Local Max

"Fear is the mind-killer," said Frank Herbert in Dune.  It's also why you might be stuck at a local maximum.  Seth Godin describes the problem very well (which is also a problem for Artificial Intelligence algorithms that get stuck on small hills when trying to find the highest point of terrain).  The interesting question:  Is there a process for reliably moving organizations through Seth's Point C (the horrible, painful, scary place) and finding a new, better maximum?