Jokes, Justice & the Right-Brain
Over Christmas break I was introduced to the book entitled, A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel H. Pink. Are you scared yet? You should be! Although the statistical data varies in terms of the demographic percentages of either hemisphere’s dominance within the American population, one thing is certain. We live in a Left-Brained society that rewards, from a very young age, such linear thinking. If you were educated in an American school system, starting in Kindergarten, or a similar system of education, this latter description (Left-Brained) likely applies to you. Yes, you!
In his book, Pink points out the six senses of the Right Brain: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, & Meaning. All of these combine to provide a quintessentially right-brained employee of the future. Why, as the subtitle of his book suggests, will such people rule the future? Three reasons: Abundance, Asia, & Automation.
Pink’s understanding of Abundance is that it affects the consumerist drive to seek out novel and aesthetically pleasing products. Since functional capabilities of products are no longer as discernable (they’re all practically the same anyways) the only difference is one of Design.
The second reason is that Asia = Outsourcing. If someone else halfway around the world can do it just a good as you can but at a cheaper rate on the American dollar, you can bet that’s where the money will go. Therefore, the jobs in high demand will be those that cannot be outsourced. One component of living in a culture is being able to speak its contextual language. This is a key aspect of Design and a reason why Design cannot be outsourced as easily. It requires a more locally grown organic grass roots method of cultivation.
The third reason is likened to the second: Automation. If a robot can do the work cheaper than a person, regardless of it being outsourced, than a product will in fact be manufactured in such a way.
For most of the book, with these three reasons in mind, Pink goes through the six senses listed above, their measurable effects upon productivity in the workplace, and methods of cultivating these senses. The portfolio exercises at the end of each chapter are intriguing and enjoyable. They are quite fun!
Take for example the chapter on Play, which explains that one quality of Right-Brained thinking is Humor, which involves empathy, play, and symphony. Take a cartoon from The New Yorker (without reading the caption) and make an attempt to write your own caption. Any luck?
What is interesting to note about such activities is the brain’s ability to “cross-train,” like the curious ability of pianists to also be skilled mathematicians. This has led my own thoughts into a direction briefly touched upon in the chapter on Empathy. What would it take for the world to see, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once quoted from the book of Amos, “Justice roll down like waters in a mighty stream,” ?
As such understandings suggest, it would take the development of right-brained thinking by individuals and societies who are able to grasp issues holistically and in a non-linear fashion, by people who have been educated broadly and are able to synchronize seemingly disharmonic variables into a congruent whole without the compartmentalization of issues that inevitably lead to the cynical resolution of "Such is Life."
This is done, quite frankly, through the Arts. Not through passive appreciation, but through active participation. Through practices such as Painting, through Poetry, through Dancing, through Singing, and especially through Drama, the artist is not only honing the skills required in their own craft but, as Daniel Pink suggests, cultivating a new and richer world where the Right-Brained act of Empathy plays a key role.
“The M.F.A. is the new M.B.A.” says Pink. “A master of fine arts, an MFA, is now one of the hottest credentials in a world where even General Motors is in the art business.” Clearly, times have changed, and that linear Left-Brained education that was so highly valued a generation ago is no longer the only game in town. How will educational institutions change in response to a growing business world that demands highly creative thinkers? How will you change?
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