NEOM

Head of Innovation and Ecosystem Activation, Food Sector

Senior Manager, Technology & Innovation, Food, Energy-Water-Food

NEOM is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future. We are looking for eager learners who are passionate about food and how digital technologies can impact lives. Ping us to learn more about how you can be part of the team innovating the future of food through design x hacks x policy.

Manager, Digital, Policy, & Innovation, Food, Energy-Water-Food

NEOM is a special economic zone in Saudi Arabia where global talents converge to pioneer ideas on the land of the future for the future of cities. As a Food Technology Consultant in the Food Sector, I lead the digital strategy and initiatives of the NEOM Food Sector with the following objectives:
Ensure food supply resilience and sustainability through traceability and advanced analytics
Enhance food production efficiency via environmental sensing and automation

Consultant, Technology, Food Sector

TOPIAN

Head of Innovation and Ecosystem Activation

Hustle Fund

Angel Squad Member

OpenClassrooms

OpenClassrooms is an online education platform for vocational training, providing courses in IT, technology, entrepreneurship, and digital skills. As a mentor, I support and accompany individual students once per week over video chat in order to help them get the most out of their learning on OpenClassrooms. I help students as they work on the projects that count towards the completion of their learning path. I also grade the projects that they do. Paths on OpenClassrooms are comprised of fully-online courses and projects, and completing the projects allows students to earn internationally-recognized degrees.

Mentor (Data Analyst / Data Scientist)

Startup Grind

Startup Grind in partnership with Google for Startups is a startup community actively educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs around the globe. We do this through our unique fireside-chat monthly events. As Chapter Director, I act as a bridge for founders, developers, and investors to create a #GiveFirst startup culture in Riyadh.

Events:
9/2019 - Mentor at Ideathon 2.0: The New Wave of Digitalization in Beijing
4/2019 - Founder Wellness and lessons from Silicon Valley for Startups in KSA 
2/2019 - Data insights and other lessons from MIT/Stanford/McKinsey for startups in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh Chapter Director

AngelHack

AngelHack empowers developers and communities globally through our signature hackathon series. As an Ambassador, I build the local tech and start-up communities and strengthen the local ecosystems and promote innovations by bringing together passionate and motivated individuals and organizing and running amazing hackathons.

Mentored and supported Jeddah Fintech Hackathon (https://www.hackathon.io/jeddah-fintech-hackathon/)

Riyadh Ambassador

City AI

City AI is a global community of AI practitioners with one goal: to enable everyone to apply artificial intelligence. As the Riyadh Ambassador, I promote the sharing of AI lessons learned through regular meetups, contribute to shaping global best practices in AI engagement, and chart the local AI ecosystem to enable players to leverage AI potential in various business use-cases.

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS)

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties is a scientific commission that regulates health care-related practices and accreditation at all levels in Saudi Arabia. As a Consultant at the Knowledge Management Department, I advise the Director on data governance, data analytics, and data culture matters. Specifically, I:
Lead the advanced analytics group (AAG)
Propose and supervise projects in the scope of AAG
Explore data and derive insights using machine learning techniques
Propose proof-of-concepts for applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence
Develop and grow the staff in AAG

Consultant, Knowledge Management

General Assembly

Delivered 960 hours of instruction in applied data science at the Misk Academy to enable 60 early-professionals to transition into a Data Science career in Saudi Arabia
Adapted global data science curricula best practices to fit local market needs
Co-developed 50+ student data science projects for real-world applications with local companies

Lead Instructor (Data Science Immersive)

Saudi Aramco

Identified new technology joint venture opportunities by drafting 30 technical briefs for the Technology Management team
Reviewed in-house IP policies by interviewing 5 prolific in-house R&D scientists 
Developed an invention disclosure process to enhance knowledge flow and to inform IP strategy for the Intellectual Asset Management team

Intern - Technology Management

Innovation X Ecosystems @Topian, the NEOM Food Company

TL;DR
I turn bold ideas into sustainable reality. As Head of Innovation at NEOM’s food company, I fuse technology, sustainability, and food systems to shape a resilient, future-ready world. With a PhD in Applied Mathematics and a track record spanning research, entrepreneurship, and global partnerships, I’m passionate about driving transformative projects that advance Vision 2030.

