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How to leverage our transformation skills for rebuilding nations

"How to leverage our transformation skills for rebuilding nations" | Sally Elatta

Sally Elatta

April 14, 2020

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“The Story of Sudan NextGen” Sally Elatta, CEO and founder of Agility Health, found herself in uncharted--yet familiar--territory as she engaged in a different kind of transformation: a once-in-a-lifetime revolution in her home country, Sudan, which toppled a 30-year dictatorship.

Sally shared her story of business agility leader turned social change agent at Business Agility 2020. From meeting with Sudan's Prime Minister to developing Sudan NextGen--a nonprofit organization with a vision of transforming Sudan in pursuit of a shared dream of being one of the leading countries and economies in Africa--Sally will share lessons learned, broaden our vision of business agility, encourage us to let go of fear in approaching transformation, and show us how business agility sets us up with the skills needed to engage in what matters most to us. This is her story.

About Sally Elatta

Photo of Sally Elatta

CEO and Founder @ AgilityHealth®

Sally is the CEO and founder of AgilityHealth and a successful entrepreneur and thought leader in the space of Enterprise Business AgilitySM and Measurement. She is a dynamic and engaging speaker who advises top executives of leading global enterprises through their Enterprise Business Agility (EBA) transformations.

Sally is passionate about enabling larger enterprises to achieve true business agility and take Agile and Lean practices outside of technology-only teams. She advises leaders in several industries including healthcare, financial services, technology, and government to guide them through building a holistic strategy for enterprise agility using the Enterprise Business Agility Model. Sally strongly believes in measuring what matters, and that measurement without growth is effort without impact. These guiding principles inspired the creation of AgilityHealth, the world’s leading measurement and continuous improvement platform for organizations.

Follow them on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elatta

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Summary Transcript

I'm really excited to tell you this story, and I'm also a little nervous because everyone who knows me knows I love public speaking. I enjoy it. I usually talk about business outcomes, measurement, transformation, and Agile. But today, I’m sharing a very personal story—one that I’ve been going through over the last year.

What I hope you take from this is a reflection on yourself as a change leader and what you are truly capable of. Without realizing it, we often put ourselves in a box. Who here is in the IT transformation box? Raise your hand if you've been transforming IT for the past year. Who is in the "I am transforming the business side" box? And who focuses on leadership development?

We categorize ourselves, but I want to challenge you to think bigger. As business agility change leaders, we have skills—the ability to listen, pivot, learn, inspect, adapt, and test. These skills are universal, and I want us to think beyond our current roles.

My Journey and the Skills I Bring

This is my beautiful family. I am the CEO of Agility Health, and I have been in this space for a while, focusing on Agile and transformation. We recently changed the name of our company from "Agile Transformation" to "Agility Health" because we believe it's beyond Agile now—it’s about enterprise agility.

Reflecting on my own skills, I know I’m good at vision and strategy. I know I can teach, educate, and evangelize an idea. I also know that I can be authentic, speak from the heart, and be vulnerable—just like I am today.

Now, I want you to think about the skills you bring to the table.

What It Takes to Lead Change

Take out your phone and go to slido.com. Enter event code 450 and answer this question: What traits and beliefs are needed to lead a big change?

Let’s see some of the responses:

  • Caring about people
  • Courage
  • Passion
  • Hope
  • Vision
  • Transparency
  • Empathy
  • Integrity
  • Clarity
  • Vulnerability
  • Growth mindset
  • Bravery
  • Grit
  • Faith
  • Thick skin

Do we need these every day as business agility leaders? Absolutely.

Be Bold, Be Real, and Lead with Love

For the last two years, I’ve done a presentation called "Be Bold, Be Real, and Lead with Love." Evan Leybourne told me that should be the title of my first book. It truly represents my leadership style—I dream big, take action, and lead from the heart.

In my first session, my mother was in the audience. She had no idea I would call her out, but I told everyone that behind every strong woman is a stronger woman. She raised me to be fearless, to take chances, and to try new things.

But last year, everything I had preached about was put to the test. I faced a massive challenge that I didn’t feel equipped to handle. I had to ask myself: Am I going to walk the walk or just talk the talk?

The Sudan Crisis

Let me tell you about Sudan. In 1989, Omar al-Bashir took power. The second day after his coup, he executed 28 military generals. Two were missing that day—one of them was my father.

My father narrowly escaped execution and became one of the first opposition leaders against the government. That’s why I have such a deep connection to Sudan.

In 1993, Sudan was added to the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) list. This is the worst list to be on. It isolates a country economically—no one wants to do business with you except maybe Russia and China. Sudan was completely cut off.

Then came Darfur. Hundreds of thousands of people were massacred. The International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Bashir with genocide, but he remained in power.

Then, on December 19, 2018, the people had enough. 60% of Sudan’s population is under 25. It’s a young nation, and they wanted change. They took to the streets, chanting: Freedom, Justice, and Peace.

Millions of people protested in a massive sit-in at military compounds, demanding Bashir step down. It wasn’t about oil, bread, or gas anymore—they simply wanted their dictator gone.

Then, the military attacked. They massacred peaceful protesters. And because of WhatsApp and social media, I saw it all live. Imagine the horror, watching it in real-time.

Stepping Up to Help

My father passed away in February 2019, and Sudan was in crisis. I knew I had to help.

What do transformation leaders do when faced with a problem? We act.

Here’s what I did:

  • I created a video explaining how Sudan needed its experts to return.
  • The video went viral, and we created a Facebook page that grew to 100,000 followers.
  • I set up a Google Form to collect names of experts willing to help.
  • We registered a nonprofit organization called Sudan NextGen.
  • I traveled to Congress and gave a speech that went viral with 1.2 million views.
  • I was invited to Al Jazeera to speak about why Sudan had to change.

I kept asking myself, "What am I doing? I’m not an activist." But I just took it one step at a time.

Building Sudan NextGen

We built an online platform to connect Sudanese experts worldwide.

  • 475 experts have registered to help Sudan.
  • We created pages for government ministries to list their priorities.
  • We launched 137 transformation projects.

One challenge? Funding. Being on the SST list means countries hesitate to invest.

But we push forward. In December, 50 experts returned to Sudan to train 1,400 people in conflict resolution, leadership, and—of course—Agile.

Why Agile in Sudan?

Sudan is in chaos. It needs structure. Agile gives teams the tools to collaborate, self-organize, and move forward despite uncertainty.

We taught Scrum, stand-ups, OKRs, and Trello. We even created an e-learning platform with recorded sessions.

Meeting the Prime Minister

In Washington, D.C., I met Sudan’s new Prime Minister. I facilitated meetings between him and major NGOs. Soon, I’ll return to Sudan to teach leadership agility to the entire cabinet.

The Moral of the Story

My bracelet says: She believed she could, so she did.

Sometimes, the impossible is possible if you just believe. Your skills as a change leader are transferable.

My final message to you: Be bold. Be real. Lead with love.

Thank you for hearing my story.

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