Future to be a real brain teaser
By: Joan Ruddiman
Can you feel the world shifting?
It seems each day, in ways that are both subtle and in-your-face, we are struck with the sense that we are living in a whole new world.
Are you ready for doctors who want to listen to your stories and hold your hand as you share them?
Are you ready for team decision-making and doing pencil drawings to unleash your creative spirit?
Are you ready for outsourcing, automation and living in a global village?
Ready or not, a whole new world has arrived.
But, not to worry, says Daniel Pink. We have the brains to handle it.
"A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future" is Mr. Pink’s rousing endorsement of the power of creative thinking.
For a century, left-brainers ruled and, Mr. Pink notes, built a very powerful world. From engineers who designed and built machines to the executives, lawyers and accountants who made sure industry made big money, "knowledge workers" excelled at what Mr. Pink calls "L-Directed Thinking." These were minds that were comfortable with "logical, sequential, computer-like reasoning."
MBAs, CEOs and CPAs, along with professional engineers and the whole of the computer industry, were the workhorses of the functional, analytical world. These were the careers mom and dad pushed as they were where the money was and the power.
But the times, they are a-changing. Mr. Pink claims that the most sought after candidate in the corporate world today is the man or woman with an MFA as in Master of Fine Arts.
He tells of the dramatic changes in the health care industry or, we should say, "home-care practice." Doctors are being trained to not only listen to the patient’s story of the strange pain, but to solicit the story from wary patients, as they hold the patient’s hand and engage in eye contact.
Major medical schools now look for the "well-rounded" student, not just the math/science brain. How can you break it to parents that those courses in comparative lit and theater may be your ticket into med school?
Pay attention moms and dads. Mr. Pink, like many others, sees our "SAT-ocracy" being pushed aside in favor of evidence of the ability to think, problem solve and support an opinion.
Creators and caregivers, teachers and story-tellers are what the new world needs, says Mr. Pink. Right brain thinkers the R-Directed draw on the characteristics of the right hemisphere of the brain, which he describes as "simultaneous, metaphorical, aesthetic, contextual, and synthetic."
Evidence from around the globe seems to support this new worldview.
The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story last month by Ann Hulbert titled, "Can China Re-educate Its Education System?"
In the article, Ms. Hulbert takes up the point that pre-college preparation can wear students out before they even get to campus. Sad to say, "stressed out, test-acing drones," in her words, aren’t just in China’s schools.
But China, and other Asian countries Mr. Pink cites Japan recognize that what the world needs are people thinking with both sides of their brains. The logical left-brain needs the creative pizzazz from the right hemisphere to get us the "big picture thinkers" that this new world requires.
In a highly readable, enjoyable Part One, Mr. Pink elaborates the idea of a changing world that is impacted by "abundance, Asia and automation." He lays a thick foundation to support what may seem like radical ideas.
For some of us, however, these radical changes can’t happen soon enough!
Then in Part Two, he develops his "six senses" design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.
For each, Mr. Pink allots a chapter to establish the definition for the term, providing rich examples to illustrate his points. He then provides a follow-up chapter for each that suggests exercises to stretch and develop these new "senses."
The man practices what he preaches, as he takes the seemingly familiar and, engaging the right-brain, makes the reader grasp a new understanding.
For example, consider how Mr. Pink defines "symphony":
"This aptitude is the ability to put together the pieces …" like composers and conductors, "whose jobs involve corralling a diverse group of motes, instruments, and performers and producing unified and pleasing sounds."
He maintains that entrepreneurs and inventors "have long relied on this ability."
But, in today’s world, we all have to corral multiple pieces all the time.
"Modern life’s glut of options and stimuli can be so overwhelming that those with the ability to see the big picture to sort out what really matters have a decided advantage in their pursuit of personal well-being," he writes.
To enhance your own symphonic ability, Mr. Pink suggests titles to read, keeping a metaphor log, learning to draw and my favorite hitting the newsstands for what he calls "newsstand round-up."
"Buy magazines you never noticed before. You don’t have to read every page … but get a sense of what the magazine is about and look for connections to your own life," he writes.
One such random perusal of the magazine Cake Decorating, for example, inspired Mr. Pink to redesign his business cards.
"A Whole New Mind" has been touted, accurately I believe, as "one of those rare books that marks a turning point."
Yet, Mr. Pink is thought-provoking without being provocative. His book is fascinating, fun and totally upbeat.
Have no fear. The new world is here, and you are ready. Just follow Mr. Pink’s guidelines on how to unleash the power of your own right brain.
Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.