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About the Book

"Walker's approach helps you pinpoint exactly what kind of turbulence you're facing, and then gives you practical, short-cycle levers to get back to flow rapidly. I'd argue it's not a framework at all, just good advice." Nigel Thurlow, Co-Creator of The Flow System®, Toyota Alumni, Forbes Noted Author

Your transformation initiatives keep failing. Not because you lack frameworks - but because you're applying the wrong intervention to the actual condition.

While competitors cycle through Agile, SAFe, ADKAR, and OKRs hoping something sticks, you'll diagnose precisely and intervene strategically. Thriving in Turbulence gives you the leadership operating system that converts organisational chaos into competitive advantage.

The CIRCA-CLEAR approach:

Diagnose the actual condition driving friction - Complex, Insecure, Rapid, Contradictory, or Anxious, then apply the matched response lever: Clarity, Learning, Empathy, Agility, or Resilience. Stop guessing. Start leading through evidence.

What you'll master:

• 5-minute diagnostics revealing which turbulence condition is dominant
• Single-lever experiments in reversible 2-4 week cadences with explicit rollback triggers
• Leading indicators (ThroughFlow + Human Pulse) that predict problems 2-4 weeks before traditional metrics
• Framework augmentation—making your existing OKRs, SAFe, ADKAR, Lean Change, and Team Topologies deliver as intended
• Written for:CxOs needing evidence-based decisions, not more frameworks
• Transformation leaders seeking replicable, testable playbooks
• Consultants and coaches wanting frameworks that augment rather than replace existing tools

Drawing from 30 years guiding complex transformations across financial services, retail, technology, and government, Neil Walker delivers battle-tested diagnostics with clear governance and measurement standards.

"Leaders rarely fail due to a lack of frameworks. They falter when the pace of change overtakes coherence and direction." Giles Lindsay, Author of Clearly Agile and The Adaptive Leader, World 100 CTO

"If your world feels like whitewater instead of open ocean, this might be worth your time." Nigel Thurlow

Ready to operationalise change systematically? Your competitive advantage starts with condition-aware diagnosis and single-lever discipline. Knowing which lever to pull—and when.

About the Author

Neil Walker

Neil Walker didn't set out to become the person organisations call when transformation stalls. His professional journey began as a practitioner solving operational problems, but four decades navigating enterprise turbulence taught him a fundamental truth: the hardest challenges aren't technical - they're pattern recognition under pressure.

For over 30 years, Neil has been the strategic trouble-shooter leadership teams call when escalations multiply and established frameworks fail. His career spans from architectural trouble-shooter in technical environments (from the Bank of England to UBS), to recovering sprawling programmes (from Barclays to Unilog, now CGI, and across UK Government), to coaching startups and strategic ventures through scaling walls.

His expertise in systems thinking, flow dynamics, organisational development and change led to CIRCA-CLEAR, a proprietary diagnostic framework born from hundreds of real-world interventions. Neil has turned around struggling business units while overseeing P&Ls of up to £40M and architecting broader transformation initiatives in parallel. His documented outcomes include annual value swings of £25M back to the bottom line, £15M cost reductions delivered in six months, 75% time compressions on complex deliverables, and commercialised IP commanding deal sizes up to £5M.

Neil's approach is refreshingly unsentimental: diagnose the specific turbulence pattern, apply the appropriate lever, and measure what actually changes. No heroic narratives - only systematic navigation of the chaos every leader faces.

A sought-after consultant, Neil has dedicated his career to helping leaders navigate turbulence with honest, practical guidance. He has worked with thousands of leaders across continents. He lives in Staffordshire, England, where he can occasionally be found Halfbiking (a stand-up pedal-powered transport), walking his labradors in the Peak District, or using the quiet time to notice emerging patterns.