Will Right-Brainers Rule The Future?

Now that we're in the 21st Century, can we tell what changes are occurring from the 20th Century that is now behind us? Can we predict what will change? What jobs and careers will develop that didn't exist before? What skills will we need?

The transition from the 19th to the 20th Century saw many changes. We changed from an Agricultural Age to a new Industrial Age -- making steel, cars, heavy industry. In more recent decades, we moved into an Information Age -- workers off the assembly line, now sitting at a computer monitor.

Currently, the emphasis in many jobs is on the logical, linear, analytical -- Left-Brain thinking. In the future, will companies begin to give equal importance to our Right-Brain abilities, which are more intuitive, creative and empathetic?

That's the theory behind a great book that I am re-reading:

A WHOLE NEW MIND

Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future

Written by Daniel H. Pink

Pink explains it all much better than I can, but let's see if I can cover some basics. He refers to the era we're entering as The Conceptual Age.

Computers are good at doing logical, sequential work. And many computer programming jobs are easy to outsource. But it is harder to outsource creativity, inventiveness and design.

While logical, linear thinking is still important, it's no longer enough. Creativity, design, and seeing the big picture are also valuable.

We tend to value the logical, left-brain as being the smart, more important side. The creative, artsy right-brain, has often been thought of as silly, or not as important. But that may be changing. For example, they have found that a well-designed hospital room that uses certain colors, can actually help people heal faster. So, perhaps good design is not silly.

For my own selfish reasons, I hope this theory is correct. The many jobs I've held over the years have mostly utilized my left-brain abilities (organization, administration, common sense). But if I could also use my right-brain skills (writing, art, design, inventive ideas) it would be so much more interesting and enjoyable. Most positions want you to pick one or the other, especially in large corporations, where they like to categorize and pigeon-hole people.

This book was written in 2005. In the last 5 years, I wonder if the author has started to see this change taking place in many companies... any companies? Change always takes time, and if we're in the midst of it, we may not realize it's changing until sometime in the future, as we look back. I hope it is happening. It would be nice of we could introduce more artistry, creativity, empathy, storytelling and play into our work days, wouldn't it?

Artist Jeanne-Claude

So sad to hear of the death of Jeanne-Claude. Her husband, Christo, is perhaps the more well known name, but together they've created amazing things. I was fortunate to see both The Umbrellas in Southern California in 1991 and The Gates in New York Central Park in 2005. Check this YouTube link, for a short video of my experiences with both projects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l14w4izSXfA

Their projects sometimes caused controversy, but I was always amazed, first of all, how they even came up with such bold, inventive ideas, and then, how well executed the projects were. Before The Gates opened in NYC, I read an interview with Jeanne-Claude. I may not have the quote exactly right, but here's how I remember it. She said when asked, about The Gates, "What are they for?" she replied, "They are not for anything. It is art. That is all."

Both The Umbrellas and The Gates made me smile. Inventive, playful, bold ideas, for art, for beauty, to make people smile. What can be wrong with that? It's very right-brain thinking.

I hope Christo will continue to create the inventive works he's known for, though I'm sure it will be difficult without his life and art partner.

What is Cafe Marian?

I'm all over the map, racing to keep up with the creative monkeys who are spinning around in my head!

Okay, that starts to sound like some sort of psychological problem, but there is so much in the world to see, fascinating new things to learn and interesting new places to explore. I've never been very good at concentrating on only one thing for very long. The world seems to want us to specialize, but that's hard for me. I get bored and restless.

After years of living in my left brain (that practical, rational, analytical, logical place where most of us reside), I'm working to spend more time in my right brain (creativity, inventiveness, intuitiveness, empathy and joy). I believe the key to it all is balance. Balance seems easy enough, but the trick is finding the balance point that works for you. And beware, that point is constantly moving, so when you lose your balance... and you will... readjust and keep on going.

So, here we are, at Cafe Marian, a gathering place where I can write and share the stories I find that are interesting, smart, amazing, fascinating, genuine, amusing, impressive, clever, inventive, creative and fun.