Daniel Pink is one of my favorite authors. His last 3 books were so influential in framing my perspective from social science research around 3 key dimensions of the learning process: environment, motivation and persuasion.
In “A Whole New Mind”, Pink argues that society has progressed from an 18th century Agricultural Age (dominated by farmers) to the Industrial Age of the 19th century (dominated by factory workers) to the Information of the 20th century (dominated by knowledge workers) to the Conceptual Age of the 21st century, one that will be dominated by creators and empathizers. This current age or environment will require individuals that can earn a living that is not easily automated or outsourced and that has value in a relative age of abundance. How to cope in such an environment? Pink suggests six senses of our Right Brain that will become prevalent in this conceptual age (the corresponding Left Brain aptitude in parentheses below):
1. Design (not just function)
2. Story (not just argument)
3. Symphony (not just focus)
4. Empathy (not just logic)
5. Play (not just seriousness)
6. Meaning (not just accumulation)
In “Drive”, Pink argues surprisingly that the “carrot and stick” approaches to motivation are historically proven to be only successful in the most mechanistic and routine of tasks (think Industrial Age factories) and even then only up to a certain point or threshold. In today's age, we are instead motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose. Give people an environment where they can chose how they best achieve the goals before them (autonomy), select goals that are meaningful to them that they desire to achieve or get better at (mastery) and connect these goals to a larger life purpose (purpose), and they will become self-motivated to perform at the highest levels.
In his latest book “To Sell is Human”, Pink’s research uncovers surprising truth about moving others. Regardless of profession, we are involved in selling, persuading or influencing others about our ideas. Attune yourself not just to empathize with your listener’s feelings, but also to take on their perspective to understand what they are feeling. Don’t rush to solve problems, but slow down to listen so that the right problem can be found that needs to be solved. Problem finding is more important than problem solving in todays’ ready-at-your-fingertips-information-solution-age.
In a recent Education Week interview, Daniel Pink talked about his latest findings regarding Sales and applied it to the persuading in the classroom. Pink states, “persuading and pitching is less about a teacher flipping a student's switch than it is about creating the conditions where self-directed students can flip their own switches and know why they're doing it.”
The environment today’s schools must prepare our students for is one that will no doubt change substantially between now and when they graduate to college and post-college careers. Plotting college and career readiness in such a fluid environment can seem destined to fail. How can we tell what industries will remain 5 or 10 years from now? What new industries will emerge? It is impossible to know for sure.
However, we do know that we will NOT be returning to the Agricultural or Industrial Ages and even the Information Age of say pre-World Wide Web seems obsolete in reference. We do know that we will continue to prepare our students for jobs and professions that cannot be easily outsourced or automated regardless of industry without knowing what those professions yet are. We therefore can conclude that the Conceptual Age will require tapping into the creative potential and empathy of each individual. Unlocking that potential will require classrooms that embrace environments of autonomy, mastery and purpose and teachers who create the conditions necessary for such intrinsic motivation to be tapped and leveraged.
I don’t believe Daniel Pink had the future of education specifically in mind when he wrote any of his last 3 books. However, what would a school look like that embraced the 6 Right Brain senses of our age by challenging its students from the First Day of School to design a story that pulled together their heart-felt future dream career in a playful manner (“When I Grow Up…”)? Could it take this dream pathway and house it within individual learning pathways customized to each student’s unique starting point, building on their motivation daily to realize their Dream? Finally, could the student’s teachers each embrace the art of persuasion by leveraging untold amounts of data not just on what the student is learning but how they are learning as well to better understand that student’s perspective? What would such an educational approach to environment, motivation and persuasion look like? Mr. Pink, I may have your next book thesis: Matchbook Learning.
