New Questions to Ponder

As you may know if you follow this blog, I've been leading several master mind groups lately studying the classic Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (see link on this blog). The transformations I've witnessed in my community because of these master minds is profound, to say the least.

Each of the groups meets for 10 weeks to study this book and the participants are challenged to come up with goals they would like to accomplish for themselves and their lives. Although we use the book as a framework, we tend to create dialogue around many topics outside the realm of the book, which really allows the study to come alive for the participants.

Three of my groups have now completed the 10 weeks, but all three of them have chosen to continue meeting and are now studying new books. I wanted to tell you today about one of those groups and the book they have chosen. I'll fill you in on the other one in a future post.

The book the Wednesday group has chosen to study is The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters by Peter Block (see link on this blog). We will meet for our third session today, and I'm already seeing huge shifts in the participants because they are connecting with new questions this book suggests.

Here's a sample (from the book jacket):

Here, Block offers a new way of thinking about our actions that helps free us from being controlled by the bombardment of messages about how we should live and act. He shows how our obsession with tools and techniques actually prevents us from doing things we believe in, and he identifies what is required of us to not only know what matters but to act on that knowledge. He reframes leadership as the role of social architect where convening, engaging and defining the question replace vision, charisma and driving change. The Answer to How is Yes confronts our passivity and blame. It argues for a life where we choose accountability and demand more compelling purpose from our work.

I would love your take on this book. If you've read it, what have you noticed? Where might you be asking someone else "HOW?" when you really already have the answer?

My company, Bock's Office Transformational Consulting, was built in part on the statement Block makes on the very first page of this book:

Transformation comes more from pursuing profound questions than seeking practical answers.

What questions are you asking - and answering - these days?