A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future" is probably one of the best non-fiction books that explains and clarifies the dramatic changes that the U.S. has recently witnessed in the 21st century and how these changes has an effect on our lives. He provides fascinating insights about how different parts of our brains are used for different types of tasks and he provides ideas of how to channel the usage of the various properties of our brain. He also discusses six innate senses which are of utmost importance in today's modern society and which need to be enhanced in order for one to survive the revolutionary transformation of our day and age. Pink begins his book by describing a past experience when he participated as a volunteer in a research project at the National Institute of Mental Health. His contribution was volunteering to be part of a control group where his brain activity was scanned and observed by professionals through an MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging. While inside of the machine, Pink was asked to perform a few activities. In the first activity he was shown a picture of a woman with a face which displayed emotions of fear. Then, he was shown two pictures of a man displaying different emotions in each picture. He was assigned to compare the most similar picture to the previous one. With the second activity he was required to identify whether certain photographs were indoors or outdoors. After completing both tasks, he viewed the results of the scan with the neurologist, who showed him how the left hemisphere of his brain was more active while he was labeling a series of pictures as "indoors" or "outdoors" and how the right hemisphere of his brain was more active when he was asked to compare the faces which were most similar. The brain's right and left hemispheres are dramatically different, perhaps even opposite, in their functions. The left side of the brain is, in a way, the computer-like section of our brains. It is analytical, rational and logical. When we read and write we are using the left side of our brains. This side involve dealing with the individual aspects or details of a whole in a manner of sequence. Thus, the "indoor/outdoor" task was accomplished through using the resources provided by the left hemisphere because concentrating on the details of the photo is of most importance in solving the problem. Sudoku puzzles and crisscross puzzles would mostly use the left side of the brain because they are solved by sequentially focussing on particular details, may they be numbers or words. The right side of our brains, however, is what differentiates humans from robots and computers. The right side of our brain recognizes patterns, detects the way details interconnect to make a full and entire whole, it observes the bigger picture. This allows for the right side to interpret emotions and nonverbal expressions in an instant, without the need for sequence or analysis. Pink summed up the right/left brain distinctions into four key points. The first is that "our brains are "contralateral"-each half of the brain controls the other half of the body" (Pink, 2005). This is true regarding which body part we move, such as turning the right foot uses the left hemisphere. However, it is also surprisingly true regarding the direction we are moving in, such as turning your head from right to left uses the right side. When you turn your head from right to left you are using you The second is that the sequential/simultaneous difference. The third point is the text/context difference and the fourth is the difference between seeing details and seeing the big picture. Pink makes it profoundly clear throughout the book that the two hemispheres are equally important in everyday activities, both at home and at work. To illustrate this point, Pink describes a scenario in the "text/context" section where a spouse forgot to buy an essential ingredient for that night's dinner. "The other spouse grabs the car keys, curls a lip, glares at you, and hisses "I'm going to the store" (Pink, 2005). The left hemisphere interpreted the words in their literal meaning. This will merely teach you that your spouse has gone to the store. However, the right side of your brain will teach you that your spouse is pissed off at you. Both sides have equally contributed to your understanding of the situation. The importance of both text and context in languages such as Hebrew and Arabic also illustrate the equality of the right and left hemispheres. These languages do not consist of any vowels. The reader must consider the lettering of words and their surrounding concepts and ideas in order to find out which vowel to use. Reading these languages entails the collaboration of both hemispheres since they require the reader to make sense of text and context. Thus, the language reads appropriately from right to left. As mentioned earlier, movements from the right to the left require the right side of our brain. This is amazingly perfect because these languages also require the brain's right-side understanding of context. English, on the other hand, mostly requires the analysis of text and is, therefore, appropriately read from left to right, using left-brain power. Pink describes the present 21st century as an age which is transforming from The Informational Age to The Conceptual Age. To illustrate the differences between these ages, consider what aspects of humanity were most important for succeeding in these times. In The Industrial Age, for example, physical strength was probably the