by 2 people |
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of Living Well
I also know that sometimes, there's a shortcut that sidesteps analysis-paralysis, second guessing, and looping in circles. That's why I decided to build this lens.
When individuals who already have the left-brain stuff down pat develop the right side as well, good things happen. That's the power of whole brain thinking.
You'll notice that I use the Six Senses model from the book, A WHOLE NEW MIND--Empathy, Story, Play, Design, Symphony, and Meaning. This is a quick and easy way for people to understand pieces of right-brain thinking that can be developed. Dan Pink, the author, has generously given me permission to build off of his work, to use the term A WHOLE NEW MIND, with attribution to the book and to him. Thanks, Dan.
What Whole Brain Thinkers Are Tweeting About
Twitter Feeds From Whole Brain Thinkers Worth Following
- aka Twitter
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- Fascinating NYT graphic: What's the jobless rate for people like you? http://bit.ly/3dLjAe
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- Reading: "Take what you can get (?)" (http://twitthis.com/he2osy)
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- How to invoice like a pro. http://bit.ly/WCSwK (via Smashing Magazine)
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- Fallows on why French = Japanese and Chinese = American English. http://bit.ly/14Unl8
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- Making a career of anime (via WSJ) http://bit.ly/3Z116K
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- Check out: "Godin's limited edition boxed set available today" (http://twitthis.com/sxzm9v)
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- I'm a little late to this, but it's good: Tom Peters's 46 tips for surviving the recession. http://bit.ly/2bFUNV
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- @pamslim -- Wow. Cool coincidence.
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- @DwevskyX -- Thanks for visiting the site!
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- One giant app for mankind (follow NASA missions on your iPhone). http://bit.ly/410TnJ
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- Becky Blanton's awesome TED talk is now live. http://bit.ly/2Je2RH
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- For 1st time during the Obama presidency, a majority of Americans says the country is on the wrong track. http://bit.ly/2kYBA0
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- @woodlandslawyer: Glad you liked that talk. Look for the book version (http://bit.ly/drivebook). It explains why billable hours DEmotivate.
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- RT @Coudal: Awesome NYer cover this week: http://dropular.net/drop/77557/
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- RT@Frauenfelder: You have 4 days to bid on a Cheeto resembling the Statue of Liberty. http://bit.ly/1WRTVW
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- @kristi_coleman -- Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed Johnny's adventures enough to recommend it to your class.
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- @citizenracer -- thanks for the article. very interesting.
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- Full size remote control cars guided by your iPhone. http://bit.ly/3qMGgC (via @sbepstein)
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- Tina Brown's excellent interview with Philip Roth. 14 minutes worth watching. http://bit.ly/4oRjvH
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- In Japan, Obama becomes . . . a verb. http://bit.ly/36VM6I (via Fallows in theatlantic.com)
My Blog Postings About Whole Brain Thinking in Business
- Leader as Storyteller
- Interview with Steve Denning, author of The Leader's Guide to Storytelling
- Stories With Meaning
- Wall Street Journal reports that companies are hiring a different kind of speaker--ones with meaningful stories about their own lives.
- Privacy Please
- How Play shows up in the most mundane places--a do not disturb sign.
- Stories That Move Us Into Action
- The success of Patrick Lencioni, a management consultant who writes fables, highlights the effectiveness of story in the business world.
- Genius in Today's Business World
- An inside look at whole brain thinker and CEO of Liz Claiborne, William McComb.
- Talent Wars, Circa 2006
- The creative techie is now the one in demand.
- Engineers With A Whole New Mind
- A trip back to my alma mater, to interview Daniel Pink, author of A WHOLE NEW MIND and a surprising conversation with the dean of the engineering school.
- The Power of Story
- Three stories from Steve Job's life travel far and wide and show the power of Story.
- Bad Power Point
- Following Seth Godin's lead, I apply right brain thinking to presentations.
- Crossing a Mathematician with a Sociologist
- I point to a blog that uses Venn diagrams and X-Y graphs to explain social behavior. It's the left-brain geek's version of the Far Side.
