PMI Agile Alliance has released the Manifesto for Enterprise Agility,, a leadership guide for organisations facing frequent disruption and rising pressure to reinvent.
PMI global C-suite research shows that reinvention is the norm: 93% of senior executives say they must rethink and challenge assumptions of their operating models or business approaches at least every five years, and nearly 65% say they are doing so every two years or faster.
The challenge is not recognising change and the need to adapt faster; it’s converting strategy into action. That strategy-execution gap is where enterprise agility becomes essential – but where ambition still outpaces reality. While 85% of C-suite executives recognise enterprise agility as critical and very important, 65% admit they implemented it to a limited extent or not at all.
“Most organisations don’t struggle with strategy; they struggle with turning strategy into coordinated action. Enterprise agility is about building organisations that can adapt quickly without losing alignment, so leaders can respond to disruption while keeping their people and priorities focused on delivering value,” says George Asamani, MD, Project Management Institute, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Launched in the 25th anniversary year of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, the Manifesto for Enterprise Agility moves agility beyond teams and projects to the entire enterprise — including leadership behaviour, operating models, governance, and culture.
Rather than prescribing a framework, the Manifesto focuses on how leaders build and run the system for enterprise-level agility – governing with guardrails instead of gatekeepers, funding intent instead of activity, and moving authority closer to where value is created.
The Manifesto is anchored in four values:
• Clear purpose realised through adaptive plans: Guiding with purpose and adjusting along the way outweighs over-planning and the illusion of control.
• Shared enterprise outcomes over functional optimisation: Prioritising long-term goals and cross-enterprise collaboration outweighs optimising for short-term, departmental KPIs.
• Continuous reinvention over preservation: Boldly challenging established operating models and innovation outweighs structural inertia and preservation of the status quo.
• Human-centricity amidst change: Continuous learning, developing resilience, enabling autonomy, and leading with empathy and trust outweigh leading change by process only.
The Manifesto for Enterprise Agility is for organisations that need to adapt faster, stay aligned, and keep strategy actionable. The principles guide executives and practitioners in operationalising the values and offer leaders the clarity to act on what really matters.
Endorsers of the Manifesto describe why that matters now:
Greg Beato, co-author of Superagency
“Twenty-five years after the Manifesto for Agile Software Development presented a new way to think about software development, it’s time to apply similar thinking to enterprises as a whole, not just to projects or products. Just as the Agile Manifesto was a response to a major change in technological conditions driven by the internet, the growth in both physical and digital networks around the world compels enterprises to incorporate and deploy agility to their entire organisational systems, including leadership, operating models, execution governance, and culture.”
Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances
“Today’s business landscape demands rapid adaptation and greater agility. Agile organisations adapt faster and take the lead, while those not embracing agility risk falling behind as collaboration becomes essential in a dynamic environment.”
Sagar Kochhar, former CEO and co-founder of Rebel Foods
“Enterprise agility is less about frameworks and more about leadership courage – the courage to reset the vision, dismantle legacy assumptions, and trust teams to execute within systems designed for speed. This Manifesto captures a critical truth: enterprise agility is not a transformation initiative, but a leadership mindset required to continuously reinvent vision, structure, and execution in a volatile world.”
The Manifesto is grounded in PMI® research, including global C-suite surveys, executive interviews, and input from senior transformation practitioners, reflecting the realities leaders face across industries.
Read the full Manifesto for Enterprise Agility HERE.
Manifesto Methodology:
PMI deployed multiple research methods to develop the Manifesto for Enterprise Agility:
• C-Suite research: Two global C-suite surveys with over 700 responses measured the perceived level of importance and maturity in enterprise agility values, principles, and enablers for executives. The data were analysed to identify alignment gaps between leadership expectations and current organisational realities, complementing insights gathered through interviews.
• C-Suite Interviews: interviews were conducted with 30-plus C-suite leaders, using a semi-structured interview protocol. The interview transcripts were analysed using cross-coder reliability.
• Senior Practitioner Survey: PMI administered a survey of 17 quantitative and qualitative questions on enterprise agility, in addition to demographic, industry, and organisational information, to more than 70 practitioners. The findings identified patterns in values, principles, enablers, and constraints related to enterprise agility.
About Project Management Institute (PMI): PMI is the leading authority in project success. Since 1969, PMI has shone a light on the people and advanced practices behind successful projects. Supported by a global community of millions of project professionals and by thousands of corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions, PMI provides the knowledge, resources, and certifications to lead projects and transformations effectively and responsibly. Join PMI in elevating our world – one project at a time. Connect with us at www.pmi.org, LinkedIn, Instagram , Facebook , and on X.
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