​My daughter's classmates said, "Filipinos are weirder."

One playmate said, "Filipinos live in mud hats."

One girl told her, "Your nose looks like a potato."

I'd say, "Just laugh, laugh out loud because sure, it's funny."

If you get an unsolicited remarks or comments at work, or any social event/environment, from a rather well-meaning but misinformed individual.

This is what you should do.

1. Ignore.

2. Ignore.

3. Ignore.

4. Ignore.

5. Maybe laugh or smile and go about your ways. That's the polite demeanor.

6. Pretend you didn't hear it. Move away from the cocktail table/water cooler. Scroll your phone and check your email. Look at the painting/ambience/lights/the makeup smudge on someone's face.

But you get it, right?

​7. Ignore. 
​

Today is the first day of 2025.

What a wonderful day to wake up in the new year.

Like any other day, it could be great and not so great depending on your perceived reality and expectations for the year.

We still have wars, rumors of wars, conflicts, preventable diseases and hunger, corruption, moral decay, environmental degradation, homelessness and drugs in many streets, and a host of other social ills.

But individuals at the level of their influence can make changes, foster and promote changes in their own lives and in their communities, without costing them a lot of their efforts, time, and energy.

We don't need more martyrs, we need pragmatic actors who are simply rooted in reality but optimistic and highly adaptive. 

In 2025, there are three areas that purpose-centric organizations will continuously contend even more: 

First, the rapid integration of generative AI makes the work of analysis, documentation, monitoring, and sense-making easier than ever before. But using AI technology alone at this incipient stage won't get your organization funded or put in the hall of fame for AI bandwagon. 

What you need to up your game is not reliance on technology to do your jobs but to augment technology with human insight using thick description to have a real feel of what's going on the ground and get the distinction right between perceptions and reality. What new skills do you need to augment AI in these areas?  


Second, during the pandemic, the weakest of the non-profits died a natural death, merged with a stronger entity, or carried their mandate in a new totally different form. These adaptations are crucial in an increasingly tighter regulatory environments, private calls for more transparency public donations and net social impact  Where ESG and corporate philanthropy fail is where the non-profits succeed, with lots of social capital and credibility from the onset.

But to exist automatically because you're serving the world is no longer a good business proposition and totally untenable. Your mission doesn't justify your existence, your sustainability and net social gain do. This time, the strongest will continue to be strong and the weak must be able to play catch-up or else, there is no charity waiting on the horizon. You are expected to have demonstrable impact at every turn. 

Third, when technology and increasingly mandatory impact as a business objective become front and centre, what investments will you be making to get this right?  Workforce upskilling is one, work flexibility is another, and increasing organizational innovation, finding the right way to structure the organization according to fast-growing societal trends and economic pressures.  What are you doing to strengthen the capacities you have from within? What opportunities exist that you can leverage? What you should say No to so you can say Yes to growth? 

Changemakers, which I call "Provocateurs" will not be complacent about their success. You either do it or not, don't try.

And if your organization is not in the best position to tackle these challenges, get help and don't do this charade forever that everything is okay when it's not.

You can do better than most executives at impacting many lives when you care about results than looking good in the annual reports and social media.

​If you want real-time strategy, just look at the current Middle East conflict involving Israel and Iranian proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqis and Syrian factions.

That this is fascinating case study with real-time development minute by minute is an under-statement.

Students of strategy, conflict resolution and negotiation, military history, state spy craft, and policy and global governance take copious notes. 

What is/are the strategic objectives of the following actors?

Israel

The United States

UK

France

Turkey

Lebanon State

The Islamic Republic of Iran

China

Russia 

Qataris/Saudis/Bahrainis

Jordan

Egypt

UN/UNRWA/UNIFIL

Non-state actors: corporates, NGOs, media, philanthropists

I just listed a couple of these actors and of course, not exhaustive.

But from someone looking at this as a strategy example, you can't help but think we have been here before.

There are clear patterns of behaviors and choices made in the past that can point to how this conflict will evolve in a few months.

It doesn't matter what you do.

Even if you're cleaning the sewer or mowing the lawn, it's a game-changer to be strategic.

If you're not being strategic, you're insidiously losing.