A Whole New Mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future, by Daniel Pink, is a must-read for anyone who believes, supports, shares, or lives the Tribes TLC process.  Referenced on pages 293-4 in Jeanne Gibbs and Teri Ushijima’s new book, Engaging All in High School Learning Communities, this book assures what you do and challenges you to keep on creating and challenging yourself and your students.  Here are some tidbits…

Remember the “world is changing” strategy and image (page 19, 28, or 40 –depending on which Tribes book you have)?   A Whole New Mind introduces the “Conceptual Age”.  Beyond the information age of knowledge workers, the conceptual age is characterized by affluence, technology, and globalization; creators and empathizers.  (Engaging All…has a chapter, “The times are a changin’”, devoted to this topic.)

Daniel Pink promotes that high concept (creating) and high touch (empathizing) are what we need to supplement our high tech world.  I think high concept and high touch is Tribes…putting together academic, social and emotional strategies and reflecting on how it all makes sense and how it affects our own learning and development.  The agreements are certainly “high touch”!

The better part of the book is devoted to the “six senses”, what Mr. Pink defines as the “six high-concept, high-touch senses [that] can help develop the whole new mind this new era demands.”  He writes:

  • Not just function but also DESIGN
  • Not just argument but also STORY
  • Not just focus but also SYMPHONY
  • Not just logic but also EMPATHY
  • Not just seriousness but also PLAY
  • Not just accumulation but also MEANING

Each “sense” is a chapter loaded with rationale and examples; at the end of each chapter a “portfolio” section provides the reader with opportunities, ideas, and challenges to develop and expand this “sense”.   As a Tribes teacher and trainer, I felt justified and proud to read this book and think to myself, ”I do that!”, or “I could do that!”, or “my students would LOVE this!”.

In the words of Jeanne Gibbs, “You must read to lead.”  Read this book.   It will educate, validate, and inspire you and your realization of the Tribes TLC process.