A few months ago, a CEO told me that it seemed, 'everything is in order.' They are moving into a new building, operations have been reconfigured to accommodate an enlarged mandate, expanded personnel, and with secured funding, it is looking promising.

When everything is in order, is it not the best opportune time to plan your next steps? 

Here are eight issues that CEOs of social purpose organizations spend their time on: 

-Board Leadership and Governance
-Staff/Personnel Issues
-Financial Sustainability
-Stakeholder Concerns
-Communications and Reputational Issues
-Operations/Programming 
-Strategic Questions 
-Innovations, Adaptation and Resilience

Which of these eight issues are focused on putting out fires and which are for innovation and building capacity for the future?  

They are all areas to look for innovation, adaptation, and resilience. Let your managers and staff know that they can lead to innovate in their departments. These are systems and they all overlap for the organization. Wherever you are in the chart, change happens when people and systems change. 

Anticipate that something will come up when you're putting things in order as a cause and consequences of those actions. Growth requires vigilance to outcomes and the resoluteness to continue in the direction of change. Ultimate, it's about minds, hearts, and systems in complete synergy and harmony. 
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Provocation, as I heard from a Rotary Club member after my presentation, was something very negative to him. He was fed up by the polarization in our politics and culture, those that always demanding something and always looking for ways to tell someone should reform or else global destruction is at hand, instead of just aiming for common good. 

While I recognize the current woke and cancel culture climate which we operate, I digress that positive provocation is more about not pushing, but encouraging, not forcing someone to change their views even with the word Provocateur or Provocation. Provocation means you're not settled with the status quo, however long it has served your purpose. It's always for positive growth, more relevance for the upliftment of all. It's about challenging norms that are no longer useful, thus, we can take some lessons learned from others, and adapt accordingly.

The woke culture of today denigrates everyone who is not in conformity, kills dissension and creative expression, and polices everyone's thoughts and feelings, making one feel ashamed and guilty of one's roots and privileges. Hitler's campaign was successful because it tackled the identity of German culture and ascribed a higher sense of importance over other races, ethnicities, and identities and loyalties of the German people. 

Positive provocation is an antidote to the complacency in many organized systems around the world. Innovation, as Schumpeter defined is about 'creative destruction.' Taken in extreme literal way robs it of its substance. Innovation is doing and making things differently, whether it's a product, service, system, network, or process. 

Positive provocation in the world of charity, development, humanitarian, and philanthropy requires a healthy dose of passion,  purpose, provision, practice, and the right paradigm  (5Ps). That to me is the philosophy of being a provocateur or a positive instigator. 

For two weeks, I have been procrastinating in writing my manuscript.

I waited for external cues to tell me that I need to write now.

I waited for that demand to come from elsewhere to tell me that I need to start now.

I waited for the internal eureka to say that I am ready to write it.

Of course, two weeks passed and I don't have anything to show.

I should have at least 20-25 pages of material by now, or more. 

I could have enjoyed that momentum, I tell others to ride on and be carried forward.

I could be on my way to the goal of being published! 

Just as I am learning that there is no reason to wait for anyone or anything. 

Setting aside that sacred time to write is a must. 

Writers write as farmers farm and dancers dance.

There is no excuse that is great enough not to write. 

So now,  I write, will write and will continue to write until this is done. 

And write some more! k here to edit.

It's nice to reach a plateau.

You can have a break, walk around, smell the roses, enjoy the scenery, take some photos along the way, have a snack, and rest your legs after the long drive. But you can't stay too long.

All plateaus lead to a decline. While staying there increases pleasure and comfort, it doesn't allow you to reach new heights where you can experience a different level of accomplishment- the next summit. 

Think about that in your organizational life and in your career trajectory.

You might be in a plateau too long to figure out you are running circles and not moving an inch to your destination. ​