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

by Daniel H. Pink
Discussion Leaders: Kirsten Baesler Konnie Wightman Kathy Berg

The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, MBAs who could crunch numbers.
Daniel, Pink H. A Whole New Mind. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. Introduction.

But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.
Daniel, Pink H. A Whole New Mind. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. Introduction.

These people artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers will now reap society s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.
Daniel, Pink H. A Whole New Mind. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. Introduction.

Do You Agree? Why or Why Not?

We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society build on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of the Conceptual Age (pg 1-2).

Information Age vs. Conceptual Age

From the Agriculture Age to the Conceptual Age* ATG CONCEPTUAL AGE
(affluence, technology, globalization) (creators and empathizers)

INFORMATION AGE
(knowledge workers)

INDUSTRIAL AGE
(factory workers)

AGRICULTURAL AGE
(farmers)

18th century

19th century

20th century 21st century * (from Daniel Pink s book page 49.)

???
Agriculture age Industrial age Information age Conceptual age Farmers ____________ Workers ____________ Knowledge Workers ____________ Creators, empathizers ____________

Our Brain
1.

2.

3.

4.

The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. The left hemisphere is sequential; the right is simultaneous. The left hemisphere specializes in text; the right in context. The left hemisphere analyzes the details; the right synthesizes the big picture.

L-Directed and R-Directed

Left-Directed (L-Directed): sequential, literal, functional, textual, analytic  R-Directed: simultaneous, metaphorical, aesthetic, contextual, synthetic


Leading a happy, healthy, successful life depends on both hemispheres of your brain.

A Whole New Mind

Left-brain-style thinking used to be the driver and the right-brain-style thinking the passenger. Now, R-Directed Thinking is suddenly grabbing the wheel, stepping on the gas, and determining where we re going and how we ll get there. L-Directed aptitudes are still necessary. But they are no longer sufficient. R-Directed aptitudes artistry, empathy, taking the long view, pursuing the transcendent will increasingly determine who soars and who stumbles.

Chapter 1: Right Brain Rising

Two Half Brains... Designed to Work Together
LEFT Understands the Words Hears what is said (text) Comprehends literal meaning See details Analyzes Converges Sees categories RIGHT Sees the Picture Hears how it is said (context) Comprehends metaphors Constructs big picture Synthesizes Diverges Sees relationships

Are You a Right-Brainer OR a Left-Brainer?

Take this quiz and find out!

http://mindmedia.com/brainworks/profiler

For instance: "Junella has a heart as big as Montana."

Left hemisphere assesses: who Junella is what a heart is how big montana is Right hemisphere gets the metaphor!

A Slam on How We Educate

Knowledge workers and their L-directed thinking have shaped our society: "most developed nations have devoted considerable time and treasure to produce left brain knowledge workers" PSAT, SAT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT "These tests have become important gatekeepers for entry into meritocratic, middle-class society" We have created a SAT-ocracy. (pg 29)

Chapter 2: Abundance, Asia, and Automation

Our society is shifting from a focus on Ldirected thinking to one of R-directed thinking. Reasons: Abundance Asia Automation

Abundance


 

For most of history, our lives were defined by scarcity. Today the defining feature of life in much of the world is abundance. Our left brains have made us rich. We spend more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything.

Abundance has produced an ironic result: The very triumph of L-Directed thinking has lessened its significance. The prosperity it has unleashed has placed a premium on more R-Directed sensibilities beauty, spirituality, emotion.

In an age of abundance, appealing only to rational, logical, and functional needs is woefully insufficient. Mastery of design, empathy, play and other seemingly soft aptitudes is now the main way to stand out. Abundance has brought beautiful things to our lives, but material goods have not necessarily made us much happier. We quest for transcendence.

Asia


 

L-Directed white collar work of all sorts is migrating [to Asia and] other parts of the world as well. The main reason is money. In the United States, a chip designer earns $7,000 a month. In India she earns $1,000.

Many of today s knowledge workers will have to command a new set of aptitudes. They ll need to do what workers abroad cannot do equally well for much less money

use R-Directed abilities such as forging relationships rather than executing transactions, tackling novel challenges instead of solving routine problems, and synthesizing the big picture rather than analyzing a single component.

