The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

The New Economy and the Right Brain

Marco R. della Cava of USA Today tells us that  "As companies continue to triage their way through this economic war, a growing chorus of cultural observers argue that recovery is contingent on the marriage of right-brain innovations with left-brain skill sets."

This article makes a great argument for the need to embrace innovative, entrepreneurial thinking. As Daniel Pink (quoted in the article) says "We're realizing that our economy is not about standardization."

The real challenge for those right brainers who are either out of work or "under employed"... is to convince employers of the need for your creative generalist, right brain approach.  What is the best way to do this? Your comments on this are welcome.

Click on the title (above) to go to the article.

As a matter of fact, it IS a right brain world

Thomas Friedman, being interviewed in the May, 2006 Business Strategies Magazine, said:

"Lastly, I would say—there's a book called A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink and he argues you've got your left brain and you've got your right brain. Your left brain is all the kind of repetitive mass production functions, rather boring. Your right brain is all the synthesizing, empathetic storytelling, creative side of your mind, and that it's basically a right brain world. Everything, as Dan says, on the left side of your brain is either going to be done by a computer, faster or by an Indian, cheaper. So how we nurture those creative right brain skills in our students is really important."

Selling the Need for Conceptual Thinkers

Not too long ago, I heard Daniel Pink in an interview on NPR. I was inspired because I thought someone was finally speaking on a topic that was hardly being addressed anywhere else. He was speaking about the need for more conceptual thinkers, and suggested that businesses would soon turn to people with M.F.A.'s as oppossed to M.B.A.'s. In his book, A Whole New Mind, he said:

"But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys."

I would just add one thing to this: If this is to become true, someone must devise a strategy to sell the idea. For people to believe in the power of conceptual, right-brain thinkers, someone will have to first convince school administrators, politicians and CEO's. Perhaps we should step back for a second and begin thinking of ways to sell the concept. Yes, it's a good idea, but how do we convince others of this?

Navigating the Cyber-Learning Environment

New movements in consumer behavior sometimes sneak up on us. Consumers want to do things their way, and if they can find an easier, cheaper way to get what they want - They'll go after it. Take MP3s for example. There was nothing wrong with CD's in terms of ease of use and sound quality. But consumers, at times, wanted to download one or two tracks and not the whole album. They wanted to mix their own CDs and the freedom to instantaneously download and then play music. It took a while, but the music industry caught up to them. Proving this phenomenon was real, Apple's iTunes music store has already passed the billionth download of a song and the system they are primarily played on, iPods, have completely restored Apple to being a hugely profitable company.

Technology and the bottom-up revolution

MP3 players are not the only technology to make a bottom-up revolution possible. People can choose where they get their news and information or write their own on easy-to-use blogs. Companies like Technorati make it possible to syndicate a blog, or pick up news phenomena even if it is not being handled by one of the major news organizations.

Effect on Education

Will technology bring this type of bottom-up consumerism to education? Leaders in education have been quick to follow technological innovations. If teachers aren't driving it, then technically literate and game savvy students will. Adopting new technologies is unavoidable, but is also complex. Imagine being a teacher or administrator and trying to come up with plans that take into consideration podcasting, blogging, blog-portfolios, video-casts or even instant messaging. All the indicators show growth in these areas, which is why it is imperative to begin discussing creative and effective combinations. Thomas Friedman and Daniel Pink have been making the argument for more conceptual thinkers and generalists to help guide the way. In fact, in a recent article Friedman says that India and China will need more of these types of thinkers if their engineers, software developers and other technically trained people are to succeed.

Growth in Private Instruction

Growth in the tutoring markets also points to, what I think will be the next great combination, that of private instruction and instant messaging, AV technology. Imagine a system that will allow for expert opinion, coaching, assistance and teaching in real time, from anyone to anywhere. Given enough choices in this market, students and adults will be able to locate instruction and help from people who more closely match their needs and learning styles, creating an adaptable, catered learning environment. Watch for news from a company called Facebridge Research. They are developing a system which will help to monetize cyber-tutoring. The real creativity in all of this will come in the potential applications and combinations of this technology.

Are students ready for "the conceptual age?"

Standardized tests exist in every sector of the educational landscape. From the SAT to the GRE, LSAT and more, there is considerable interest in numbers. It makes it easy to quantify learning. But, if you give someone two separate ideas and ask them to combine them into one usable idea, or ask them to explain a phenomenon or interpret data, some of these great test takers might fall short. Why? Because the emphasis in education is on standardizing knowledge, not on creativity or abstract thinking. Even in 2005, we still expect students, for the most part, to think in a linear fashion. Yet, our world is changing... quickly. Daniel Pink, in A Whole New Mind, reports that we are entering a "conceptual age," when we will need people to think in new ways. Employers, according to Pink, will need students to see a larger picture, one where they can see trends, merge ideas and create new strategies. Richard Florida reports that there are nearly 40 million people now in the U.S. who are part of a "creative class." This group of teachers, musicians, artists, scientists and others makes up approximately 30 percent of the workforce. Also consider the observations of Tom Friedman in The World is Flat,that places like Bangalore and Beijing are becoming rival economic centers to US cities, and we have to ask ourselves, as educators, if we should make changes or additions to the curriculum.

Right Brain Thinking is the Key

Writer Dominic Basulto says: "Investors in the U.S. tech sector, take note: in a global knowledge-based economy, the company with the better talent wins." With hope, corporate CEO's will realize that better talent also means more "right brain" thinkers. In this article, Basulto refers to Daniel Pink's new book "A Whole New Mind."