Look out techies! Here come the artists! So says Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind, in his recent keynote at the Human Resources Professional Association's Annual Conference (www.hrpao.org) in early February. Pink, a self-described analysis junkie, explains that the key to the future will be beheld through the eyes of the artists and designers, who in every arena of product and service innovation, are now creating well beyond the merely necessary, and into the artistic. But it’s just as obvious to his appreciative audience that Daniel is also an artistic thinker.<br />
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The thoughtful design, he says, holding a space-age cool blue $14 fly-swatter, is what creates the rest of the value. The fly swatter probably doesn't cost much more than a regular fly-swatter to produce but it's sleek look, stand-up base and dark blue colour invite the upwardly mobile among us to swat flies with a lot more class, using a device that was made with a lot more thought, care, and attention to the customer than the old one. The result is what Pink calls an example of "high concept". <br />
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The key to a complete business turnaround at General Motors led by the coaxed-out-of-retirement Bob Lutz, Pink elaborates, is in the eye of it's designers. Even Lutz, a no-nonsense guy who was a US Marine and flew military jets, with a track record of hard-nosed realism, has said that it's now the designers who rule at the GM brand. And he expects this fundamental shift in value to reel in big returns for GM.<br />
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This is not a fairy tale. It is already happening. As the age of innovation develops, it won't be the techies and analysts who'll lead. It will be those with more right-brained attributes, big picture thinkers, concept designers, storytellers, empathizers and meaning creators. <br />
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And here is the reason. From the 1950's to 2006 Americans generated more wealth than at any time in recorded history. Along the same time frame their level of satisfaction stayed consistently the same, flat-lined, contrary to what would seem to make sense here, a concurrent upward trend. Now the thought is that by creating more meaningful material goods and services producers will strive to reach into the under-pinnings of fulfillment. Those who succeed will be rewarded. Those who fail....well, they'll be replaced by technology, cheaper outsourced labour or death by obsolescence created by the failure to add new value.<br />
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The new age of arts will require a new form of thinking and a different approach to life, along with two core attributes that will be important to producers of goods and services - "high concept" and "high touch". Daniel describes what he calls the "six senses" that will define both professional success and personal satisfaction - as Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. <br />
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"High concept is the capability to detect patterns and opportunities, create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a more satisfying story and to combine seemingly disparate and unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the abilities to empathize with others, understand the subtleties that underlie human interaction, to find one's joy and elicit it in others, and to stretch the envelope in pursuit of purpose and meaning. <br />
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The "left brain" with it's complex attributes of comparision, analysis and intellect, while necessarily, is no longer sufficient. It is the "right-brain" with its metaphorical properties of inventiveness and meaning that will define a whole new mind for individuals, families and organizations. Note the emphasis here on who is first and who is second. The world will belong to those who can make the leap. More on Daniel at www.danpink.com.<br />
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