most important trait one could have because it was in that point in time where factories and assembly lines were born and in full use. People who were fluently knowledgeable and analytical were most likely to succeed in The Informational Age because education became more widespread and attainable to all. The left side of the brain was the main source of the success in that age. Jobs which require a primary focus on left-brain thinking, or L-Directed thinking, include lawyers, doctors, accountants, and so on. Society was very L-directed in their thinking and almost disregarded R-directed thinking. It is for this reason that the previous generation expected their children to become doctors and lawyers. However, the question remains: why is it quite likely that these parents were disappointed by their children turning them down and heading in a career direction opposing that which was laid out and prepared for them? Why is R-directed thinking becoming equally important in our lives as L-directed thinking? Why is it that "more Americans today work in arts, entertainment, and design than work as lawyers, accountants, and auditors" (Pink, 2005, pg. 55)? What are the causes behind the transformation between The Informational and Conceptual ages? Pink's theory is based on three factors which detract from L-directed thinking which had always been considered the most and, in turn, attracts R-directed thinking: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. It is important to note that his theory by no means insists that L-directed thinking is being replaced by R-directed and high-touch thinking; rather his theory suggests that L-directed thinking is necessary but not sufficient. High-sense skills are now needed more than any time in history because of the three factors. Asia refers to the fact that many L-directed jobs are now being transferred to people in other countries because of the salary pay is substantially cheaper. Forrester Research claims that "3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift from the U.S. to low-cost countries like India, China, and Russia" (Pink, 2005, pg. 39). The factor of Automation is similar to Asia in the sense that U.S. jobs are being replaced. Only, Automation refers to the fact that technology and computers are replacing many U.S. jobs. Modern technology has made many tasks faster and cheaper to accomplish, inevitably replacing many L-directed jobs. Pink describes six high-concept and high-touch senses which have become crucial in today's day and age of conceptualization. The factor of Abundance is directly correlated to the first of these senses: Design. The abundance of goods and services has skyrocketed in the past decade or two immensely and has practically provided us with an unlimited amount of selection and variety. This creates a very fierce struggle between those who compete in a given market or field of expertise because they are playing a game in which the term "survival of the fittest" determines who will be victorious and who will plummet into failure. Companies cannot produce goods which are merely sufficient in meeting customer satisfaction. They need to design products which are beautiful and significant. Pink describes Design as "utility enhanced by significance" (2005, pg.70). Studies show that cell phone consumers spend just as much money on decorative faceplates and ringtones as much as they spend on the phones themselves. Georgetown University found that when "students, teachers, and educational approaches remained the same, improving schools' physical environment could increase test scores as much as 11 percent" (Pink, 2005, pg.82). The second high-touch sense is Story. Personal narratives have become urgently prevalent as a way of finding a deeper understanding and deeper meaning within ourselves and others. Marketing techniques have increasingly incorporated story narratives behind their products or services in order to convey a sense of meaning and purpose to the costumer. Story delivers an emotional impact which enhances the mere context of the facts. People remember things better if they are sugar-coated with an elegant story because it enriches the product with emotion and causes it to stand out from the rest. This is essential in today's age where there is a vast selection of practically anything on the market and people enjoy associating themselves with something that has meaning and significance, let alone sheer value. For example, wines have fancy narratives on their labels and major car insurance agencies compete with each other by trying to sell a better story in their advertisements (I personally love Gieko's gecko). The third sense is called Symphony. This is the ability to put together the many pieces of a large picture and to gather seemingly unrelated details into a whole, rather than simply focusing on and analyzing the details which openly present themselves. A conductor of a symphony or a composer of a song collaborates many instruments, performers, notes, and musical ideas for the result of hearing a unified and harmonious sound. Managers and entrepreneurs highly rely on this ability because they are responsible for levels of productivity of systems which consist of and are based on many intricate relationships and interconnections. In fact, creativity is highly linked to this aptitude. As Pink puts it "sometimes the most powerful ideas come from simply combining two existing ideas nobody else ever thought to unite" (Pink, 2005, pg.137). Studies show that self-made millionaires are four times more likely to be dyslexic