Cambridge Business Association
From Know-How to Do-How
Book

From Know-How to Do-How

The Short and Simple Guide to Making Change Happen

Dave Corbet and Ian Roberts
Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2013
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Editorial Rating

7

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Recommendation

When it comes to changing your life, you may know what to do, but not how to do it. Performance consultants and change experts Dave Corbet and Ian Roberts teach readers how to free themselves from negative thought patterns and how to make positive, lasting changes in their lives. Their manual includes useful exercises to help you develop insights into how you think, how to recognize your – or your organization’s – unconscious assumptions and how to find new paths. The authors cover ways to recognize personal and corporate assumptions and to work toward new goals. Despite the book’s faint gee-whiz, New Agey tone, getAbstract recommends its practical advice to individuals seeking personal growth and to those working to improve their corporate cultures.

Summary

Stuck in the Mud

In Russia, people tell a story about a poor farmer who was on his way to the market with produce to sell. He needed to arrive before his vegetables spoiled, but his handcart’s wheels got stuck in the mud of the rural road. The farmer was strong, but the more he pushed the cart, the more deeply it got mired. A stranger came along and immediately understood the problem. He saw that when the farmer pushed forward against the cart, he forced more mud under the wheels, thus embedding the cart even deeper. The stranger saw that the only way to free the cart was to pull it backward out of its muddy ruts. “Have you tried pulling the cart back out of the mud instead of pushing it?” he asked.

“It’s no use,” the farmer replied. “I’ve tried everything, and it won’t budge. I’ve pulled from the front; I’ve pushed from the back...There’s nothing more I can do.” The stranger offered to help free the cart and began to pull it backward. He wasn’t strong, but he rolled the cart slowly out of the ruts. The farmer immediately understood what the stranger was trying to do and jumped in to assist. Within a couple of minutes, the two men backed the cart out of the mud. With...

About the Authors

Dave Corbet and Ian Roberts own Greengage Consulting Ltd., in the United Kingdom.

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