1. Daniel Pink’s article establishes a fundamental shift in the global employment industry, indicating that a simple left-brained mind will no longer be the high-end moneymaker it once may have been in the information era. The value of a right-minded individual is increasing substantially, simultaneously as the cost of commonplace labor lowers. Unemployment rates are rising gradually in Western countries, with the US seeing a .6% raise in unemployment from 1990 – 2014 (statisa.com), as outsourcing becomes a popular method of labour. While this doesn’t seem like much, .6% means approximately an extra 1.9 million people are unemployed. The world is only becoming more consumerist, meaning more demand for labour, yet we have more people out of jobs. Why? This is where Pink’s theory rings true: Asia. For China, a huge source of cheap labour, their unemployment rate has simultaneously decreased .6% (tradingeconomics.com), see a pattern?
Nowadays, you can jump online, design a business card from a web template and print 250 of that design for $10 (Source: Vistaprint). Automation and Asia has extended it’s grip even into the creative world, as designers compete with cheap international labour and online templates. Once, you could study a basic amount of digital skills and know how to throw around a bit of Helvetica, and this would be enough. The effect now, is that the industry is competing with these cheap solutions, therefore only those with true creative brains can thrive. This supports Pink’s contention that nowadays success belongs to ‘a different kind of person with a different kind of mind.’
2. In my life, it’s very easy to become apart of the wave of mainstream culture. The same modern songs play on the radio tirelessly day after day. On the ‘Gold’ radio station, they cling to the same hits that also played tirelessly in their day. Even food has become a social trend, with the current fads leaning towards veganism and organic foods. We are not exploratory with our interests - simply because society does not provide a space for us to be so. You go for a walk or a drive – you see advertisements for current trends. You jump on social media, and everyone is slowly hooking onto something new, until some new trend is clogging up your newsfeed. Even at work or uni, what’s ‘current’ seems to be the easy topic of conversation. Naturally, this rubs off.
I have tried recently to be more explorative in terms of my music taste, yet I can’t deny that most of my songs on repeat come from similar artists. If I were to become deliberately adventurous and spend time thinking more creatively about it, I would probably find my music taste would totally change, and I would have more of a passion for music. Just as if, I decided to explore food intensely, my knowledge and love for food would increase above the standard of a regular mainstream diner. This goes to show – if you can use your right brain and think creatively, you open yourself to a world of knowledge that was once non-existent. To be open to new information, and push the boundaries, is what will be the new key to success.
