Customer Reviews

A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A Whole New Mind $16.47 US, is a 2005 release from Daniel H. Pink that covers creative thinking and other aspects of success. Ostensibly geared toward career pros, this non-fiction title analyzes transitions in society as America migrates from an Information Age to a Conceptual Age economy. The text in Dan's book is not academic -- instead it is more biographical, intuitive, observational, and playful. His book is a real triple threat of content, style, and visual presentation.

Word to the wise -- you are in for a slightly different book here -- right of the bat, the author walks us through the procedure of having his brain scanned as part of a project conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington D.C. This unorthodox introduction (with four photo illustrations) is welcomed by the reader, as it gives the chapter an introspective quality. Pink shares this experience to illustrate normal brain function -- to note a few misconceptions about the way the brain divides work -- and then posits that while most people integrate both left and right brain activity, R-Directed Thinking will increasingly be relied upon in the future, by people that want to succeed in business or life.

Here is the crux of what Pink is trying to relay. America is currently organized around a cadre of accountants, doctors, engineers, executives and lawyers. These "knowledge workers" excel at the ability to acquire and marry facts to data, and these abilities are typically accrued through a series of standardized tests such as the PSAT, SAT, GMAT, LSAT and MCAT. (As an aside, Bush's test-happy Department of Education only serves to increase the number of L-Directed Thinkers, providing corporations cheap labor in abundance.) Pink asserts this regime of L-Directed Thinking in America is diminishing due to three factors: Abundance, Asia, and Automation.

Our guide Dan conjectures -- that in this age of Abundance -- appealing only to functional, logical, and rational requirements is not enough. Design, empathy, play, and other "soft" aptitudes have become the focal point for individuals and companies that want to stand out above the others in a crowded marketplace. Look no further than Apple's design-triumph, the physically appealing and emotionally compelling iPod, for quick confirmation of this notion!

Looking at trends, Pink concludes outsourcing of white-collar jobs (knowledge work) to nations in Asia will have profound "long term effects" on the economic well-being of Australia, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. Just as factory jobs flowed out of the country during the eighties, globalization of white-collar jobs will soon follow. Consequently, most Americans will need to come up with a new skill set that is not abundant overseas.

Even if Pink is wrong, and Abundance and Asia aren't transforming America, rest assured that Automation is. In long paragraphs, Pink cites specific examples of how Computer Programming, Law, and Medicine have been radically altered by technology. You'll notice this trend in even simpler venues (like self-checkout at supermarket and department store chains) throughout the US. Implication of Pink's research? Transaction based jobs may soon start declining.

Now here are a few key items worthy of consideration -- when it comes to your present or future career track -- according to Dan. Can computers do it faster? Can overseas labor do it cheaper? Are your skills in demand? Are your skills overly abundant?

Eventually we'll all have to find new jobs, Pink theorizes. The Agricultural Age and Industrial Age have fallen away, and the Information Age is fading fast. We're hurtling into the Conceptual Age, where the majority of jobs will be held by people that create something, or by people that are capable of empathizing with others. Most of these jobs will require care, humor, imagination, ingenuity, instinct, joyfulness, personal rapport, or social dexterity.

Writer Pink explains High Concept, High Touch, avenues of growth that are likely to appear, delves into the importance of gaining an MBA or MFA, and then compares the differences between IQ and Emotional Intelligence in rough metaphor. He then closes Part One with two pages of observation on the baby boomer generation, and their newfound gravitation toward meaning and transcendence, and away from the allure of wealth.

Most of A Whole New Mind actually resides in Part Two, wherein Mr. Pink delineates a complex theory of the "six senses" that one could harvest to build a whole new mind. In Dan's worldview, Design is an asset above function. Story is an asset above argument. Symphony is an asset above focus. Empathy is an asset above logic. Play is an asset above seriousness, and Meaning is an asset above accumulation. After an extensive essay about each of these six components, Pink includes a "portfolio" of exercises (further reading, tools, and websites) that one could call upon to enhance this mindset, all being useful.

In the interest of keeping this review at one thousand words I've concentrated on the first half of the book -- since that is the framework that the book is built around. I will allow you the pleasure of reading the majority of part two on your own, but I'll lightly sketch some factoids that I enjoyed in the "portfolios" accompanying Dan's groupings.