Speaker bio:
Dr. Andrew Yip is the Head of Innovation and Ecosystem Activation at Topian, the NEOM Food Company. He is dedicated to curating sustainable innovations and strategic partnerships that will help the food sector reach its full potential. With his extensive experience in technology, innovation, and data governance, Dr. Yip is committed to driving positive change and creating innovative solutions for the industry, supporting Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which aims to promote economic diversification, job creation, and social and cultural development.

Dr. Yip holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and has been a NEOM pioneer since 2019. When he's not working, he enjoys tabletop gaming with friends and strangers alike.

Andrew Yip, PhD

Just back from the China Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen. The scale is hard to comprehend—5,000+ exhibitors, 16 endless halls, a half-million-person buzz. It was a week of sensory overload in the best way, complete with robot boxing matches and UFO-looking transportation drone (yes, really).

A few observations have stuck with me:

1. Innovation is About Pivot, Not Just Product.
I saw HONOR, the phone maker, demoing everything from smart car OSs to AI-powered cat toys. It was a powerful lesson: true innovation isn't just a new flagship device; it's the agile application of core tech into wildly new markets.

2. The Middle East Isn't a "Market," It's a Partner.
The forum on China-Middle East tech was telling. Hearing from SenseTime's Riyadh joint venture and a speech by Mohammed Aljasser from PIF's TASAMA made one thing clear: this isn't a scattershot expansion. It's a deeply strategic, state-aligned push to build integrated ecosystems, perfectly synchronized with a national agenda like Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. The focus and long-term commitment were key. Don't come and sell products, come build with us for the long haul.

3. Build it here. bring it everywhere.
My highlight was the KAUST Shenzhen hub presence at the fair. I reconnected with two of our TIE masters teams—one building a medical drone delivery service, the other recycling 3D printer waste at its source. Seeing these students, who operate between our two worlds, physically building the bridges we talk about was incredibly gratifying. 

I saw "Shenzhen speed" applied to global problems firsthand. It brought to mind Steve Jobs' pebbles observation that the best products come from conflict. It's not about agreement; it's about the friction of different perspectives grinding against each other until they create something sharper and new.

Which brings me to a final reflection:

The road to the future is not built alone and in isolation. 

True local demand and a global ecosystem of eager builders make the dream come true.

Saudi Premium Resident | Turning bold ideas into sustainable reality | Tech × Sustainability × Future Food Systems

Yuanfen isn’t just chance — it’s the quiet rhythm of kindred spirits crossing paths, again and again. 

From World AgriFood Innovation (WAFI) Conference panelists to innovation park bump-ins, to this midnight airport Starbucks chat (him fresh off Chengdu, me pre-dawn flight in Beijing) — Ming and I circled back to what matters: people, purpose, and bridging cross-border tech and cultural gaps.

Grateful for connections that feel less accidental, more meant to be.

They say, "اطلبوا العلم ولو في الصين" – "Seek knowledge, even if it is in China."

This ancient Arab proverb took on a profound new meaning for me at the recent Shentech bootcamp at the KAUST Shenzhen Innovation Hub. As a KAUST alumnus, returning to a KAUST ecosystem on the other side of the world was a powerful reminder that knowledge isn't confined to a place, but lives where curious minds from every field and corner of the globe come together. This I've got to experience bumping into my old friend Hattan while I was casually scouting the office and ended up with an hour-long conversation on deep tech commercialization, AI education, travels and food in China. Thank you for being a steadfast champion of diversity and living the Arabic proverb to its fullest!

At the event, the energy was incredible! It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends, fellow alumni, and the brilliant startups I've been following. The collaborative spirit was palpable, and it was inspiring to see the deep-tech innovation taking root.

A recent fascination in bioplastics drew my attention to NuCarbon. They are tackling the massive issue of food waste, which contributes significantly to global carbon emissions . Their work focuses on converting liquid food waste into precursors for biofuels, bioplastics, and antimicrobial agents. This is transforming a global environmental liability into valuable chemical building blocks and paving the way for a more circular economy. Kudos to Pascal, Krishna, Hari, and Gabriel in pushing the frontier and demonstrating the possibility on our Thuwal campus. 
 
