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Contact dan pink at dan@danpink.com Meet the MasterMinds: Daniel Pink on a Whole New Mind In his first book, Free Agent Nation, Daniel Pink chronicled the rise and impact of the new world of work. His recent book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, takes us a step further to describe how to thrive in an outsourced, automated, and upside down world. Pink is a contributing editor at Wired magazine. His articles on business and technology have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company. He is popular speaker, and has provided analysis on television and radio broadcasts, including CNBC's Power Lunch, ABC's World News Tonight, and NPR's Morning Edition. MCNews talked to Pink about why consultants should embrace a whole new mind. MCNews: You say we are in transition from the information age to the conceptual age. What does that mean, and how is the change manifesting itself? Pink: Well, the scales are tipping away from what it used to take for people to get ahead—logical, linear, left-brain, and spreadsheet-type abilities—in favor of abilities like artistry, empathy, and big-picture thinking, which are becoming more valuable. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They’re just not sufficient anymore. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They’re just not sufficient anymore. MCNews: Aren’t some industries, like advertising, built around conceptual, right-brain thinking? Pink: Sure. Besides advertising, another example is the motion picture industry, which is about narrative, or story-telling. Increasingly, consumer products companies are also tapping into right-brain skills. Procter & Gamble, for instance, is relying more and more on design. And Target is competing successfully against Wal-Mart, not on the left-brain dimension of price, but on the right-brain dimension of design. I’m surprised that more companies haven’t followed that lead. MCNews: Are there companies that have made the transition to the conceptual age? Pink: The grocery chain, Whole Foods, is an interesting example. The retail grocery industry is a low-margin, cutthroat business. And yet, Whole Foods exacts premium prices by appealing to customers using the right-brain sensibility of wholeness and the back stories of products as a differentiator. The success of Whole Foods is phenomenal. The figures are impressive on every dimension—number of stores opened, revenue, profits, and stock price. In a business where the typical strategy is to go for economies of scale, cut costs, and eke out a tiny bit more of a margin, Whole Foods has taken a different tack. The focus of Whole Foods is on the customer’s grocery shopping for the family as a holistic experience. It’s about wellness, and doing something good for the world on a small scale. That approach may seem touchy-feely, but Whole Foods is outperforming every other grocery chain in America. MCNews: Is this trend finding its way into traditional, left-brained businesses? Pink: Yes. At a recent shareholders’ meeting, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said, “What we've got at GM now is a general comprehension that you can't run this business by the left, intellectual, analytical side of the brain. You have to have a lot of right side, creative input. We are in the arts and entertainment business, and we're putting a huge emphasis on world-class design." That’s a 70-year-old former Marine saying we tried running the company in a left-brain way and it didn’t work. We have to start running it in a right-brain way. Lutz is a serious figure in the automotive industry. When GM is in the arts business, we’re all in the arts business. Pink: The best career move is to find what you love to do, what you’re great at, and pursue that. I think you will be more valuable in the workforce. If you love accounting and you’re great at it, you’re going to be okay. I worry about the folks who pursue careers because their parents, teachers, or spouses give them outdated advice and they’re dutifully marching into careers they don’t really care about because they think it’s the way to make money. Not only is that bad for their individual self-actualization but I think it’s a bad career move, too. MCNews: Thanks. I really appreciate your time. You can find out more about Daniel Pink, his books, and services at www.danpink.com. http://www.managementconsultingnews.com /interviews/pink_interview. Can you spread this message? Of course you can! Equipment by Edgar A. Guest ---------------------------------------------------------- Figure it out for yourself, my lad. You’ve got all that the greatest of men have had, Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes, And a brain to use if you would be wise. With this equipment they all began, So start for the top and say, "I Can." Look them over, the wise and the great, They take their food from a common plate, And similar knives and forks they use, With similar laces they tie their shoes. The world consider them brave and smart, But you’ve got all they had when they made their start. You can triumph and come to skill, You can be great if you only will. You’re well equipped for the fight you choose, You have arms and legs and a brain to use. And the man who has risen great deeds to do, Began his life with no more than you. You are the handicap you must face, You are the one who must choose your place, You must say where you want to go, How much you will study the truth to know. God has equipped you for life, but He Lets you decide what you want to be. Courage must come from the soul within, The man must furnish the will to win. So figure it out for yourself, my lad, You were born with all the great have had, With your equipment they all began. Get hold of yourself, and say: "I Can." from Collected Verse of Edgar Guest NY:Buccaneer Books, 1976, pg. 666 Share this message with students... SEE MENTORS page http://www.appleseeds.org/guest_equipment.htm Ask to become a MENTOR ON VIDEO www.MentorsOnVideo.com The three questions 1. what do you remember learning in Middle School that you continue to use today? (what continues to be relevant?) 