Know-how - De Bono

Since only hens lay eggs, chicken sexing is a very important profession. It is not easy to tell the sex of a chicken that is only a few days old. In England bands of highly skilled Japanese chicken sexers go from farm to farm identifying the sex of young chickens. Any mistakes which they make are replaced by the person who has sold the chickens as all hens. Chicken sexing does not appear to be something that you could learn out of a book. Knowing how to do it is what matters. This know-how comes from experience and possibly from working with other experienced people.


Huge industries like paper making and steel making are not as scientific as might be imagined. In some respects they are more like crafts, depending on the know-how of certain skilled workers. Whisky blending, tea blending and tobacco blending are much more obvious examples of the importance of know-how.


Know-how is a mixture of informarion, experience, trial and error, imitation and learning. A Japanese company setting out to make dyestuffs will buy the know-how from a Swiss firm under a licensing agreement. A businessman who has worked for year in the Middle East will be eagerly sought out for his know-how regarding business in that area.


In certain technical subjects such as chemicals or electronics the know-how may consist entirely of technical information but in most other cases it is actual experience that matters most. The apprenticeship of a student to a master was a useful method of passing on know-how. Famous painters like Rubens had studios full of pupils who learned directly from the master, and painted many of his pictures for him. At one time plumbers, doctors and lawyers all learned their professional know-how through apprenticeship.


The simplest way to acquire knowhow is to buy it by hiring someone who has it. A person with know-how in a certain field has a sort of in tellectual capital which has gradually accumulated over the years and has acquired a cashing-in value. It also happens that a great mystery is made of know-how in certain fields where anyone may be able to acquire the know-how in a few weeks.

Extraído do livro "Wordpower" de Edward De Bono.