According to Daniel Pink, creativity is about to become a much more valuable commodity.

In A Whole New Mind, he gives an overview of what he sees as the root causes of a massive transition from a world ruled by engineers, lawyers and computer programmers to a (better) world influenced by artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers and all manner of big-picture thinkers.

Pink, former chief speech writer to Al Gore, calls it a shift from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. In a brisk 20 pages, he outlines the forces driving this change: abundance, Asia and automation. While his analysis isn’t deep, it’s pretty striking. For example, the reality is that every year, India’s colleges and universities graduate 350,000 engineers—one of the reasons why big corporations outsource software work.

All of this is just a prelude to the main section of the—basically a tour of the new mindset required for the Conceptual Age. Pink says we need to complement our reasoned, logical approach with six essential aptitudes: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. For example, he says that today, it’s no longer sufficient to create a product, service or experience that’s merely functional. It’s crucial (and personally more rewarding) to use our design sense to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical or emotionally engaging. Pink reassures the engineers among us that they aren’t going to be left behind, because the attributes that he’s talking about are fundamentally human.

There seems to be a trend in business books to accept creativity and inspiration as valuable traits. A Whole New Mind goes further—making the case that these traits will be at the forefront of the next economy. Business guru Tom Peters called A Whole New Mind “a miracle.” That’s going too far. But Pink seems to be on to something. A Whole New Mind has already been translated into 12 languages. Maybe it’s because the book is so upbeat about the future. Or maybe it’s because it suggests some of the tools we’ll need to deal with the challenges that lie ahead.

Bill Rice

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