Tacit Knowledge LO2095

Jean-Marie Bonthous (jmb@Leonardo.net)
Thu, 13 Jul 1995 20:29:51 -0700

Replying to LO2058

Tim Gallwey did a TV show with Henry Riesner, where the TV channel
selected at random out of the audience a woman who had never played
tennis. SHe happened to be 5'2" and 200lbs and had never hold a tennis
raquet in her hand.

Live on TV, they gave Tim 20 minutes to help her learn tennis. I saw the
tape, it is astonishing. After 20 minutes she exchanges more than ten
balls in a row with Tim (playuing not too hard) and serve quite well. And
the learning subsided after the TV show, as people have told me. Tim did
not do any teaching as one would expect. He coached her into releasing the
thjing in her that already knew how to play tennis.The results were
astonishing (if you hear the tape, listen to cheering from the audience
towards the end of the session).

I had a tennis session with Tim. Last time I played tennis was in 1979,
and I was a terrible player. After 1 hour with Tim, I exchanged 24 balls
with him. After 2 hours, I played a decent game and was not even tired.If
I well remember, Peter Senge quotes Tim on the topic of tacit knowledge in
the Fifth Discipline.

Tim does this kind of coaching for Golf, Tennis, Music, and works in
Fortune 500 in leadership development (The Leader as a Learner), team
building and in helping managers become coaches. I know that Tim has
reflected a lot on the how of learning and has developed a methodology
(Inner Game) that helps trigger the natural ability for learningwhich we
all have.

--
Jean Marie Bonthous
jmb@leonardo.net