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But I didn't give up. Against all odds I continued to fight. And I was not alone. Jonah introduced me to his common-sense (and thus very controversial) approach to managing a company. It made a lot of sense, so my team enthusiastically backed me up. And it was fun, real fun. Let me tell you, the last few months were quite stormy. I think that we violated almost every rule of corpo- rate America. But we made it. We turned the plant around. So much so that it saved the entire division. Now, Julie and I are sitting in this fancy restaurant celebrating. I'm going to head the division, which means relocation-a fact that probably contrib- utes a lot to Julie's supportive mood.

Raising my glass I say confidently, "Julie, let's drink to my promotion. Not as a step toward the tip of the pyramid, but let's drink to what it really means-positive reassurance to our excit- ing, worthwhile journey."

A broad smile is spreading over Julie's face and our glasses make a clear, gentle sound.

We turn to our menus, in a good mood. "It's your celebra- tion as much as it is mine," I say generously. After a while, and in a more somber tone I continue, "Actually, it's much more Jonah's achievement than mine."

"You know Alex, it's so typical of you," Julie says apparently disturbed. "You worked so hard and now you want to give the credit to somebody else?"

"Julie, I'm serious. Jonah is the one who gave me all the answers, I was just the instrument. As much as I would like to think otherwise, that's the plain, bare truth."

"No, it's far from the truth."

I turn nervously in my chair, "But..."

"Alex, stop this nonsense," Julie says in a firm voice. "Artifi- cial modesty doesn't suit you." She raises her hand to prevent me from answering and firmly continues, "Nobody handed you solu- tions on a silver platter. Tell me, Mr. Rogo, how many nights did you sweat until you succeeded in finding the answers?"

"Quite a few," I admit with a smile.

"You see!" Julie tries to close the subject.

"No, I don't see," I laugh. "I'm very well aware that Jonah didn't simply give me the answers. As a matter of fact, during those long nights, (and days), considerable time was spent cursing him for just that. But, come on, Julie, the fact that he elected to

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present them in the form of very pointed questions doesn't change a thing."

Rather than continuing, Julie calls the waiter and starts to order. She's right. This line of discussion will just ruin a pleasant evening.

It's not until I'm busy with my delicious veal parmesan that my thoughts start to crystallize. What was the nature of the an- swers, the solutions, that Jonah caused us to develop? They all had one thing in common. They all made common sense, and at the same time, they flew directly in the face of everything I'd ever learned. Would we have had the courage to try to implement them if it weren't for the fact that we'd had to sweat to construct them? Most probably not. If it weren't for the conviction that we gained in the struggle-for the ownership that we developed in the process-I don't think we'd actually have had the guts to put our solutions into practice.

Still deep in thought, I raise my eyes from the plate and examine Julie's face. It's as if she was waiting for me all this time.

"How come you didn't think of it yourselves?" I hear her asking. "To me your answers look like plain, common sense. Why couldn't you do it without Jonah's guiding questions?"

"Good question, very good question. Frankly, I doubt I know the answer."

"Alex, don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"Yes, I have," I admit. "All of us, back in the plant, had the same question. The solutions look trivial, but the fact is that for years we've done the exact opposite. Moreover, the other plants still insist on sticking to the old, devastating ways. Probably Mark Twain was right saying that 'common sense is not common at all' or something similar."

"That's not an answer to my question." She doesn't let me off the hook.

"Just bear with me," I plead. "I really don't know. I'm not sure that I even know the meaning of'common sense'. What do you think we mean when we refer to something as 'common sense'?"

"It's unfair to answer a question with a question." She re- fuses my apparent attempt to turn the table.

"Why not?" I try again.

She doesn't allow her lips to move.

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"Okay," I give up. "The best that I have come up with so far is to recognize that we refer to something as common sense only if it is in line with our own intuition."

She nods her head in approval.

"Which only helps to intensify your question," I continue. "It only means that when we recognize something as common sense, it must be that, at least intuitively, we knew it all along. Why is there so often the need for an external trigger to help us realize something that we already knew intuitively?"

"That was my question!"

"Yes, darling, I know. Probably these intuitive conclusions are masked by something else, something that's not common sense."

"What could that be?"

"Probably common practice."

"Makes sense," she smiles and turns to finish her dinner.

"I must admit," I say after a while, "that Jonah's way of lead- ing to the answers through asking questions, his 'Socratic ap- proach,' is very effective at peeling away the layers-the thick layers-of common practice. I tried to explain the answers to others, who needed them as badly as we did, but got nowhere. As a matter of fact, if it hadn't been for Ethan Frost's appreciation of our improvements to the bottom line, my approach might have led to some very undesirable results.

"You know," I continue, "it's amazing how deeply ingrained those things are that we've been told and practiced, but never spent the time to think about on our own. 'Don't give the an- swers, just ask the questions!' I'll have to practice that ." Julie doesn't look too enthused.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"Nothing," she says.

' 'Don't give the answers,' definitely makes sense," I try to convince her. "Spelling out the answers when you are trying to convince someone who blindly follows the common practice is totally ineffective. Actually there are only two possibilities, either you are not understood, or you are understood."

"You don't say?"

"In the first case, no real harm has been done, people are just going to ignore you. The second case might be much worse, people might understand you. They'll take your message as something worse than criticism."

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"What is worse than criticism?" she asks innocently .

"Constructive criticism." I smile gloomily, remembering the harsh responses of Hilton Smyth and that Cravitz fellow. "You have a point, but it's below the belt. People will never forgive you for that."

"Alex, you don't have to convince me that when I want to persuade somebody-especially my husband-that giving an- swers is not the way. I'm simply not convinced that only asking questions is much better."

I think about it. She is right. Whenever I tried just to ask questions it was interpreted as patronizing, or even worse, that I was simply negative.

"It looks like one should think twice before charging the tall windmills of common practice." I conclude gloomily.

Julie busies herself with the delicious cheesecake our waiter is placing in front of us. I do the same.

When the coffee's served I gather enough stamina to con- tinue the conversation. "Julie, is it really so bad? I don't recall giving you a lot of grief."