The Summer of Agility

Wendy Wollner · July 2026

It’s almost August. How’s your summer going?

I’ll go first.

Ours has been a roller coaster. The kind where you’re not sure if you’re supposed to be screaming or laughing — so you do both. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I found myself naming it.

I’m calling it The Summer of Agility.

Not because we planned it that way. Because we had no choice.

How quickly — and I mean quickly — can we adjust? How fast can we respond to a client who needs something now, a trainer who drops out an hour before a session, a pivot nobody saw coming?

These aren’t rhetorical questions. I’ve been sitting with them all summer.

Because here’s what I’ve been wrestling with: does speed matter? Like, really matter? Or is it just the thing we tell ourselves when we’re in crisis mode and there’s no time to think?

I think it does. I think speed is a value — and most organizations don’t treat it like one.

We talk about quality. We talk about culture. We talk about communication. But speed? We sort of assume people will move fast when it matters. And then we’re shocked when they don’t.

This summer has taught me that agility isn’t a personality trait. It’s a decision. It’s a muscle. And like any muscle, it has to be built on purpose — because when the moment comes, there is no time to decide if you value it.

Three questions I’ve been asking myself — and I’m leaving them with you:

1. When something changes fast, does your team move — or do they wait for permission?

2. Is speed in your organizational values — or just implied when it’s convenient?

3. Where does quality end and perfectionism begin — and are you honest about which one you’re actually protecting?

I don’t have clean answers yet. That’s the honest truth. Some days we nailed it this summer. Some days we didn’t move fast enough and felt it. And some days we moved so fast we had to circle back and fix what we broke.

But I’d rather be in that loop than standing still waiting for the perfect moment.

The perfect moment never comes. August does.

— Wendy

Founder & CEO, Balancing Life’s Issues · Messy & Driven