In the mood
Songs about romance don’t tell you how to make out, they merely encourage it. It’s not the data that people seek, it’s the mood.
If all we needed to do great work was information, our problems would be over. The internet is the greatest repository anyone could imagine… if you want to know how to do something, the Net will show you how. Anything.
The how, of course, is not important. Books and songs and movies that have an impact work because they motivate us to take action, not because they show us exactly what to do.
Did you not have enough information or expertise to start a successful business during the last boom? Or the boom before that? Are you so ill-informed that you are unable to make a profitable sales call, unable to answer the phone, unable to persuade someone to join your cause? That’s unlikely.
We don’t have a knowledge shortage. Far from it.
I get very annoyed at pundits who criticize a book for not having enough proof, not enough data, not enough rigorous case studies. I am disappointed at people who hesitate to start something important because they’re just waiting to learn enough or know enough or to figure out the answer.
It’s like the annoying kid at the magic show shouting, "I know how you did that trick!" Of course you do.
The question isn’t, "how do you do the trick?" The question is, "do you feel like doing the work, taking the risk, making a stand and getting it done?" If you don’t know how to do the trick, go look it up. Get a tutor. Figure it out. That’s the easy part.
You already know how to deliver excellent service that blows people away. You just don’t feel like it. Your organization has the resources to buy that machine or enter that market or change that policy. They’re just not in the mood.
If I accomplish anything on a good day, it’s helping you change attitudes. I’m working hard at getting you in the mood to do the things you already know how to do. I think that’s what your boss/the market wants you to do as well.