- It's Official
- A business survey provides more evidence of the importance of right-brain thinking.
- A Break for SAP Users
- How one software giant is incorporating Design and Empathy into their products.
- Are You a Boundary Crosser?
- An invitation to explore the world of boundary crossers with like-minded individuals.
- Presentation Zen
- A reference to a great posting on applying the Six Senses to the creation and delivery of presentations.
- Learn More About Slashes
- An event in Denver in June 13 with Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Identities: A New Model for Work/Life Success (see book review in the Recommended Books Section below.) Marci's concept of "slashes" is similar to Dan Pink's concept of Boundary Crossers--individuals who operate in many worlds but fit in none.
- Branding Boundary Crossers
- How being a Boundary Crosser is an advantage when it comes to personal branding.
- The Power of Story, Part 2
- Wells Fargo uses story to attract new clients for their wealth management business.
- What It Looks Like to Be a Boundary Crosser
- Boundary Crossers stand out in more ways than one. Life coach/jazz trumpeter Ron Helman wins New Mexico's version of the Grammy for his CD, "Reflections of Beauty."
- More Story About Story
- Another use of Story in marketing women's clothes...
- A Visit to Herman Miller
- Lessons learned on Design and Play from a day spent at the furniture company, Herman Miller.
- Asia and Abundance
- "Personal outsourcing" and $75,000 storage lockers provide more evidence of the Asia and Abundance trends that are described in A WHOLE NEW MIND.
- Slash Careers
- Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Identities: A New Model for Work/Life Success talks about slash careers in Denver.
- More on Educating Engineers
- Richard Felder, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at North Carolina State, writes about how the concepts in A WHOLE NEW MIND apply to preparing engineering students for the real world.
- Boundary Crosser as Game Changer
- Individuals who operate in multiple worlds but fit wholly in none can see the drawbacks to the status quo. Rather than try to fit in or convince others of their view, boundary crossers are ideally suited to completely change the game. Steve Jobs is a classic example of this.
- Boundary Crossing on the Radio
- A discussion about boundary crossers on August 22, 2007. Listen on streaming audio.
- A Deeper Look at Slashes
- Three examples of slashes that reveal more about this way of working.
- Michael Gerber
- A day with Michael Gerber, the author of the E-Myth Revisited, reveals he has a Whole New Mind about small biz.
- Better Labels
- How design plays into better, and safer, prescription bottle labels.
- LEGO SERIOUS PLAY
- More on LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, a communications and problem-solving methodology for groups.
- The CEO and the Monk
- A book worth reading as a case study on making meaning in the corporate world.
- Ways to Play
- Article on the different categories of play, by Pat Kane, author of the Play Ethic.
- Seth Godin as Boundary Crosser
- Posting about an interview with Seth Godin that reveals the boundary crosser in him.
- Boundary Crossing as an Asset
- Tips on how to use boundary crossing productively and an example from a military guru on Iraqi tribes.
- Talent Wars for Accountants
- One accounting firm uses online video and stories to attract new recruits.
- Sylvia Acevedo
- An engineer turned marketing executive turned entrepreneur uses both sides of the brain to solve social problems in a new way.
- CEO as Boundary Crosser
- Mark Parker, CEO of Nike, uses boundary crossing as a way to keep Nike a hip brand.
- Free Play
- How the power of limits engenders creativity and the relationship between creativity and living well.
- Creativity At the Beach
- A six-week change in environment produces better results for a small software development company.
- Know Me, Trust Me
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers uses the story of one of their employees to increase trust.
- How Gen Y Celebrates
- Gen Y goes for meaning, even in birthday celebrations.
- The Bottom Line of Design
- Stats on the ROI for good design gives us some concrete numbers for what we know intuitively.
- Six Senses and Leaders
- Researchers from the Center for Creative Leadership identify creative competencies for decision making during turbulent times.
- How to Save a Life
- An entrepreneurship program at Northwestern University encourages boundary crossing to improve medical care.
