A Whole New Mind

A Whole New Mind is your guide to standing out in the competitive workplace by taking advantage of the big-picture skills of the right side of your brain.

A few months ago I had a friend contact me for some help finding a job. He’s an engineer like I am, and wanted to see if I had any connections that were hiring. I did what I could, but these days it’s just difficult to stand out. It seems that everyone’s got an engineering degree or knows how to code. What does it take then?

Well, the fact that my friend was asking me for help says one thing. Our ability to relate to and connect with others is a pretty big deal. “The money is in the network” as they say, but without people skills you’ve got no network.

It’s Right-Directed Thinking, as the author calls it, that gives us the ability to associate with others well. We must develop these skills as we move from the Information Age into the Conceptual if we want to excel.

The reason for this is because our brain’s right hemisphere helps us use the following powers that the author reviews throughout the book:

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning.

These skills are so vital also because it’s easy for companies to outsource left-brain activities to other, cheaper countries. Let’s take a closer look at just a couple of these.

One central component of the human existence has always been stories. They are the way we remember things, even our own lives. If you think about it, you tend to see your existence as having a beginning and events along the way. Tales, which we use to remember things, have a bigger impact on our minds than mere facts. Stories also help our lives have a sense of purpose. For a few years now it’s been easy to stand out by knowing interesting facts. But moving into the Conceptual Age, it’s easy for anyone to find these anywhere on the Internet. It requires storytelling to convince others to listen to you, which is a skill of the right side of your brain. Already there are many fields where this is crucial for success. Advertising and consulting, for example, are more about selling a why than just talking about your product. Medical schools also are trying to help doctors empathize with their patients stories by offering humanities courses. I’ve heard of hospitals nearby that don’t like nurses from a certain school as much because they have no personal skills. In general, many companies are switching to storytelling as a way to stand out in overcrowded markets. This works well because people think of their lives…