The title of the book is very appropriate. For the age that we are in, we need a whole new mind. However, the book promised a mansion, but ended up giving us an apartment. It begins like a Porsche, but ended like a VW Beetle. The author correctly diagnosed the disease of Abundance, Asia, and Automation, but prescribed the wrong medicine of six right-brain-directed (R-Directed) aptitudes.

To the author's credit, he is the first that succinctly diagnosed the major problems the Western countries are facing: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. Most people, including intellectuals and high government officials are in the coma state of not sensing the lethal effects of offshore outsourcing of high-tech jobs and R&D to the fundamental wellbeing of U.S. and other Western countries, nor the consequence of automating white collar jobs by the ever more powerful computer hardware and software. This is the first book that I know of that sounded the alarm to the great masses of the coming sea change. For this, the author ought to be congratulated.

The author has a vision that we are moving from Information Age to Conceptual Age. He said that if we have a whole new mind, we can have an economy and society that are built on the inventive, empathic and big-picture capabilities. He stresses that the main characters now are the creator and the empathizer. He argues that we need to move from high tech to high concept and high touch. These are all great ideas. However, the strategies that the author prescribed through the six R-Directed aptitudes, which consist most of the book, while adequate to battle Abundance and Automation, is hardly sufficient to overcome Asia. There are several major shortcomings to the book:

First and foremost, these six R-Directed aptitudes are not the sole possessions of the Western countries. Asian countries have them, too, and can probably master them just as well. The author seemed to forget to constantly validate his assumptions against the three questions he must answer. One of them was: Can someone overseas do it cheaper? This author has a dangerous underestimation of foreigners: "Sure. They can do low-level programming and accountancy but we still come up with the innovation and creativity." He did not notice that R&D are moving overseas to the foreign countries. For this, see http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_12/b3925611.htm for more detail.

Secondly, how does the author know that these six R-Directed aptitudes are the most essential of all possible right-brain aptitudes? He never showed research evidences for these aptitudes are indeed the most important.

Thirdly, the six R-Directed aptitudes are highly subjective, social-dependent and culture-dependent. For example, design is highly culture-dependent. What is deemed elegant and tasteful design in a culture may be offensive to another. A beautiful design to you may be an average one to me. Take another aptitude, story, as another example: the contents of stories are highly culture-dependent. A story that makes sense in one culture may not make sense to another.

Fourthly, the result of developing these aptitudes, if developed to the full extent, is the further fragmentation of our world, for we have divide ourselves into smaller and smaller subjective realms. A side consequence is the fragmentation of the market for goods and services.

Above all, the solution proposed by the author is not going to be able to solve the problem of "Can someone overseas do it cheaper?"

In summary, the author deserves 3 stars for correctly diagnosed the problems, but gave the very incomplete solutions. However, I would encourage the author to continue to search for the solutions for Abundance, Asia, and Automation.

Pink is absolutely right: creativity and innovation

will be a boon for post-industrial, post-information

age workers now that countries like China and India

can produce cheaper knowledge workers.

However, the economics of supply and demand will simply

do the same to this new conceptual age worker that

it did to programmers and MBAs.

Once the economy is flooded with talented designers and

creative personnel, the market will correct and wages

will fall. And many creative and brilliant "whole brain"

workers will become yet again another glut of talent.

In the end, the market favors no whole class of worker but

rather the most unique and talented of a class. And this

has always been the case.

>

This book, like Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself is written for people who live in an ivory tower, a gated community, or a corporate palace. It is completely out of touch with the 90% of humanity that is comprised of the Working Poor in America, or the destitute and disenfranchised everywhere else. For that it loses one star.

However, and this is high praise from me, it is a "must read" for any knowledge worker, and I am particularly recommending it to the new breed of warrior in the U.S. Government, the Information Operations specialist. A **major** part of our government's failure at foreign policy and national security--including its failure at homeland security and its mis-steps in the global war on terror, going back to the Viet-Nam era, can be traced to a combination of excessive reliance on "metrics" (remember the "body counts?") diluted by ideological preferences absent historical or cultural contexts.

This book, while simplistic, is a superb over-view of the alternative methods of **perception**, integration, understanding, and outreach--empathy and strategic communication to others in terms they can "receive," and for that reason I consider it a "must read."

