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Leadership & The Answer to How is Yes

The Answer to How is Yes
30 Sep

“The Answer to How is Yes” by Peter Block (2002) is a personal development book about choosing to act on what matters to you. I studied him in graduate school for his work “Flawless consulting,” so when I met with an emerging female leader in my field by happenstance, she recommended I read this piece, I bought the book and began to read. Block defines personal development as being about freedom, intimacy, depth and engagement. I would add that personal development about discipline, accountability and consistency.

Overview: In this book, Block wants us to find our balance by asking ourselves the right questions. To stop asking “how do you do it” to “what will I do?”. He quotes “Being fully alive is to be in balance wherever we are.” The book is organized in four parts. The first part (The Question) seeks to encourage readers to think about what they have been giving up or what they have been “acting” for, which hides their true selves. Part two (Three Qualities) examines three primary solutions for answering their calling / finding their yes 1) Idealism 2) Intimacy and 3) Depth. Part three (The Requirements) explores the intentional give and take of being part of the broader world – something bigger than oneself. Part four (Social Architecture) reviews four main architypes, or what I call personas: The Engineer, The Economist, The Artist, and The Architect. Each has its strength in functioning in the world and Block showcases the conflict that arises in our institutions by living out our preferred persona.

Key Message: I found this quote in his book to encompass the entirety of his point. “This is the work, to enjoy, yet keep in perspective, the benefits of instrumental values, for commerce and barter and practicality are essential elements of a viable economic system. At the same time, we must eventually listen to our desire to find the freedom to sustain enough idealism, intimacy and depth so that we can act on our vision of what the world might become.” He claims that holding all of these values together in one container of our lives is the task.
Areas of Strengths:  The book is a great anchor for those who are in transition in life. For those people who know they need a change or need to change, this book is gentle in its approach to expanding ones mind and re-examining their values and time spent living them. If you are willing to create space to re-discover your desired idealism, intimacy and depth in life, read this book.

Supplemental Information:

Where it Falls Short: I think that Block attempts to appeal to multiple audiences in this book (the person seeking help and the person paid to help others find assistance) which comes across disjointed. The Social Architect section within part three seems out of place – its about being the person to create the space for others. It also lacks a storyline which made putting down and picking it back up hard – and you know I think storytelling is an essential ingredient for stickiness.

Overall Assessment & Why: I rate it a 6 out of 10 in terms of a personal development book. It is expansive in terms of providing alternative questions to the normally western based culturally approved questions we pose, but it drags. I would have split the book into two separate books and made parts one and two the self-help book and parts three through four the practitioners book.