In The Answer to How is Yes, Peter Block writes that “transformation comes more from pursuing profound questions than seeking practical answers.”
He argues that our culture is too obsessed with how? questions.
“My premise is that this culture, and we as members of it, have yielded too easily to what is doable and practical and popular. In the process we’ve sacrificed the pursuit of what is in our hearts. We find ourselves giving into our doubts, and settling for what we know how to do, or can soon learn how to do, instead of pursuing what most matters to us and living with the adventure and anxiety that this requires.”
“This has led me to the belief that the questions about How? are more interesting than any answer to them might be. They stand for some deeper concern. So in this book, the starting point is to question the questions.”
“If we were really committed to the pursuit of what matters, we might well be served to hold a moratorium on the question How?”
“If we could agree that for six months we would not ask How? something in our lives, our institutions, and our culture might shift for the better. It would force us to engage in conversations about why we do what we do, as individuals and institutions. It would refocus our attention on deciding what is the right question, rather than what is the right answer. It would also force us to act as if we already knew how–we just have to figure out what is worth doing.”
“In any of its hundreds of variations when we ask How? we are really making a statement: What we lack is the right tool. The right methodology. We are mechanics who cannot find the right wrench. The question How? not only expresses doubt about whether we know enough and are enough; it also affirms the belief that what works is the defining question, a major source of our identity.”
We’ll look at some of the How? questions that Block says we ask too soon and too often in a future post.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Thanks for the heads up on Peter Block’s book. I hired Peter to conduct some organizational consulting with our management group back in the late 80’s. I also participated in his internal consultant training seminar. He was one of the most unique and talented people I met in the consulting field. I have read several of his books. I would recommend The Empowered Manager. He writes abouut how to develop and use positive political skills in a bureaucracy. I found his writings to be not only helpful at work but I was even more fascinated with how they were applicable to working effectively in the church bureaucracy.
I’m looking forward to reading “The Answer to How Is Yes”