A Whole New Mind. That’s the title of a book by Daniel Pink that should be read by all people trying to be educated for a job for the future. As Pink tells us, technology and globalization are having a significant impact on the kind of work that will be outsourced and the kind of worker who will be valued here in the United States.
I can’t wait until the next time I see the woman who I assumed prepared my tax returns. I guess I knew my accountant handed over the inputing of figures to a clerk, but I never assumed she might be outsourcing my tax return to an accountant in India. According to Pink, my accountant needs to have great people skills to do the face-to-face work that keeps me coming back year after year, but the actual work of preparing my return doesn’t even need to be done in this country. Pink proves his point by saying, “Financial services firms such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase have contracted out number crunching and financial analysis to Indian MBAs.”
Those of you gifted young people considering law school, did you know that more and more law-related work can also be outsourced or done by purchasing online resources? Pink (who has a law degree) suggests that law schools need to train skilled litigators who are able to tell a great story to engage the judge and jury they are facing.
So what are the new “six senses” Pink suggests we nurture? What are the senses of this “whole new mind?” DESIGN, STORY, SYMPHONY, EMPATHY, PLAY, and MEANING
Daniel Pink is going to be the keynote speaker for the National Association for Gifted Children’s annual conference in Tampa Bay this fall, and I look forward to hearing first hand how we can nurture a whole new mind.
