KNOW-HOW

A trainer observed that his wife took 20 minutes to prepare breakfast, while he scanned the morning papers. Over many days, he made a note of her many trips to the fridge, to the cooking stove, to the dish rack, to the sink... he concluded that his wife’s efficiency was adversely affected by the excessive trips she made to different parts of the kitchen.

One fine day he made an effective decision of sharing his know-how with his wife. He explained to her how she could get everything done in 10 minutes if she were to follow his plan derived from his observations. Since that day, he prepares breakfast in nearly 30 minutes while his wife scans the morning papers!

Besides taking-off on my own tribe and underlining our failure to know the predicament of our spouse, the above scene makes an important statement. To be better at utility, ‘know-how’ needs to be backed by ‘show-how’. To know how to do something better is never enough, never mind the quality of observations made about another’s performance. We must apply our stated solutions to our own actions and test them for their worthiness.

Know-how is about practical knowledge on how to get something done. Know-why (the reasons) and know-what (facts) are important, but theories are confirmed only when put in practice. To state solutions is easy, but to walk the talk is prudent. Surely, it is only through real experience that we will derive the real know-how.

Let’s BE BETTER at really showing how…
Instead of stating theoretical know-how!

- Pravin K. Sabnis