When is it Safest to Stick with the Status Quo?
A global scan of 20+ areas where systems, beliefs, and worldviews keep us anchored to the status quo.
Sometimes, it is safest to stick to the status quo.
Leaders and organisations can’t afford to change constantly - that would add cost, confusion, and complexity. The challenge is knowing when to update how we see the world and how we act within it.
In Untethered: Strategy Workshops on the Water, we explore the forces that keep leaders, entrepreneurs, and organisations tethered to the status quo - systems, worldviews, and assumptions that once made sense, yet may no longer serve in today’s context.
Not every system needs a reset. Yet, some assumptions do.
Untethering does not focus on chasing change.
It’s about recognising when the world has already changed and prioritising global shifts to shape what you focus on and do next.
We explore:
When do you lift anchor and, with the right signals, set a course toward something more aligned and strategic?
A Global Scan: The Tethered vs Untethered Lens
Through a global scan, we’ve identified more than 20 areas where people and organisations often remain tethered - to beliefs, systems, and worldviews that represent their status quo.
Yet the world around us is shifting. And how we each see that world is shaped by our own experiences, networks, and influences.
How does the lens below sit with you?
What are you, or your organisation, tethered to?
Is it still serving you?
What do you notice - in your team, your industry, or beyond - that’s tethered and missing from this list?
Setting a More Relevant Course
Preserving the status quo has its place.
When the world is stable - or too complex to monitor and manage - staying the course can provide clarity, consistency, and control.
Yet when conditions shift, globally, structurally, or subtly, the cost of staying tethered without question can quietly compound.
It’s not necessary to change everything.
It’s strategic to know what to update and when.
Sometimes, staying tethered is wise.
Other times, the safest move is to lift anchor and set a more relevant course.
Untethered Thinking, Developed Together
The above 20+ areas where people and organisations often remain tethered is being developed in collaboration.
We welcome your perspective:
What do you see that aligns with your status quo?
What is missing?
What have we not yet got right?
Altitude: Zooming Out to Zero In
It takes courage to climb the mast. On a racing yacht at sea, not everyone does it. Many will look up. Fewer will act. And only one will strap in, climb high, and do what needs to be done. They’ll face the force of wind, the motion of the boat, and the pressure of knowing what’s at stake.
From that height, the view shifts. It is about fixing a problem. And, it’s about getting back on course. Making the finish. Making it safely home.
And up there, perspective changes.
Avoid Being Tethered
Einstein would spend hours alone at sea, letting himself float aimlessly. To an outsider, it may have looked like inactivity. Yet, it was valuable work - creating the space for ideas to surface, for the mind to roam freely and reorganise what it already knew into something new.
Today, in a world that is more complex, interconnected, and volatile than many of us have previously experienced, we benefit from the same.
Not more noise. Not more effort.
More space. Space to think bigger. To connect differently. To move smarter.
To see what others miss, and to act before others react.
This is the essence of being Untethered.