"A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink - Book Review

  • Posted byAviLiranon September 3, 2011 at 12:30pm

If you want to "survive and thrive in this emerging world" of "High Concept - High Touch"; If you are "eager to stay ahead of the next wave"; If you are a "parents who want to equip their children for the future";This book will serve you well as a good introduction of concepts that you might want to enhance in your life and in your organization.

Daniel Pink gives you at the end of each chapter a few pages with resources that you can check and go deeper to explore the rise of the "Whole New Mind".

As you can see, I had decided to make a different summery of this book by giving you the quotes that I found useful for individuals and organization.

"But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands"

"We are moving from an economy and 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."

”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"

"Our brains are divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is sequential, logical, and analytical. The right hemisphere is nonlinear, intuitive, and holistic.... Today, the defining skills of the previous era—the “left brain” capabilities that powered the Information Age—are necessary but no longer sufficient."

They are NO LONGER SUFFICIENT in the developed world because of ABUNDANCE (consumers almost unlimited choices, nothing is scarce), ASIA (almost everything can be outsourced), AUTOMATION (computerization, robots, technology, processes).

How do you estimate the need to transform yourself and your business to the new age of High Concept and High Touch? Pink suggests the following questions:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?

2. Can a computer do it faster?

3. Is what I’m offering satisfies the growing number of non-material, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual demand of the new era.

"And the capabilities we once disdained or thought frivolous—the “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"

"The left hemisphere handles what is said; the right hemisphere focuses on how it’s said.”

"Neither side of the brain... can do the job without the other....In other words, living a healthy, happy, successful life depends on both hemispheres of your brain"

"R-Directed Thinking is beginning to achieve social and ECONOMIC parity, in many cases, primacy....L-Directed Thinking remains indispensable. It's just no longer sufficient. In the conceptual age what we need instead is a whole new mind"

We'll need to supplement our well-developed high-tech abilities with abilities that are 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....High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction..."

To equip ourselves with the tools for the new era, Pink suggests that we cultivate the following six essential senses:

•Design- Moving beyond function. Adding significance toutility and democracy of design."to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical or emotionally engaging". The iPhone is a good example to the power of design. Within a decade Apple managed to change places with Nokia in terms of revenue andprofitability.

•Story- Add compelling narrative to products and services "Not just argument but also story". "The key to moving theaudience is not to resist the impulse but to embrace it."

Pink shares the story of Steve Denning, who headed knowledge management at the World Bank and revolutionized it with this sense. "Storytellingdoesn't replace analytical thinking. Itsupplementsit byenablingus to imagine new perspective and new worlds".
•Symphony- Beyond focus on the details. "Synthesis - seeing the big picture, "recognizing patterns, crossing boundaries to uncover hidden connections, and making bold leaps of imagination". Being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole".

"Symphony, as I call this aptitude, is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answer; and to invent something new but combining elements nobody else thought to pair."
•Empathy- Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition. "What will distinguish those who thrive will be their ability to understand what makes their fellow women or man tick, to forge relationships, and to CARE for others." In this chapter Pink gives great examples from the healthcare sector.

"Empathy allows us to see the other side of an argument, comfort someone in distress, and bite our lip instead of muttering something snide.Empathy builds self-awareness, bonds parent to child, allows us to work together, and provides the scaffolding for our morality"

"Empathy is largely about emotion - feeling what another is feeling. But emotions generally don't reveal themselves in L-Directed (left brain - analytical) ways. Then he quotes Daniel Goleman, theauthorof EmotionalIntelligence:"People's emotions are rarely put into words; far more often they are expressed through other cues.Just as the mode of the rational mind is words the mode of the emotions is nonverbal" And the main canvas for displaying those emotions is the face"
•Play- Add to the needed serious precision of delivery of your SOPs the needed balance. Add the proven benefits of playfulness, appropriate joy, humor and light-heartedness to enhance your connection, thus your opportunities and to contribute to better well-being. It was nice to see at thebeginningof the chapter the photo of my laughter guru Dr. Katria (when he had hair).

"Games can be ultimate learning machine. Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and manipulating them.

“Humor embodies many of the righthemisphere’s most powerful attributes — the ability to place situations in context, to glimpse the big picture, and to combine differing perspectives into new alignments.”

Pink quotesFabio Sala from his article in the Harvard Business Review:"Humor, used skill-fully greases the management wheels. It reduces hostility, deflects criticism, relieves tension, improves morale, and helps communicate difficult messages. A natural facility with humor is intertwined with, and appears to be, a marker for a much broader managerial trait: high emotional intelligence."

He cautions what to avoid: "Negative humor, for instance can be especially destructive."..."But used more sensibly, humor can be a clarifying organizational elixir".

“Research by Goleman and the Hay Group has found that within organizations, the most effective leaders were funny (that is,funny ha-ha, notfunny strange). These leaders had their charges laughing three times more often that their managerial counterparts.”

Pink adds a quote by Albert Einstein: "Games are the most elevated form of investigation"

•Meaning- "Pursue more significant desires; purpose, transcendence and spiritual fulfilment.

Pink tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankl and his book "Man Search for Meaning" (A great book to read!!!)

Victor Frankl said: "Happiness cannot be pursued; it must be ensue”. Pink shares of the work of Dr. Martin Seligman on Signature Strengths.

About the authorDaniel Pink trained as a lawyer and joyfully boasts the fact that henever practiced law. He has worked as a political aid to the US Secretary of State for Labor and was a political speechwriter for the past Vice President Al Gore. Today he is an author and commentator on a variety of subjects associated with employment, business and technology.

1. What “power” did the iPhone have that allow it to replace Nokia from as the top cell phone maker?

2. How is the Frisbee related to “symphony”? (If you can’t figure this out, email me, ok? <>)

3. “Empathy allows us to see ______“