The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters

I read this a couple years back and have returned to it multiple times. I found the work quite thought-provoking, challenging - doesn't provide easy answers rather suggests questions to ask yourself, that may send you in new directions. I found myself agreeing with most of what he says - and while it's not immediately clear how to apply it to my job, career planning, or life in general, life is a journey and the right questions can take you in valuable new directions. Here are the "How" questions Block says people are too quick to focus on, followed by the "Yes questions" he suggests you think about instead:How question 1: How do you do it?Yes question 1: What refusal have I been postponing?How question 2: How long will it take?Yes question 2: What commitment am I willing to make?How question 3: How much does it cost?Yes question 3: What is the price I am willing to pay?How question 4: How do you get those people to change?Yes question 4: What is my contribution to the problem I am concerned with?How question 5: How do we measure it?Yes question 5: What is the crossroads at which I find myself at this point in my life/work?How question 6: How are other people doing it successfully?Yes question 6: What do we want to create together?Block's basic critique is, people are generally too quick to get to the "how" questions, w/o properly considering what matters/what is really important. Very strong on acting on what matters, not waiting for others or depending on others - what is most important has to come from within.I was wishing for some concrete examples tho of what it would look like if you acted on this stuff - but Block does note at some point that examples will be of limited use, as the way these precepts are implemented will vary considerably from place to place and person to person (asking for more information is usually just a stalling tactic, a strategy for putting off action). So I continue to be challenged and provoked by these questions.

Peter Block is a Maister of Masters. His 'Flawless Consulting' is a great educational experience. The Answer to How .... truly shakes and wakes one up to ask the right questions about what matters.I loved this book particularly because it articulated several fundamental questions that were traumatizing me. It was a relief to find Mr. Block raising similar doubts. It was a pleasure to join his quest for discovering directions for resolution.Of particular significance is his placing Idealism, Intimacy, and Depth at the center. The disdain that attempts to practice these three qualities attracts is d-energizing. This book restores the faith. His 'How questions' are what we face - constantly. They have been creating an unease, difficult to fathom, impossible to articulate. Mr. Block's alternatives are 'what matters'. Further, they help conquer externalization of challenges and help pose questions to help one 'be the change you wish to see ...', a Gandhian quest.This book also helps understand the 4 archetypes. I have, mostly, been an 'engineer', partly damned by education. I have known several 'economists'. My 'artistic' skepticism has remained suppressed. Fear of accusations of impracticality, being theoretical, and so on. With this book, my faith is restored. The path to social architecture is clear.This is a very uncomfortable book to digest. It is a mirror that shames us for sacrificing 'what matters' for 'what is pragmatic'. A must-read and a must-apply.

Peter Block's ideas about acting on what matters are exactly what we need to hear today. We get so caught up in having things be convenient, or easy that we find ourselves literally unable to understand how to do things. Life is hard at times, but our motivation cannot be that things should follow simple logic. Our motivation should be that we care deeply about what we do.

In this book, management consultant Block addresses his concern that we often ask how to do something too soon and thereby trade our values for that which is practical and immediately useful. Instead of asking how, we need to consider what is worth doing. Asking "How?" emphasizes control of people, time, and cost. We need to be asking "Why?" which puts attention on what really matters to us personally, from commitments in our private lives to projects in the workplace. He points out that asking questions about "how," is often a way to avoid the deeper question of "why" and is a subtle way to avoid commitment and action.Block challenges the basic assumptions of our culture. He sees as pervasive the two archetypes of engineer and economist--those of cause-and-effect and predictability. He would have us balance these with the creativity, imagination, mystery, and heart of two other archetypes: artist and architect. He holds up one of my favorite human beings, Christopher Alexander, as someone who embodies the integration of all four archetypes.This book is full of wisdom. Here is one of the sentences I marked: "What will matter most to us, upon deeper reflection, is the quality of experience we create in the world, not the quantity of results."

I found out about this book through Fred Lee's book "If Disney Ran Your Hospital, 91/2 Things You Would Do Differently". The Answer to How is Yes takes a look at a different mind set than just doing the bare minimum at your job, at your life. Want to be a true professional and sleep well at night? Read this book!

Thought provoking well written book

A truly startling book that forces a complete reconsideration of what I've been doing, why I've been doing it, and challenges me to work out what exactly I'm on about. I feel grateful that I have come across this brilliant work.

I loved this book. It challenged me to really think about things in a different way. We often rush into things without taking the time to think about it beforehand. This becasme even more evident ot me as I read this book. A great read!

I just got this book today and I can already tell it will be full of great insights and gold nuggets.Most bizarre is the fact that this books looks like it was printed for the visually impaired. It is in 16 point font - HUGE PRINT.It definitely is not 264 pages - it is only 204 pages, with another 20 pages of reference and marketing material. If this was printed in regular size font, I doubt it would make 150 pages at best.What publisher thought was a good idea?? Simply crazy!!