Pink

=Daniel Pink=

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people…will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” - Daniel H. Pink, //A Whole New Mind// quoted p. 140 in //Why We Want You to be Rich//

Daniel Pink is a business and technology author that has written four books, including two //New York Times// bestsellers. These books, including the first American business book written in manga, a Japanese comic book style, are about changing the world of work in our changing society.

Pink has held positions in Washington, D.C., including chief speechwriter of Vice President Al Gore from 1995-1997 and before that he was an aide to the Secretary of Labor. He received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a graduate degree in law from Yale University. He jokes that he graduated in the part of his class that makes the top 90% possible.

Pink believes we are in a "conceptual age" of society where creativity and empathy are as important as analytical left-brain thinking. Pink's ideas about changing the world of work, has lead him to ideas about changing the world of school as well. In a 2008 interview with publicschoolinsights.org, Pink discussed the importance of developing right brain skills. He believes that this is a period of time marked by "abundance, Asia and automation." Pink believe that for students to be successful in the future, they will need to do work that is difficult to outsource.

He also has interesting ideas about motivation. He has refers to scientific studies that prove that for some tasks, traditional rewards and punishments don't work. Over and over, when creativity is needed, rewards narrow focus too much and people are unable to find the solution. Pink believes that when people are given autonomy over their work, they perform at a higher rate. He feels that intrinsic motivation is far more powerful than any extrinsic motivation.

While a lot of Pink's ideas deal with business, they have applications in schools as well. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to help prepare students for their future. As society changes, education needs to change so that our children have a chance to be successful. Pink's ideas force me to look at how I teach in a different way...as teachers, we need to stretch our students to not just spit out information, but to be able to make connections and be creative with what we teach them.

Daniel Pink Public School Insights [|Dan Pink Interview] [|"Surprising Science of Motivation" 2009] [|Daniel Pink on Twitter]

MLC