In the last ten or twenty years, we’ve sent businesses overseas and other countries (such as India and China) have both learned to do what we did and are now the major players in manufacturing and technology.
Why is it, then, that many things we do are still being done in the same old way? Until those shifts are recognized and addressed, there will continue to be problems.
When I talk about doing things the “same old way”, I’m not talking about using websites, phones, planes and such. I’m talking about perceptions of what works best for making a living. I’m talking about things like trends and needs in society that government may not yet recognize as important when considering how to increase such things as jobs creation, welfare, healthcare and what kind of work will allow people to make money in the future.
Right-brain activities are beginning to become more important in our society. The book, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future”, by Daniel H. Pink makes some interesting points about where we are headed in our country, and why. A number of the concepts he wrote of really hit home to me concerning America and the current election. And some of the reasons why I’ve had trouble finding work in the last few years and maintaining an edge in my own field has become clear, shifting my thinking in another direction.
If what Mr. Pink says is true, trying to create jobs through technology and such may not help now. (It is confusing, I know, because there are still some jobs in these areas. It’s just that many are being farmed out to other places, and other countries are coming up with their own now.)
If there is not a market for what we produce, we cannot expect jobs in these fields to last. High business expenses and high taxes here sent many of our companies overseas.
I think Mr. Pink’s concepts might give some clues about what direction America might need to go now. He considers it important to embrace such things as design, story, empathy and symphony, even if only to introduce these things into the business or expertise we already have.
(If you have not read the book, you might find it enlightening. Do yourself a favor and read it, if only to find out where you should be focusing your energies in looking for work these days.)
Leaders of the future, he says, will need to be able to synthesize concepts from very different fields and bring them together in meaningful ways that work well and make sense. We now not only require proper function in products we buy, we require it along with good design.
Leaders here, especially, will need to be able to do things that computers cannot.
Why?
Other countries are already doing what computers can do now, and we need to focus beyond them to other things, if most of us are to continue to do well or to come back well in the marketplace.
So…What can we do that requires more than what a computer can do?
Things that are already starting to pay more in our country, such as: Care for people’s physical needs (nurses, doctors and such); entertainment/sports; things that tell a story; jobs that bring things together for people in meaningful ways (consulting, counseling and such), and other things. (It’s not fair to Mr. Pink to tell you more–and he can say it better than I can.)
The next President may need to help our country refocus so that as jobs are lost in areas that now are starting to be taken over by other countries, we can start to transition into things America needs to do and be in the future.
These are difficult times for many in the area of employment. I just heard of two people today who’ve lost their jobs and are fighting depression because of it. An accident rendered one of them (age 60) forever unable to do the only kind of work he ever did and knew how to do for many years, at an age at which it’s usually harder to find new work anywhere in this country.
I think Mr. Pink is right–we need training and experience in thinking and doing right-brain types of activities that can lead our country to solid jobs in the future that pay well enough to adequately sustain us.
Read his book, and you’ll see what I mean.
