A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future Review

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(More customer reviews)A Whole New Mind $16.47 US, is a 2005 release from Daniel H. Pink that covers creative thinking and other aspects of success. Ostensibly geared toward career pros, this non-fiction title analyzes transitions in society as America migrates from an Information Age to a Conceptual Age economy. The text in Dan's book is not academic -- instead it is more biographical, intuitive, observational, and playful. His book is a real triple threat of content, style, and visual presentation.
Word to the wise -- you are in for a slightly different book here -- right of the bat, the author walks us through the procedure of having his brain scanned as part of a project conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington D.C. This unorthodox introduction (with four photo illustrations) is welcomed by the reader, as it gives the chapter an introspective quality. Pink shares this experience to illustrate normal brain function -- to note a few misconceptions about the way the brain divides work -- and then posits that while most people integrate both left and right brain activity, R-Directed Thinking will increasingly be relied upon in the future, by people that want to succeed in business or life.
Here is the crux of what Pink is trying to relay. America is currently organized around a cadre of accountants, doctors, engineers, executives and lawyers. These "knowledge workers" excel at the ability to acquire and marry facts to data, and these abilities are typically accrued through a series of standardized tests such as the PSAT, SAT, GMAT, LSAT and MCAT. (As an aside, Bush's test-happy Department of Education only serves to increase the number of L-Directed Thinkers, providing corporations cheap labor in abundance.) Pink asserts this regime of L-Directed Thinking in America is diminishing due to three factors: Abundance, Asia, and Automation.
Our guide Dan conjectures -- that in this age of Abundance -- appealing only to functional, logical, and rational requirements is not enough. Design, empathy, play, and other "soft" aptitudes have become the focal point for individuals and companies that want to stand out above the others in a crowded marketplace. Look no further than Apple's design-triumph, the physically appealing and emotionally compelling iPod, for quick confirmation of this notion!
Looking at trends, Pink concludes outsourcing of white-collar jobs (knowledge work) to nations in Asia will have profound "long term effects" on the economic well-being of Australia, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. Just as factory jobs flowed out of the country during the eighties, globalization of white-collar jobs will soon follow. Consequently, most Americans will need to come up with a new skill set that is not abundant overseas.
Even if Pink is wrong, and Abundance and Asia aren't transforming America, rest assured that Automation is. In long paragraphs, Pink cites specific examples of how Computer Programming, Law, and Medicine have been radically altered by technology. You'll notice this trend in even simpler venues (like self-checkout at supermarket and department store chains) throughout the US. Implication of Pink's research? Transaction based jobs may soon start declining.
Now here are a few key items worthy of consideration -- when it comes to your present or future career track -- according to Dan. Can computers do it faster? Can overseas labor do it cheaper? Are your skills in demand? Are your skills overly abundant?
Eventually we'll all have to find new jobs, Pink theorizes. The Agricultural Age and Industrial Age have fallen away, and the Information Age is fading fast. We're hurtling into the Conceptual Age, where the majority of jobs will be held by people that create something, or by people that are capable of empathizing with others. Most of these jobs will require care, humor, imagination, ingenuity, instinct, joyfulness, personal rapport, or social dexterity.
Writer Pink explains High Concept, High Touch, avenues of growth that are likely to appear, delves into the importance of gaining an MBA or MFA, and then compares the differences between IQ and Emotional Intelligence in rough metaphor. He then closes Part One with two pages of observation on the baby boomer generation, and their newfound gravitation toward meaning and transcendence, and away from the allure of wealth.
Most of A Whole New Mind actually resides in Part Two, wherein Mr. Pink delineates a complex theory of the "six senses" that one could harvest to build a whole new mind. In Dan's worldview, Design is an asset above function. Story is an asset above argument. Symphony is an asset above focus. Empathy is an asset above logic. Play is an asset above seriousness, and Meaning is an asset above accumulation. After an extensive essay about each of these six components, Pink includes a "portfolio" of exercises (further reading, tools, and websites) that one could call upon to enhance this mindset, all being useful.
In the interest of keeping this review at one thousand words I've concentrated on the first half of the book -- since that is the framework that the book is built around. I will allow you the pleasure of reading the majority of part two on your own, but I'll lightly sketch some factoids that I enjoyed in the "portfolios" accompanying Dan's groupings.