This bootcamp was more than just sessions and pitches; it was a melting pot of ideas. It reinforced my belief that the next great breakthroughs will happen at the intersection of disciplines and cultures. It was also a great pleasure to bump into the great shapers of the Chinese alumni chapter Dr. Jian Pan and Peng Zhan at the event. Thank you to the Shenzhen team of KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) (especially to Anita FANG and both Sarah's for their tieless coordination, and all the partners, especially the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen for orchestrating such a stellar event and visits. 

The journey of knowledge continues, and it is unequivocally a global one.

Look forward to meeting you all at The Garage today and tomorrow!

د.أندرو يب يسلّط الضوء في ملتقى EWAx على دور الابتكار وحوكمة البيانات في تشكيل قطاعات مرنة، وتطوير حلول غذائية مستدامة تخدم المستقبل

Dr. Andrew Yip highlights at the EWAx Forum the role of innovation and data governance in building resilient sectors and developing sustainable food solutions for the future.

A new partnership is being born. Stay tuned. #EWAx

Lovely sharing some thoughts on data-driven ecosystem with you both Max Leveau Oleksandr Kozyr at #EWAx

ناقشت الجلسة الحوارية الرابعة رحلة تطوير أنظمة الغذاء المستدامة، حيث أوضح الخبراء أن التحديات ليست تقنية فقط بل ثقافية في المقام الأول، وأن البيانات الدقيقة وبناء نماذج عمل مشتركة بين الشركات الناشئة والصناعة هي الطريق لابتكارات قادرة على النمو والتوسع عالمياً

The fourth dialogue session discussed the journey of developing sustainable food systems, where experts clarified that the challenges are not only technical but primarily cultural. They affirmed that accurate data and building shared business models between startups and the industry are the path to innovations capable of global growth and expansion

It's an understatement to say that KAUST changed my life. And I would love anyone in my network with the right aptitudes and attitudes to give this new house of wisdom a fair chance.

Professor at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

The KAUST Global Fellowship Program is accepting applications until January 15, 2026. This prestigious program attracts exceptional postdoctoral researchers from around the world to pursue independent, curiosity-driven research at KAUST. A slide deck with key information about the Fellowship, including eligibility criteria, application process, and timelines is attached for your reference.

Please note this opportunity to come and work here! 

Descartes had it backwards.

"I think, therefore I am" is a lonely truth. A brain in a jar can think.

But to feel alive? To truly be? That requires another.

I connect, therefore I am.

We are not just thinking minds, but beating hearts that find their rhythm in others.

So how do we start? At Startup Grind, we build on this idea with three simple mantras:

👉 #GiveFirst - Value creation over value extraction.
👉#MakeFriends - Build real relationships, not just contacts.
👉#HelpOthers - Your success is tied to the success you create.

These are the practices that turn a solitary thought into a shared existence.

Your turn: What's one small way you'll practice #GiveFirst this week? Share it below. 👇

With the TIE masters yellow it completes the seeds of unity of KAUST. 

May the clarifying lens ever clarifies.

KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

View company: KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

Yesterday’s Commencement ceremony marked a historic milestone for KAUST with the graduation of the University’s first cohort from the Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (TIE) program.

This inaugural group represents a significant step in strengthening KAUST’s role in advancing Saudi Arabia’s innovation ecosystem. The TIE program prepares graduates to translate research into scalable solutions that support national priorities and contribute to the growth of a knowledge-based economy.

We are proud to celebrate this important achievement and the impact these graduates will deliver as they move into the next stage of their entrepreneurial and professional journeys.

#KAUST #Commencement2025 #AcceleratingImpact #TIEProgram #Entrepreneurship #SaudiVision2030

Well said. A useful and cost effective model beats any fancy model on the field.

AI Expert, CEO of 01.AI, Chairman/CEO of 创新工场 (Sinovation Ventures), Author of 'AI Superpowers', 'AI 2041'

Decent-quality LLMs from China are really helping make GenAI affordable and accessible to the world through open source.  Pursuing AGI with close models might be a winner-take-all game for U.S. big techs, but making AI more open will benefit researchers, students, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists in building AI that works for them.  More in this Bloomberg interview:

Open article: Sinovation Ventures’ Lee on China-US AI Race by bloomberg.com

Sinovation Ventures’ Lee on China-US AI Race

Gorilla - Energy data applications

Imagine a world where selling carbon-free energy is as easy as selling bananas at the farmers market.