Automation
Human beings have much to recommend, but when it comes to endeavors that depend heavily on rulebased logic, calculation, and sequential thinking computers are simply better, faster, and stronger.

Automation requires L-Directed professionals like computer programmers, physicians, lawyers to develop aptitudes that computers can t do better, faster, or cheaper.

Three
High Concept, High Touch

The Last 150 Years

ATG Affluence Technology Globalization Information Age (Knowledge Workers) Conceptual Age (Creators and Empathizers)

Industrial Age (Factory Workers)

Agricultural Age (Farmers)

18th Century

19th Century

20th Century

21st Century

The Last 150 Years

ATG Affluence Technology Globalization Information Age (Knowledge Workers) Conceptual Age (Creators and Empathizers)

Industrial Age (Factory Workers)

Agricultural Age (Farmers)

18th Century

19th Century

20th Century

21st Century

The Conceptual Age



We ve progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society of knowledge workers. Now we re progressing to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers. In the Conceptual Age we need a whole new mind.

High Concept
The ability to .  create artistic and emotional beauty  detect patterns and opportunities  craft a satisfying narrative  combine seemingly unrelated ideas into a novel invention

High Touch
The ability to  empathize  understand the subtleties of human interaction  find joy in one s self and to elicit it in others  stretch in pursuit of purpose and meaning

The Importance of High Concept and High Touch



A Master of Fine Arts is now one of the hottest credentials. The number of jobs in the caring professions is surging. For many in this new era, meaning is the new money.

What Does this Mean for You and Me?



We must become proficient in R-Directed Thinking and master aptitudes that are high concept and high touch. We must perform work that overseas knowledge workers can t do cheaper, that computers can t do faster, and that satisfies the aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual demands of a prosperous time.

What Exactly Are We Supposed to Do? Develop six specific high-concept and high-touch aptitudes that have become essential in this new era: The Six Senses

Abundance
Designer Toilet Brushes?
Powered by knowledge workers, the information economy has produced a standard of living unlike anything in the past (32). Even though people have their basic needs met, their life satisfaction have remained the same People are craving transcendence (35). Businesses must now produce not only a product that is reasonably priced and functional, but also beautiful, unique, and meaningful (33).

Asia
Technology Jobs $$$
Many L-directed American jobs are being shipped overseas to Asia where workers earn much less for the same job. We are not all going to lose our jobs tomorrow. Outsourcing is overhyped in the short term. But it's underhyped in the long term. The US workers need to do what workers abroad cannot do equally well for much less money using R-Directed abilities.

Hot Spot for Technology Growth

Automation
TurboTax & EZ Divorce
Computer technology is able to duplicate (quicker and cheaper) the process of many L-directed jobs. Any job that depends of routines - that can be reduced to a set of rules, or broken down into a set of repeatable steps is at risk.

INTRODUCING THE SIX SENSES

In the Conceptual Age, we will need to complement our L-Directed reasoning by mastering 6 essential R-Directed aptitudes(65-67). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Not just function but also DESIGN Not just argument but also STORY Not just focus but also SYMPHONY Not just logic but also EMPATHY Not just seriousness but also PLAY Not just accumulation but also MEANING

Design


Today it s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is not merely functional but is also beautiful whimsical, or emotionally engaging. Everyone, regardless of profession, must cultivate an artistic sensibility. We may not all be Dali or Degas. But today we must all be designers.

Boiling Flasks Corning Glass Works, company design Museum of Modern Art, Architecture and Design Department New York City (www.moma.org)

DESIGN
"The wealth of nations and the well-being of individuals now depend on having artists in the room. In a world enriched by abundance but disrupted by the automation and outsourcing of white-collar work, everyone, regardless of profession must cultivate an artistic sensibility" (69).

WE MUST ALL BE DESIGNERS!

Design has become Democratized

Match the font on the left with the font name of the right (75).

Improving a school's physical environment could increase test scores by as much as 11 percent (82).

With Design in Mind

Keep a Design Notebook Channel Your Annoyance Read Design Magazines Be Like Karim Become a Design Detective Participate in the "Third Industrial Revolution" Visit a Design Museum C-R-A-P-ify Your Graphic Design Put It on a Table Be Choosy

Story
We are our stories!
Personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose. Context enriched by emotion, a deeper understanding of how we fit in and why that matters. (pg. 115)

Story


When our lives are brimming with information and data, it s not enough to marshal an effective argument. The essence of persuasion, communication, and selfunderstanding has become the ability to also fashion a compelling narrative. We are our stories. We must listen to each others stories.