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Watches Tell More Than Time: Product Design, Information, and the Quest for Elegance Review

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(More customer reviews)"Watches Tell More than Time" is about how industrial designers influence the emotional responses that their products create. (Note: it's primarily concerned with physical objects, as opposed to computer software, which gets a lot of design press these days).
It explains these responses in terms of evolutionary psychology. And, in what I consider to be the reason to read the book, it tells you how to measure and optimize them. That is, it lays out the theoretical underpinnings for a small set of attributes (contrast, novelty, objective concinnity, and subjective concinnity) that are fundamentally responsible for our emotional responses to objects, then describes a systematic process by which you can strengthen the responses that you consider important for a given product, and then measure your success (using a semantic differential scale) and find out you whether you have simultaneously weakened other desirable responses.
There is some jargon, but it's well defined and to the point, and anyone interested in design should have no problem understanding it.
It's at its best when the author delves into specific examples. Many are from his experience in the car design field; others are everyday items that everyone can relate to. The detailed deconstruction of a "simple" Corelle cup is outstanding -- I wish the book had a dozen more like it.
The book's major weakness is the amount of time devoted to relatively elementary concepts, such as contrast and novelty. (How many times and in how many ways do we need to be told, for example, that new things command more of our attention than familiar ones?) I finished several chapters in a row thinking "OK, now that's he's got that out of his system, he's about to get to the good stuff." Eventually he does, but the repetition beforehand is why my rating is four stars, not five.
Note: The book is _not_ about what I might call the "mechanics of aesthetics". How is it that Curve A feels dull while Curve B -- a subtle, almost unnoticeable variation -- seems taut and alive? Why does this union of materials and forms seem exactly right, even inspiring, but that one fails to catch the eye?
For example, the author calls SUVs outwardly "robust", "rugged", and "militaristic". That feels right, but what makes it so? What is it, exactly, about the shapes and lines of an SUV that evoke such a different reaction than is typical for a minivan ("bland", "boring", "utilitarian")? Each is, after all, more like the other than like a sedan. Yet no one would have trouble identifying the type from a picture -- even without telltale backgrounds of the Rockies vs a youth soccer field. Each time I think I've got it nailed down, I see a counter-example on the road. I think it's mostly a matter of the angle between the hood and windshield, and the height of the grille. But that just begs the question: why are the more acute angle and higher grille more aggressive in the first place? A lower grille and gentler angle are considered more aggressive in a sports car.
"Watches Tell More than Time" tantalizingly dances around such questions, but fundamentally doesn't attempt to answer them. But it leaves you better equipped to wrestle with the answers yourself. (A sports car has different emotional goals than an SUV.)
So the book won't make you an industrial designer any more than a trip to the art supply store will make you an artist. Instead, it introduces you to a fundamental chunk of an industrial designer's toolkit. If you've already internalized "talk to your users" and "keep it simple", and you want a deeper understanding of how some products are able to become beloved icons, you'll probably find very interesting material here.

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From Audis to iMacs, Beetles to palm-tops, the design secrets behind some of the biggest business success stories of all times

"Del Coates has written a definitive playbook for product managers on how to cultivate winning design leadership strategies."­­Betty Baugh, President of the Industrial Designers Society of America

In Watches Tell More Than Time, awardwinning designer and mentor Del Coates explains the importance of product design for businesspeople and other nondesigners. From an explanation of the physiology of our responses to product design, to secrets of achieving harmony and elegance, to the impact of computer-assisted modeling on modern design, Coates covers the topic from every angle, using real-life product design case studies to illustrate his points. A lively and accessible exploration of the fascinating world of product design, written by an internationally acknowledged master, Watches Tell More Than Time will appeal to managers and executives, marketing professionals, and design junkies interested in the subject.

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The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) Review

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(More customer reviews)Those who have read Denning's The Springboard and/or Squirrel Inc. already know that he specializes in knowledge management and organizational storytelling. In this volume, he develops his core concepts in much greater depth, acknowledging his high regard for Peter Senge's vision of the Total Learning Organization as delineated in his pioneer volume, The Fifth Discipline. Briefly, in it Senge suggests that there are five separate but interrelated "disciplines": building a Shared Vision which enables an organization to build a common commitment to the same long-term goals; formulating Mental Models which guide, inform, and sustain creativity and innovation; encouraging and supporting Team Learning; Personal Mastery of certain skills which enable an individual to learn and understand more and thus perform at a higher level of competence; and finally, Systems Thinking which establishes a holistic view, both of one's organization and of the marketplace in which it pursues success.
In his Introduction to this book, Denning asserts that "the best way to communicate with people you are trying to lead is very often through a story. The impulse here is practical and pedagogical. [The Leader's Guide to Storytelling] shows how to use storytelling to deal with the most difficult challenges faced by leadership today." Denning wholly agrees with Senge that a learning organization is an environment "where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together." However, while agreeing on the importance of "systems thinking" as a way of looking at systems as a whole that will enable people to see complex chains of causation and so solve complex problems, Denning has three concerns which he shares on page 253. By the time his reader arrives at that point in the narrative, she or he may well share the same concerns.
My purpose in this brief commentary is to focus on what I consider to be Denning's key points as he explains why and how storytelling is often the best way for leaders to communicate with those whom they are trying to lead. What he offers is a cohesive and comprehensive system. These are the core principles, as discussed thoroughly in Chapters 3-10:
1. Select and then tell the story which is most appropriate for the given leadership challenge.
2. Tell that story with style, truth, thorough preparation, and effective delivery.
3. Select a narrative pattern based on the primary objective: to motivate others to action, to build trust in you, to build trust in your organization, to transmit your values, to get others working together, to share knowledge, to "tame the grapevine," or to create and share your vision.
Each reader will appreciate Table 1.1. (on page 18) which summarizes key points for each of the eight different narrative patterns discussed separately in Chapters, 3-10. (Additional Tables are provided later in the narrative whenever appropriate.) At the end of each chapter in Part Two, Denning thoughtfully includes a "Template" which poses a set of questions to be addressed when, for example, crafting a "springboard story." Here's the first of ten questions: "What is the specific change in the organization or community or group that you hope to spark with the story?" Then in Part Three (Chapters 11 and 12), Denning explains how to put it all together by using narrative effectively, both to transform an organization and to become an interactive leader.
Of special interest to me Denning's discussion (in the final chapter) of what he calls "Interactive, Tolstoyean" leadership and its relation to other theories in terms of leadership as a trait, as a skill, as a style, as situational, as motivation, and as transformation. This discussion serves as an appropriate conclusion to his book, one in which Denning has spelled out "specific, identifiable, measurable, trainable behaviors that can be used to achieve the goals of transformational leadership."
Storytelling really is a performance art. Some master the requisite skills. Most don't. Denning offers no guarantees but does claim that those who consistently use the narrative tools he has provided will acquire new capabilities. Specifically, to communicate more effectively who they are and what they stand for, to be more attentive to the world as it is now, to speak the truth and do it well, to make their values explicit and take actions which are consistent with those values, to listen to the world and be receptive to innovation. Those who possess these new capabilities will attract the interest, then earn and sustain the trust and respect of those whom they may be privileged to lead.
If this is the kind of leader you aspire to be, Denning's book awaits you...eager to be of substantial assistance.
For whatever reasons, only in recent years has there been an awareness and appreciation of the importance of the business narrative. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Annette Simmons' The Story Factor, Doug Lipman's Improving Your Storytelling, and Storytelling in Organizations co-authored by John Seely Brown, Denning, Katarina Groh, and Laurence Prusak.


