Make Sinking Balloons Soar! #cindertoflame

Examine this article’s photo. The intent is to portray a restrained celebration (for 50 articles on LinkedIn) because people are struggling to keep the balloons afloat and we need to make them soar.

In fact, there are 51 articles on the Cinder to Flame website. The first article was never published on LinkedIn but the messages are highly relevant today. The title is: Budget Deficits Risk Future Sustainability.

This article speaks to government spending and how it impacts people. Then it explains why an innovation culture and strategy grounded in continuous quality (process) improvement cannot solve today’s complex challenges. It’s an inaugural article that marks the launch of Cinder to Flame consulting on February 1st, 2022 with the vision to open the gateway to sustainable, quality living. This vision focuses on well-being (which captures health) and is impacted by the cost of living. We need affordable access to: safe housing, healthy food (food security), and appropriate health care services.

Here's a link to the first Cinder to Flame article:

https://www.cindertoflame.ca/post/budget-deficits-risk-future-sustainability

Government budget deficits continue to grow, and this exerts a negative impact on sustainable, quality living. We are faced with a national housing crisis and recently, three cities in my province have declared food insecurity as an emergency. In Ontario, municipalities are required to balance their budget and are asking upper levels of government for more social assistance funding. However, the province and federal government are facing massive debt. According to the Fraser Institute, Ontario has spent $61.4 billion on debt interest payments over the past five years and the federal government debt in Canada is approximately 2.1 trillion dollars. Staggering.

The United States and other countries are facing a dire situation of government debt. Threats of high tariffs will worsen the situation in Canada and for the United States because the impact will cascade down to people in terms of more taxes, fees for products and services and a higher cost of living.

“More money” appears to be the quick go-to-solution to solve complex challenges. However, passing the costs from one level of government to another is a futile game. We need chess players who exercise patience, strategy and forethought to manage many moving pieces while making tough decisions (to sacrifice a knight or even a rook). More money is not an innovative solution when it increases government debt - at any level - or negatively impacts sustainable, quality living.

"More innovative solutions" are required that move beyond money and continuous (quality) process improvement. We need a paradigm shift in thinking and action, this requires a culture change at all levels of government to move beyond emergency measures and source more sustainable solutions for affordable housing, food insecurity, and appropriate access to health care. An increase in the number and strength of public-private partnerships can be pivotal because private sector Corporations have an important role in contributing solutions and finding different ways to support sustainable, quality living.

Cinder to Flame helps Corporations solve complex challenges with strategic services that energize people, fuel a healthy corporate culture and ignite major innovation.

Cinder to Flame serves Municipalities and Government, Health Care and Private Sector Corporations who share the vision for sustainable, quality living.

Explore how Cinder to Flame can help make sinking balloons soar for sustainable, quality living: https://www.cindertoflame.ca/services

These hashtags are central to the work of Cinder to Flame and relevant to every article:

#cindertoflame #workculture #creativity #innovation #transformation #paradigmshift #strategy #leadership #management #transformationalleadership #changemanagement #humanresources #engagement #motivation #corporations #ceo #government #localgovernment #publicsector #publicservice #privatesector #healthcare

These hashtags are specific to this article, click a hashtag to generate a subset of Cinder to Flame articles with the same topic:

#continuousimprovement #qualityimprovement #wellbeing #ppp #budget #costofliving #affordablehousing #foodsecurity