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[Reviewed in THE FUTURIST, September-October 2005]
A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel H. Pink. Riverhead Books (Penguin). 2005. 260 pages. $24.95. Order online from the Futurist Bookshelf, www.wfs.org/bkshelf.htm.
Finding Success in the "Conceptual Age"
Finding work in the future will require "a whole new mind," according to business writer Daniel H. Pink.
Good jobs are disappearing by the thousands in the developed nations due to automation, outsourcing, and changing tastes. So what can people do get decent jobs in the future?
Daniel H. Pink, a former White House speechwriter, has spent the past few years investigating that question and has come up with some provocative answers in his new book, A Whole New Mind.
Pink believes we are moving from the Information Age into what he calls the Conceptual Age. The Information Age has valued logical, leftbrain thinking—the kind needed for computer programming and analytical tasks. But that kind of work is vanishing. If it can't be automated out of existence, it is exported to developing nations where workers are still willing to toil long hours for little pay.
So workers in the developed nations must do something different to avoid sinking to the economic level of the poor countries.
"We must perform work that overseas knowledge workers can't do cheaper, that computers can't do faster, and that satisfies the aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual demands of a prosperous time," Pink writes. To succeed in the Conceptual Age, he maintains, workers will have to develop their right-brain, creative aptitudes to supplement their left-brain, logical skills. The right-brain aptitudes will be required to produce the goods and services that the Conceptual Age will prize.
Pink identifies six "high-concept, high-touch" aptitudes needed in the new era and devotes the bulk of his book to describing them and outlining specific ways for readers to develop them.
The first of these aptitudes is design. In the Conceptual Age, it will not be enough to create a product or service that's merely functional; it must also be beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.
The second aptitude, story, is needed because we are already inundated with information and data. So a compelling narrative is essential for persuasion.
Symphony, the third aptitude, is the ability to put pieces together into a winning combination. "What's in greatest demand today isn't analysis but synthesis—seeing the big picture and, crossing boundaries, being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole," Pink explains.
Empathy, the fourth aptitude, is needed because logic alone is not enough to convince anybody. Now, Pink argues, we need the "ability to understand what makes [our] fellow man or woman tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others."
People may still need to be serious at times, but Pink believes play, his fifth aptitude, will also be needed. "Too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being," he writes. "In the conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play."
Sixth and last of Pink's aptitudes is meaning. In a world of breathtaking plenty, hundreds of millions of people are free to pursue purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.
In arguing his case, Pink—a lawyer by training—offers copious evidence, largely anecdotal. One of his witnesses is the humble toaster. This kitchen appliance is rarely used more than 15 minutes a day. The rest of the time the toaster is merely part of the decor. For that reason, design may do more for a toaster's market success than functionality.
To boost your right-brain abilities, Pink has these suggestions: Walking a labyrinth can inspire you with meaning. Tape-recording friends' stories can build up your story capabilities. Taking an acting class could juice your empathy. Joining one of the world's 2,500 laughter clubs should raise your play quotient. (Laughter clubs were started by a physician in Mumbai, India, who believes an international laughter epidemic can bring world peace.)
A Whole New Mind is a highly original, well-researched, and thoughtful effort to offer practical help for people caught in the career-wrecking upheavals in today's workplace. Pink has not discovered a sure-fire cure for the job problems of the developed nations, but he deserves high marks for tackling forthrightly a bafflingly complex issue and coming up with specific suggestions that many people may find useful.
About the Reviewer
Edward Cornish, founding president of the World Future Society, is editor of THE
FUTURIST and author of Futuring: The Exploration of the Future (World Future
Society, 2004).
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