By CPA Samwel Baraka Ochieng Sometimes Growth Is Constrained Not by Strategy but By Culture “I’m not going there to fit in. I am going there to see what they have stopped seeing. When everything feels comfortable, nothing is growing.” Those words stayed with me long after the call ended. I have known Valarie, (not her real name), since our college days. She is not someone who speaks for effect. What I heard was not ambition but conviction, a deep belief that real growth rarely comes from blending into established rhythms. It comes from examining them. Valarie carries a quiet discipline: the willingness to question routines that no one revisits, to test assumptions that have quietly hardened into doctrine, and to interrogate practices defended only by a familiar phrase: “this is how we have always done it.” Her perspective reflects one uncomfortable truth about leadership and growth: organisations stagnate not because they lack effort, but because they grow too comfortable with what once worked. I’ve often seen this play out in boardrooms, where everyone nods politely but no one questions the assumptions that underpin their decisions. Growth is seldom accidental. It emanates from deliberate choices and often begins by introducing new voices into the room. However, many organisations gradually drift toward a form of stability that discourages challenge. Policies, processes and practices become so familiar that leaders stop asking whether they still serve the organisation’s purpose. In many work environments, especially in finance and governance, stability is king. But transformative leaders are meant to be way makers, not gatekeepers, because stability left unexamined eventually turns into stagnation. At times, the most strategic decision a leader can make is simply to introduce a fresh perspective into the system. In this quest, leaders must refresh the leadership lens, as growth often requires viewing situations from a different