High Agency or Nothing: Why Ambition Isn't a Dirty Word
Silicon Valley's latest buzzword that actually deserves your attention.
If you haven't heard it yet, you will soon. It describes people who refuse to be constrained by circumstance, who believe they can change their environment rather than just react to it. High-agency individuals don't wait for permission or perfect conditions – they act, adapt, and make things happen regardless of obstacles.
Let's cut through the nonsense: I want to be known as "high agency," and if you had any ambition whatsoever, you would too. This isn't just another tech industry fad—it's the fundamental difference between those who shape the world and those who merely exist in it.
You know what happens to people without high agency? They sit around complaining about "the system" while their more determined peers are busy building the future. They wait for permission that never comes. They follow outdated rulebooks written by people trying to maintain the status quo. They make excuses while others make history.
The Privilege Myth
High agency isn't about privilege—it's about mindset. Throughout history, the most transformative figures came from nothing. They weren't asking for handouts or waiting for society to clear their path. They seized control of their destiny with both hands and refused to let go.
When people attack the concept of high agency, what they're really saying is: "I'm uncomfortable with people who make me face my own complacency." It's easier to tear down those with ambition than to admit you've settled for mediocrity.
Beyond Just Getting Things Done
Let me be clear: high agency isn't just about being efficient or persistent. Any corporate drone can be a "go-getter" within the boundaries others have drawn. True high agency means you're a game changer—someone who rewrites rules instead of simply excelling at following them.
The world is full of high-performing professionals who execute flawlessly within existing systems. They hit targets, exceed expectations, and climb ladders. But they're still playing a game designed by someone else.
High-agency individuals don't just play the game better—they change the board, reimagine the pieces, and transform the objectives. They question fundamental assumptions that others treat as immutable laws. They ask not just "How can I win?" but "Why are we playing this particular game at all?"
When everyone else is optimising for what's measurable today, high-agency people are creating the metrics that will matter tomorrow.
Do you think the AI revolution happened because people were waiting politely for permission? Do you think space exploration advances because people respect arbitrary boundaries? Do you think any meaningful change in human history came from people who prioritised "work-life balance" over making their mark?
The False Dichotomy
The greatest lie ever told is that you need to choose between impact and personal well-being.
The truth is that nothing feels better than agency—than knowing you're not a passenger in your own life. The "burnout" people experience comes not from hard work but from meaningless work, from the soul-crushing realisation that they're just cogs in someone else's machine.
And don't think slapping "founder" on your LinkedIn profile automatically grants you agency. Plenty of entrepreneurs are still following someone else's playbook—chasing metrics their investors demand, building products the world doesn’t need or pursuing exits that validate them, rather than fulfilling their purpose. Founders burn out not from working too much, but from losing sight of why they started in the first place and becoming servants to others' definitions of success.
High agency means building your own machine.
Becoming High Agency Starts Today
The beautiful truth about high agency is that it's available to anyone willing to claim it. You don't need permission, credentials, or a perfect starting position. You need only to decide, right now, that your life and work will no longer be determined by default settings or others' expectations.
Start small. Take one area where you've been making excuses or waiting for conditions to improve. Then do something—anything—to move forward despite the obstacles. Each small act of agency builds the muscle for larger ones.
Find your fellow high-agency people and surround yourself with them. Nothing accelerates your own agency like being in regular contact with others who refuse to accept limitations. Their energy is contagious.
Most importantly, stop asking "Can this be done?" and start asking "How can I make this happen?" The shift from questioning possibility to exploring method is the first step in rewiring your brain for high agency.
The Comfortable Alternative Is Worse
Is it uncomfortable? Absolutely. Growth always is. Does it mean sometimes ignoring conventions, challenging authority, and pushing boundaries? Without question. But the alternative is far worse: a life of quiet desperation, wondering what could have been if you'd just had the courage to take the wheel.
So call me a Silicon Valley stereotype if it makes you feel better. Mock the ambition you secretly wish you had. Create elaborate theories to explain away the success of those willing to do what you won't.
Meanwhile, the high agency among us will keep building, creating, and transforming—not because it's trendy, but because the alternative is simply unthinkable.
The Audacious Few
The world doesn't change because of committees, consensus, or comfort. It changes because of the audacious few who decide that "impossible" is just a challenge, not a conclusion.
Someone called me high agency this weekend, and I'm wearing my new label proudly. The question is: how do you feel about yours?
Is being labeled "high agency" something to aspire to or just another Silicon Valley buzzword that masks privilege? And if it is valuable, how do we separate genuine agency from performative hustle?