Gorilla wants to empower the global shift to carbon-neutral energy. We do it through one of a kind energy data applications.

In order to enable our company vision and mission, the People Team mission is to enable Data Rangers (our employees) to grow individually and as a troop by creating easy to use and elegant people solutions.

VP of People

Jangala

Growth cycles in business are broken.

And leaders and teams are feeling the whiplash from everchanging internal and external headwinds.

The ultimate hack to grow resilient organizations has been under our noses all along. 

Jangala People Solutions is a playground to experiment with how leaders and teams harness 3.8 bn years of nature's blueprints, psychology, and neuroscience to:

► Explore how Regenerative Design principles can shape sustainable organizational practices and foster long-term resilience.

► Cultivate Nature-Inspired Leadership by integrating nature's wisdom into leadership strategies for innovation, resilience, and organizational health.

► Embracing the Adaptive Cycle to navigate scale, change, reorganization within fast moving environments.

Services: Leadership Coaching and Development. Teams Coaching and Development, Workshop Facilitation

People Advisory, Leadership & Teams Facilitator

Offbeat

Offbeat is one of the leading L&D communities where L&D professionals accelerate their career.

Mentor

Philips

HR plays a critical role in ESG and social impact. 

As the corporate landscape shifts towards prioritizing sustainability and social impact, my pivot into a sustainability role at Philips aligns with the evolving expectations of both consumers and employees.

I was committed to leveraging my people and culture expertise to enable Philips businesses and external organizations to set and meet their ESG goals, and foster culture of sustainability within the organization

The skills accrued here have deepened my understanding of ESG and how as HR professional I can further addressing social aspects, such as inclusion, diversity, and equity, and talent processes.

Sustainability Strategist - Philips Innovation Services

Miro

Imagine scaling from 350 to 1000 employees in < 12 months during the pandemic.

I built and scaled the L&D and Culture function at Miro from Series B - C during this crazy hypergrowth to answer these questions:

"How do we scale our company without losing our culture?"
"How do we build a culture as collaborative as our product?
"How do we stay nimble as we expand?"

Leading a team of learning designers and agile coaches, we built people solutions like products to  ensure our culture didn't "break".

...

Head of People Solutions Design  

PwC Australia

The aim is not to be an agile organization. The aim is to achieve your business objectives with agility. 

This was one of the core principles Christopher Webb and I co-founded the Agile Advisory around in 2017 when the applications of agile outside of software development were still in it's infancy. 

Our goal was to help organizations avoid cutting and pasting scrum across all their departments and saying 'ta da' "we're agile".

Instead we grew an inclusive and diverse multi-disciplinary team to work with clients to redesign their operating models and refresh their ways of working.

In doing so we aimed to bring organizations closer to their customers and employees, and to increase speed to value by developing viable and feasible solutions. 

I specifically focussed on leadership agility, and teams development + delivery using agile ways of working and human centred design methods to deliver better outcomes. 

Highlights: 

► Designing and implementing company-wide New Ways of Working simulation training to 30 000K employees using more LEGO than one person would buy in their lifetime.

► Establishing social labs innovation approach and delivering large group facilitation to enable the cross-sector teams to collaborate and prototype solutions to end homelessness in a generation.

Senior Manager - Agile Advisory, Technology Consulting

Deloitte Australia

Think strategically, solve complex problems, format slides fast.

In my interview I said I'm a corporate hippy, they said you're hired, and on Day 1 I was shipped out to a mining and metal company ....

Not quite the regenerative green warrior project I expected, yet to do this day it remains one of the best projects of my life.

Why? I got to work with amazing client leaders and it's where I cut my teeth on:

Buidling and faciltiating strong team dynamics globally, managing global strategic change, global learning and development strategy, the ups and downs of stakeholder engagement and M&A / demergers....

... and it's when I became an accidental technologist.

It's also where I learned consultants' obsession with slides and spreadsheets. 

If you can't beat them join them. So I pivot-tabled, hypothesis treed, and powerpointed my way on several projects for national banks, insurers, and retailers. 

Until I was selected among 20 people nationally to go on a 3 day immersion with the  Design and Visual Storytelling team.

It's here that I unearthed my natural tendency for human-centred design (HCD) and its powerful methods, which evolved into working on agile software development projects, and agile coaching, and  learning and development solutions.

