Daniel Pink has chronicled the rise and impact of the new world of work. His recent book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, takes us a step further to describe how to thrive in an outsourced, automated, and upside down world.
Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate.
Pink sees three forces driving the Western World in this direction:
1) There is an Abundance of material goods.
2) Asia has become a vast pool of inexpensive labor, especially in the goods-creating products.
3) Automation is changing the landscape of work. Automation of everything from factory assembly to medical diagnosis. Just about everything that can be broken down into a series of logical steps, or actions, is being automated.
As a result Pink presents a convincing argument that our country is entering a new era—the so-called conceptual age—during which right-brained skills such as design and storytelling will become far more crucial than traditionally left-brained skills such as accounting and computer programming. While the latter skills are readily outsourced, transformative abilities such as empathy and creativity are crucial in a new age animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life.
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Jen,
Yes,I agree with you it is important to strive toward a balanced and harmonious brain…the right brain kept in the dark so long and now beginning to see the light of day may belittle the left brain as insignificant…it is best when both sides of the brain are fully developed and coordinated with each other.
Sid
Be very careful when leaning over the rivers edge of the right brain. living at the edge of land (left brain) and water (right brain) is the best of both worlds…lean in to one too much and you will fall into it like a black hole. The right brain is quite enticing..I know. The road to genius is called insanity. Leave bread crumbs when you float down this path as it often sucks you in and removes you from common thought. It steals your frequency to find your way back to the world your body is a part. It is not the promised land as many think. We are a left brain society. We need to discover our right brain and integrate it fully with our left brain. We are not meant to leave our left brain behind. it is half of who we are. The answers to, and for our future success on earth IS NOT right brain functioning, but instead, It is; WHOLE BRAIN AWARENESS. There is a difference; BEWARE!!!!!!