2. What do you find useful that you could have learned in Middle School but didn't? (A suggestion to middle school teachers) 3. What are you reading today that you find useful? (give an example about how you are continuing to learn and take time for reading books and articles). Your replies to these questions will be shown to middle school and high school students. The idea is to increase relevance and to help students see that adults can be mentors… Are you a mentor? If you want the Mentor Kit and Quotations to Inspire Mentors, please write to s2314@tmail.com to learn more. www.DoubleMoonShot.com Are you ready for the Flat World? Connect with other cultures www.oocities.org/talkinternational1/bibbi BuildingInternationalBridgesByInternet Contact me analyst@comcast.net mistermath@comcast.net globalcooling@comcast.net Plant trees www.treesftf.org Quotes from Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind "A designer gives to the world something it didn't know it was missing." -- Paola Antonelli, curator of design, MOMA "Design is shaping our surroundings to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives." -- John Heskett, Toothpicks and Logos: design in our everyday life. Design is utility enhanced by meaning. Three forces are shaping our world: Asia, automation and abundance. Daniel Pink recommends that we ask three questions about our work: 1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper? 2. Can a computer do it faster? 3. Does my product offer meaning to a customer in an abundant society? 3.3 million white collar jobs in the USA will shift to low-cost countries by 2015. Nations like Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom will see similar job losses. -- quoted in Pink's A WHOLE NEW MIND From Lee Brower (empoweredwealth.com): An Opportunity Filter (a series of questions to filter out opportunities from distractions) Is the project in line with our values? Will the project increase our abilities and will it use our unique talents? Does this project make sense financially? How will this project benefit society? Is this project a gateway opportunity or is it just a single transaction? From Daniel Pink (danpink.com): Asia, Automation and Abundance Can someone overseas do it cheaper? Can a computer do it faster? AM I offering something that satisfied the nonmaterial desires of our abundant society? I'm working on www.4Sigmas.com and www.FourSigmas.com Get the BIG PICTURE www.bigpicture.org Here’s the link: http://www.chroniclewebs.com/ met/metOnNpr.mp3 www.DoubleMoonShot.com Listening to Mr. Friedman Some clever quotations to inspire us > You never grow old until you've lost all of your marvels. Merry Browne Don't wait for inspiration to find you -- go out and hunt it down. Jack London > Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them. Josie Bissett > Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down. Kobi Yamada > If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. Lou Whitaker > Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting. Anonymous Take the everyday and make it strange. Take the strange and make it everyday. – Steve Powers ESPO, graffiti artist To SUBSCRIBE visit: http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/ history.html |
| Meet the MasterMinds: Daniel Pink on a Whole New Mind
In his first book, Free Agent Nation, Daniel Pink chronicled the rise and impact of the new world of work. His recent book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, takes us a step further to describe how to thrive in an outsourced, automated, and upside down world. Pink is a contributing editor at Wired magazine. His articles on business and technology have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company. He is popular speaker, and has provided analysis on television and radio broadcasts, including CNBC's Power Lunch, ABC's World News Tonight, and NPR's Morning Edition. MCNews talked to Pink about why consultants should embrace a whole new mind. MCNews: You say we are in transition from the information age to the conceptual age. What does that mean, and how is the change manifesting itself? Pink: Well, the scales are tipping away from what it used to take for people to get ahead—logical, linear, left-brain, and spreadsheet-type abilities—in favor of abilities like artistry, empathy, and big-picture thinking, which are becoming more valuable. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They’re just not sufficient anymore. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They’re just not sufficient anymore. MCNews: Aren’t some industries, like advertising, built around conceptual, right-brain thinking? Pink: Sure. Besides advertising, another example is the motion picture industry, which is about narrative, or story-telling. Increasingly, consumer products companies are also tapping into right-brain skills. Procter & Gamble, for instance, is relying more and more on design. And Target is competing successfully against Wal-Mart, not on the left-brain dimension of price, but on the right-brain dimension of design. I’m surprised that more companies haven’t followed that lead. MCNews: Are there companies that have made the transition to the conceptual age? Pink: The grocery chain, Whole Foods, is an interesting example. The retail grocery industry is a low-margin, cutthroat business. And yet, Whole Foods exacts premium prices by appealing to customers using the right-brain sensibility of wholeness and the back stories of products as a differentiator. The success of Whole Foods is phenomenal. The figures are impressive on every dimension—number of stores opened, revenue, profits, and stock price. In a business where the typical strategy is to go for economies of scale, cut costs, and eke out a tiny bit more of a margin, Whole Foods has taken a different tack. The focus of Whole Foods is on the customer’s grocery shopping for the family as a holistic experience. It’s about wellness, and doing something good for the world on a small scale. That approach may seem touchy-feely, but Whole Foods is outperforming every other grocery chain in America. MCNews: Is this trend finding its way into traditional, left-brained businesses? Pink: Yes. At a recent shareholders’ meeting, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said, “What we've got at GM now is a general comprehension that you can't run this business by the left, intellectual, analytical side of the brain. You have to have a lot of right side, creative input. We are in the arts and entertainment business, and we're putting a huge emphasis on world-class design." That’s a 70-year-old former Marine saying we tried running the company in a left-brain way and it didn’t work. We have to start running it in a right-brain way. Lutz is a serious figure in the automotive industry. When GM is in the arts business, we’re all in the arts business. MCNews: What’s the impact of the conceptual age on the workplace, particularly as it relates to the people you hire? Pink: You want to hire people who have the kind of right-brain abilities that can’t be outsourced or automated, and that satisfy some of the nonmaterial needs of this abundant age. If you peel that back, what you want is people who are intrinsically motivated. That is, they are doing what they love. And it tends to be right-brain activities that generate that kind of motivation. For instance, people don’t become designers because they want to make a gazillion dollars, but because they love it. They’re almost compelled to do it. Same thing is true with story-telling and even empathy. These abilities are part of our nature—the things that we’re motivated to do, not for the extrinsic rewards, but for internal fulfillment, joy, and challenge. Now it turns out happily enough that these abilities increasingly confer an economic advantage. So hire people who are intrinsically motivated. They will end up doing great work, and they display abilities that have enormous value in a world where so many other skills can be outsourced or digitized. MCNews: But many companies fail to tap that part of their employees’ capabilities. Pink: That’s right. Every weekend, I’m sure there are accountants in their garages painting water colors, or lawyers writing screenplays. But I doubt there is anybody with a day job as a sculptor who, for fun on the weekends, does other people’s taxes. Many people went into the professions out of a sense of economic need, which made perfect sense. But maybe they weren’t naturally motivated in that direction. I see an increasing congruence between the talents that confer an advantage in labor markets and what people are intrinsically motivated to do. MCNews: In the past, people “dropped out” of the corporate rat race to do what they really loved. Are you’re saying that doing what you love is the best way to reach your professional goals? Pink: The counsel to do what you love is actually very hardheaded advice right now. It’s not just an idealistic notion. I think it’s the best way to get ahead today. And that was not necessarily true in 1950. There’s a study—I think by Gartner—that shows fewer and fewer young people want to become computer programmers. Partly that’s a reaction to what they perceive to be labor market signals because they see so many stories about programming jobs going overseas. But the other thing people are saying is that a lot of computer programming is fairly routine, or rote. People are, in some cases, willing to do routine work. If it generates a high income, people are willing to make that trade off. But work that is routine has the potential for offshoring or automation. And so, people may be saying, it’s not that fun or creative to begin with, but it also doesn’t confer reliable rewards. What confers the greatest rewards and what we want to do anyway is the stuff that taps greater artistry, empathy, creativity, and big-picture thinking. MCNews: Coming back to the workplace, if you’re operating a business in a conceptual age, what’s the best working environment to create for people so they stay with you? Pink: You need to allow people a certain measure of autonomy to do great work but also hold them accountable. You’ve got to have deadlines and measures of accountability. You can’t just have a free-for-all where everyone sits around and paints all day and no one actually serves customers. So, in general, promote autonomy and relinquish a measure of control. And to the extent it’s possible, create a context that allows people’s intrinsic motivation to flourish and that makes the work part of something larger than the individual. Organizations that provide a sense of purpose, that connect individuals’ talents and aspirations to a larger goal are the ones that are going to succeed. You already see that in a remarkable way with a lot of companies. Google, for example, talks about wanting to do great things for the world even if it means sacrificing some short-term profits. Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, speaks about meaning and purpose. He says that the reason people want to work for GE is that they want to be about something larger than themselves. MCNews: Has the shift to the conceptual changed how companies are organized? Pink: Yes. I think we’re seeing the emergence of companies that you might call not-only-for-profit. They’re profit driven, but that’s not their only driving force. They want to be about something beyond making their quarterly numbers and returning wealth to shareholders. This is different from the Ben & Jerry’s socially responsible kind of company. GE is making a monumental investment in green technologies in part because it’s a good thing, in part because it’s a lucrative thing. It’s the same with Google. Google’s mission is to democratize information and to put facts and knowledge at people’s fingertips. But that’s good business too. Creating not-only-for-profit companies that plug people’s individual talents into a larger purpose becomes very important, particularly for baby boomers. MCNews: The professional services business has traditionally been left-brained. What advice would you give professional services providers so their practices thrive in the conceptual age? Pink: Well, they need to think through the same imperatives: Are you doing something that someone overseas can’t do cheaper, or that a computer can’t do faster? Does what you do satisfy some of the spiritual, emotional, or esthetic needs of our society? I think