Learning and applying any new set of concepts can be difficult.  MBM is no exception.  The Science of Success points to personal knowledge, not just “conceptual or procedural understanding,” as the key to applying MBM:

For this reason, before an organization can successfully apply MBM, its leaders must gain personal knowledge through a dedicated commitment to understanding and holistically applying MBM to achieve results.  Gaining this personal knowledge involves self-modification that starts with understanding the underlying concepts.  It also requires seeing how the concepts contribute to long-term profitability, and then repeatedly applying them over time.  (p. 160).  (Emphasis mine.)

I submit that this paragraph encapsulates the journey that many of the readers (and writers) of this blog have undertaken.  I emphasize understanding the underlying concepts as the *starting point* for this journey.  Two “bad habits” can emerge with respect to this starting point:

1. Being satisfied with understanding the concepts, and failing to move to application.
2. Skipping over the process of understanding the concepts and moving directly to application.

I want to focus on #2.  The Science of Success seems to concede that it is possible to get some value out of MBM without having personal knowledge.  We can talk the talk, and even take a few of the right steps just by observation or being told what to do.  But, how do we learn *when* to put certain tools or skills to work?  How do we learn to adapt thing to f it specific scenarios?  I believe that a deep understand of the underlying principles of MBM, and the subsequent personal knowledge that comes from grappling with the challenge of applying those principles, opens the door to the successful application of MBM over time.