than the rest of the population. Dyslexic people have difficulty with L-directed thinking which allows people to reason and think with sequence and in a manner which focuses on details. The same way a blind person is forced to develop an increased sensitivity with hearing, the same is true with dyslexic people who lack L-directed thinking. They develop increases in their R-directed thinking in order to compensate for their dyslexia and, consequently, they become amazing pattern detectors and they begin seeing the intricate connections and relationships which many others cannot see. Pink quotes Sid Caesar who said "the guy who invented the wheel is an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius" (Pink, 2005, pg. 142). The fourth sense is called Empathy. Pink illustrates this skill by narrating a tiring and slow morning experience from the time he forced himself out of bed to the time he was at his desk at work drinking his third cup of coffee...and yawning. He describes how he yawns and then asks the reader "In the past minute, have you yawned?" It is said that yawning is contagious, however, this is true if the person has the capacity and aptitude of attuning oneself to another, to place oneself in the shoes of another, and feel what it is their feeling. This skill uses emotional intelligence and it allows us to read facial expressions through R-directed thinking, just as Pink discovered by analyzing which parts of his brain were most active after he had matched facial expressions in the MRI. The emotional and empathetic power of humans cannot be replicated by computers nor could they be handed to foreign employees in other countries. Clinton was criticized when he uttered the words "I feel your pain." These were words of emotion and critics considered him as not being presidential and manly enough to keep emotions out. Pink describes this point in time as the birth of the revolution. The fifth sense is called Play. Pink describes this high-touch ability by contrasting Henry Ford's work/play philosophy and Southwest Airlines' mission statement. Henry Ford's stated "When we are at work we ought to be at work. When we are at play we ought to be at play. There is no use trying to mix the two." Ford lived in grim and serious times where R-directed was hardly relevant to succeeding. Southwest Airlines, one of the most stable and successful airline, stated that "People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it." Video games have recently been increasingly popular, more popular than the movie industry. The typical American devotes 75 hours a year playing video games and Nintendo's Mario video game series has earned $7 billion over the course of their lifetime which is double the revenue of all the Star Wars movies combined. The sense of Play explains why Pop culture and entertainment has become an essential focus of today's society. The sixth sense is called Meaning. The truth is that Pink uses Meaning as a way to summarize the motivation behind why the other senses have become integral to succeed in our lives. Many agencies and companies are incorporating a sense of spirit, spirituality and meaning into their everyday work. It is what motivates us into believing in a purpose greater than ourselves. This requires us to overlook our personal and monetary interests and, and focusing on our work for the sake of work itself and for the sake of its contribution to society. In the present day and age we are forced to focus on our high-touch senses in order to tap into a higher degree of meaningfulness and purpose. As my lengthy review testifies, this book was probably the most enjoyable non-fiction book I have ever read. I practically agreed to every concept and theory and I have even theorized similar ideas in the past. I also loved the fact that the book was written in a very "down-to-earth" style and I was able to relate to in a very practical manner. The book was very insightful in regard to my future because I am now more aware of skills that are truly important in a world of competitiveness and abundance. The book showed me a whole new light into the world and into my life.

There are new ways of thinking that are becoming more important today than in the past. And these new ways of thinking are what will be relevant and recognized in the future, so says Pink, an accomplished writer with an impressive past resume. Part business book, part futuring book and part self-help book, lays out an interesting premise in two parts. First, he lays out the context for his argument in a section called The Conceptual Age and then in the second section he outlines the Six "Senses" he feels will be required for success as an individual and as a nation. Each part is unique and worthwhile reading. The second section includes a very interesting set of exercises and resources to help you understand and strengthen each of his identified senses, I believe this book is a great example of a raising new genre of books. In the mold of Gladwell's The Tipping Point and Blink, it is well written, filled with interesting anecdotes and examples, and is a meaningful read as a business person. At the same time this book (and the genre) has application to a much broader audience and purpose. A Whole New Mind raises questions, creates insights, as well as providing specific ideas and action steps. Any book that can provide me ideas and make me think about things that matter to me is worth reading. Consider this as your next business read or to read on the beach - it will fit either mindset and be well worth your time.

