Menschgeist
Adaptive organizations for Swiss mid-size companies — built with the AO Method
Designing adaptive organizations for the 21st century
Menschgeist helps Swiss mid-size organizations build adaptive, humane systems — using the AO Method to turn strategy into visible, measurable outcomes. Pierre Neis, Founder of Menschgeist, brings over a decade of large-scale transformation experience in banking, mining, government and tech, working directly with C-suite leaders and their organizations.
Pierre designs organizations that work — ones where strategy is visible, accountability is clear, and people can actually perform. His work spans organizational design, governance, talent development, and executive coaching, with a track record across Banking, Mining, Government, Healthcare, and Tech.
As Founder of Menschgeist, he spearheaded large-scale transformations across diverse and complex industries. These include Mining (Glencore), Government (Cambridge University & Press, CTIE), and Banking (BNP Paribas, Quipu, Banque du Luxembourg). He also transformed Manufacturing (ArcelorMittal, Smart Factory), Retail (WeGo), and Healthcare (insurance, Life science). Additionally, he worked in Insurance (SwissRe, Axa, Touring Assurances) and Finance (SAP Finance, Euroclear).
In his role as an agile supervisor coach, he worked directly with CEO and top executives of global organizations. This involvement enabled them to make pivotal decisions on strategy, accountability, and organizational design.
He worked as an Enterprise Agile Coach Consultant at Cognizant. He was part of the executive committee of Central Europe UK and Ireland. He supported global customers and internal agile coaches. They focused on knowledge, structural, and cultural transformations.
His commitment to service extends beyond the corporate world. He offers pro-bono development support to Play14 (global community events), free universities, and local community support.
Pierre also created Agile4HR, The Agile Animal Game, designed and co-founded Play14, and several conferences. He contributed to the Enterprise Scrum Framework with Mike Beedle. Mike Beedle is a co-author of The Agile Manifesto. He also contributed to the agile adoption of the Project Management Institute (PMI).
He is an alumnus of both the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and MIT.
He authored the book: “The New Normal: AO Concepts and Patterns of 21st Century Agile Organizations“. This book lays out the key self-organizing organizations, sense-making approaches, dynamics, and practices needed to be a humane, responsive organization.
Books
The AO hypothesis is that what we call “Agile” is a dynamic in a system called organization. An Agile Organization is allowing high efficient interactions of people leading to better responsiveness on threats or opportunities.
The AO model is proposing five areas to guarantee such dynamics. Structure is not Organization. Organization allows Agile Dynamics. There are five transition phases to full Agile Organization. There are five metrics and experiences: enterprise, organization, people, customer, and system experiences.
There are five work areas: the platform, the Plexus, Programs, Projects, and Swarms. These tools will help coaches, managers, and leaders design a proper engaging “alliance” with all stakeholders of the organization.
AO is a solution to anthropomorphic organizational models. It also addresses organic working models. In these models, all the actors are engaged in a shared purpose.
Link to Amazon
Much like birds taking flight from their nests to explore new horizons, swarming embodies a natural behavior. Birds migrate, nest, or forage collaboratively.
In my book, I delve into how this concept works. I present the Agile Digital Enterprise Model as a dynamic swarming framework. This model outlines a swift journey from ideation to production in just two weeks.
In essence, swarming acts as a “business spike.” It allows teams to experiment with new concepts and gather valuable data. Teams can actively involve stakeholders—all within a condensed timeframe to validate your ideas.
Menschgeist 