Product Description

A GROUND-BREAKING GUIDE TO SURVIVING, THRIVING, AND FINDING MEANING IN A WORLD ROCKED BY THE OUTSOURCING OF JOBS ABROAD AND THE COMPUTERIZATION OF OUR LIVES.

The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind: computer programmers who could write code, lawyers who could craft contracts, accountants who could crunch numbers. The future, however, belongs to a very different kind of person with a different kind of mind. The future belongs to creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning-makers.

This book describes a huge – but mainly undetected – shift now underway. We are moving from an economy and society built on logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the information age to an economy and society built on the inventive, empathic, big picture capabilities of what is rising in its place, the Conceptual Age. In this book, Daniel Pink describes six essential aptitudes - a whole new mind - that professional success and personal satisfaction will depend on in the new age, which anyone can master

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #425909 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do With My Life
"A Whole New Mind is a very important, convincingly argued, and mind-altering book."

Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence and Re-Imagine!
"This book is a miracle... [Dan Pink] provides an original and profound and practical guidebook for survival - and joy."

From the Inside Flap
"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

"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

"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

Customer Reviews

A Vision for an Improved Way of Solving Problems
Ever since Peter Drucker pointed out that the future performance of organizations in the developed world would be in the hands of knowledge workers, we've been blessed with an understanding that the dominant economic focus can shift rapidly into new directions. Prior to that, the industrial age had lasted for over two centuries. The agricultural age that preceded it lasted several thousand years, and the hunter-gatherer age had lasted even longer.

What is the conceptual age? It's a time when due to applying all of our brain's many functions and the many advances of technology that we enjoy, a person can imagine totally different ways to serve and entertain others. Imagination is the limit.

A number of people have preceded Mr. Pink's message in partial ways such as those who have written about the entertainment economy, works about serious play, cataloguers of storytelling best practices and those who consider emotional intelligence.

But I think Mr. Pink's concept is both bigger and more accurate than that which has preceded this book. Most methods of making improvements only harness parts of our capabilities and serve only parts of our needs. Anyone who has sat in a traffic jam recently realizes that. What good is s beautiful sports car if traffic is bumping along at 10 mph? Put that same driver into a Grand Prix simulator, and the person comes alive in a way that's almost beyond belief.

Mr. Pink points out six key opportunities to supplement traditional, linear thinking. These are design, story, symphony (integration of disparate elements), empathy, play and meaning.

I think, however, that Mr. Pink is wrong about these being the primarily undeveloped senses. Given what I've read about brain research, I wouldn't be surprised if aroma, physical touch, musical stimulation, simulation and directed meditation didn't end up being as, if not more, important.

Some will be disappointed that Mr. Pink doesn't give them a manual to operate in the new age. Given how little we know about how to engage one another in these other ways, time will have to pass before we have what amounts to instructions. In the meantime, Mr. Pink does a good job of pointing towards experiences and books that can help with whole brain development.

If you think the problem with the economy is that we have too few engineers, you should read this book. It'll take you ahead into a future you need to start preparing for now.

To give you a sense of how important I think Mr. Pink's concept is, I made this book the focus of this week's briefing for The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.

Insightful
A very easy read providing 'food for thought' about the skills we'll all need in work in the 21st Century. Provides excellent action centred ideas for the reader and lots of hot tips to survive and thrive in the new digitised world. The story is interesting and easy to read ( quick read in 2 sittings) and has a relaxed style. One for all those wondering how to get ahead of the rest and live life to the full.

Maintaining the lead
Thanks to Chris Heuer advertising the fact this was his current book I decided to give it a spin.

Being at the cutting point of where this book starts I was very keen to compare Daniel's views with my own. On the whole he's absolutlely spot on about the truths of globalisation and what that means to labour markets in the western world.

My concern however is that Daniel has highlighted a solution to competing against Asia which might well be taken as an assumption that these skills won't be replicated with ease by the western world's key competitors : India and China.

I think the book needs to be read by anyone who is at risk of being commoditized by either technology, offshore markets or competitor products that take market share from you because of your weakness in design. Daniel very clearly justifies the reality of these weaknesses for many westerners - I just don't know if I can believe that his solution of 'six senses' will be enough to maintain competitiveness in these times of change. However, that said there is no reason why one should not use ALL the tricks 'in the book' especially the ones in this book ;-)