- The Whole Package
- Shana Fisher, an executive at IAC, wants to change the model for the video game industry. A Fast Company article shows how this boundary crosser uses both left-brain and right-brain to shake things up.
- Diversity of Thought
- Homogeneity is the enemy of innovation. Examples of how boundary crossers are becoming more important in business precisely because they don't fit.
- Advertising's Whole New Mind
- A top agency integrates the use of web statistics with their creative DNA to deliver better results to clients.
- It Takes Two Minds To Tango
- I get an inside look at the world of tango dancing and find a whole new mind and boundary crossing at work.
- Empathy Babies (and Pets)
- A non-profit uses babies in the classroom to lower the incidence of bullying and to increase the empathy in kids.
- Crossing Geckos and Mussels
- A researcher draws inspiration from geckos and mussels to create a new adhesive.
- The Mozart of Music for Video Games
- Degrees in music composition and computer science lead to a pioneer in getting a new Grammy category added.
- Don't Go Back to Sleep
- The CEO of a technology firm describes how making meaning depends on being awake to our dreams....
- Eight Ways to Make Meaning
- Making meaning is easier than you think...
- Virtual Teams, The Bare Necessities, and Free Technology
- What used to be scarce is now abundant, creating new opportunities.
- Standup Economist
- A PhD economist does standup comedy.
- Meatball Sundae and Johnny Bunko
- Seth Godin and Daniel Pink both have new books out. Pink provides the right-brain antidote to the very left-brained world of business books--a career manual in the form of manga (a style of comic book popular in Japan.)
- The Science of Leonardo
- A PhD physicist uses Eastern philosophy with quantum physics to show how Leonardo DaVinci got it right on how the world really works, 500 years before anyone else.
- Pattern Recognition in E-Commerce
- Genetics researcher becomes market researcher....
- Anatomy of a Boundary Crosser
- Robotics researcher and award-winning fiction writer provides an inside look into the mind of a boundary crosser.
- The Day of the Triffids
- The founder of an online backup company uses story from a sci-fi movie to connect with his customers.
- The Gut Is Right After All
- Wall Street Journal article points to new information on gut instinct vs. conscious mind.
- Declining Value of Your College Degree
- Recently release numbers on weekly median salaries for college graduates confirms Dan Pink's original thesis--that the right brain, more abstract thinking skills will become more in demand.
- Two Protons Walk Into a Black Hole
- How research physicists are learning improv to become better communicators and problem-solvers.
- Oprah and A Whole New Mind
- Dan Pink talks with Oprah about A Whole New Mind.
- David Kelley, Advocate For A Whole New Mind
- I highlight the gems from and comment on a Fast Company interview with David Kelley, co-founder of Ideo.
Audio Interviews with Whole Brain Thinkers
- Leading With A Whole New Mind podcast
- I've taken the book, A WHOLE NEW MIND, and brought it to life. The first interview is with the author, Daniel Pink. Other interviews feature individuals on the vanguard of bringing the creative right brain into a left-brained world, including the developer of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, a Laughter Yoga leader, and a Julliard-trained opera singer who uses the arts to teach leadership. Other interviews will be posted in 2007.
- Leadership With a Twist
- Kenny Moore talks about leadership for the American Management Association. He's brilliant.
Websites To Learn More About The Six Senses
- Dan Pink's Blog
- The man who gave words to my experience in using both sides of the brain. Dan Pink gives trends, patterns, and insights of the modern world from the perspective of a whole brain thinker. He's got Symphony written all over him.
- Storytelling Inside Businesses
- This is Steve Denning's website. Steve Denning is a former World Bank executive who now teaches organizations to use storytelling for achieving business objectives. His clients are incorporating storytelling into their leadership development programs, as a competency. He's the author of several books, including The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discpline of Business Narrative.
- LEGO SERIOUS PLAY
- LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a communications and problem-solving tool that makes use of Story and Play inside businesses. Robert Rasmussen is the man inside LEGO who figured out how to use building, storytelling and meaning-making to realize the potential of teams and increase commitment from team members. Now an independent consultant, this is the link to Rasmussen's website.
