High agency: what it means and why it's how we work.
High agency is the ability to bend reality to your will. Or the refusal to accept a “that's not possible”. People with high agency see obstacles not as stop signs, but as detours. Low agency, the opposite, manages problems instead of solving them.
What does high agency mean?
High agency is not a technique, a method or a framework. It is an attitude.
People with high agency don't spend weeks asking for permission. They start with what's there, figure out what works and adjust along the way.
High agency doesn't mean recklessness or a cowboy mentality. It means taking responsibility for the outcome, not the process.
When the door is locked.
Door locked
Most people stop here.
Window
Someone with high agency climbs through the window.
Tunnel
If the window is bolted, they dig a tunnel.
New house
And if that fails too, they build a new house with a different door.
High agency or low agency?
Anyone who has spent a few years in larger organisations or in classic consulting knows both sides.
| Low agency | High agency |
|---|---|
| Sees an obstacle as a stop sign | Sees an obstacle as a detour |
| Waits for approvals | Starts with what's there |
| Documents the problem thoroughly | Solves the problem |
| Follows processes even when they lead nowhere | Adjusts along the way |
| “Unfortunately the process didn't allow it.” | “Why not? What would it take to make it work?” |
| Responsibility for the process | Responsibility for the outcome |
The face of the modern consulting problem.
Low agency looks like this: the problem is known. Everyone knows it. And still nothing happens.
Instead the problem gets managed. There's a meeting to discuss the problem. Then a follow-up meeting to structure the findings of the first one. Then a presentation about the problem, 200 pages, with benchmarks and best practice recommendations from the industry.
And at the end, when still nothing has happened, comes the sentence that sums it all up: “Unfortunately the process didn't allow it.”
That's low agency in its purest form. The problem isn't missing intelligence or missing will. The problem is the belief that obstacles are obstacles. Not detours.
Where the term comes from.
The idea isn't new. What's new is that it has a name. Before, it was vaguely called “own initiative” or “entrepreneurial thinking”.
Eric Weinstein
Mathematician and Managing Director of Thiel Capital. He shaped the term for people who can actually change the world.
Mathematician, Thiel CapitalGeorge Mack
Author and investor. He made high agency popular in the tech and startup world and calls it the most important quality in an employee or partner.
High Agency in 30 Minutes (opens in new tab)MacNorris
We call it MacGyver meets Chuck Norris. Think with what's there, push through without excuses.
To the Playbook
High agency goes by many names.
In American business culture it's called bias for action or ownership. Different words, same principle: someone who doesn't wait for someone else to start.
- Bias for action
- Self-starter
- Ownership mentality
- Builder mindset
- Execution mindset
- Can-do attitude
- Hands-on mentality
- Ownership
- MacGyver meets Chuck Norris
- Rapid consulting
The tech world has a name for it. We have two.
The tech world calls it high agency. We call it MacGyver meets Chuck Norris. MacGyver stands for creative problem solving with what's there, without complaining about missing resources. Chuck Norris stands for no excuses: it gets done. Not documented, done.
For us, that's directly tied to simply getting it done. It feels right because it puts the focus on results. Results are something we can talk about, refine and improve. More in our Playbook.
We're not classic consulting. When we come into a company, we don't spend six weeks asking for access and approvals. We look at what's broken, clarify who can make the decisions, and start. Shadow IT that has built up over years? Data silos nobody touches because they seem too complex? Those aren't insurmountable problems. They're tunnels that haven't been dug yet.
Organisations often reward the opposite.
High agency isn't a given, especially not in grown structures. Those who wait for permission are covered. Those who act carry the risk. Those who take a new path have to explain and defend it. Those who take the old path, even if it leads nowhere, can at least say they followed the process.
That's not a criticism. That's a system failure. And that's exactly why many come to us: not because nobody internally could solve the problem, but because the system doesn't allow it.
We come from outside. We don't carry the political risk, we have no history with the problem, and we don't ask whether we're allowed to, but whether it makes sense.
How do you recognise high agency?
Not in CVs, not in reference lists. In conversation.
High agency: Talks about things they tackled
Low agency: Talks about things they analysed
High agency: Describes obstacles they got around
Low agency: Describes processes they followed
High agency: Answers “What do you do if you're not allowed?” right away
Low agency: Hesitates and talks about responsibilities
High agency: Hears “that's not possible” and asks: what would it take?
Low agency: Writes it down and brings it to the next status meeting
High agency: Already sketches solutions in the first conversation
Low agency: Asks questions to buy time
High agency is not a talent. It's a decision.
What you want to know about high agency.
High agency means you don't wait for someone to give you permission to solve a problem. You take it on or make sure it gets solved. The term was coined by Eric Weinstein and popularised by George Mack. For us, high agency is the core of simply getting it done, in our own team and in projects with clients.
Low agency is the opposite of high agency. People with low agency see obstacles as an end point, wait for approvals and document problems instead of solving them. They can always explain exactly why something didn't work. Usually that's not a lack of will, but a system that rewards waiting and punishes action.
Yes. High agency isn't a talent but a decision you make again and again: seeing an obstacle as a detour, starting instead of waiting and taking responsibility for the outcome. It gets easier with every problem you solve. What that looks like for problem solvers is in our post on problem solvers.
Want your problem genuinely off the table?
Then let's talk. Those who would rather discuss the problem one more time in depth are in good hands with classic consultants. What that costs: consultant costs in 2026.