Before going agile.

I have been thinking about organizations that successfully adopted agile methods(scrum, xp). Some fundamental things that I have noticed about these organizations (above and beyond adoption of agile methods):
1. These organizations respect individuals. They are not just resources, which is a very bad choice of word, but partners.
2. Respecting, also means that these organizations provide individuals with an open culture where anyone and everyone has the ability to question the direction the organization is going. Also giving the ability to everyone in the organization to collectively make changes.
3. The basis of all this is empowerment. Not the kind where you can ask questions on an index card at an employee meeting, but the kind where you can get up and actually make change happen.
4. They are disciplined and foster a culture where information is openly shared.
5. Finally, the leadership understand the concept of giving up control.

The above are the basis on which these organizations are built. Adopting agile practices, for example, Team space, customer involvement, trust, TDD etc, on top of the fundamental principle for them is easy and intuitive. Also in most cases they are quick to master the practices and create an agile method that is unique to them. After all, the thing to remember about agile methods is that they all revolve around individuals and interactions between them and if members of your organization don't feel empowered, then they are not going to be willing to make changes.