Planning in Times of Change
And another meaning of "AI"
A very short version of welcome! or welcome back! this week as I am eager to plunge into the proverbial pond (still hung up on P-words) and SPLASH whatʻs on my mind. I would like to again thank Always Inspiring Matthew Ferrara for recommending my writing and drawing many of you here as subscribers.
To recap where we began this month of February 2025, in a Lunar New Year post I wrote about how when taking a literal fall stopped me in my metaphorical tracks, I threw out the 2025 Plans I had written on auto-pilot. I might not have achieved writing new Plans, but I reaffirmed my Purpose for Writing as reflecting the Year of the Snake, a time of “growth, renewal, adaptability, encouraging people to reflect on their paths, embrace change, and seek personal growth” - which is exactly what my hopes have been and continue to be for this Substack.
Then I circled back to the Post with which I had intended to greet the Gregorian calendar New Year prior to my fall, which turned into not one but two reflections on the relevance of Carman Mooreʻs Mass for the 21st Century, a quarter century later: Act One: The Futureʻs on Fire and Act Two: Prayers of Hope and Faith. I conclude with “My Faith lies in our innate desire, our birthright, to be part of a herd, to belong to one another, to care for one another, to contribute to the wholeness.”
So naturally, all this week I have been getting messages from every direction that the reason I needed to throw out my old Plans is that they were unconsciously embedded in, and perpetuating, old structures of thinking and behaving based upon the assumptions that we as individuals and nuclear families and teams and companies are in competition with others for scarce resources. And that each of us seeking our own personal betterment will lead to a sum of individual gains that we measure as collective prosperity. That “merit” is a word meaning particularly good when measured against others, so that we deserve something others do not.
None of which reflects our birthright to belong to and care for one another.
Now it makes sense that when I tried to rewrite my goals, I simply could not make any personal goal stick. And yes, maybe you are looking at the photos of me with my sleek and shiny gray hair, doing the math from my reported age in my 1992-1997 memoir episodes, and thinking “well thatʻs because sheʻs old and should retire already.”
Baby, I have only just begun.
WE have only just begun. Which is why I want to talk about AI and Provocative Propositions.
Hear me out. Maybe my inability to write personal goals was a Prophecy, an inspiration, rather than a sign that my retirement pasture is waiting.
And that brings me to AI (not that kind) and Provocative Propositions.
Where are you headed? Who is going to be sailing with you? Which waʻa are you on?
Depending on who in my sphere is talking, when they reference “AI” they mean “artificial intelligence.” Thatʻs probably where your thoughts went. However, in everyday conversation with my dairy and cattle ranching friends, even my horse breeding friends, when we throw “AI” into a sentence we mean artificial insemination rather than live cover. And in my consulting and coaching circles, when I say “AI” I mean Appreciative Inquiry, an approach to individual and organizational change I was introduced to at - I see the theme here! - the turn of the millennium.
If you have encountered any strand of positive psychology, from the positive approaches to animal training I was also discovering in the early 2000s, to the Gallup strengths-based approach to career and “success,” to the Pygmalion effect in education, you will recognize the basic premise. If you focus on weaknesses and threats and create moods that sap energy (goodbye SWOT analysis!), all you see are weaknesses and threats. If you instead focus on dreams and what works well for you and others, on where there is positive energy and joy and faces lit up with excitement and possibility, when you operate from a place of confidence that others are also capable and inspired and worthy to co-create with you, then you can begin to (co)design the future in which you want to live.
The Appreciative Inquiry Methodology has four “Dʻs” - but for some reason the outcome - the succinct expression of a desired future - is called a Provocative Proposition. Those P words again! I never really liked that phrase, just like I never really liked the “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” that were all the rage when we business consultants and practitioners were gaga over the megaselling business book Built to Last1.
I get that sometimes we need to stretch out of our comfort zone - or learn how to get comfortable with discomfort, with physical discomfort so that we get stronger or more flexible, or with the mental and spiritual discomfort that leads us to purpose and discernment. My question then: is the right metric really how provocative or audacious the goal is? What about an alternative metric like deep alignment with our core values, with our Purpose, with the service for which we inhabit a human body at this time? Should we not feel fire (Passion) more than fear and self-doubt when our attention is drawn to the words or image of the goal we set?
After 25 years of practice, apparently my AI orientation has become a habit so deeply embedded as to be below my consciousness. Thatʻs why, honoring my childhood dreams and passions and my sense of Purpose2, the only result I got from this yearʻs planning process was not so much a 2025 Plan as a Provocative Proposition . The vision of the future I articulated is in deep, visceral alignment with my values and intuitively sensed life purpose3. It sets me on fire, and serves as a beacon to navigate by, to say yes or no to each and every possibility and potential that crosses my path.
So let me ask this question of you my dear readers. Do you have a Purpose, a reason to be in action that is more than a statement of your Personal Brand or a clever byline for your website and socials? I know you have one, so let me rephrase. Have you let your Purpose find you? Are you ready to accept that in times of change, Plans will be of less use than a clear Purpose?
My Provocative Proposition for us is: Throw out your Plans until you are certain you have found your Purpose.
Next time I will be adding to Purpose with additional P-words. People. Place. Power. All recurrent themes in these Pages. See you here next week.
Those companies seem lasting - for the most part - and completely uninspired to me today.
Seriously, if you have been reading this Substack you know it has been wildly circuitous path but it all somehow makes sense in the context of my childhood dreams.
You could call it other things. Some words I used before: personal mission, personal legend, calling, destiny, Why, Big Dream.
I’ve been creating with AI for decades; Authentic Inspiration.