The book that has inspired me to pursue more of my Right Brain development is from Daniel Pink's, A Whole New Mind. I read this book last month and it got me off of my butt and decided to develop my creative thought process. In this book he mentions how we have become this analytical or Abundance, Asia, and Automation society. Just as Peter Drucker says, "If it gets measured, it gets managed." And if we can manage it we can systematize it and then scale it to where we can outsource it at a cheaper cost. This is the land of the left brained analytical thinkers. So how do we stop this outsourcing of work, jobs, and information? We need to develop our right brain thought processes or high concept, high touch. He explains this process into 6 stages of development: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning. Design Look at the design of the Butterfly Election Ballot for the 2000 Bush v. Gore and tell me if it makes sense to you? What if this was designed in a simpler, easier format? Our attentions spans are short, heck I'll be amazed if you've even read up until now, so we need to have simple easy to use functional items. Story Everyone loves a good story, that's why grandpa was always so great to be around because he always has such interesting stories. If you need a good template for story just look at mythologist Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Quest. This is the format used by cultures all over the world, don't believe me then look at The Lord of the rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, The Matrix, even the stories of Buddha, Mohamed, and Jesus Christ. Symphony This word epitomizes everything it means. Think about when you here a song you like. It has a percussion for a beat, strings to keep in tune, a bass for those lower notes and thrown in there are some lyrics to compliment the beat. All these things come together and form a hit that we all bob our heads to. Same thing with life, if we are given lemons what do we do but make lemonade. In order to make lemonade you need to use all these different items and follow a recipe. So you need to go and make your own recipe. Empathy The ability to image yourself in someone else's shoes. Why is this important, because a machine can do that, and if it could we would all be useless. But this avoids automation because we can connect ourselves with those we associate with. Empathy is a crucial criteria because this will avoid any chance for automation and keep the whole aspect of relationships alive with one another. Play So playing video games will make you smart? When playing role playing games you are engaging your self in a role that in the future you may become familiar with and therefore know how to handle it. Games are a form of diversion and you can gain much in the relation of human interaction that a machine or computer can't. There was also these laughter clubs that came out of India that just exhumes joyfulness. Think about it, what happens when you watch a funny show by yourself, do you laugh at every joke? What happens when you are around others that are laughing, do you join in too? Of Course you do. Joyfulness is a factor of play and we need to engage with those that are joyful. Meaning I think this word speaks for itself. We all need to have some sort of purpose or following in life, whether this be a spiritual purpose, a goal driven purpose, or just a change for the better purpose. We all need meaning in our lives and Viktor Frankl coined this phase well in his book, Man's Search for Meaning. Another great book that I will comment on at another time. We all need a purpose and we need time to spend in meditative thought to develop our minds and exercise our thoughts. We may have heard the old saying that an idle mind is a workshop for the devil. Meaning allows us to have a drive and ambition. What is your meaning in life? Overall this book was a quick simple and humbling read. I see things that I need to develop on and change to evolve my right brain thinking process. I am glad I picked up this book and decided to read it, because it has helped to inspire and gotten me to develop my own site to let everyone who is willing to know that I as well am a man of meaning and purpose and I want to sow this to the world.

Daniel Pink, best selling author of Free Agent Nation, has recently published a book that I think should be required reading for everyone who wants to understand the subtle shift taking place in the way we process information and knowledge. My friend, Bob Allard, frequently mentioned by me as a source of great ideas and networking tips, simply said to me: "You must read this book immediately." It only took me a few pages to understand why Bob had made such a strong recommendation. In its review of "A Whole New Mind," Wired Magazine wrote: "Why right-brainers will rule the future." As a left-handed and right-brain dominant individual, I heard this message of hope as music to my ears! Pink's basic premise in this book is spelled out well on the flyleaf of the cover: "Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents told us to be when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future now belongs to a very different kind of mind. The era of "left-brain" dominance - and the Information Age that it engendered - is giving way to a whole new world in which artistic and holistic "right-brain" abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls behind." The book begins with a quick overview of the neurophysiology of the brain and the essentially different functioned performed by the left and right hemispheres of or brains. Then, drawing from research and case studies from around the globe, Pink shares his views on six essential aptitudes that will determine individual and professional success in the emerging Conceptual Age. The six tools and aptitudes - the Six Senses of the Conceptual Age - form the skeleton and structure of the book. Design - "Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something the world didn't know it was missing." Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art. (p. 72) Story - "The story - from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace - is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." Ursula K. Le Gun (p. 103) Symphony - "Symphony, as I call this aptitude, is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair." (p. 126) Empathy - "Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives." Oprah Winfrey (p. 154) Play - "The opposite of play isn't work. It's depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed as if one is assured of one's prospects." Brian Sutton-Smith, Professor of Education [emeritus], University of Pennsylvania (p. 179) Meaning- "We are born for meaning, not pleasure, unless it is pleasure steeped in meaning." Jacob Needleman (p. 209) Not since I read "The Tipping Point" for the first time have I encountered a book that gave me more helpful and encouraging insight into how my brain functions. Many of my friends are wired as "left-brain" analysts; others are more like me - "right-brain" conceptualizers. This book makes it clear that to move forward in a positive, healthy and productive manner into the future, we have to "put our heads together." We need one another. Should you read this book? It's a "no brainer"! Enjoy.

