PLJ reflection of the introduction- chapter 3

"A Whole New Mind" has been christened “a miracle” by Tom Peters, a “favorite business book” by Thomas Friedman, and “a very important, convincingly argued, and mind- altering book” by Po Bronson. Due to my unyielding accordance with these critiques’ statements, I will defend this title to the end! Daniel Pink is one of those authors who does not stress information to excess, but rather proposes solutions and recommendations for coping with rapidly impending problems. He writes with an enormously appealing user- friendly tone and humor as well; frankly the first three chapters have completely altered the view I have adopted on the world!

I was intrigued by the fact that Pink explained how and why our nation was slowly shifting from the informational age to the conceptual age in a simplistic, yet meaningful manner. I thought it was notably well how, in the second chapter, he condensed all the reasons contributing to the shift down to three universal words. Automation, Asia, and Abundance really aided me in my understanding of his arguments and also put the world today into perspective.

Maybe, Americans will become a society based solely on right brain capabilities; this prospect scares me! I would probably classify myself as a left brain thinker and not being able to be paid sufficiently (due to the three A’s) for my services would be a nightmare! I also agreed with Pink’s statement concerning the overflow of similar products (abundance). The time has arrived where all items are functional and it’s up to the designers out there to develop more appealing merchandise! I had never really considered that in all businesses today, there is a fierce competition not for prices or the ability to function properly, but for emotional and artistic value. Even in the film, it was mentioned that the CEO of GM proclaimed that his company was waging a war to produce the most artistic driven products, the ones with emotion and creativity. Again, I am not what a person would box as creative, and people similar to me are probably in trouble as well.

Automation, while the most obvious, will impact the most lives by definition. Computers are everywhere, technology is extremely abundant and every day, people are loosing their jobs to “smart” metal. For instance, consider the self check – in counters at DIA, those machines are able to formulate responses faster and more efficiently than an average worker, thus eliminating the demand for living applicants. Those unfortunate enough to become a victim of this type of scenario are also prone to be attacked from Asia as well. The solo attack suddenly becomes two pronged as the avrage worker's wages present in Asia plummet. It is only in the best interests of employers to hire cheap workers who will complete tasks for less income; as a result of this practice, left- brainier Americans beware!

I have always considered myself as a strictly left- brained person, yet now I regret it. Math and Science have always been my passion and not being able to pursue a career involving those fields of study would be agonizing; especially if a hunk of metal would replace me! Although this is all true, Pink is said to introduce six “senses” that may soften the load of anxiety I am now experiencing, but for now, all I can say is that this book is truly mind boggling, read it if you want to ponder on the subject of a current occupation, or simply to think!