Biznik Book Club: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink

I LOVED this book. I may need to reread it for the event, as I read it when it first came out and was lucky enough to be at an event where Dan gave a talk (and I started crushin' on him a bit after that). He is so bright and funny! We really need to get him back to Seattle...maybe Bizjam '09??

Nancy

Hop to Signaroo

Perfect timing. I just ordered the book.

Conceptual Age? I heard recently the suggestion that we are entering the Consciousness Age: it's not what you do but who you are ...

(I suspect that I have a very simplistic notion of what is meant, but can some one please give me an instance of an innovation that would not find its source in the 'right brain'?)

I've had this book 'on the shelf' just wanting to be read. This is a good reason. :-) I'm curious what the format is for the bookclub and how it's facilitated. Any insight on that? Looks like a lot of fun!

Thank you, Carrie. I remember reading an article on the subject a few years ago which posited that we would leave all left brain activity to our friends in India (out of necessity because of their reduced costs) and advised that we develop right-brain activity instead (presumably for survival, but mostly, it appeared, because we were an advanced culture and should therefore take the lead). This was very much at odds with the experience I had had living and working with Indians - for though their parents (middle classes, of course) may well like our own parents have encouraged them to study engineering, medicine, law, software engineering, etc, their culture - religion, philosophy, mysticism, art - are all so right-brained that we might just have to fight to keep the left brain to ourselves!

As for software development being an example of left brain innovation I would suggest that software engineering is indeed left brained (for the paradigms and strategies are already in place), but software development is certainly creative and innovative in a right-brained way. Similarly with engineering: Crystal Palace, the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge are all feats of engineering, but the technology was remarkably new and required the greatest of imaginations.

I'm looking forward to this discussion. One of the things I think is unusual about the book is that it is both a "business marketing" book and a much deeper interactive platform -- if you do the exercises or follow the links he offers.

I was reading last night and got caught by the idea of looking for metaphor and asking myself, "what is the metaphor for my life?" (P. 152.) One nights' sleep and hour later it proves to be an astonishing tool for access to new ways of seeing/being. I'd be curious to see if other people have been personally affected by the book and how they have used his suggestions--perhaps one hook to hang part of the discussion on.

The topic of this book brings to mind the process of managing innovation. I watched a short video on the R&D process that the company IDEO employed to redesign the shopping cart. More on that here:

http://visionarymarketing.wordpress.com/2007/page/2/

Another tidbit revolves around the phrase "content is king". All the clever, cheap tools like Wordpress, Facebook, Biznik, don't have much value without creative content that make these spaces/tools useful.

Looking forward to the discussion!

By the way there is another interesting discussion happening on March 25, at University Zoka (shameless plug) on Timothy Ferriss's book, "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich".

http://biznik.com/events/new-rich-book-club-the-4-hour-workweek-escape-9-5-live-anywhere-and-join-the-new-rich

Tell a friend! Hoping to have 5 people for the first "New Rich" Series book meeting.

Lara and I have dinner plans at 8:30 but we're looking forward to attending the first half of this discussion.

Cool event, cool location. It's a wrap.

Sorry to have to cancel. Gotta go out of town today. Love this book and would have enjoyed the dialogue Next time. Gretchen

Can't wait to see ALL of you and hear more of your thoughts and innovative ideas that get sparked from this book. I'm impressed by the discussion that's already started.

The room we'll be in is beautiful. Check it out:

http://www.panamahotelseattle.com/

See you there!

I'm sorry I have to cancel too. I was so looking forward to this (loved the book). Looking to join on the next book (and check out the Panama Hotel). - Sylvia

Looking forward to this event - I've cancelled my other plans so me and my flipcam will be able to attend the whole event. See you soon.

Tonight, one of our tangents was about how networking tends to be about people scrounging around for, "What's in this mini-relationship for me?" when it should be, "What can I do for you?" It's all about giving; the receiving will come, just stop keeping score.

The book I mentioned is "Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time" by Keith Ferrazzi.

Incidentally, my current book is "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die". (Why is it that books always need a colon and a subtitle?)

Thanks Carrie for hosting another fabulous event.

Here's an invite to all of you (who are paid members - sorry, free members can't see this yet until we launch on at beginning of April) to join one of the very first Biznik groups, the Entrepreneur 2.0 Book Club.

Fixed now.

Carrie: I'm so sorry I could not attend at the last minute. I loved the book, and met Dan Pink when he published his first book. Please let me know what the group is doing next! ~Jacque

Thanks everyone for an interesting conversation!

It's funny I had a few observations to contribute that were helpful (I think). However, the points I stumbled on are the one that got me thinking the most.

Like:

1) The idea of "abundance". Certainly we are in an age of abundance (of things and services) that are forcing us to stand out in order to survive. The "myth of abundance" that I mentioned has more to do with the presumption that we are all middle class (and higher) business people looking for ways to stay ahead in the new economy. The reality is some of us (millions really) are simply trying to survive and avoid living in tent city. On top of it all this abundance was created by debt (both personal and national). We may end up living in an abundance of garbage and service skills that cannot be sold because there are no buyers.

Oh well, necessity is the mother of invention.

2) There is always an implicit discussion about the ethics of outsourcing. We talked about that a little bit. Timothy Ferriss responded to criticism of outsourcing in a recent interview. Basically, if you can get a business off the ground with 1/3 to 1/10 the capital (labor capital) required by hiring local then the number of entrepreneurs that create successful businesses out of nothing (almost nothing) will increase. If the businesses grow, eventually they will need local talent for administration or creative work. The cost of entry has decreased radically, so more American entrepreneurs (theoretically) will be adding to the tax base, than ever before.

No jobs are shipped away, because the jobs didn't even exist until some entrepreneur dreamed it up.

Matthew, I love your comments on abundance. You've exactly nailed my squeamishness about the whole D.Pink and others phenom. It's very easy to preach abundance when wearing new clothes and driving a car and living with a roof over ones' head and dinner on the table every night. We only lightly touched on the question: Is there a difference between spiritual or emotional abundance and material abundance? Often we hear of those "happy poor natives" who have so much less than "us" but are always smiling. There is an element of truth to that, the idea that material wealth and complacence can complicate happiness and actually leave us wanting even more. But I think it is a lot easier to feel spiritual abundance when one's basic needs for safety, health, food and community are met. That is the basic Metta or loving kindness meditation of Buddhism--wishing this for all beings, as a baseline from which to more easily travel a spiritual path.

I do think that there is a lot left to talk about regarding the "service surplus" you mention. The longer I live the more respect I have for the "soft skills" of human relationship. And yet, if we enter an era of genuine scarcity and hardship, ecologically, planetarily, with tribal warfare on our doorstep, hmmm. I might want a plumber, a farmer, and a good mechanic at my side as well as a good treaty negotiator.