Hi Folks,
Just came across a Book A whole New World by Daniel Pink.
According to him the future of work belongs to the right brained!!...all those who are passionate,creative ,avant-garde thinkers and innovators are poised to dominate the world!!..
Excerpts of the book
Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of "left brain" dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which "right brain" qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That's the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.
In the tradition of Emotional Intelligence and Now, Discover Your Strengths, Daniel H. Pink offers a fresh look at what it takes to excel. A Whole New Mind reveals the six essential aptitudes on which professional success and personal fulfillment now depend, and includes a series of hands-on exercises culled from experts around the world to help readers sharpen the necessary abilities. This book will change not only how we see the world but how we experience it as well.
The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. 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.
This book describes a seismic – though as yet undetected – shift now underway in much of the advanced world. We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age. A Whole New Mind is for anyone who wants to survive and thrive in this emerging world – people uneasy in their careers and dissatisfied with their lives, entrepreneurs and business leaders eager to stay ahead of the next wave, parents who want to equip their children for the future, and the legions of emotionally astute and creatively adroit people whose distinctive abilities the Information Age has often overlooked and undervalued.
In this book, you will learn the six essential aptitudes — what I call “the six senses”—on which professional success and personal satisfaction increasingly will depend. Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. These are fundamentally human aptitudes that everyone can master—and helping you do that is my goal.
****
A change of such magnitude is complex. But the argument at the heart of this book is simple. For nearly a century, western society in general, and American society in particular, has been dominated by a form of thinking and an approach to life that is narrowly reductive and deeply analytical. Ours has been the age of the “knowledge worker,” the well-educated manipulator of information and deployer of expertise. But that is changing. Thanks to an array of forces—material abundance that is deepening our nonmaterial yearnings, globalization that is shipping white-collar work overseas, and powerful technologies that are eliminating certain kinds of work altogether—we are entering a new age. It is an age animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life—one that prizes aptitudes that I call “high concept” and “high touch.” High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.
As it happens, there’s a convenient metaphor that encapsulates the change I’m describing—and it’s right inside your head. Your brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is sequential, textual, and analytical. The right hemisphere is simultaneous, contextual, and synthetic. Of course, we enlist both halves of our brains for even the simplest tasks. And the respective traits of the two hemispheres have often been caricatured well beyond what the science actually reveals. But the legitimate scientific differences between the two hemispheres of the brain do yield a powerful metaphor for interpreting our present and guiding our future. Today, the defining skills of the previous era—the metaphorically “left brain” capabilities that powered the Information Age—are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we once disdained or thought frivolous—the metaphorically “right brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness, and meaning—increasingly will determine who flourishes and who flounders. For individuals, families, and organizations, professional success and personal fulfillment now require a whole new mind. ”
Reviews
"Thought-provoking moments abound . . . Since Pink's last big idea (Free Agent Nation) has become a cornerstone of employee-management relations, expect just as much buzz around his latest theory."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Long on readable analysis and exercises to build [right brain] skills. For soon-to-be liberal-arts grads, it's an encouraging graduation gift."
-- Newsweek
"An audacious and powerful work."
-- Miami Herald
"Pink . . . has crafted a profound read."
-- Booklist
"Right on the money. . . If Daniel Pink is correct about the 21st-century workforce, then all those college majors that cause parents to grimace (art history? philosophy?) will gain newfound acceptance."
-- US News and World Report
"A breezy, good humored read . . . For those wishing to give their own creative muscles [a] workout, the book is full of exercises and resources."
-- Harvard Business Review
"Well-researched and delightfully well-written . . . laced with humor and profound insights . . . Pink has done a masterful job using both sides of his brain."
-- Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
"Will give you a new way to look at your work, your talent, your future."
-- Worthwhile magazine
"Guides readers with memorable anecdotes, convincing dollops of research and a slew of practical tips."
-- Globe and Mail
"This book is a miracle. On the one hand, it provides a completely original and profound analysis of the most pressing personal and economic issue of the days ahead -- how the gargantuan changes wrought by technology and globalization are going to impact the way we live and work and imagine the world. Then Dan Pink provides an equally profound and original and practical guidebook for survival -- and joy -- in this topsy-turvy environment. I was moved and disturbed and exhiliarated all at once."
-- Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence and Re-Imagine!
"A very important, convincingly argued, and mind-altering book."
-- Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do With My Life?
"Brilliant! Left brain, right brain, whole brain -- I love Dan Pink's brain. Read this book. Even more important, give this book to your children. They need to learn to think like Pink!"
-- Alan Webber, Founding Editor of Fast Company
"Wow! This is not a self-help book. It's way more important than that. It's one of those rare books that marks a turning point, one of those books you wish you read before everyone else did. Once again, Dan Pink nails it."
-- Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside
Get a copy fast ...
Cheers,
Rajat