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

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.

We all know that our brain is divided into two hemispheres: left brain and right brain. Whenever I think of the right brain, with its more intuitive functions, such as imagination, creativity, daydreaming, music and art, I think of John Lennon. And whenever I think of the left brain, with its more logical, linear, sequential, computer-like functions, I think of Star Trek’s Mr Spock. As any Trekkie will tell you, Spock is the guy with the funny ears (actor Leonard Nemoy) who served as science officer (Starfleet service number S179-276 SP) aboard the Starship Enterprise. Spock’s mother was a human schoolteacher, his father a diplomat from the Planet Vulcan, and poor Spock was torn between the rigid discipline of Vulcan logic and the emotionalism of his human side. I am certain that the creators of Star Trek knew a great deal about the way our left and right brains work. The idea generation process in our brain goes through two stages. In Stage 1, we take the jumble of unstructured data swimming around in our right brain, and start simplifying, categorising, identifying and labelling this data. In Stage 2, we use our logical left brain to process, evaluate, assess and judge the unstructured data from the right brain. Most of us are far too quick to use our left brain. No sooner do we ask ourselves: “What would happen if I tried idea X?” than our left brain tells us that the idea is stupid, illogical and unworkable. Instead of mulling over the ideas thrown up by our right brain, we’re often too quick to jump to the second stage of the thought process, using highly judgmental left brain tools to tackle the ideas generated in our more imaginative right brain. Our left brain functions like Spock’s. It uses only logic to assess situations. That’s why we must prevent the super-logical Spock, who lacks the ability to feel human emotions, to prematurely intervene in the idea generation process. It is true that without the Spock-like logic processor in our heads, we would never come to any conclusions or make any decision. But we can keep him outside the door a little longer. By allowing ourselves to wallow around for longer in right brain thinking, we will become more spontaneous, less rigid and more imaginative. And unlike Spock (who almost never cracked a smile) - we’ll have more fun, too. Daniel H Pink takes right-left brain to a new level in A Whole New Mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. He reminds us that Peter Drucker, the father of management science, coined the term: Information Age. Drucker’s knowledge workers (a term he first used in 1959 to describe lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers, teachers and executives) get paid for applying theoretical and analytic knowledge. The Information Age places a premium on activities associated with the left side of the brain. The age of the knowledge worker is rapidly coming to an end, says Pink. Welcome to the era of the conceptual worker, for whom the right brain is dominant: artistry, empathy, inventiveness, big-picture thinking. Left brain used to be the driver, and right brain was the passenger. Now right brain has grabbed the wheel, has its foot on the accelerator, and is determining where we’re going and how we’ll get there. Interestingly, Pink describes himself as a left-brainer who is grappling with right brain thinking. Design is more important than function for conceptual workers, says Pink. Story is more important than argument; symphony is more important than focus; empathy is more important than logic; play is more important than seriousness; and meaning is more important than accumulation. The implication of this is that while left brain activities still matter, they are not enough. Left-brainers will not immediately be out of work, but people will have to knock their right-brain muscles into shape. Pink's right–left brain message is not entirely new, but he gets his message across in a clearer and more accessible way.

Enjoyed Daniel Pink’s guide to right brainers and their inevitable ascendancy. In some ways the book is more of a reference book than a traditional book. Each chapter closes with a ‘portfolio’ - a list of additional reading, web sites, clubs etc relevant to the material in each chapter. And I found myself being drawn into following up on a number of the suggested references from the portfolios. The recommendation ‘my favourite business book’ from Thomas Friedman (author of the world is flat’) is not surprising. and, for the record, I enjpoyed Friedman’s book also. The theme is that left brain activity is being automated and/or displaced and that therefore in order to ‘prosper’ one needs to develop one’s right brain. Six right brain activities are discussed: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. and lots of the observations/ ideas rang true with me: Design: John Haskett: ‘human nature to shape and make our environment, in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives’ Story: The general availability of facts reduces their importance Symphony: Great entrepreneurs are systems thinkers, have a passion for the whole, recignise patterns, demonstrate intuitive, contextual reasoning Empathy - with increasing automation IQ becoming less importance and EQ more important Play - SW Airlines: ‘people rarely succeed unless they are having fun doing it’ Meaning - the difference between labyrinths and mazes The book is thought provoking. Interesting to look at how various corporations have adopted and leveraged some of the ideas. And it will certainly be interesting to see whether the poets win out over the MBAs in years to come.

one of the best books to read

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

اتاني الغلاف مقطوع

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

This book is an amazing combination of well researched information, written in an engaging manner! I started and completed the book in one long distance flight (20 hours) and was not tempted by any other possible diversion! A fresh look at a lot of common assumptions!