I knew that my future work would always boil down to:

Understand the problem + Build the right things + Build the things right.

...

Human Capital Management Consultant

Croydon Council

Organisational Change & Development - Learning and Development - Product Development 

Croydon Council:
In a post Global Financial Crisis climate, Croydon Council received a mandate form the federal government to cut costs by £200 million by 2018. Subsequently the council commenced a large scale restructure and review of services. To assist the ensuing changes the Chief Executive initiated a 3 year values based culture transformation for the organisation (approx. 2000 employees). As one of four core members in the Change and OD team Vanessa delivered the following high quality services:

Culture Transformation
- Mobilisation of culture change champion network \
- Leadership and project management 
- Development of learning forums and materials to equip and empower staff with change conversation capabilities.  These initiatives increased employees’ change skillset, augmented employees’ sense of work efficacy and opened communication channels between different departments
- Change project evaluation  

Leadership
- Middle Management Leadership Skills Audit 
- Logistics Management for annual senior leadership summit for 300 senior leaders 
- Future leadership capabilities scenario mapping to enable leaders to lead and manage political,    economic, technology and social change reforms

Online Learning
-  Designed, developed and maintained  user centric change  and L&D intranet sites to support staff communications and e-learning

Leap Partnership:
- Working with FTSE 100 clients such as Lloyds TSB, Sage and Honeywell to develop a prolific teams inventory which helps teams in their learning and development functions and overall performance

Organisational Change and Development Consultant

Mendas Ltd.

Client Delivery: National Health Services (NHS), UK Government Organizations (NDA), Smith and Williamson Accountants

Business Psychologist

Munro & Forster

Client Delivery for Nestle Carnation, La Roche-Posay, Roche Diagnostics and Ronald McDonald House Charities

Commercial and Healthcare Graduate PR Analyst

VP of People at Gorilla | In the pursuit of employee significance | Leadership & Career Coach | Illustrator | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

What do you get when you cross a business psychologist + an accidental technologist + agile coach + a tree hugger?

A global People & Culture leader, who embraces her corporate hippy persona to revitalize organizations worldwide.

I currently lead the global People Function at Gorilla - energy data applications, a fast growing series B SaaS scale up. 

I've held leadership roles at Miro, PwC, Deloitte and Philips where I've built, shaped and scaled cultures.

I know what it takes for startups and scaleups to design their People strategy for future success.


My career highlights include:

► Scaling the L&D and Culture function at Miro from series B - C. 

► Developing social labs approach for cross-sector teams to protoype solutions to end homlessess in a generation in Australia for The Constellation Project.

► Designing and implementing the Global IT Learning strategy, and Change Management and Comms approach for the most complex demerger in australian history (mining and metals company). 


Find out more:

Illustrations - I simplify complex ideas through the power of picture
https://www.instagram.com/nessmonsequeira_illustrations

The Nature of Leadership + Career Newsletter - is filled with practical tips and focuses on how leaders and employees can redesign the work experience.

https://nessmonsequeira.beehiiv.com/

Vanessa Monsequeira

I moved to Amsterdam in 2020 after visiting it for exactly one day in 2006.

November marks 5 years in the Netherlands. It wasn't what I expected.

2020:
Ness: "Hey Nick, this digital whiteboard company reached out about a role in Amsterdam."
Nick: "Just see where it goes."

Two weeks later, I'd signed with Miro (back when they were the "lesser-known digital whiteboard platform") to scale their People Solutions function from 350 to 1,000 people in a year.

Then came one of the most bizarre plane journeys of our lives: the airline had to call the Australian government pre-flight to confirm we were on the approved leave list. We were told we couldn't return until the end of the pandemic.

No safety net. No return ticket. Just two suitcases and a gutsy decision.
Maybe it was reckless, but Nick and I are suckers for adventure.

___

What moving here was supposed to be:
👉🏾 A career opportunity in a cool European city

What it became:
🧡 A masterclass in scaling companies during chaos (hello, pandemic)
🧡 Where I built community instead of just a network
🧡 A new obsession with white asparagus season
🧡 Where "home" stopped meaning one country
🧡 A lesson in how day spas work (IYKYK)
🧡 Proof that betting on yourself pays off

Dank u wel to everyone who has been part of my personal and professional journey in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. 