Daniel Pink's work in "A Whole New Mind" has the potential to be helpful with a critical issue facing 21st century policing. Increasingly, officer's operating environment is transparent and open to worldwide scrutiny in real time. For good or bad, the individual officer can instantly become the epicenter of organizational influence on a worldwide scale. Besides being transparent, our communities are much more diverse and complex. The influence of universal pop culture and media constantly bear upon even the most rural areas of our country. While much work is yet to come, "A Whole New Mind" potentially opens the conversation to allow law enforcement to begin adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. If law enforcement courageously considers the implications of Pink's work and humbly sets out to build on it, I am convinced the following benefits await us: A Whole New Mind approach has the potential to begin to fortify law enforcement with new levels of tactical acumen and social competence. Tactical acumen: 1) More comprehensive pre-contact threat assessment by lowering the natural proclivity to be blinded by personal bias, prejudice, fear and loyalties thus allowing for a more objective assessment of total context and individual behavior. 2) Increased awareness of subtle precursors to violent or aggressive behaviors through a continuous gestalt (big picture) assessment of people and situations thus keeping the whole mind engaged to listen and observe. 3) Through these, increase the member's ability to use appropriate force at the appropriate time thus averting dangerous escalation. 4) Provide the foundation for strategies designed to devastate an adversary's willingness to resist, without devastating the adversary. Thus, build community trust and partnership with every encounter, even the most challenging ones. Social competence allows members to: 1) Appreciate as relevant, culturally and socio-economically diverse information from others perspective. Then, convert information into useful energy or processes needed to improve safety and quality of life. 2) Develop appropriate compassion: empathy for others with a strong desire to relieve suffering, through diverse life situations. Otherwise, when emotionally charged personal judgments of others swamp officers (with, for example, a feeling of disdain or "contempt of cop"); situational awareness and social competence evaporates. 2) Improve the effectiveness of assessment (precise attention and appropriate response to what is really going on with people and our communities). 3) Develop the capacity for attention and reflection (consideration untainted by mind-blinding judgmentalness and blame). This will produce the ability to match need with provision between various community members and professional colleagues. In a time of budget and staff cuts, law enforcement has but a few options before it: 1) Shrink back and become irrelevant observers to increasing chaos and suffering while engaging in what the military calls `force protection." 2) Increasingly resort to heavy-handed applications of force and enforcement; masked, rifle-toting SWAT teams hovering around, swooping down to decimate any perceived resistance, all the while destroying trust. 3) Take Pink's work and the work of many other progressive thinkers and learn to be responsive, reflective and relevant to what is really going on in our communities. In short, use our whole mind to continue learning new ways to unleash the power of unconditional respect. Jack L. Colwell is co-author, along with Charles Huth, of UNLEASHING THE POWER OF UNCONDITIONAL RESPECT: TRANSFORMING LAW ENFORCEMENT AND POLICE TRAINING, CRC Press-Taylor and Francis Group. Unleashing the Power of Unconditional Respect: Transforming Law Enforcement and Police Training

A whole new mind is Dan Pink, from Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us fame, his earlier book. The premise of the book is that the previous century was ruled by "left-brain" analytical thinking, but that the next century will be for people who are right-brained, conceptual, creative, people *and* also left-brained, analytical. In other words, people who use their whole mind. The book consists of 2 parts, The first part is short and clarifies left/right brained thinking and what the author means with the conceptual age, the whole new mind and "high concept, high touch". The second part goes over the "6 senses" that will be important during the conceptual age. Part 1 is reasonable small (about 50 pages) and starts with the author explaining a little bit about how our brain works and a summary of his understanding of the current brain research. Then the second chapter explains the reason for the change from the information age to the conceptual age: abundance, asia, and automation (more on this later), and the last chapter of this part then explains what the author considers the next age, the conceptual age where people will need to use both their right and left brain, their whole brain. Let me comment a bit on chapter 2, which I found by far the worst chapter in the book. This is important as this chapter is the "reason" behind the start of the conceptual age. Dan Pink claims that the reason for the conceptual age are: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. For Abundance, I think he makes some interesting and good arguments. We're moving from an age where you have more than enough of 'things' and therefore the 'things' that you have are becoming less importance than others such as the ascetic design or spirituality. His discussions about Asia miss the mark completely (having lived in Asia for over a decade). His argument is that left-brained work will go to 'cheaper' people in Asia and that trend will continue. In my opinion, the author is missing a few key points. First, he never clarifies why "whole-mind" jobs wouldn't go to Asia? It seems as if he has the opinion that people in Asia don't have a whole mind, but only the left part. Next, of course, the labor cost is Asia is going up rapidly. Lastly, he frequently refers back to Software Development and in that domain, the amount of offshore development has probably decreased rather than increased. Also on automation, I think he is off IMHO. He is right that automation is going to be more important and that it will influence how people work but he is missing the perspective that automation actually helps people do their job, rather than just replaces their job (a view promoted by the Lean movement). I felt the base of the book was shaky, but I did agree with the fact that the "6 senses" are important and that its importance will grow. Part 2 covers what Dan Pink calls "the 6 senses" which are 6 'skills' that are extra important in the conceptual age. These are 1) Design, 2) Story, 3) Symphony, 4) Empathy, 5) Play, and 6) Meaning. Each of these sentence has their own chapter (each of about 30 pages) which explains the senses and gives stories and examples (in the typical journalistic style of writing). The stories were enjoyable, and the examples illustrative. All in all, I felt the book was ok. It was a good read, well written but didn't have any *wow* feelings or strong *aha* moments. The book did what I had sort-of expected, with the exception of the second chapter which I felt provided a poor background to the rest of the book. So, all in all, the book is an ok read yet I wouldn't strongly recommend it and if you ask me what the book was about in a few years, I'll probably have to re-read this review :) 3-stars therefore.