- Belly Laugh Day
- Elaine Helle is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader and creator of Belly Laugh Day, January 24. She believes in the power of laughter to transform our workplaces as well as our lives. This is Play at its best.
- Mind Map for A WHOLE NEW MIND
- Steve Richards had created a great visual diagram of the key concepts of the book and how they relate to one another. Look for the PDFs at the end of the posting so that you can print out your own diagram.
- Boundary Crosser
- Learn more about what a boundary crosser looks like. Group coaching for boundary crossers.
- The Play Ethic
- Pat Kane's website. Pat is is a musician, writer, consultant and activist. He is the author of The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living. Kane has been working since the 90's in bringing play into businesses.
Best quote on his website: "Play will be to the 21st century what work was to the last three hundred years of industrial society - our dominant way of knowing, doing and creating value."
Check out the Ideas Context section for links to others in the Play field. - UX Pioneers
- This site has terrific interviews with "key players in the User Experience industry." This used to be called human factors but now expands to people like Seth Godin, the marketing guru, who blogs about customer service and the impact of the Internet on building a business. There are also interviews with design experts like Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman.
In any case, the interviewer, Tamara Adlin, herself a User Experience consultant, knows how to pull interesting information from interesting people. - SMITH online magazine
- Description from website: SMITH Magazine is a home for storytelling, with a focus on personal narrative. Whether a professional or unpublished writer, we believe everyone has a story, and everyone should have a place to tell it.
Be sure to check out their projects, including Six Word Memoirs, which has just been turned into a book.
Recommended Books to Explore Whole Brain Thinking
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
I love this book because it explains the path that I've been traveling for the better part of 10 years--from strictly living in a left-brained analytical world as an engineer to using both the logical mind and the creative, intuitive right brain. Pink makes a great argument for why the world is shifting emphasis to and rewarding use of the right-brain faculties--Asia, Abundance, and Automation. I won't spoil the book for those who want to read it. Trust that it's well-thought out and provocative if you haven't considered this point of view before.
The author outlines "six senses" needed to thrive in the new Conceptual Age: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. I've seen my growth mushroom with the integration of each of these elements into my work and life--meaning and story are why and how I write, empathy and play are cornerstones of my coaching, design has meant everything in starting a business, and symphony is what I am continually using to monitor and assess my life.
Pink provides some great resources at the end of each chapter describing the senses--websites, events, exercises to try out.
Take away: Pay attention to three questions posed by Pink to stay ahead of the curve in your work:
Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
Can a computer do it faster?
Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendant desire of an abundant age?
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 11/07/2009) 
Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence
Goleman is the man who made Emotional Intelligence a hot topic. This book applies the concepts of Emotional Intelligence to leaders and their impact on organizations. Lots of great data as well as illustrative stories. I have Post-It notes all over this book with key passages underlined.
I like this book because it makes the case for working on the right-brain stuff in order to be effective in a left-brain world. It gives me confidence that I'm on the right track, personally and professionally.
Take away: 1) Emotions can spread through a group from just one person. 2) Based on the make-up of the brain, changes in behavior require repetition and practice over time. The neo-cortex part of the brain, where analytical thinking occurs, can learn new skills with just one exposure. Behavioral changes rely on the limbic part of the brain, which governs feelings, impulses, and drives and which learns best through repetition and feedback.
Amazon Price: $21.12 (as of 11/07/2009)
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
Donald Norman is the designer of the Ford Mustang, and has written extensively about design. He now splits his time between northern California and the Chicago area, where he teaches at Northwestern University in the School of Enginneering.
Amazon Price: $6.34 (as of 11/07/2009)
The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative
The author, Steve Denning, provides eight "narrative patterns" for storytelling inside organizations. Each pattern is distinct and serves a different purpose--from moving others into action to taming the grapevine to creating trust. Denning is a great example of whole brain thinking as he dissects a right-brain activity, telling stories, using his analytical left-brain. The result is a recipe that anyone can follow to purposely use storytelling inside organizations.
