Talking Story

Starting new conversations in the workplace!

  • Rosa’s Books
  • ManagingWithAloha.com
  • RosaSay.com

Book Review: A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

February 4, 2009 by Rosa Say

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

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this book straight through in a single sitting, my companion during a long day of trans-Pacific travel, yet it will be one that I keep at my side for a few more weeks to come, perhaps longer, for it begs study and self-application.

A Whole New Mind is very easy to read: In the initial chapters Pink explains and describes “a seismic —though as yet undetected— shift now underway in much of the advanced world. We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of what's rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.”

As he describes this, it seems to be great news, especially to those who revere the arts and fully realize how we miss understanding their larger benefits; we are evolving well! However the fact remains that we will need some coping strategies, and Pink sets out to give them to us in the form of what he calls learning to use six senses that may not be dormant for us — all released by more right brain direction.

Pink has updated this revised paperback version of his book with a bit of new material, and there are six mini portfolios designed to help the reader who does decide to study further and self-coach themselves into more right-brain-directed thinking: There is a portfolio for each of the "six high-touch senses" he advocates we learn to better use: Design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. I would highly recommend this in my managerial coaching, and want to explore it more, bringing it into alignment with my Managing with Aloha mana‘o.

For now, and for fun, I did attempt a bit of a stretch, applying the book to our February theme on Joyful Jubilant Learning:

Whole Minded Love

Yesterday, I’d said I believe that “we within the Joyful Jubilant Learning community do ‘wholeheartedly’ very, very well.” It’s one reason that this month’s theme, where we are learning about love feels like such a natural to me. I often think of love
as an affair of the heart and soul, and of oh-so-human feelings openly
revealed. Hopefully wise in its intuition, love is wholehearted.

On the other hand, I first think of learning
as more physical (tactical) and intellectual —cerebral. How to
reconcile those two thoughts, and bring them together in the most
pleasing way?

A possible answer came to me unexpectedly this past weekend, when comfy and secure in the knowledge that Karen Wallace would be kicking the month off for us here, I put my normal Day One
flurry of writing aside, and collected some reading for a full day of
cross-Pacific travel. I devoured one of the books I had with me in a
single sitting: Daniel H. Pink’s A Whole New Mind. He was writing about our brains, but in thinking about our JJL theme, I was mostly reading about our hearts.

A stretch? Maybe, but it could be fun” it could be right-brain creative!

Can we learn more about Love in a Whole Minded way?

Gazebo Rose~ Pink Macro

…continued at JJL: Whole Minded Love


View all my reviews (at Goodreads).

You might also want to check out this page for my business books:
Mana‘o on a Virtual Bookshelf.

Postscript: If you are a blogger, the bones for this post came from a great “post this review to your blog” option at GoodReads, a social network for readers that will give you even more incentive to read more this year with me too!

Filed Under: Book Reviews and Reading

Comments

  1. Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching says

    April 19, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    Color Outside Your Lines

    2009 is teaching us to be brave. We are finding we need to reinvent, and break out of any little boxes we may have put ourselves in. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I stretch and pull at…

Trackbacks

  1. Talking Story with Rosa Say says:
    August 23, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Luscious, Liberating, Luminous Lustrum Learning…

    I could not resist that title. This will be a post that is easy for me to find with search when it slips into the archives ”“ as long as I can remember this word I have just learned:
    Lustrum refers to a period of five years.
    Literary Lustrum Luminaries…

Search Talking Story your way

RSS Current Articles at Managing with Aloha:

  • Do it—Experiment!
  • Hō‘imi to Curate Your Life’s Experience
  • Kaʻana i kāu aloha: Share your Aloha
  • Managing Basics: The Good Receiver
  • What do executives do, anyway? They do values.
  • Managing Basics: On Finishing Well
  • Wellness—the kind that actually works

Search Talking Story by Category

Talking Story Article Archives

  • July 2016 (1)
  • April 2012 (1)
  • March 2012 (6)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (10)
  • December 2011 (1)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • October 2011 (17)
  • September 2011 (8)
  • August 2011 (6)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (12)
  • March 2011 (16)
  • February 2011 (16)
  • January 2011 (23)
  • December 2010 (4)
  • November 2010 (1)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (4)
  • August 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (4)
  • June 2010 (13)
  • May 2010 (17)
  • April 2010 (18)
  • March 2010 (13)
  • February 2010 (18)
  • January 2010 (16)
  • December 2009 (12)
  • November 2009 (15)
  • October 2009 (20)
  • September 2009 (20)
  • August 2009 (17)
  • July 2009 (16)
  • June 2009 (13)
  • May 2009 (3)
  • April 2009 (19)
  • March 2009 (18)
  • February 2009 (21)
  • January 2009 (26)
  • December 2008 (31)
  • November 2008 (19)
  • October 2008 (8)
  • September 2008 (11)
  • August 2008 (11)
  • July 2008 (10)
  • June 2008 (16)
  • May 2008 (1)
  • March 2008 (17)
  • February 2008 (24)
  • January 2008 (13)
  • December 2007 (10)
  • November 2007 (6)
  • July 2007 (27)
  • June 2007 (23)
  • May 2007 (13)
  • April 2007 (19)
  • March 2007 (17)
  • February 2007 (14)
  • January 2007 (15)
  • December 2006 (14)
  • November 2006 (16)
  • October 2006 (13)
  • September 2006 (29)
  • August 2006 (14)
  • July 2006 (19)
  • June 2006 (19)
  • May 2006 (12)
  • April 2006 (11)
  • March 2006 (14)
  • February 2006 (14)
  • January 2006 (7)
  • December 2005 (15)
  • November 2005 (27)
  • October 2005 (22)
  • September 2005 (38)
  • August 2005 (31)
  • July 2005 (34)
  • June 2005 (32)
  • May 2005 (27)
  • April 2005 (28)
  • March 2005 (36)
  • February 2005 (33)
  • January 2005 (35)
  • December 2004 (13)
  • November 2004 (24)
  • October 2004 (22)
  • September 2004 (28)
  • August 2004 (8)

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in