Right Brain-ed-ness

Author Daniel Pink was featured on Oprah Winfrey's show this week, discussing his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (I intend to get a copy and will plan to review it here this month). One of the things I found surprising is that the book is 3 years old, so it's hardly just a promotional tour. Someone, somewhere, thought Mr Pink has something to say in this book that's worth listening to. Perhaps they're right.

Pink talks about how the "right brain" skills, which tend to be the more creative ones, are becoming more important to our economy that the more logic- and reasoning-oriented "left brain" ones. The reason for this, quite simply, is that we can outsource a lot of the left brain stuff, whereas the right brain ideas are more unique, and thus cannot be replicated as well by others as the more common, and more repetitive, right brain skills.

This is an intriguing idea that suggests an evolution in the skills necessary for business. When the industrial revolution came around, the ability to run an assembly line was pretty important. Later, as we moved into the information age, we found we could outsource physical production to other countries -- who had pretty much caught up to us in that arena -- and focus here on the more "professional" functions, such as accountants, lawyers, and financial specialists. There's a big concern in the US that we've lost much of the ability to manufacture things, and instead have focused on "manufacturing" money, and of course we are seeing the effects of that emphasis now. Many of these same folks say we need to step back and refocus on the more mundane left brain skills we used to find important.

But what if that's the wrong direction? What if, instead of going backwards because of a mistake, we're supposed to go forward and focus on something new? Has the time come to start outsourcing some of those white collar tasks as well, so we can focus on something different? What happens to our business models if we should indeed be looking forward to a new way of thinking?

As a leader, you might want to think about what you're outsourcing. Do you keep your accountants, lawyers, business analysts, public relations, and other administrators in the home office, while sending your creative projects out to people around the world whom you've never met? If so, perhaps you might want to shift your resources...rather than looking for cheaper Creatives, maybe you should be looking for cheaper bookkeepers. It's easier to replicate these more bureaucratic tasks than it is to find new right brainers, so perhaps these latter folks are the ones you should be cultivating.

Naturally, many people look at such things as "either/or" -- either have a right brain focus OR a left brain one. Bad idea. Effective leadership is rarely about "one or the other" but instead about "the right mix." Look carefully at the skills that are going to add the most value to your firm, and determine where you can get what you need. Then push your resources in that direction. Striving for the right balance is tough, and requires careful monitoring because requirements change, but hey, that's why they pay leaders the big bucks, right?