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/07/2009)
One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success
I emailed Dan Pink, author of A WHOLE NEW MIND, about my work with Boundary Crossers, www.boundarycrosser.com. He coined the phrase "Boundary Crosser" in his book and I thought he would get a kick out of seeing what I've done with this.
In the reply, he recommended a book that he thought I would enjoy, given that I'm doing this work, "One Person/Multiple Careers" by Marci Alboher.
I've just started the book AND I'm enjoying it tremendously. Alboher profiles people who have carved out their work from integrating the many parts of themselves, individuals who are not just attorneys but also ministers, who are not just neurosurgeons but also journalists, who are not just house painters but also writers. She calls this the "slash effect" as in I'm a writer/podcaster/executive coach/team development consultant.
She then identifies characteristics of "slashers," which is wildly reassuring when you've been one all your life. And you were convinced that those characteristics were flaws or quirks.
If this piques your interest, buy the book. You won't regret it.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/07/2009)
My Articles About Whole Brain Thinking in Business
- Play, Play, Just Play
- Six Sense of Play. This article was triggered by a visit to the Sante Fe Children's Museum and my curiosity on how that experience applies to the world of business.
A side note: Play, Play, Just Play was originally published on HR.com. A reader in Canada forwarded it to a friend in Switzerland who is a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitator. Seeing the similarities between my observations and her work as a facilitator for teams, that person emailed and introduced me to LEGO SERIOUS PLAY as a business tool. Like minds finding each other across the globe. Love it. - Bearing Witness
- Six Sense of Meaning. What role does emotion have in the workplace? I explore this topic after hearing a series of stories from friends and acquaintances that move me. Empathy is not just for wimps.
- The Cynic
- Six Sense of Meaning. Triggered by a cynic's note that no one really cares about the quality of what they produce, I look at why making the work matter is so important. I explain with a few stories from my own life.
- When the Band Came to Town
- Six Sense of Symphony. The impact of a drum and bugle corps practicing in a local park is memorable, not just because of what I heard and saw, but because of what I felt.
Comments, Please!
Whether you love or hate what I've put here, I'd like your feedback. It gives me a sense of who is coming to this lens and the impact that I'm having. Help shape this page with your suggestions on what you'd like to see that's currently missing.
lilflyers3 wrote...
Cross -
Great lens. A Whole New Mind is a great book. I like how you introduce some of the main concepts and apply it to your life. Thanks for taking the time to write the lens! I'm a huge Dan Pink fan as well. I just put together a lens about him. It's still a work in progress. Check it out when you have some time and let me know what you think!
http://www.squidoo.com/Daniel-Pink
Thanks again,
Ryan
Posted March 14, 2009
cross wrote...
The only thought that comes to mind is a high school teacher in Colorado who arranged for students to do video conference sessions with Dan Pink in Feb 2008 and then opened it up to the public to participate in live blogging during the video conference. You can find the organizing teacher and the list of the people who signed up to attend the live blogging here: http://karlfisch.wikispaces.com/AWNMLiveBlogging?f=print
Good luck!
Posted June 18, 2008
john peterman wrote
I am looking for someone to run a workshop for elementary school teachers on bringing a whole new mind into classroom work. Any suggestions?
Posted June 18, 2008
cross wrote...
Thanks, Cathy, for your comment. Ways to develop symphony (in addition to what Dan Pink already suggests in the book, A Whole New Mind):
* Practice using more metaphors. For example, describe your day in terms of the weather. Talk about your role at work in terms of the parts of a car. Explain a relationship as a famous food combination (e.g., peanut butter and jelly.)
* Immerse yourself in a new world and look for connections to what you know in your "normal world." For example, how might my experience as a newbie at a tango get-together connect with my work as an engineer? What's similar?
As Pink says, symphony is about seeing the larger picture and the connections between pieces. Forcing yourself to take a step back, either through metaphor or by moving into another world, helps develop that muscle of seeing the big picture.
Posted June 04, 2008
cathy wrote
Thanks for your articls,i also had read "a whole new mind",but always couldn't comprehend "symphony" very well!how to develop the sense?
Posted June 01, 2008
by cross
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