We had to do a good deed every day...

John Hope Franklin, the late scholar of African American history, tells his son, John, about being a Boy Scout during the 1920s.

Hear this story at storycorps.org

Stories Versus Statistics



Going to our School Board, Administrators, etc., with facts & figures is not nearly as effective as sharing real stories that show how your library program has transformed your students lives.


Kevin A. R. King  Give Em What They Want  Sept. 24, 2008, NDLA Conference

Create a Story Portfolio

Write a Mini-Saga Enlist in StoryCorps Get One Story Visit a Storytelling Festival Riff on Opening Lines Experiment with Digital Storytelling

Symphony
lips eyes nose ears

Seeing the Big Picture

"The guy who invented the wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius." ---Sid Caesar

Seeing & Integrating Relationships

Symphony Portfolio
Listen to Great Symphonies Keep a Metaphor Log Look for Solutions in Search of Problems o Where else would it work? o Would flipping it work? www.whynot.net Create an Inspiration Board Read Symphonic Books Encourage Wild Ideas Be Visual Celebrate Your Amateurness

o o

Symphony Portfolio
Listen to Great Symphonies Keep a Metaphor Log Look for Solutions in Search of Problems o Where else would it work? o Would flipping it work? www.whynot.net Create an Inspiration Board Read Symphonic Books Encourage Wild Ideas Be Visual Celebrate Your Amateurness

o o

Symphony


What s in greatest demand today isn t analysis but synthesis seeing the big picture, crossing boundaries, and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole. One of the best ways to develop the aptitude of Symphony is to learn how to draw.

A doodle by President Barak Obama

Empathy
The ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position and to intuit what that person is feeling (159). Allows us to see the other side of an argument, comfort someone in distress, and bit our lip instead of muttering something under our breath (160). Builds self-awareness, bonds parent to child, allows us to work together, and provides the scaffolding for our morality (160). The one aptitude that's proven impossible for computers to reproduce*, and very difficult for faraway workers connected by electron to match (161).

Empathy


Empathy is the ability to stand in others shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts. It s feeling with someone else, sensing what it would be like to be that person. Empathy makes us human. It is an ethic for living.

Customer Service
Which sign would YOU respond to?

1) Please clean up after your dog. 2) Our children play here. Please clean up after your dog.
"Empathy is neither a deviation from intellegence nor the single route to it. Sometimes we need detachment; many other times we need attunement. And the people who will thrive will be those who can toggle between the two" (174).

Play
Small groups of people who come together early each morning at parks, village greens, and shopping centers to spend a half hour laughing. Today about 2,500 laugh clubs exist. Acceptance of laugh clubs reveals an important dimension of the Conceptual Age - a move away from sober seriousness (Ford Motor Company) as a measure of ability.

Play


Play is emerging from the shadows of frivolousness and assuming a place in the spotlight. Its importance manifests itself in three ways:
  

Games Humor Joyfulness

Winslow Homer Snap the Whip 1872

Meaning
Our fundamental drive, the motivational engine that powers human existence, is the pursuit of meaning.
"man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life." Victor Frankl

Meaning


We live in a world of breathtaking material plenty. That has freed hundreds of millions of people from day-to-day struggles and liberated us to pursue more significant desires: purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.

Auguste Rodin The Thinker (Le Penseur) 1902

The "Fourth Great Awakening"

"Spiritual (or immaterial) inequity is now as great a problem as material inequity, perhaps even greater.
Robert William Fogel

58 percent of Americans say they think often about the meaning and purpose of life.

Mental and physical health better when attending to the spiritual life.(222)
..a

whole minded approach--L-Directed reason combined with R-Directed spirit-can be effective.

Contribute to Happiness

Engaging in satisfying work Avoiding negative events and emotions Being married Having a rich social network Gratitude Forgiveness Optimism

Meaning Portfolio
Say Thanks Take the 20-10 Test Measure Your Spirit Read These Books Visit a Labyrinth Picture Yourself at Ninety

AFTERWORD
1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper? 2. Can a computer do it faster? 3. Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of an abundant age?

These three questions will mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who gets left behind.