This month's book club feature in ARTrepreneur is A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. I laughed when I first picked it up - a whole new mind? Yup, there are definitely days when I could use one of those! Surpringsly, Pink was not suggesting that I'm a scatterbrain. He is stating that the way in which we act and work is changing, and that we are moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Let me explain.

The Information Age basically started in the very late 60s/early 70s with the progression of computers. It was a time of information gathering and information highways, logical thinking, and analysis. There was a rise in 'knowledge' workers, as opposed to trades. And people's intelligence was tested based on SATs, LSATs, GMATs, etc. Pink states that this way of thinking, analyzing, and testing is very Left-brain-centric.

You see, the left side of the brain is behind certain abilities: sequential (alphabetically, numerically, in sound and in symbols); text (reading from left to right, hearing a phrase ie "I am going to the store"); details and analysis. The Right side of the brain directs the following abilities: simultaneous interpretation including patterns such as a face; seeing a bigger picture; context (realizing that the person who just said they are going to store is actually leaving because they are mad at you and they don't want to be around you); and synthesis of information. 

The Information Age, then, was what Pink calls Left-directed. He argues that there are changes occurring that will necessitate increased use of the Right side of the brain. Many well paid jobs such as computer programming are being outsourced to bright young graduates in Asia who are paid a fraction of the traditional pay here in North America. Computers and software can do many of the tasks that people traditionally have been well paid to do (think of money management programs and tax software). The jobs that will remain are no longer the task-oriented ones - they will be the higher thinking, big-picture jobs.

Additionally, Pink notes that many of us are searching for more meaning in our lives - a higher purpose. We are all drowning in our STUFF - the storage business (to house all our extra stuff) is booming, and the U.S. spends more on GARBAGE BAGS than some countries spend on EVERYTHING put together! We are seeking things beyond the stuff - that's why we are buying designer garbage cans (Karim Rashid, anyone?), why we are all signing up for yoga classes, and why we are yearning for simplicity and beauty in our lives. We want to be surrounded by beautiful objects that have special meaning to us.There is a reason the handmade movement is huge - just look at Etsy, where there are currently over 800,000 shops with over 25 million unique visitors each month! The rise of the 'creative' class has already started.

What do you think? Load of crap? Or totally true to your own experience? Are you a Left-brainer trying to figure out a new future, or a Right-brainer who is jumping up and down with excitement about this prospect?