(CNN) -- Where "global knowledge" was once essential for leaders, IBM's 2010 Global CEO Study cited "creativity" as the most important leadership quality for the future. This is one of many signals that the business world is evolving out of the "Information Age," where left-brain technical skills, knowledge and expertise were king.
In "A Whole New Mind: Why
Right Brainers Will Rule the Future," Daniel H. Pink asserts that
current global conditions -- abundance, Asian outsourcing, and
automation -- are setting the stage for a brand new era: the "Conceptual
Age."
As employees chart their route to the top in this new era, it's important to know the skills that companies are looking for.
Lisa Bodell
In the Conceptual Age,
right-brain skills will be key. Given the velocity of change and the
complexity that results from this, we need to go beyond just knowledge
or expertise. The best employees of the future will excel at creative
problem solving and different ways of thinking -- synthesizing seemingly
diverse things together for better solutions, using metaphors to
explain new ideas for which no context yet might exist.
This is partly because
the amount of new information about any given subject is constantly
increasing. Tomorrow's companies will need to take a creative-thinking
approach to the sea of knowledge, bridging the gap between analytical,
left-brain functions and creative, right-brain capabilities. My new
book, "Kill the Company," identifies the most critical skills of the
Conceptual Age -- and simple ways to cultivate them before it's too
late:
1. Strategic Imagination
refers to "dreaming with purpose." Today's employee is so mired in
busywork that their ability to think long-term has waned. But employees
of tomorrow must learn to actively imagine future possibilities and
create scenarios to act on them.
Seek out resources that fuel future thinking, such as LongBets.com, Springwise.com, and NewScientist.com.
Challenge yourself to envision your business unit in the year 2020.
Even better, draw your vision -- create a magazine cover, an
organizational chart, etc. -- as a visual representation of what the
future might look like.
Transformative power lies in asking questions that make us rethink the obvious.
Lisa Bodell
Lisa Bodell
2. The ability to ask smart and often unsettling questions is known as Provocative Inquiry.
Transformative power lies in asking questions that make us rethink the
obvious. In the healthcare industry, for example, it can be seen in the
shift from curing illness to preventing it via wellness services.
To unearth new answers
to existing business problems, learn to ask better questions -- ones
that make other team members really stop and think. For example, "What
are the unshakable beliefs about client/customer needs in our industry
... what if the opposite were true?" and "Which competitors could eat
our lunch tomorrow and what are we doing about it?" By encouraging
curiosity, you fan the fires that create new ideas and improve current
offerings.
3. The quick and obvious
strategy will not survive the fierce competition of the Conceptual Age.
Employees will need to continually exercise their Creative Problem Solving skills, the application of best practices from unexpected sources to create fresh solutions.
In the consumer product
category, James Dyson exemplifies this skill. Dyson applied the
mechanics of a local sawmill -- a giant cyclone-shaped dust collector --
and invented the best-selling vacuum in the UK. Hone this reflex by
utilizing an exercise called "RE:think." Take an everyday object (paper
clip, scissors, etc.) and pretend you've never encountered it before.
What does this new product do? What are its benefits and who would use
it? Activities like Re:think can strengthen your ability to approach
problems in unconventional ways.
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