True North, Stay on Target, and Break the Mold

Jeff Mitchell Geissler · Scale with Jeff · Principles note, October 2026

Summary

Adaptive Intelligence for Portfolio, Program, and Project Management (AIPM) is an outcome-centered approach to leadership and delivery. It challenges leaders to keep reconnecting their teams’ activities with the purpose those activities serve, while making room to question assumptions and experiment with better approaches.

Three complementary principles carry that idea:

1. True North: define the meaningful outcome. Keep the end in mind by asking, “What are we trying to accomplish?”
2. Stay on Target: continually test alignment. Ask whether the team’s decisions, practices, and actual results are moving it toward that outcome.
3. Break the Mold: challenge established practices. Begin by doing one thing uncomfortably differently, then invite the team to challenge assumptions and experiment as well.

Together they form a practical cycle: Purpose → Challenge → Experiment → Learn → Adapt → Reassess alignment.

Where it starts

What should a leader actually do differently on Monday morning?

The first instinct is to break the mold: take a fresh look at the process and start doing one thing uncomfortably differently. That act alone can spark much larger change, especially when the leader then asks the team to break the mold as well.

But a refinement matters. Before challenging the practice, the leader steps back and asks: What are we trying to accomplish? Only then does the uncomfortable challenge have a direction. True North and Stay on Target keep the end in mind; Break the Mold keeps the route from hardening into habit.

Question the purpose before challenging the practice. The point is not novelty or disruption for its own sake. The point is better progress toward a meaningful outcome.

The three principles

True North: keep the end in mind

Step back from the machinery of delivery and ask: “What are we trying to accomplish?”

This separates the outcome from the activities intended to produce it. Meetings, reports, dashboards, ceremonies, and processes can be useful, but they are not the destination.

• State the desired outcome in plain language.
• Explain why it matters to customers, the business, or the people doing the work.
• Clarify what evidence would demonstrate meaningful progress.
• Revisit the outcome when circumstances or new evidence change.

Caution: True North gives direction, not an excuse for dogmatism. The goal itself should be reconsidered when credible new evidence warrants it.

Stay on Target: continually test alignment

With the outcome clear, ask: “Are our decisions, activities, and results actually moving us closer?”

This is a recurring discipline, not a one-time planning exercise. It keeps a team from mistaking adherence to a methodology for achievement of its purpose.

• Review outcomes and evidence, not only task completion or process compliance.
• Surface obstacles, tradeoffs, and assumptions early.
• Redirect effort when work is not producing the intended value.
• Maintain accountability without demanding rigid adherence to a predetermined route.

The destination stays visible while the path stays adaptable.

Break the Mold: make one uncomfortable challenge

After reconnecting with the outcome, ask: “What’s one thing we could do uncomfortably differently?”

Uncomfortably is intentional. It invites leaders to question familiar practices rather than make cosmetic changes. The leader models the behavior first, then invites the team to do the same.

• Identify one assumption or routine that may no longer serve the goal.
• Design a small, bounded experiment rather than an indiscriminate overhaul.
• Make it safe for people to question established methods respectfully.
• Observe the result, learn from it, and adapt or abandon the experiment.

Safeguard: doing something differently does not automatically mean doing it better. Connect the experiment to the outcome and judge it against evidence.

How the principles work together

Principle	Central question	Role
True North	What are we trying to accomplish?	Defines purpose and the desired outcome
Stay on Target	Are we getting closer to that outcome?	Sustains alignment and accountability
Break the Mold	What is one uncomfortable change worth testing?	Creates space for innovation and learning

They hold each other in productive tension:

• Without True North, experiments become aimless.
• Without Stay on Target, teams become busy without delivering value.
• Without Break the Mold, teams become efficient at preserving practices that no longer work.

AIPM aims to combine adaptability with accountability.

A Monday-morning application

1. What are we trying to accomplish? State the outcome and why it matters.
2. Are we actually getting closer? Examine the evidence, not just the activity.
3. What’s one thing we could do uncomfortably differently this week? Select one assumption to test.

Then define the smallest reasonable experiment, agree what success or failure would look like, invite participation and dissent, and review what happened before deciding to continue, revise, or stop.

Keep it lightweight. This is a leadership habit, not another governance layer.

Leadership starts with example

In AIPM, the leader goes first. Rather than instructing the team to innovate, the leader shows a willingness to question their own habits and assumptions. That example helps make challenge safe: questioning an established process is not resistance or insubordination; it can be a contribution to better outcomes. The invitation must be genuine, with room for evidence that contradicts the leader’s initial view.

Break the Mold

Before changing anything, step back and ask yourself a deceptively simple question:

What are we trying to accomplish?

Not what meetings we are holding, what reports we are producing, or what processes we are following. What meaningful outcome are we trying to achieve?

Keep that outcome in view. Then examine how you’re working today. Challenge an assumption. Identify one thing you could do uncomfortably differently.

That single act may become the spark for radical change.

And don’t stop with yourself. Invite your team to break the mold alongside you. Encourage people to question familiar practices, experiment with new approaches, and learn from the results.

Not every experiment will succeed. That’s not a reason to avoid trying; it’s a reason to make the learning deliberate. We aren’t changing for the sake of change. We’re discovering better ways to accomplish what matters.

Know your purpose. Challenge the familiar. Experiment boldly. Learn continuously. Stay on target.

Working thesis

AIPM isn’t about making teams better at following a methodology. It’s about making teams better at achieving meaningful outcomes, even when that requires challenging the methodology itself.

This framing complements Agile and Lean rather than dismissing them. It treats methods as adaptable instruments in service of outcomes, with leadership judgment, experimentation, and evidence guiding their use.

Open questions

• What are the minimum useful indicators that a team is genuinely progressing toward True North?
• How should a leader decide which uncomfortable assumption to test first?
• What makes an experiment appropriately bounded and safe in a high-stakes environment?
• How can teams challenge the goal itself when new evidence suggests it is no longer the right one?
• How can these principles become AI-assisted routines without adding administrative overhead?