In Look Both Ways, her book of essays on the intersection of life and design, Debbie Millman writes of what she calls infinity, or what we could call lasting happiness. She says, "I believe some infinities are worthy challenges: the search for what is truly beautiful; laughing at the same time with someone you love; discovering a perfect piece of poetry; experiencing the deepest feelings of empathy." Millman is a well-known author, graphic designer, brand manager, and radio host. According to Daniel H. Pink in A Whole New Mind, jobs like hers are becoming increasingly important as we transition from the Information Age into what he has dubbed the "Conceptual Age." Pink opens the book by describing MRIs he underwent at the National Institutes of Health. He learns that the left hemisphere of the brain controls logic, sequence, and text, while the right hemisphere innovates and creates, seeing the big picture and interpreting metaphors. These right-brain-directed qualities will become more important as society places rapidly increasing value on "high concept" and "high touch" professions, Pink believes. High concept, he explains, is "the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty," while high touch involves the ability to "find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian, in pursuit of purpose and meaning." Dan Pink cites three reasons for the forthcoming rise of the right brain: "Abundance, Asia, and Automation." If your work can be computerized, outsourced, or cast quickly away, you should rethink your field, Pink advises. Instead, he proposes, the jobs of the future will involve more creative activities, careers that focus on innovation and the human touch. In a very methodical, left-brained way, Pink breaks down the most important right-brain functions to six "senses": design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. He explains that developing these skills will aid in making your professional skills more unique and desirable--an important investment in this economic climate. Pink explains, "Design--that is, utility enhanced by significance--has become an essential aptitude for personal fulfillment and professional success." However, good design does more than just please the eye; it can also carry enormous weight on individual and international scales. I'm not just talking about Project Runway; Pink hypothesizes that if Palm Beach County in Florida had incorporated a different design for their 2000 election ballots, perhaps presidential candidate Al Gore would have won that county--and the state, and the country. In downtown Philadelphia, Pink finds the Charter High School of Architecture and Design, a public high school that focuses upon art and design while also providing students with a more traditional education. Eighty percent of these inner-city students--one-third of which could read and do math at a third-grade level upon entering the school--will go on to enroll in two- and four-year schools, including some of the most prestigious art schools in the nation. If you don't live in inner-city Philadelphia, you can still exercise your design abilities by visiting websites where you can design shoes or even a typeface based on your own handwriting. Next stop: Freelancing for the electoral board. Storytelling is another important tool for future personal and professional success. Story is "context enriched by emotion," and, according to Pink, "the ability to encapsulate, contextualize, and emotionalize has become vastly more important in the Conceptual Age." He describes the attempts of doctors and medical schools to incorporate narrative in modern medicine to establish more complete doctor-patient relations, and finds that they are as a rule successful. In the same way, stories are becoming increasingly important for businesses to convey their mission and to reach out to their audience. To exercise this "sense," all you have to do is begin telling stories. Write a short story; if you are stymied, you could use photographs or a snippet from another work as your jumping-off point. Record the stories of friends and family on tape or video. People-watch, and create stories about these strangers. What do entrepreneurs, painters, inventors, and classical music conductors all have in common? They all exercise symphony. According to Pink, symphony "is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair." This skill is all about enhancing relationships and seeing the big picture. To develop his sense of symphony, Pink takes a class in right-brained drawing. He explains, "Drawing is about seeing relationships--and then integrating these relationships into a whole." Judging from the before and after shots of his self-portraits, the class was a rampant success; he progressed from drawing as he thought parts of his face should look, to simply penciling in the relationships between nose, eyes, and mouth--to great effect. Pink also encourages those who have trouble with this sense to listen to