that design has become a fundamental literacy in business, particularly for consultants. Accountants, for example, may become this generation’s blue-collar workers. They are imperiled by cheaper workers overseas, and by the ability to put many accounting measures into a system of rules in a piece of software. Sarbanes Oxley is keeping accountants busy today. But once compliance with Sarbanes Oxley becomes automated, look out. Some consulting work, particularly research and entry-level, analytical tasks, could be outsourced. So success is not only about raw analytical abilities, having a high math SAT score, and going to a good business school. Your ability to draw on right-brain skills has become much more important. For instance, I think that design has become a fundamental literacy in business, particularly for consultants. Whether it’s industrial design, graphic design, environmental design, or even fashion design, a good consultant must be literate in that now to go into an organization and offer useful advice. And, again, I really do think that more companies, partly out of enlightened self-interest, are going to morph into not-only-for-profits. And they’re going to need guidance to change from left-brained companies in the pursuit of making those quarterly numbers to companies that are more right-brained—companies that can attract talented, intrinsically motivated people. That’s a tough transition for companies to make, and I think consultants could help with that. MCNews: Have any consulting firms shifted their services to help clients succeed in the conceptual age? Pink: Some of the big consultancies are branching into architectural consulting because the physical design of the workplace has productivity-enhancing potential. You can reengineer business processes and that can boost productivity, but the physical layout and design of office space turns out to have value as well. That requires a very different sensibility than streamlining the supply chain or decreasing the number of steps in the procurement process. Workplace design is very hard to automate because it involves a physical presence, intuition, looking around, and getting a feel for things. That’s right-brain work. MCNews: One last question: if you were going to give somebody just one piece of advice about how to be successful in this new age, what would it be? Pink: The best career move is to find what you love to do, what you’re great at, and pursue that. I think you will be more valuable in the workforce. If you love accounting and you’re great at it, you’re going to be okay. I worry about the folks who pursue careers because their parents, teachers, or spouses give them outdated advice and they’re dutifully marching into careers they don’t really care about because they think it’s the way to make money. Not only is that bad for their individual self-actualization but I think it’s a bad career move, too. MCNews: Thanks. I really appreciate your time. You can find out more about Daniel Pink, his books, and services at www.danpink.com. http://www.managementconsultingnews.com /interviews/pink_interview.php Here's more Is design school the new MBA? In A Whole New Mind, author Daniel Pink writes that it's now more difficult to get into UCLA's fine arts graduate school than it is to get into Harvard's MBA program. Here's why. A master of fine arts, an MFA, is now one of the hottest credentials in a world where even General Motors is in the art business… Because of abundance, businesses are realizing that the only way to differentiate their goods and services in today's overstocked market place is to make their offerings physically beautiful and emotionally compelling. So what skills are needed to thrive in a world of abundance? Daniel introduces six high-concept senses to complement our analytical minds. Two of those senses follow: 1. Not just argument but also Story. It's not enough to marshal an effective argument. Someone somewhere will inevitably track down a counterpoint to rebut your point. The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability also to fashion a compelling narrative. 2. Not just focus but also Symphony. 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. You may have noticed that some MBA schools have started programs that help graduates navigate uncertainty and see the big picture -- these programs blend business and technology. Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the School of Management at UTD, said in an interview that graduates of UTD's new MBA program, which combines business and technology classes, are a business dream come true. And it's true… With Dr. Pirkul's approach, project managers are transformed into project leaders. Now, consider those MFA students. If I were allowed to tweak their curriculum, I'd add three or four marketing classes. What's the goal of these additional classes? • To eliminate corporate lines of communication. • To break down information silos. • To help students synthesize marketing and design concepts. Yes, this does sound like a lot of work. But we can make sense of this extra work through story. In story, the hero makes a personal sacrifice, and people appear who are willing to help and follow the hero. Without the benefits of marketing classes, some artists who have joined a business may wish they could paint a 3D portrait of Excalibur, and draw upon it to cut the knot of management. On the other hand, the heroes who have studied design and marketing wield a two-edged sword -- and the ability to create proof. These ambidextrous thinkers can break down silos of information and synthesize the information into coherent action. To the point where they make things happen in an organization that no one else can. To sharpen your mind, Daniel does more than lecture you about the benefits of right-brain exercise. No, he also provides a list of resources and techniques to heighten your conceptual senses. Although, I would add one more resource: James Bonnet's storymaking seminar should also be on your list because this seminar gives you the tools to create meaningful stories. http://sneiderhauser.typepad.com/blog/2005/04 /is_design_schoo.html How about that? Visit other Pink pages... |