I suck at math (unless its money), I suck at science (not really, but it bores the crap out of me), I suck at computer stuff (at least once a day I groan about something excel has done to make my life miserable).  In spite of all these things, I have hope.  One reason I have hope is because I have read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind (AWNM). (Was that sentence a marketer’s wet dream or what?  hee-hee)

 

I took notes while I was reading it, and while I was transcribing them on my computer, I thought to myself, “Self, maybe you should write a blog about AWNM.”  Then after I wrote it all out, it was too long for one post, so there will be two.

 

The premise of AWNM is that the American economy is changing, and the new developments will favor people like me; hence the hope.  Daniel Pink asserts that the 90’s were run by people who could understand computers, were good at science and math.  People with these skill sets were successful because proof of technical skills was all that was needed to get a job in high tech lucrative fields . According to Pink, it will take more than technical skill to get the “good jobs” in the new American economy. Job seekers will need to market themselves differently because a lot of that technical stuff can be done for pennies on the dollar by smart Asian and Indian workers oversees. 

 

In this new American economy, the Information Age gives way to the Conceptual Age. (dunt dunt duh)

Success in the Conceptual Age requires that one marries form and function.  One must understand the technical and the creative.  A functional, well-designed product or service and an understanding of people and patterns will be essential to moving products and selling services. Competition will be fierce because a good number of technical products and services can be done a lot cheaper overseas, can be completed faster by computers, and because the larger consumer countries are oversaturated with stuff.

Pink’s book asserts that the future in the Conceptual Age will be brighter for those of us who can master the following aptitudes.

 

1. Design- form meets function.  Beautiful and useful.

2. Story- a compelling, persuasive narrative that is relatable to an audience.

3. Symphony- synthesizing lots of pieces to see a complete puzzle.

4. Empathy- the ability to understand people and build relationships

5. Play-not taking work so seriously

6. Meaning- the need for self-actualization.  Having fulfillment and purpose.

  

Basically the conceptual age means that people like me (with no real skills, lol) will finally have a chance to shine. How exciting for me!

 

Pink’s analysis starts with explaining how the left and right sides of the brain differ in the way they synthesize information.  The left side is logical and reasons sequentially while the right side thinks holistically and interprets context and emotions.  To quote the book, “The right-side of the brain is the picture and the left side is the thousand words”. 

 

If you use your brain as a metaphor for a lot of businesses and organizations; the left brained (the techno-geeks and math nerds) have been running stuff for a while, leaving the right brained (the artistic and inventors), in the periphery.  However, in the new American economy, abundance (having a whole lot of everything), Asia (cheap labor) and automation (computers) will force us to think about how we work, change our focus be better, faster, and cheaper.

 

In order to compete and survive, goods and services will be physically beautiful, emotionally compelling and functional. Successful people will be inventors, designers, artists and other creatives, instead of merely producers of stuff.

 

Even American car makers are starting to get it.  A GM car executive said that he was in the business of producing art, entertainment, and mobile sculpture In order to be marketable, the car has to appeal to the right and left side of the brain.  It has to do its job, but it needs to be beautiful, and a host of other things, as well.

 

Design

 

In the Conceptual Age, we will all be designers.  Design makes our work more significant.  Good design turns something that was merely functional into something new, useful and aesthetically pleasing.  Competition will no longer rest on just price and quality.  Competition will come down to which is the best designed, the prettiest, the most significant.

 

Design does more than make things beautiful, good design adds to functionality. Every time you use a product or services that works well and intuitively you can thank good design.

 

Story

Humans pick up the important facts from stories.  (This is why, imho, history was always easier for me to remember when it is told in the context of a story, rather than when a teacher just threw dates of wars at me).

 

Sharing information in the form of a story provides context and facts.  Narrative places the data in a larger picture.  And for us forest (rather than the trees) folk, we need the larger picture.  Sharing information as a narrative conveys emotion and makes your data more relatable, and makes it accessible to a larger audience.

 

I learned how important Story is to organizations from a class, last fall and my summer internship bears it out.  Much of an organization’s culture lies in the stories that are told, internally, about the organization and its members. 

 

For instance, in my internship I hear a lot about what D-town used to be like, the roles that individual members of the organization played in making it a better community, and events that have taken place that changed the organization that give insight to the organization’s values and commitments.

 

Narrative engages people.  Your story makes you special.  Think about myspace, and blogging for goodness sakes!  Humans want to explain who we are and show how different we are from the other billions of humans on Earth.

 

Symphony

 

Symphony is the ability to identify relationships between disparate parts.  Symphony equals systems-thinking (for the more tech minded among us). Symphony means being able to see how all the details fit together into something that is better than the parts could be alone. 

 

Think of an orchestra. The oboe probably doesn’t sound that great by itself, but the maestro can  make the oboe sound really good with the flutes and the triangle, the tubas, the drums and all the other instruments.

 

To employ symphony is your life and career, one must be able to see patterns, synthesize rather than analyze information, take differing ideas to create something new.

 

During a project last semester, I worked in a group that was very detail-oriented.  I would quickly tune out the conversation at large and just make note of the different suggestions that my classmates would throw out.  Once they had exhausted themselves, I would repeat the overall goal, pick the best parts of the suggestions, put them all together and tell them what we were going to do and how my “suggestion” fit our needs. 

 

A way to get some symphony in your life is to add some diversity. Having fresh new eyes and a different perspective makes it easier to pick out relationships and patterns.

 

Part 2 comes in a week, and I’ll talk about how empathy, play and meaning will be super-important in the Conceptual Age.