Decisioning: Provocation or Benign?

Our Zillion Dollar Thinking site and blog now has a life of almost two years. As such, we have posted hundreds of topics...all around the subject of “decisioning.”
As a contributing writer in another forum, I sparked several comments and responses to a recent article. The rhetoric was sharp and provoking which drove me to this topic. To be effective, and hopefully persuasive, should the primary messages be provocative or benign?

Provocative:

Synonyms: challenging, provoking, stimulating, confrontational, inflammatory, offensive, incendiary, insulting, rabble-rousing, aggressive, annoying, aggravating, vexing

Benign:

Synonyms: encouraging, superficial, complaisant, sympathetic, propitious, refreshing, charitable

Obviously, the safe and kind style would be benign, but probably not too motivational. Conversely, staying primarily caustic and provocative, could conjure up a bunch of hate mail.

So what's a writer to do?

All of the above.

Some of the greats (Re: Seth Godin et al.) are razor sharp in delivery and response. But, how many Seths are out there? Point is, to me and you, let's challenge each other to stay relevant in today's market (from provocative to benign), and if you see me getting sleepy...feel free to wake me up.

Zillions to your success.