Daniel Pink on A Whole New Mind

Free Agent Nation author Daniel Pink is back again with A Whole New Mind. In his recent interview in Management Consulting News, he talks about the growing importance of right-brain skills for consultants and other professionals.

He says “The scales are tipping away from what it used to take for people to get ahead—logical, linear, left-brain, and spreadsheet-type abilities—in favor of abilities like artistry, empathy, and big-picture thinking, which are becoming more valuable. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They’re just not sufficient anymore.”

Pink goes on to say that consultants need to think about whether they are doing the kind of work that can be offshored or automated. “Accountants, for example, may become this generation’s blue-collar workers. They are imperiled by cheaper workers overseas, and by the ability to put many accounting measures into a system of rules in a piece of software,” he says.

Take a look at the interview with Daniel Pink and let me know what you think.

Comments

[Michael]

I like what Dan has to say. For five years I served clients as an Internet business strategist. During that time I came to realize my clients typically failed not because of their technology skills but because of they lacked people skills, creativity and right-brain marketplace insights. Now having started my own firm I see little has changed. Will organizations and individuals shift their values in light of the observations Pink makes? It would make sense, but doing the rational thing doesn't always happen.