My book of choice was 5 Minds for the Future. This book talks about the important role that the mind plays in our future. According to Gardner (2008), by learning new ways and recognizing how to think, we attain more achievement in the professional and business worlds. In this book, the author describes the minds he believes we should develop in the future; the disciplinary mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind (Gardner, 2008). The author also talks about how we can cultivate our mind at school, in the workplace, and in professions (Gardner, 2008).
Gardner describes the disciplinary mind as the type that has mastered at least one way of thinking (Gardner, 2008 p. 3). To explain what he means by disciplinary mind, Gardner told the story about the famous pianist Artur Rubinstein, who worked very hard at his art, but once he became famous he failed to work on his art with plentiful regularity and effort. Rubinstein told an acquaintance that when he doesn’t practice for a day, he knows it. When he doesn’t practice for two days, the orchestra knows it.
And when he doesn’t practice for three days, the world knows it (Gardner, 2008, p. 3). Rubinstein realized he had to replenish his ability by practicing regularly and with more carefulness. The synthesizing mind is described as the type of mind that collects information from different sources, understands and assess the information objectively, and organizes it in a way that makes sense to the synthesizer and others (Gardner, 2008, p. 3).
Another type of mind described in the book is the creating mind. According to Gardner (2008), this type of mind builds on synthesis and discipline; uses new ides, present different uestions, comes up with new ways of thinking, and comes with unexpected answers (Gardner, 2008). The respectful mind is another type of mind that is included in the book. This type of mind realizes and welcomes differences between people and groups, tries to understand them, and tries to work effectively with them (Gardner, 2008). The last mind is the ethical mind. This type of mind considers one’s work, the needs, and the needs of the society in which we live (Gardner, 2008). Gardner used the former CEO of Johnson & Johnson – James Burke – as an example of someone who used ethical thinking in a critical situation.
Johnson & Johnson faced a Tylenol crisis in 1982 and Burke made the decision of recalling million of Tylenol bottles, and the company turned around and replaced the bottles in a short period of time (Gardner, 2008, p. 147). Every single one of the minds mentioned in the book play a big role in understanding others, the way we think, decisions we make, and the professional and personal success. The author tells us that our mind and how we think really maters; mastering the way we think will help success in our personal and work lives.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. In fact, it was an eye opener for me. I always thought that the way we think was strictly related to our personalities and intelligence, I never thought about different minds. This book made me realize the importance of thinking things through, especially when the decision can affect others. I like how the author gave real life examples when he was describing each mind; that helped me grasp the concept a little easier. I plan on practicing some of the things the author mentioned in the book in my workplace and in my personal life.
While reading, I was thinking about the way I think and the way I learn to better identify the type of mind I tend to use. After reading the book, I realized I have the five different type of minds; disciplined mind, synthesizing mind, creating mind, respectful mind, and ethical mind. Now that I’m aware of the different type of minds and what they really mean, I will be paying more attention to the way I think and process I follow when I make a decision. I would like to be able to master the five minds to be able to be successful in my work and personal lives.
The book says “anyone who seeks to develop minds must take time to ferret out and attempt to understand resistance” (Gardner, 2008, p. 159). I truly believe that being able to master the five minds is going to help me tremendously in my current role. I work in a diverse workplace and understanding the way employees think is going to help me tremendously. I’m aware of my strengths and weaknesses and understanding the five minds is going to help me overcome any issues and develop myself in my career.
My team has a book club and we spend between 30-60 minutes once a week brainstorming and talking about things we can relate to or things we don’t completely understand about the book we are reading. I think is a good idea if I suggest we read the 5 Minds for the Future when we finish the book we are currently reading. I believe that my department can benefit from reading this book because we as Human Resources representatives, are always working with our managers and employees. The book will help the team understand the way they each think and the way our employees think.
I believe it will help communications amongst us and will also help the way we communicate and teach our employees. Part of our role is also training and development and understanding the different minds and how employees think and learn is going to help us tremendously. The author said that by learning new ways and recognizing how to think, we attain more achievement in the professional and business worlds (Gardner, 2008). Overall, I found the book very interesting and am confident that what I learned is going to help me cultivate the five minds.
In my opinion, it’s crucial we understand the five minds and the things we have to do to be able to develop ourselves and the way we think. I believe it’s important for managers and employees to be able to understand the way they think and why they think that way. Understanding the five different minds will help working relationships, communication amongst employees and managers, and personal and professional development. In my opinion this topic is a great topic for a class or training that can be facilitated at a workplace for employee development.