The six senses, design, story-telling (see Steve Dunning), symphony, Empathy (none to be found in this White House), Play (intertwing work and play, mixing it up to energize both), and Meaning, are well covered by this book, and in a way that makes sense, where the value of listening is clear to the reader.

It is a well-put-together book, with the right amount of white space, good illustrations, good notes and recommended readings, and over-all a pleasant and instructive contribution to my library and my reflections.

Run, don't walk, to pick up this book. In one fact-driven yet fun read, Pink tells a compelling story of the decline of the Information Age (driven by our penchant for left-brain thinking) and the rise of the Conceptual Age, where an equally developed right-brain is REQUIRED for survival and success.

As business people and as human beings, we are trying to make a living in a world increasingly driven by Automation, Asia and Abundance. Every professional and business leader thus will inevitably face the following questions:

Can a computer do what I / we do faster?

Can someone overseas do what I / we do cheaper?

Is what I / we are offering in demand in an age of abundance?

Abundance here refers to what Pink describes as the satisfaction, if not over-satisfaction, of the material needs of millions - thereby boosting the desire for significance, beauty and meaning in the marketplace. As costs decline and quality goes up for every product or service that can be automated or outsourced, the only real differentiator becomes what cannot be duplicated - relationships, empathy, artistry, purpose and soul.

These unique qualities are the territory of our right brains - the other half of that amazing organ in our heads that we too often to ignore in business today. The good news? Neuroscientific research over the last decade gives us much room for hope - rather than being locked into our current thinking habits, even as adults our brains can be re-trained to think a different way. Pink concludes the book by offering practical ideas for anyone to develop six critical right-brain capabilities: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

A quote from the book is that "Perspective is more important than IQ." My work in Fortune 100 companies with senior leaders constantly shows me the truth of that statement. The answers to the thorny questions of our times lie not in more data dredging to determine if issues like global warming are real or not. As another chap from Atlanta once said, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a @#*! The more powerful question is what is the kind of world I really want to live in? And how can I use my brain -- all of it -- to create that world and keep it vibrant, healthy and beautiful?

So what are we mortals, especially those of us in the Western Hemisphere, supposed to do in a world where computers are fast approaching humans in intelligence, all manufacturing work is moving to China, any white collar work that does not require face to face interaction is being taken on by India, and the marketplace is flooded with cheap, quality goods? Such is the question that this book seeks to address. While other, better selling authors (i.e. Friedman) are raking millions telling us the obvious (gee, those Indians are really smart, better watch out for them, and the Chinese are after your manufacturing job, etc.) Dan Pink takes a different, more practical and constructive angle on the subject, showing us instead what is left to do that can't (for now at least) be done by machines or overseas, and this involves the long neglected right hemisphere, the one right inside our skull. And you know Pink is on to something when you look at things ranging from US labor department projections showing the highest increase in professions dealing with creativity and interpersonal communications; travel agents turning into vacation consultants; and your engineer cousin or next door neighbor turned graphic designer. The evidence is everywhere that things are moving in a new direction.

Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning. In a nutshell these are the key right brain abilities that Pink considers will make the difference between success and failure into the 21st century. The bulk of the book explores these from a very practical perspective, but even better than that, it gives you pointers and actual tools for you to begin developing these on your own. While more subdued in tone than the overly enthusiastic "Free Agent Nation", this book nonetheless follows the same theme on self-actualization taking on a growing role in our lives over merely materialistic concerns. And here is the main take away from the book, because while it hooks you on your materialistic concerns over how to remain competitive, it actually takes you beyond it. Because even if you don't manage to prosper and get wealthy based on these abilities (and unless you get some left-hemisphere ones you probably won't, unless you're an artistic genius), if you think about it what Pink describes are the very qualities that distinguish us from machines, that make us fully and uniquely human. So by developing them you tap into your humanity, setting you on your way to a happier, richer life, and there's no better payoff than that.

This is a book that can make a huge difference to our personal and professional life, irrespective of what we do for a living. The world so far was dominated by L-centred professionals or those whose who predominantly excel in using the left side of the brain. The admission tests to get into the best of today's professional courses test our analytical, arithmetic and verbal skills. The good news is that we have done well so far. But the bad news is that in the industrial age followed by the information we have utilised only one half of our brain, that is the "left". Welcome to the conceptual age which demands our "right" and rightfully so.

