Startups speak of pivoting and making a call on the go to change directions as just part of the process of developing and constantly moving forward.

A sunny morning in Chelsea, under a clear blue sky, elevated above the New York City as I stood on the Highline, I had just one of those moments.

As our volunteer guide walked us through the history and design of the Highline, standing proudly on her stool, she pointed out the immense changes that took place within the area as the Highline morphed and changed from a set of train tracks into something as beautiful and wild as the park we all know today.

“Everything in the design was guided by very specific terms: Keep it wild, keep it simple, keep it quiet, keep it slow.”

Wild, Simple, Quiet and Slow.

The Highline became a feature of the area, a continuously developing and growing space that began to impact the surrounding environment. And yet, as time has gone by, the surrounding environment has equally adapted to the Highline as well. A back and forth, a trade of ideas, concepts, look and feel. One reflected the other.

“It’s a snapshot of how New York has created this back and forth between each other, feeding one from the other.”

At this moment, the Highline became a metaphor for the greater task at hand: mirroring the startup philosophy is not in the nature of the environment as a whole. It’s about feeding off of one another and recognizing that one cannot exist without the other. Adaptability is key.

It’s not so much about mirroring, but feeding off of one another to maintain growth, to maintain relevance- and agile just happens to be a path offering success in this moment.

I don’t think she will ever realise what she did when those words left her mouth but a light bulb went off in my head.