classical music, think of solutions to new problems, and simply brainstorm to see how the mind connects seemingly disparate ideas. Do you feel the urge to yawn when someone else does? Have you ever cried over the evening news? No, you are not a sissy; you are empathetic. Empathy is "a means of understanding other human beings," and it is an important part of exercising the right brain. Empathy transcends culture and country; Pink cites studies showing that expressions and emotions have an inherent, universal meaning, explaining that across linguistic, geographic, and physical divides, we all have the same needs and desires. That is why "high-touch" professions such as teaching, counseling, and nursing are increasingly in demand; Pink writes, "Nursing consistently rates as the most honest and ethical profession in the United States . . . and its pay is rising faster than nearly every other job category." To increase empathy, Pink suggests, you can enroll in an acting class, volunteer, or even just study others' facial expressions in order to understand how they are feeling and why. Play is another overlooked but important trait in right-brainers. Pink journeys to Mumbai, India, to participate in a laughter club. The idea is that every morning before work, clubs congregate to laugh for half an hour--and such clubs are gaining in international popularity. Videogames are also becoming more eminent. Immersing oneself into the world of a game, learning its rules and interacting with other characters in order to reach goals, has real-life value. In the gaming industry, Pink notes, "companies resist segregating the disciplines of art, programming, math, and cognitive psychology and instead look for those who can piece together patches of many disciplines and weave them together into a larger tapestry." Pink lists several popular videogames to increase your playfulness. You could also try your own version of the Rainbow Test, an alternative SAT discussed in the book, by cutting the captions out of cartoons and asking your friends to fill in their own. Such simple games work wonders for improving one's humor and wit, and I for one would love to improve my friends' senses of humor. Moreover, as our society becomes more abundant, we have the time and means to pursue deeper meaning. Introducing spirituality into the workplace has actually proven useful in terms of productivity; Pink reports that "companies that acknowledged spiritual values and aligned them with company goals outperformed those that did not." Pink found that walking a labyrinth did more for his ADD-addled mind than yoga or meditation; however, focusing on your goals and intentions is what is important, not the means you choose of discovering them. In the search for joyfulness, Pink suggest, try displaying gratitude; you could write a letter thanking someone for something, anything, they have done to impact your life, or you could dedicate your work (silently or openly) to someone you admire. Another way to implement the search for meaning on a regular basis is to plan a certain day off, or even just a quiet moment or two, to enjoy yourself and to think about who you are, what you want to do, and the steps you can take to get there. Perhaps the most useful parts of the book are the end-of-chapter exercises Pink suggests to implement the practices he discusses. A good rule of thumb is to do as the professionals do: study industry magazines and books; visit conferences, museums, and festivals; keep a notebook recording good (and bad) examples of creative work; collect photographs and pictures, videos, pieces of colorful or textured cloth, trinkets--anything that inspires you. Immerse yourself in a more creative world, Pink advises, and you will carve out a niche for yourself in the ever-evolving job market. For every skill, he lists several online tests of these senses, such as empathy, humor, and spirituality and well-being--what left-brainer wouldn't jump at the chance to quantify otherwise unquantifiable results? However, for the lower-tech among us, he also recommends books on relevant topics. Though he wrote this book before the current economic crisis, Daniel Pink's advice has never been more useful. In stressing creativity and originality, Pink guides readers to become more complete, "whole-minded" individuals that succeed on both personal and professional levels. As Bennett Peji, an environmental designer, writes in The Essential Principles of Graphic Design, "Surround yourself with good people who tell good stories about other good people. . . . Purely by association, good things are bound to follow." Daniel H. Pink is author of Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us; The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need; and Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself. The former speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore, Pink resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife and their three children.

