, was plaguing maternity wards across Europe. While most women delivered at home, those who were hospitalized, owing to poverty or complications, faced mortality rates of up to 25-30 percent. ...