A Whole New Mind
by Daniel Pink
A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Conceptual Age to the Information Age by Daniel Pink We live in left brain society - a society that has long honored linear, logical, left to right, top to bottom beginning to end, piecemeal content recall-based knowledge and thinking. This is the world and the mindset of No Child Left Untested. The role of the right side of the brain, which handles pattern analysis, big picture thinking, intuition and the like, has long been undervalued and misunderstood in our left-brained society. In fact, at one time the right brain was considered to be the 2nd rate side of the brain. But as Pink points out, just about anything that requires right brain thinking can be automated, turned into software, or outsourced to the third world. Pink talks about our emerging world where critical thinking, problem solving, and a deep level of information fluency - in other words using the whole new mind - is increasingly more highly valued than simple content recall Just as information workers surpassed physical laborers in economic importance, Pink claims, the workplace terrain is changing yet again, and power will inevitably shift to people who possess strong right brain qualities. His advocacy of "R-directed thinking" begins with a bit of neuroscience tourism to a brain lab that will be extremely familiar to those who have read Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You, but while Johnson was fascinated by the brain's internal processes, Pink is more concerned with how certain skill sets can be harnessed effectively in the dawning "Conceptual Age." The second half of the book details the six "senses" Pink identifies as crucial to success in the new economy-design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning-while "portfolio" sections offer practical advice on how to cultivate these skills within oneself.