Special shout out to the communities at the D2 collective, Diverse Leaders in Tech, Hatch - Immersive learning experiences and Omek. I was missing a sense of belonging in the middle years and you helped me find home. 

Of course thanks to Nick and our best doggo Tiger. You make A'dam home.

Here's to many more beautiful years and doing more dutchy things. 🚴🏽‍♀️

What's the gutsiest career move you've ever made?

Vanessa Monsequeira - चित्रलेखा

VP of People at Gorilla | Building Employee Experience as a Product | In pursuit of making work suck less | Leadership & Career Coach | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

Ness and her husband Nick taking a celebratory selfie with glasses of red wine. Ness has curly dark hair and is wearing a cream sweater with a gold necklace. Nick has a beard and is wearing a light green sweater. Both are smiling warmly at the camera in what appears to be a restaurant or café setting.

Every Head of HR knows the secret "job description."

We carry skills and emotions that never make it onto our job ad. The weight of decisions that affect people's livelihoods. The loneliness of being the only one in the room thinking five moves ahead from a people strategy and ops perspective.

Many talk about being a "Strategic" HR leader. Very few execute it well. Even fewer teach it effectively.

Recently, I completed the JooBee's Strategic HR Leader Step Up Bootcamp.
I desperately wish I'd had before my leadership roles at Miro and Gorilla!

🧰 Here's what made it transformational:
— All Real-world application, not theory:
— Deeply thinking and practice  through compensation structures and leveling frameworks for scaling startups (so many lessons!!!!!)
— Building scalable people operations during the critical build phase
— Consolidating thinking around scaling agility people as a product
—  ALL learning through interactive doing and teamwork

💪🏾 Strengthening our diagnostic muscles:
— Sharpened organizational diagnosis and problem-solving through the PIC framework
— Practical tools I'm already applying in my day-to-day

🎭 The role-play day (this alone was worth the price): 
A full day with professional actors playing:
— A Founder who kept changing goal-setting structures mid-quarter
— A COO who outright refused 360 feedback
— A CMO who wanted to pay out-of-band for an average performer

🔥 The fireside chat: One hour with a top VC Stephen Millard from Notion Capital. Finally, a safe space to ask all those fiery questions as HR we think but rarely voice to board members.

💜 And the unexpected value: 
— The cohort itself became both a learning experience and group therapy (IYKYK).
— Perhaps the most invaluable aspect was pairing with a group of people living the same reality. People who didn't just empathise, they solutionize the right way.

Thank you Ed Ross Missy S. Katie Downes (Beales) Elena Argyriou María Clara Wasileff Seun Iyaniwura . I'm genuinely grateful to each of you. You helped me learn, grow, and realise "it's not just me." 

I very rarely give an NPS of 10.
This is it, folks. run, don't walk.
Worth every minute. Worth every penny.

And thank you again JooBee Yeow, PhD for your masterful facilitation 🫶🏾

P.S. Sneak peak of the course in comments!

#PeopleLeadership #HRStrategy #StartupHR #PeopleOps

Screenshot of a video call with seven participants from the JooBee Strategic HR Leader Step Up Bootcamp cohort, including Missy Strong, Ness from Gorilla, Clari Wasileff from Ekumen, Seun, Elena from Snappymob, Ed from Aiven, Katie from YLD, and JooBee Yeow (course facilitator with Step Up Bootcamp branding visible).

What’s more important: leading or managing?

Hint: Most people choose wrong.

Leadership = vision.
Management = execution.
Both matter but neither is enough.

Inspiration alone doesn’t create outcomes.
Systems alone don’t inspire people.
Vision + systems alone ≠ success.

I empathise.
As a leader, you put these building blocks in place and think:
“We’re doing things right.
 Why isn’t it working?”

Because something critical is missing.

The space in between: the Adaptive Space**.

The interface between entrepreneurial thinking and operational discipline.
Where innovation meets implementation.
Where ideas become action.
Where strategy actually moves.

This is the missing middle.
When all three work together (leadership, management and the Adaptive Space) momentum, magic and money follow.

If you lead people, your job is not choosing between leadership and management.
Your job is learning to operate and helping others operate in the Adaptive Space.

What are you experiencing in the Adaptive Space?


