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Dear Friends and Clients,

My nephew Bruce is studying international relations at Johns Hopkins. Last semester he took a break from courses like global security politics and signed up for a drawing class.

Before the 12-week course, he says, he couldn’t draw at all, but now he believes that he could draw anything. And the difference between his sketches on the first day of class and those on the last is indeed extraordinary.

What Bruce learned is that drawing is really about seeing in new ways. The trick is to forget what you think you know about the way objects appear, and to really notice lines and spaces.

The course was taught by a disciple of Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain. An underlying theory is that, if we quiet the dictates of our left brain, our right brain will be free to actually observe relationships among spaces and to integrate them into a whole.

Learning to give our linear left brains a rest, and to stimulate our more subtle right brains, has the potential to unlock creativity not only when we are drawing, but also when we are at our jobs and in our lives. And that is what I’ll talk about in this issue.

Warmly, Bev

Looking For a Big Idea?
Use Your Whole Brain
To Find It

August 1st, 2006 * Number 42

Research in the last few years has dramatically changed the way Western science understands the human brain. It has demonstrated, for example, that our mind and consciousness reside not exclusively in our brain but extend to every cell in our body.

The brain itself is an extraordinarily complex organ in which about 100 billion cells are linked by about a quadrillion connections that guide everything we do, say or think.

Until recently, scientists thought that the brain was divided into two separate but unequal parts. The left brain -- which is rational, analytic and logical -- was regarded as the dominant half that made us uniquely human.

With the advent of tools like the MRI, knowledge about the brain changed dramatically. Today we know that the hemispheres of our brain operate in different ways, but both are critical to almost everything we do.

And yet each of the two halves is particularly important for certain kinds of activity:

You read from the left. The left brain controls the right half of your body, and the right brain controls the left. If you look or turn to the right, your left brain is in charge. Since Westerners read from left to right, for us language is left brain activity.

Your left brain is sequential. The left brain is particularly good at going from “A” to “B,” taking one step at a time. The right brain, however, can see many things at the same time.

Your right brain reads between the lines. Your left brain understands language and interprets text literally. It’s your right brain that allows you to pick up nuance, to understand metaphors, and to grasp context and relationships.

Your right brain grasps the big picture. Your linear left brain can sort out the details, but it’s the more global approach of the right brain that synthesizes them.

In his intriguing book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink theorizes that left-brainers have been in charge since the end of the Industrial Age, but right-brainers will rule the future.

Since World War II, he says, information and knowledge have ruled the U.S. economy, and MBA’s and other left-brainers have been our premier workers. Today, however, jobs that require left-directed thinking are being outsourced in droves. Business graduates in India can perform tasks more cost effectively than U.S. MBAs, so that is where the jobs are going.

We are shifting, Pink says, from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. We still need left-brain thinking, but that alone isn’t enough to allow us to compete. The jobs that will stay at home are those requiring emotional intelligence, not just a high IQ or technical skill.

Pink argues that the Conceptual Age will be dominated by those who can perform work that is “high concept,” involving artistic and emotional beauty, and “high touch,” reflecting empathy and self awareness.

In other words, left brain dominance is no longer enough. Success in the future will require right brain skills, as well. What we need is left brain thinking combined with right brain abilities to create, empathize, see the big picture and find meaning in all that we do.

According to Pink, “the wealth of nations and the well-being of individuals now depend on having artists in the room.” And right-brain aptitude can be developed, he says, by studying fields like design and philosophy.

Want to Read More About
Your Whole Brain?

Below are brief book reviews, as well as links that will allow you to buy the book directly from Amazon.com. For reviews of other helpful books, along with Amazon links, go to: ClearWays Books and Services. If you buy a book this way it will contribute to the cost of distributing Bev’s Tips, and be much appreciated.

A Whole New Mind, by Daniel H. Pink, 2005.

Pink argues that gone is the age of dominance by lawyers, accountants and software engineers. The future belongs to those whose analytic left-brain skills are augmented by right-brain creative abilities.

Much of the book focuses on Pink’s suggestions for fostering our right-brain aptitude and developing “a whole new mind.” For example, Pinks says that you may wish to:

Take a drawing class;

Visit art museums;

Learn to tell stories;

Join a “laughter club”;

Explore techniques for increasing your empathy with co-workers;

Play games; and

Read books about the meaning of life.

Click here to buy this book.

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Dr. Betty Edwards, 1999.

Since it first appeared in 1979, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has become the world's most widely used drawing-instruction guide. This 20th anniversary edition has been modified to include more recent developments in brain research, as well as broader instruction on self-expression through drawing.

Translated into thirteen languages, the book has been useful to people from many walks of life, not only in their activities as artists but in broader problem-solving as well.

Click here to buy this book.

Want to enrich your work life? Bev offers executive coaching and leadership consulting, and is available to speak about a broad range of issues related to your work life. Visit her website at www.ClearWaysConsulting.com or email to Bev directly. Bev is associated with Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates.

Bev’s Tips for a Better Work Life is published on the first and third Tuesday of each month by Beverly E. Jones of ClearWays Consulting, LLC. Bev is a lawyer and former executive who now coaches accomplished CEO's, public afffairs executives, and other professionals to bring new direction, energy and enjoyment to their work lives.

All rights in all media reserved. However, the content of Bev’s Tips for a Better Work Life may be forwarded in full without special permission on the condition that (1) it is for non-profit use and (2) full attribution and copyright notice are given. For other uses please contact Bev Jones.

Our address is: 2925 43rd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20016.