I went to college wanting to become a doctor. But though biology and medicine fascinated me, I couldn't find the passion for it that I wanted to have. That passion was waiting for me in my English classes, which annoyed me. I didn't want an English degree because I didn't want to write or teach professionally. I spent several semesters trying to avoid it, the study of English and literature eventually drew me in. I ended up with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. The four years since graduation have been a slow reconciliation between me and the degree I earned. I recently came across Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind and it inspired in me new optimism and pride for my English degree. A Whole New Mind argues that with the developed world's new widespread abundance and automation, along with the rise of Asian world powers, we're entering a new post-Information Age. The book refers to this new era as The Conceptual Age. This new age will place (or is already placing) new emphasis on six human attributes in the workplace that can't be readily emulated by a computer or outsourced to cheaper labor on the other side of the world. These attributes are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. All six are associated with the right hemisphere of the human brain, the region associated with creativity and feeling--as opposed to the left hemisphere's tendency towards logic and linear structure. Pink gives each of the six traits its own section in the book. As an English major, I was most excited by the story section. Pink points out that throughout human civilization, facts and information have been valuable commodities, but in the Information Age, facts and information were digitized and are therefore cheap and readily accessible. As a result, our minds now require context to understand and utilize these data. This context can also be called story. As in the other five sections, Pink has a few anecdotes that support his insistence on story's new importance in the professional world. My favorite bit of evidence is 3M executives taking story-telling classes to become better leaders and more efficient communicators. Pink also points out a new movement in medicine that encourages doctors to get to know their patients' individual stories as a means of strengthening communication and making treatment more effective. I enjoyed the entire book, but I was especially interested in the story section because I believe I have a propensity and talent for story that I could only wish to have with science and medicine. The six traits highlighted by Pink are not entirely separate--they form a creative and non-linear whole that is markedly different from the left-brain thinking that was of primary importance for our society up to and through the Information Age. But as Daniel Pink demonstrates, we're advancing in a new direction that requires new ways of thinking. I'm not yet sure how I'll be able to participate in this new age, but after reading A Whole New Mind, I'm thrilled to find out.

An excellent, thought provoking book. I read it in two sittings. Dan Pink writes a lot better than most so-called management gurus. He's also a Democrat, which makes his ideas and scribblings more palatable than most of his contemporaries. If you're already working in a creative capacity or industry, you'll already know/understand what most of Pink is saying. If you're not, it's time to learn. Business and industry in the west is undergoing yet another renaissance. Pink's observations may not be groundbreaking in themselves, but he has successfully identified and documented a sea change in the way we add value to goods and services. During the 80's and 90's it was the turn of the computer geeks and code writers. In the new millennium, it's the right brainers - the creatives, the empathisers and the carers - who will rise to prominence. Pink provides short portfolios of practical ideas for flexing and stretching the right side of your brain: Interesting and diverting for those already of a creative bent, not so sure for some of the hard-nosed, egomaniacal leaders of industry out there. As a Mac advertisement once stated, "You have 206 bones in your body; surely one of them is creative." Buy A Whole New Mind and find out.

Libro interessante. Secondo. Me. Diventa Noioso dopo un po'.

اتاني الغلاف مقطوع

Der Autor von Free Agent Nation hat wieder einen Blick in die Zukunft geworfen. Die Botschaft seines neuen Buches ist, dass wir uns auf dem Weg in ein neues Zeitalter befinden, das jenseits des Informationszeitalters liegt. Er nennt es, wie der Titel schon sagt, Conceptual Age. Damit meint er ein Zeitalter, in dem es nicht in erster Linie auf Wissen und lineares Denken ankommt, sondern auf Kreativität und Erfindungsreichtum, Empathie und Verständnis von Zusammenhängen. Er belegt das mit einer Fülle von Daten aus aller Welt und allen möglichen Lebensbereichen. Seiner Meinung nach kommt es demnächst auf folgendes an: 1. nicht nur auf Funktion, sondern auch auf Design 2. nicht nur auf Argumente und Fakten, sondern auch auf Geschichten 3. nicht nur auf die Fokussierung auf Einzelheiten, sondern auch auf ganzheitliche Sichtweisen 4. nicht nur auf Logik, sondern auch auf Empathie 5. nicht nur auf Ernsthaftigkeit, sondern auch auf Spiel 6. nicht nur auf Akkumulation von materiellen Gütern, sondern auch auf Sinn und Spiritualität. Nach jedem Kapitel nennt er zahlreiche Websites, Bücher und andere Quellen, mit deren Hilfe sich die nötigen Fähigkeiten trainieren lassen. Obwohl das Buch dicht mit Fakten gefüllt ist, ist es in einem so leichten und eleganten Stil geschrieben, dass es eine reine Freude ist, es zu lesen. Für alle, die sich heute schon auf morgen vorbereiten wollen.

Muy buen libro que muestra los cambios que están sucediendo en el mundo y las habilidades que se necesitan para ser competitivos. Totalmente de acuerdo con la tesis mostrada