Customer Reviews

The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
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This is a good book. This book is for everyone, but not everyone will find it enjoyable. The reason is that those of us who are accustomed to looking for answers in a book won't really find them. This is a book about the right questions - not answers. It is about a different approach to our life.

Block feels we live in an instrumental society. We are too pragmatic. We are a society currently driven by the archetypes of the Engineer and Economist. We tend to rush to the question of How - the practical question. The underlying premise of the book is that we ask the wrong question first. We should be asking Why more often.

The book is not a good book for those of us who are looking for quick answers or a road map to nirvana. It is a great book filled with a common sense approach to a re-examination of what is really important to us and thus to the organizations we work in. His book evolves to the archetype of the Architect - a synthesis of the pragmatic and the philosophical approach to life.

I have just finished reading this book for the 5th or 6th time. It contains a unique perspective on the type of leadership necessary to transform the world, from the local to the global levels, to a place of harmony, creativity, justice, sustainability, and love.

It is not for those still centered in their own egos or even those centered in their families and communities. It embodies a human perspective deep enough to touch values that are universal and if acted upon, healing and life giving.

The book culminates in a description of the leader as "social architect." This is a person who helps all people discover the values and vision that they hold collectively and then provides the space for collaborative and creative solutions and designs.

It would be wonderful and potentially powerful for all leaders to read this book and then act on what they have learned... especially the leaders of the nations of our world.

Wisdom. That's what I found in Peter Block's newest book. But be prepared, wisdom does not mean answers. In fact the wisdom in this book comes from the way in which Peter challenges the reader to rethink basic assumptions about the culture that envelopes us. He asks, for example, how the pervasive archetypes of engineer and economist--those of cause-and-effect and predictability--could truly share the stage with the creativity, imagination, mystery and heart of the artist and architect. Not easy to imagine.

The journey Peter asks of me is often painful. It's difficult to admit the truth about my questions. He points out that asking questions about "how," is often a way to avoid the much deeper questions of "why." It is also a subtle way to avoid commitment and action. While Peter does not offer easy answers he does point to new directions for communities and organizations. And he invites us to join him on this journey into a new future...one that is not simply an extrapolation of the past.

I know when a book captures me, because, on almost every page, I found my mind and heart racing with so many ideas that I'd have to stop reading and simply think. What a gift! This volume has inspired me to new thinking about my work, and my life in community.

I have read and loved all of Peter's books. He just keeps blazing new trials!

A carefully presented essay on the importance of personal purpose and meaning and the dangers to ourselves and our world of the instrumental world to which we are subjecting ourselves. The book is beautifully set out and easy to read. The philosophy and advice, though useful and cogent, is much the same as that to be found in a whole range of similar books concerned with personal development. There is perhaps particular value in his distinction between personal intimacy and the ersatz, commercialized 'customer intimacy' that is so much touted in books on marketing.

The book's undeniable focus is on asking the right questions. The author communicates a refreshing perspective on work and life without succumbing to the contemporary book writing trend of word invention--or otherwise abusing the essence of existing published works. Although philosophical, the contents won't waste your cerebral energy in trying to decipher the author's jargon. The words hit you between the eyes.

The book identifies the current in which all corporate fish swim. If you have no desire to be a revolutionary, you'll at least gain an understanding of what makes you behave the way you do. Early chapters will challenge you to question why it is that you allow the culture to restrict you the way you do: "As long as we wish for safety, we will have difficulty pursuing what matters." (p. 46)

If you're searching for the courage to swim against the stream, the reading will nourish your soul; you'll also learn why the battle is ultimately without end. This work ultimately identifies a context in which the dominant business archetypes can co-exist, yet challenges us all not to lose sight of what matters: individual freedom. If anything, that particular message should resonate in a society where the concept of individual rights has run amok. Warning: Individual freedom may cost you more than you're willing to pay.

BLOCK'S FLAWLESS CONSULTING OPENED MY EYES TO EFFECTIVENESS IN MY FIELD AS AN ADVISOR AND A COACH AFTER MANY YEARS AS A BANKER AND CORPORATE EXECUTIVE. BLOCK'S RECENT WORK, THE ANSWER TO HOW? IS YES AFFIRMS THE EXPERIENCES I HAVE HAD IN ORGANIZATIONS FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS. I AM SO PLEASED TO HAVE FINALLY MATURED SUFFICIENTLY TO "LISTEN" TO HIS WORDS AND FEEL AFFIRMED IN WHAT I THOUGHT I WAS SEEING AND KNEW I WAS FEELING. THIS BOOK MAKES A REAL DIFFERENCE, BUT ONLY IF ONE HAS THE COURAGE TO BOTH ABSORB WHAT IT SAYS AND ACT ON WHAT IT MEANS!

I am very happy with this book. The questions asked have really helped me in my work. Block helps us to find the questions that should be asked before we look directly at how to implement a project.

Block is on target once again. He sounded a similar alarm in his earlier work Stewardship. If we are ever to create the kind of organizations we really crave we need to change our thinking from two perspectives: management must stop the caretaking and confront people with their freedom, and employees must stop waiting for a better parent to arrive and take responsibility for creating the culture they desire. As a consultant working with some traditonal patriarchal systems, these are messages and paterns, unfortunately, that many people do not want to hear nor confront.

Peter Block has done it again. He presents the REAL picture of HOW an organization should function. He provides the reader with the knowledge and practical answers to why, so often, an organization does not say yes. If you want to achieve the maximum for yourself and your organization, this book is a must.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who considers issues around freedom and community, experience and empiricism (I would include both therapists and coaches in this category). Block's eloquent writing identifies some of the significant flaws our Western culture makes in bowing to the gods of empiricism and data to the exclusion of experience and community.

An excellent book by a man with a unique perspective on the American culture of capitalism.