Sunday, January 13, 2008

A Whole New Mind - or why your kid may not be a loser after all

I was out with friends last night. Had forgotten that a couple of months ago, I'd lent them a very interesting book called A Whole New Mind - Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World. Author is Daniel Pink.

Pink's premise is that the dominant age of left brainers - smart, logical, math-oriented nerd-types is over. It's over because all that logic stuff can be outsourced to Asia and other braniac, over-growth countries, or to computers who now apparently (makes sense) now know how to program other computers.

According to Pink, the future belongs to the creative ones - those right brain, artsy types who go into fashion, design and other 'soft-skilled' pursuits. He pulls a bunch of compelling facts to prove his point (hey, even McKinsey has changed its hiring practices - they're not all MBA's any more). Simplest argument Pink makes that we can all relate to is the modern auto - it has everything to do with design. Getting the wheels to go around was figured out a long time ago.



Back to my friends and their daughter's loser boy-friend. According to them the book has changed his life. His passions are completely artistic - and he's good at it (hell, he's learning to be an architect) but he's never felt appreciated or passionate about what's possible. Now he's passing out the book to everyone he knows. I could tell its made the parents feel a whole lot better too. As a side-note, the parents are ultra-successful entrepreneurs - and the book made perfect sense to them.

So if you're trying to feel a little better about your daughter's choice of university and the fact she's just dropped math and economics, this might be the book for you. She could be a star in the making.

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