Intro

Ok, This isn't going to be the best reaction ever since I read these pages before we were supposed to take notes, so I have no notes (same with design-empathy)

So, anyway, in these pages, Mr. Pink sets up, and presents his argument, that the majority of jobs in the US (and UK, Canada) are going to become more and more right-brain oriented as time goes on. The major reasons for this switch to the "Conceptual Age" are: Abundance, Automation, and Asia. Abundance in our world is starting to decrease the demand for something that fits one's needs and increases the demand for something whimsical, meaningful, or just cool looking. Automation is taking jobs that can be reduced to a set of rules and using computers instead of humans. Asia is receiving more and more of those "white collar" jobs because of the lower wage people are willing to work for. All of these factors, says Mr. Pink, are leading to the near extinction of left-brain jobs in return for the things that Automation and Asia can't do the right-brained jobs.

Well, this was a little worrisome to me, because I am not at all an artist, and not really right-brain oriented. But, this was a bit of a relief to know that my dream job (marketing) will still be there in this so called "Conceptual Age." I really liked the way he set up the 2nd half of the book, also. At the end of chapter three, he explained that the next half of the book was going to be about the "six senses," design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. With some of these senses (like design and meaning) I felt I was going to be comfortable improving, but some of the senses (empathy, symphony) I knew I wasn't going to like trying to work on the skills. One other reason I really liked the intro was that he used specific factoids. This helped me put it all in perspective, and understand his points a lot easier.

Overall, I liked the intro because it helped me take a glimpse into my future job market, a rundown of what I had to work on, and lots of specific facts