**Coined by Mary Uhl-Bien and colleagues in Complexity Leadership Theory.

Infographic titled “Lead your team to achieve outcomes” with the subtitle “It’s not about leader vs manager. Be both and know how to adapt.”

On the left, three vertical sections appear along a downward arrow:

Leadership (Vision): Set vision and strategy; Shape culture; Guide through change; Enable learning.

The Adaptive Space (Integration): Translate strategy to action; Zoom out and think; Foster conflict and collaboration; Adapt dynamically.

Management (Execution): Plan and organize; Monitor performance; Maintain standards; Solve risks and problems.

On the right, four statements each paired with colour bars:
“Inspiration ≠ outcomes” (pink gradient).
“Vision and systems alone ≠ success” (purple gradient).
“Systems alone ≠ inspired people” (orange gradient).
“This will empower outcomes” (combined pink, purple, orange gradient).

Footer includes the name Vanessa Monsequeira and the tagline “Leadership that makes work suck less.”

All leaders want healthy culture and "happy" teams.

The truth most miss is that the feedback that stings the most is often the feedback you need the most to create thriving environments. 

Not because all feedback is necessarily "true." 

But because it uncovers signals of unmet needs. 

It's a diagnostic clue.

To truly unlock team performance and team health (after putting the basics in place), we have to go where it hurts the most.

That place = crunchy feedback and difficult conversations.

Most leaders avoid negative feedback like the plague.

It makes sense, emotional pain register in the brain like physical pain.

... and we've got enough 💩 to deal with everyday. 

Yet, here's what I always tell leaders:

→ You worth and value as a leader aren't defined by negative feedback.
→ Crunchy feedback means your organisation and team are still talking to you.
→ They haven't given up. They're still invested.
→  Of course, guide your team to use radical candor. Rudeness is never accepted.

At this time of year:
→ Many are analysing annual engagement results or performance reviews.
→ Don't waste the gift of honest feedback. 
→ Learn how to separate signal from noise and find the deeper unmet needs. 

The steps below have helped countless leaders turn feedback from something to fear into fuel for growth.

Use it. Watch what happens when you stop avoiding the hard stuff.

Infographic titled 'Negative feedback doesn't kill team engagement. It improves it.' Lists 8 steps for processing feedback: 1. Read positive comments first, 2. Find themes/patterns, 3. Ask yourself 'What need was met here?', 4. Read the difficult comments, 5. Find themes/patterns, 6. Ask yourself 'What was the unmet need here?', 7. Practice disassociation technique - Your value as a leader ≠ feedback, 8. Devise your game plan to address unmet needs.

Your team doesn't trust your decisions.

Not if you lead like you're faking it.

I know this because early on I desperately tried to learn it all and know it all. 

Then I stopped pretending I had all the answers AND started trusting when i did. 

Great leaders:
↳ Name the uncertainty in the room
↳ Ask questions they're "supposed" to know
↳ Give feedback within 24 hours, not 24 days
↳ Hire slower and fire faster than they think they should
↳ Admit when a direct report knows more
↳ Coach in public, not just behind closed doors
↳ Can be both soft and strong in the same meeting
↳ Make decisions without consensus (then explain why)
↳ Let team members see them learning new skills
↳ Create psychological safety before pushing for results
↳ Don't let what they don't know make them lose confidence in what they do know.

"I need to be the smartest person in the room" = fastest way to lose your best people.

One of my favourite leadership reframes:

Last week a leader I coach told me they were stuck on a strategic decision because 'they didn't have enough context yet.' 

Here's what I asked them.:

"If you had to make this decision in the next team meeting, what can you name what you DO know, and what would you say you DON'T know, out loud?"
↓

[Name what you know, + state your uncertainty publicly] + [invite the team to fill gaps] = [better decisions through transparency]

The strongest leaders aren't the ones with all the answers. 

They're the ones who can build confidence, name what they don't know, and still move forward.


#leadership #decisionmaking #leadingteams

-step leadership framework for making decisions when you don't have all the answers. Shows how to name uncertainty publicly, state what you know, invite team input, and reach better decisions through collective wisdom. Real example using AI adoption demonstrates the framework in action.

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Andrew Yip, PhD

Vanessa Monsequeira

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taplio

The Battle

Andrew Yip, PhD

Vanessa Monsequeira

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Andrew Yip, PhD's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreAndrew Yip, PhD's LinkedIn Performance