The Antifragile Code: Why High Performance Isn’t Enough

Synthosys co-founders Dr Vanessa Pozzali and Dr Tarek Jomaa delivered one of the Institute of Leadership’s most attended masterclasses of 2025, bringing together over 145 leaders for a deep dive into what it truly takes to build anti-fragile organisations.

The session, titled The AntiFragile Code, explored how organisations can move beyond simply surviving disruption and instead use pressure, uncertainty and change as catalysts for growth. Vanessa and Tarek introduced the 4C Diagnostic Model as a way to reveal the hidden patterns in culture, perception and team dynamics that shape performance long before KPIs show any signs of trouble.

Participants brought exceptional curiosity and engagement, flooding the chat with reflections and questions. The appetite was clear: leaders across industries are recognising that traditional, surface-level culture assessments are no longer enough. Building organisations that can thrive in a volatile world requires a system capable of making the invisible visible.

Throughout the masterclass, Vanessa and Tarek showed how the anti-fragile leadership philosophy challenges outdated approaches to resilience. Rather than teaching people to “cope better”, the Synthosys method focuses on alignment, clarity and cultural precision — strengthening the system itself so that teams grow stronger under pressure instead of cracking. They illustrated how fragility often hides in perception gaps, inconsistent ways of resolving conflict and unspoken expectations that shape behaviour more than any policy or strategy.

The session reinforced a simple but powerful insight: anti-fragility is not a personal trait. It is a system. And with the right diagnostic approach, leaders can spot fragility early, act with confidence and build organisations that don’t just withstand disruption — they benefit from it.

Takeaway: Anti-fragility is not a trait. It’s a system. And with the right diagnostic approach, leaders can spot fragility early, act with confidence, and build organisations that don't just withstand disruption — they benefit from it.