My Twisted Brain

A while ago I finished up a book that was…*ahem*…”recommended” by my ITEC 830 professor. It was a recommendation in the same way that Don Corleone “recommends” that you “hire” his “security team.” Well, there was no violence involved, except for the violence that would be visited upon my class grade’s head. In any case, in going through this required reading, a remarkable thing happened…I enjoyed it! Really enjoyed it. It’s a great read, and the topic is near to my heart, if in a somewhat obscure way.

The book’s title is “A Whole New Mind”, penned by Daniel H. Pink. The premise of the book is that, for the past 40 or 50 years, the Western world (North America and Western Europe mostly) has been stuck in a Left Brain frame of mind. We’ve been obsessed with logic, with numbers and facts, with analysis and details. He posits that what we as a society and individuals need to do is begin to use both halves of our brains. Left-brain thinking, or as he puts it, “L-Directed Thinking”, worked great for us when we were an information society. It was great for programming computers and doing spreadsheets. But, as those types of jobs get shipped off to India and the Philipines and Russia, we need to start using “R-Directed Thinking”. Our position is no longer that of information processing. We are shuffling that offshore. We need to start thinking in a more holistic framework. Our role is now that of the inventor…of the dreamer…of the designer. According to Pink, this change from L-Directed to both L- and R-Directed thinking in the developed world,

“…will dramatically reshape our lives. Left-brain-style thinking used to be the driver and right-brain-style thinking the passenger. Now, R-Directed Thinking is suddenly grabbing the wheel, stepping on the gas, and determining where we’re going and how we’ll get there…R-Directed aptitudes so often disdained and dismissed - artistry, empathy, taking the long view, pursuing the transcendent - will increasingly determine who soars and who stumbles.”

For those of us in a creative industry, such as Instructional Design, this is great news! We’ve been exercising our R-brain for years (at least those who have been working at it for years). If Pink is right, we’ll be at the forefront of the next “Industrial Revolution”, leading the charge into the world of R-Directed Thinking. He calls this the Conceptual Age, and says that the Information Age is moving out, so we’d better prepare for change.

Why the Change?

According to Pink us “developed” folks are facing a triple threat to our old, Left-brained careers. He discusses them in some detail, but I’ll just touch on them here.

Abundance

Western society, especially here in the U.S., is hip deep in…everything! Abundance has changed our way of thinking from basic survival needs such as food, to more abstract thoughts such as perfecting the art of cooking. We would rather throw away a perfectly good meal that wasn’t cooked “just so”, than eat it because we don’t know where our next bite is coming from. This extends to all aspects of our lives as well. How many cellphones have you received for free (or purchased) in the past 5 years just because you could? Did you replace them because they broke, or because it didn’t go with your new Beemer? One of my favorite lines in this book goes:

“As business writer Polly LaBarre notes, ‘The United States spends more on trash bags than ninety other countries spend on everything. In other words, the receptacles of our waste cost more than all of the goods consumed by nearly half of the world’s nations.’”

Asia

Many Asian countries are now taking over the Left-Brained jobs that used to be the “where to be” jobs here. It’s much cheaper to export something like software development to India or Singapore than it is to keep it in Silicon Valley. This type of work often doesn’t require the same level of creativity that it takes to come up with the concept of a software project in the first place. Educational opportunities in developing countries are now such that it is quite easy to find talent offshore that can handle the tasks that used to be reserved for American code-heads. The jobs are moving where the vacuum is.

Automation

Pink uses the time-honored fable of John Henry to illustrate a point about automation. There may be those who will fight hard to prove that they can do things better than the machines (computers now), but in the end they’ll be pushed aside in favor of things that don’t tire, don’t get sick (other than burned-out power supplies), and most of all don’t require hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for their time.

The Questions of Survival

Pink suggests that we ask ourselves 3 questions when looking at the survivability of our chosen profession in North America:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, start thinking about a career change. Of course as an alternative you could always start packing your bags and looking for a house on the other side of the world.

The Six R-Aptitudes

After putting us all in fear of our livelihoods, Pink spends the remainder of the book covering what he calls the Six Senses, or R-Directed Aptitudes. They include:

Design: Things should be created to be engaging and beautiful, not just functional (but they should be designed to be functional! More about that in a later post). These are right brain things.

Story: Regurgitating data and facts alone will not make a compelling and effective argument. Data and facts need to be surrounded by compelling narrative to be persuasive. Story puts facts into perspective, giving the listener a holistic view of what you are trying to communicate. Right brain, anyone?

Symphony: As Pink notes, symphony is, “Putting the pieces together.” The right brain can synthesize facts and figures (things that the left brain thrives on) into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is where the new Western economy needs to focus. The analysis is moving overseas.

Empathy: Information by itself is wonderful computer fodder. It’s great for analysis. But, what does it mean to a human? Empathy allows a skilled R-Directed individual to take into account how others will perceive that information. Rather than just pouring information into someone’s brain, empathy gives clues about what the proper recipe will be to make the information palatable. It requires understanding how other people think and feel through relationship building.

Play: Pink uses a wonderful example of Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian physician, to illustrate the value of play. Dr. Kataria started “laughter clubs” to spread the “benevolent virus” of laughter. He believes that laughter can help solve many of today’s ills, both in health and in world events. Play, according to Pink, is essential to expanding our right brain’s aptitudes and bring them into our everyday lives, both at work and away from work. One of my favorite quotes from his book (itself a quote) is, “The opposite of play isn’t work, it’s depression.” - Dr. Brian Sutton-Smith, University of Pennsylvania.

Meaning: In a society where our basic needs, food, shelter, companionship, etc., are generally taken for granted, we start to focus on more abstract needs. Bringing meaning and understanding to the world around us is one of them. The right brain is the one that takes details and formulates overall meaning. This will be the role of a society that no longer focuses on analyzing the details. R-Directed individuals will have the advantage.

Where We’re Going (in the “developed world”)

Pink asserts that these six senses will increasingly direct society in developed countries. What he calls high-concept, the ability to take details, facts, and data and synthesize a larger picture that includes beauty and creative, artistic design, and high-touch, the ability to use empathy and bring understanding to those details, will drive our future. We will no longer thrive on analysis and logic. Those who adapt to this new way of thinking and can activate their right brain will have the advantage.

I agree with him, and it fits my own selfish goals. To be able to take an incomprehensible mush of data and turn it into something beautiful, artistic, and above all understandable is my goal as an instructional designer. I believe that I’ve chosen a golden path, and my future will be, pardon the pun, “in the Pink”.