The author first explains the functioning of the human brain , its left and right sides and what they stand for, in a very simple and non jargon approach. His personal understanding of the functioning of the brain using the fMRI scan technology may appear over simplistic to a well trained medical professional or psychologist. But the information is sufficient to guide us through the subsequent chapters that fully engage both the sides of the brain.

We now live in an era of abundance (the wide range of goods at rock bottom prices at the neighbourhood shopping mall), Automation ( computers take over repetitive jobs) and emergence of Asia ( off shoring of white collar jobs at fractional costs). Today's products and services are an outcome of sequential, analytical and logical thought process of the L-centred professions.

To succeed in the next age which is conceptual, we need to wake up and kick start the right side of our brain argues the author. For example we need abilities to synthesise not just analyse. Synthesis is the ability to assemble the parts and see the whole thing while analysis is the ability to focus on specifics. The conceptual age needs high concept and high touch, a combination of right side capabilities along with the left side strengths. These then become the winning combination to differentiate, add value and succeed.

The author lists six senses or essential aptitudes - Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, play and Meaning that are the basic ingredients of the conceptual age. A chapter for each and a good reference list ( titled portfolio section) includes books and web sites that provide us with rich source of information for further study.

The examples quoted under every topic are simply great. To cite one such example in the chapter on Story :

The queen died. The king died.

The queen died and the king died of a broken heart.

The first line conveys a fact. The second line conveys a story and we can feel the love. Stories combine context and emotion and appeal to our hearts. Unfortunately, most professionals focus on facts. Doctors interrupt patients on an average once in 23 seconds looking only for clinical data. But if they listen to the patients' stories, the context and emotion can make a big difference, in addition to the facts.

Another good example is Design. Design is the process of bringing new forms that the world has never seen. It is a combination of utility and substance. The CEO of a major car manufacturer claims that his company is in the art business and transportation is incidental. Design schools are the ones that can transform our products into things of joy. No wonder this profession has started gaining so much attention even in countries like India. ( Please refer to my review of the book " The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. I am glad that my daughter has since chosen a course on Accessory Design and I am now able to appreciate her wisdom!)

The message is clear. The professional of the future is one who can appreciate the finer aspects of life that includes beauty, meaning and happiness.

I enjoyed every moment of this book. Guess whom I am gifting it to ?

First the Good.

The book is easy to read, well written, thought provoking. It presents a useful, simple overview of the left brain/right brain model. And it contains a concise analysis of the dilemma facing knowledge workers in America today: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. Abundance of stuff means that products and people must compete more on hard-to-define, right-brain qualities like beauty, coolness, and meaning. Abundance is produced by cheap foreign labor (Asia) and increasingly sophisticated machines to do the boring left-brain work (Automation). And the last half of the book presents a pretty good way to get started on developing your right brain abilities. That's the Good.

Next the Bad.

The solution the book presents, that Right-brain or even whole-brain thinking, will save our jobs in the face of the three A's, is unsupported and implausible. It may save your job (in fact it may be your only viable option), and it may even save a great many American jobs, but is it the salvation for the American economy? I think not. Mr. Pink is guilty, I think, of what he would call a left brain failure: missing the big picture. Or you could just call it wishful thinking of the sort that fostered the 90's stock market boom and crash. America's abundance is an illusion that can be maintained only as long as foreign lenders are willing to extend us credit. Our Conceptual products are selling to the world but they aren't narrowing our trade deficit and there is no evidence that they ever will. Can we really become largely a nation of concept producers and traders without a foundation in anything physical and real? And even if we could, what is to keep Asia and Automation from eating into our advantage there too? And how many design choices do we need -- aren't we already to the point of being psychically overwhelmed by the Abundance of choices? And how many designers do we need anyway -- not so very many to judge by the contents of our big-box stores and how those contents are pretty much the same everywhere.

Finally, the Ugly.

It's the bigger big picture. The Abundance that we have experienced so far is very dependent on cheap energy, mainly in the form of oil. The world is running out of cheap oil so the whole basis of the 3 A's is undermined. Worse than even that, scientists say, that by burning that oil and other short-sighted actions, we are changing the world climate in ways that will become drastic and unpredictable, but generally bad for food production, etc. Bye bye Abundance. Hello scarcity.

