Fearless Change Campfire (virtual)

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Campfire Moderator:  MaryLynn Manns, co-author of Fearless Change and More Fearless Change: Strategies for Making Your Ideas Happen

•  Hello to all you cool people who attend! Let's get acquainted.
• Why stories? What is their value in our work?

Each storyteller will tell a 5-minute story, ending with a question, followed by 5 minutes of discussion. We welcome all attendees to join the discussion.

It’s the berries

Let's go back to the dawn of history and see the origin of modern behavior in response to new ideas. This story will take us there.

Linda Rising  is the co-author of Fearless Change and More Fearless Change. She is an independent consultant, trainer, speaker, and writer with a focus on agile development, patterns, retrospectives, the change process, and the connection between the latest neuroscience and software development.

Retrospectives Don’t Belong in Agile! Or So I Thought

You can’t change others if you can’t change yourself. I opposed making retrospectives a part of Scrum. This story illustrates why I was wrong, but I learned from it. 

Mike Cohn helps teams succeed. He is the author of three leading agile books and can be reached at Mountain Goat Software. 

The Quest for Recipes

This is a story of my clients' pleas for recipes. At times, I give up and attempt to give them one. This makes them happy. At other times, I explain why they need to adapt and adjust continuously, which makes them mad. What is a consultant supposed to do?

Jutta Eckstein enables company-wide Agility and (social, economic & environmental) sustainability. She is a coach, consultant, speaker, and author.

Keep It Simple Stupid

This is a story of a company that spent millions of dollars on developing complex, prescriptive project management processes only to learn that following these processes was more difficult than executing the associated projects themselves. It illustrates how tactical, context-based project management approaches trump one-size-fits-all frameworks - particularly in today’s fast-paced, hypercompetitive economic landscape in which agility, not standardization, is necessary to thrive and survive. Since this is a systemic and chronic problem, what will it take for companies and their underlying PMOs to finally see the light and change their ways?

Robb Alexander is a program & change manager and enterprise agilist with over 15 years’ experience as well as the founder of hybrAGILITY

Less is More in 2025

This is a story of a year that has tested every facet of leadership in GovCon. As a neurodivergent leader at a small government contracting firm in the DMV, I’ve faced unprecedented uncertainty - balancing transparency with emotional impact, and learning when to speak and when to pause. 2025 has been a masterclass in micro-adjustments, emotional intelligence, and redefining what it means to lead authentically.

Sarah Lemmons Lowe is a management consultant and coach with Evans Inc. out of Falls Church, VA. She lives in Greenville, SC. Best of all, she describes herself as a “neuro-spicy” adult.

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The Story That Still Hurts To Say Out Loud

In order to let in the new, we need to let go of the old. In this story, I explain how I learned this the hard way, and open a discussion on the challenges in letting go.

Kelly Swanson, Motivational Speaker, Comedian, Storyteller.  She is an Award-Winning Storyteller and Hall of Fame Motivational Speaker delivering Southern sass, belly laughs, and the kind of stories that sneak up on your soul.

My Crucial Conversations 

Starting in 2005, I began chatting with people in the Agile community on the AgileToolkit Podcast.  What I learned from others was crucial to the development of my philosophy and strategies for the Agile transformation and training work over the past 25 years. This story will share some observations about my learning journey.

Bob Payne has been working with Lean+Agile practices since 1999, learning alongside teams and sharing what he’s picked up along the way. He hosts the Agile Toolkit Podcast, where he’s had the chance to interview agilists in the 200+ episodes, and he helped start AgileDC, a volunteer-run conference that gives back to the community. 

Steering from the Sidelines

Some of the most powerful leaders do not stand at the center of the stage. They move things forward from just out of view. This story illustrates what it means to lead when you’re not the loudest in the room, how real power works behind the scenes, and how I’ve learned to trust my impact even when the credit goes elsewhere. If you’ve ever felt unseen, this conversation is for you.

Apriel Biggs is a strategist, former Yale University senior leader, and performance coach. She partners with leaders across education, government, and mission-driven sectors to redesign how we lead, build, and belong, without losing ourselves in the process. Her sessions are bold, deeply grounded, and refreshingly honest, offering both strategic insight and cellular-level clarity for those ready to lead differently.

The Trail That Confused Us

This is a story of Search and Rescue training, when dogs follow scent trails to find their missing subjects. What happens on the other end of the leash could be used as a lesson in our product-related work.

Catherine Louis focuses on Product Strategy, Lean Innovation, Business Agility: nurturing an innovation culture with teams who can rapidly sense and respond. She is also a K9 trainer and handler with WCSAR.

 When "No" Became My Yes

As a Music Librarian in Nigeria, I faced a career-defining choice when a manager's refusal forced me to abandon a known path for an uncertain future. My story explores the courage it takes to leave behind security and the incredible doors that can open when you embrace the unknown.

Damilare Adeyeri, a.k.a. "The Joy Activator," is a workplace culture, wellbeing & engagement keynote speaker, peak performance coach, and dance fitness instructor who empowers leaders and teams to leverage joy as their most powerful competitive advantage. He blends powerful storytelling, applied neuroscience, and movement-based energizers to challenge productivity norms & equip audiences with tangible wellbeing tools.  

** Thanks to Damilare for leading us in energizing movement after we sat for 2 hours at the Campfire. Check out his How to Boost Your Mood, Energy, and Productivity TEDTalk here.

Discussions

At the end of previous Campfires, participants stayed and talked about the things they learned. It was fun! We welcome everyone to do the same this year. We'll keep the Zoom link open as long as you'd like.