Chapter 5

Extra Credit

The Science of Breakthroughs

I've called this chapter “Extra Credit” because it offers ways to improve your impact as a coach after you are consistently practicing the fundamentals outlined in chapters 1 and 3. I became interested in the nature of generating breakthroughs in performance about 10 years ago and have experimented with and written about many techniques for creating a step change in progress. That's how I define the breakthrough experience—as scooting up a step forward that is higher and longer than what would happen with continuous improvement, as pictured in figure 5-1.

The term “breakthrough” means different ...

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