We can only hope that our new-found Right brain abilities will help us to overcome or at least survive the planetary mess we have made for ourselves and our children. Heck, it would be a major step forward if it just helped a majority of us to recognize the problem. But somehow I doubt that the kind of Right-brain thinking that gave us designer toilet brushes is going do the trick. And the kind of Right-brain thinking that leads some of us to believe in Stories of Rapture and Anti-christs -- well, that's not helping much either, is it?

We may gotten into this mess with mainly our Left-brains but it's pretty clear to me that we will need our Whole Minds to have any hope of getting through it.

Daniel Pink has an interesting view on globalisation where he argues that the world is moving from the Informational Age to the Conceptual Age. Abundance, Asia and Automation are identified as three forces that are changing the future.

The first force, `Abundance' refers to the state of our lives in developed countries and increasingly we want products or services that are aesthetically pleasing. The second force, `Asia' refers to outsourcing. The third force, `Automation' is self-explanatory. Pink reasons that if we are not creating aesthetically pleasing outcomes (experience, service or products) at work, or if our jobs can be outsourced or automated then we are in danger of being redundant.

But fret not, as Pink also states the six skills or abilities that will help us thrive in this New Economy and the six antidotes are as follows:

a) Design: This is related to the factor of abundance hence, design is a skill that is vital to produce experiences, products or services that appeal to the consumers' senses. For example, even government housing (in Singapore, at least, called HDB flats ) nowadays are being designed to please our senses and it is not merely functional blocks that serve as shelters.

b) Story: Increasingly, it is being seen that stories are being used by companies and individuals for purposes of selling, inspiring, communicating and persuading. Pink gives a number of tips to improve our story-telling and states `mini sagas' as one of the way by which our story-telling skills can be honed.

c) Symphony: The ability to see the big picture and put the disparate pieces together.

d) Empathy: The ability to understand other people and their feelings. Not sympathy but empathy.

e) Play: This is a skill of understanding games, humour and laughter. It helps us balance our lives. Remember, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

f) Meaning: The search for meaning or purpose of life through spirituality, charity or other means. This is a vital element that is possibly the most important among the six to live a meaningful life in this day and age.

Remember, 9 is the magical number to thrive in today's environment i.e. awareness of the 3 forces and the mastery of 6 skills.

Dan Pink's book "A Whole New Mind" has joined my `must have' list for my MBA students. It joins "Cluetrain Manifesto", "Rules for Revolutionaries", and "Crossing the Chasm."

5 star reviews that have preceded me, have explained the outline and thrust of the book quite well. I concur with them.

One highlight item that I would add, is when Pink went to India and met brilliant MBA's that make $14,000 per year, and enjoy a lifestyle at relatively 10x in many measures to the US worker at $25,000.

It is refreshing to have a journalist put names, and faces, and dreams to some of the emerging high middle class of India.

Pink is not being a 21st Century `Cassandra' by detailing his three "A's" of Asia, automation, and abundance. His early chapters lay out the threat and opportunity of Asia creating tens of millions of middle class workers and entrepreneurs, in India and China particularly. His general data and postulations for automation and abundance are spot on.

But rather than write a book like Reich or Thurow, demanding protectionism, Pink devotes roughly 2/3's of his book on what a thoughtful US or EU citizen should do, or assist their children in doing or learning to do.

In the later half of the book, Pink outlines and defines how Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning will give "First World" citizens the acuity to respond to globalization, rapid technological change, and changing demographics.

I was very fortunate to meet Dan Pink in Phoenix, the week beginning his book tour. His speech for 80 to 100 Phoenix based designers and graphic artists, was terrific.

His line of the `MFA is the new MBA' was the key tag line, that caused many of the artists in the room, and all the `quants' in the room to recognize they have a `designed' and collaborative future together.

It is my hope that this book will have the wide audience that Alvin Toffler's `Future Shock' had, decades ago. Pink's device of the `Conceptual Age' following the `Information Age' might just earn him a citation in the pattern of Tom Wolfe, who labeled the 1970's as the "Me-Decade".

I highly recommend the book. As a graduation gift for high school, college, and graduate students, I recommend it even more.