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How leaders can use the right story at the right time to inspire change and action
This revised and updated edition of the best-selling book A Leader's Guide to Storytelling shows how storytelling is one of the few ways to handle the most important and difficult challenges of leadership: sparking action, getting people to work together, and leading people into the future. Using myriad illustrative examples and filled with how-to techniques, this book clearly explains how you can learn to tell the right story at the right time.
Stephen Denning has won awards from Financial Times, The Innovation Book Club, and 800-CEO-READ
The book on leadership storytelling shows how successful leaders use stories to get their ideas across and spark enduring enthusiasm for change
Stephen Denning offers a hands-on guide to unleash the power of the business narrative.

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Time Management for the Creative Person: Right-Brain Strategies for Stopping Procrastination, Getting Control of the Clock and Calendar, and Freeing Up Your Time and Your Life Review

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(More customer reviews)I expected this book to provide innovative, useful information; after all, I'm a creative professional, always have a million projects going on at the same time, and really could use some help. Unfortunately, instead of original advice targeted to people in creative fields, this book is geared to harried housewives and disorganzied hobbyists. It is crammed full of platitudes, cliches, anecdotes about quasi-celebrities ("As a stand-up comic, Gary Shandling enterains audiences by poking fun at himself..."), quizzes (Are you right-brained or left-brained?), quotations, items ripped directly from press releases ("According to a survey by Select Comfort ...") and bulleted lists of hints (focused primarily on housekeeping and automobile maintenance) including:
* Stop to smell the flowers (yes, he actually says this)
* Brush your dog or cat while watching your favorite TV show
* Choose plants that are easy to grow
* Make enough for two meals when you cook and freeze the second meal
* Use paper plates and cups
* Hire a cleaning service
* Get more sleep
Probably the worst piece of advice this book offers, though, is "the future will take care of itself." No, it won't, especially if a deadline is looming and the rent check is due! If you work in a creative field and are looking for advice about enhancing your creativity and/or better managing your time and projects, skip this book. It is a complete waste of time and money.

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Creative folks often know all too well that the muse doesn't always strike when you want it to, or when the deadline for your next brilliant project is creeping up on you like an ill-fitting turtleneck. Originality doesn't follow a time clock, even when you have to. While conventional time management books offer tons of instruction for using time wisely, they are traditionally organized in a linear fashion, which just isn't helpful for the right-brain mind. In Time Management for the Creative Person, creativity guru Lee Silber offers real advice for using the strengths of artistic folks—like originality and resourcefulness—to adopt innovative time-saving solutions, such as:* Learning to say no when your plate is just too full* How to know when a good job, not a great one, is good enough* Making "to do" lists that include fun stuff, too—that way you won't feel overwhelmed by work* Time-saving techniques around the house that give you more time to get your work done and more time to spend with your loved ones* The keys to clutter control that will keep your work space and your living space neatWith these and lots of other practical tips, Lee Silber will help anyone, from the time-starved caterer rushing to prepare for her next party to the preoccupied painter who forgets when the electric bill is due, make the most of their time and turn the clock and the calendar into friends, not foes.

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