[Neurons] 2024 Neurons #55 THE WHAT AND THE HOW

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2024 Neurons #55

December 9, 2024

 

   THE WHAT AND THE HOW

 

When you learn something, you learn content.  You learn the what of the
subject which answers the question, "What are you talking about?"  While you
need the what regarding whatever you want to do, learning the what (the
content) is not that hard.  Gaining an understanding of content is just a
matter of learning.  If you know who to read, study, ask questions,
regarding most things, you can fairly quickly learn what to do.  For deep
and intricate subjects, learning may take a long time-sometimes years-yet
still, it is just a matter of learning.

 

The challenge is the how.  Once you know the what, learning how to do
it-that's the hard part.  What is intellectual; how is practical.  What is
conceptual, it is understanding.  What is content; how is process.  How is
doing, it is action, implementation, execution.  How is capability and
ability which manifests itself in skills.

 

How is about implementation wherein you actually execute what you know.
Richard Kovacevich, CEO of Wells Fargo Bank, argued that organizational
culture and the ability to operate effectively, is much more important to
organizational success than having the right strategy.  To illustrate his
point, he made a statement that sounds utterly radical to many people:

"I could leave our strategic plan on a plane, and it wouldn't make any
difference.  No one could execute it.  Our success has nothing to do with
planning.  It has to do with execution." ... p. 145 Hard Truths footnote 26.


 

Can you execute?  That's the ultimate question if you want to be successful.
Knowing what to do in business, in sales, in tennis, in football, etc. is
important.  Sure.  But it is not the key to success.  You can know and not
do.  You can be intellectually smart, knowledgeable, and able to describe in
detail all of the aspects of the what.  You can teach it, train it, coach
it, and explain it.  But if you can't do it effectively in the moment that
it needs to be done, you won't be effective.

 

For example, it is easy to understand the idea, "Listen to your client, meet
him at his model of the world."  It is a simple strategy.  No problem with
comprehending the idea.  The problem and challenge is in the execution.
Strategies generally are like that-not all that difficult to understand.
This is true for personal relationship strategies-how to get along, how to
solve conflicts, how to parent, how to lead, how to save, how to budget, how
to exercise, etc.   What we find challenging is living the strategy-that's
the problem.  That takes a lot of self-management, self-control, emotional
intelligence, persistence, resilience, etc.  It is at the point of
implementation that the notion of being wise is more important than being
smart.  

Strategy can reduce peripheral vision and flexibility in adapting to
uncertain and changing environments.   This occurs when your strategy is too
rigid or absolute.  It occurs when you treat strategy as "the last word"
about something or as "the truth" for all situations.  For any strategy to
work you will need the right attitude in applying it.  If you do the right
thing in the wrong way- you can create a disaster!

 

NLP is most essentially a how model.  For expertise and for pathology, we
ask, "How do you do that?"  For any statement about knowledge, we ask, "How
do you know that?"  It is the how that puts us into the center of life and
requires our commitment.  Where NLP fails, however, is in neglecting the
meta-levels and the all-pervasiveness of a person's self-reflexive
consciousness.

 

That's why in Neuro-Semantics, we have focused on "the inner game" of what
occurs in the higher levels of the mind.  This means there are two
dimensions of how.  There is the behavioral how-how do you do X?  What
actions do you need to take?  Then there is the mental-emotional how.  How
do you think so that you can get yourself to carry out the actions of X?
How do you put yourself in the right emotional state in doing X?

 

To deal with the meta-how, you have to go meta, you have to go into the Meta
Place and there you can use the 12 to 18 landmarks of the mind.  When you do
that, you will be able to identify the invisible structure (strategy) behind
any human experience.

 

 

Want more?

Check out The Meta Place, Thinking for Humans, and NLP Going Meta.  These
books are in the Products section and also as PDF files in The Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

(970) 523-7877

meta at acsol.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

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