Rising Importance of Whole-Brain Operations
Conrad Ho, Hong Kong, May. 5, 2016
The human society has, broadly speaking, progressed from the hunter-gatherer period, agricultural epoch, industrial age, era of knowledge to the currently “incubating” stage of creativity. The dominant economic feature (i.e. the competition criterion for resource distribution) in each of these periods respectively are: physical power, communal power, financial power, intellectual power, and now the rising star of creative power. “Creativity” is about original ideas, involving new ideas still in the blueprint level. “Creative power” is the capability to create original things, involving the act of turning new ideas into reality, thus having already entered into the operational level.
In the hunter-gatherer period, several relatives lived together in a cave. The male members were to hunt outdoor under the scorching sun, running for hours to chase after the prey till the poor animal had heat stroke and paralysed. The female members were to walk each day for over ten kilometers minimum to gather roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits of various plants for foods or medicines; or to carry kilograms of water back home. Whoever with stronger physical power, being able to run farther or carry more, could lead a better life.
In the agricultural epoch, a clan of tens or a hundred plus lived together in a village. It took more than a few to do, let alone doing well, the jobs for earning livelihood, be it cultivating farmlands, constructing irrigation systems, watering crops, or collecting year-end harvests. Whichever village with members cooperating well, complementing each other in their division of labor, could flourish. The importance of communal power was even more obvious at times of facing attacks by huge wild animals or even bandits.
In the industrial age, several tens or hundreds of thousands of people lived together in a city. Large-scale operations were the signature: extraction and transport of raw materials, manufacturing processes in factories, sales and delivery of products ¡K all were conducted in large scales; and the larger the scale, the better. Under such a mode, any move will have a huge cost tag, only for the chance of making an even larger profit. With the rise of various financial products and monetary tools, more and more wealthy people rely on accumulating financial power for using money to earn more money.
In the era of knowledge, several to tens of millions of people lived together in a metropolis. The characteristic is fine-tuning. Whoever having found before others unsatisfied wants in a market, market segment, or consumer groups, located before others the appropriate supply, and lined up the supply to the demand, would win because of his superior intellectual power. Amidst the trend of ever smoother flows of goods and people, coupled with the trend of speedy flow of information over the internet, whoever with a sharper mind would get rich.
The stage of creativity is still budding, yet to have its well-formed pattern. It remains to be observed whether the human population will congregate even more or disperse into multi-nuclei areas. However, it is pretty certain when development in various fronts have been relatively advanced, one needs ingenious ideas that can be operationalized to have the chance to excel. Creativity plus creative power is the key for long-term success in this stage.
The known developments of human civilization over several thousands of years, be it from ignorance to education, or from superstition to science, have mainly relied on the bulk of the population developing their logic brains (or commonly called the left brain). Based on the reverse thinking proposition of the marketing discipline, even if considerable room for developing the logic brain still exists, with so many people already working hard at it, it would take extraordinary minds with tremendous efforts to succeed in this “red sea”. On the other side, the gestalt brain (or commonly called the right brain) is basically an empty land for development. Even an average mind using average efforts might catch a big fish in this “blue sea”!
“Whole-brain operation” refers to further developing the gestalt brain based on the foundation of logic brain development laid by our predecessors, thereby, achieving a more balanced utilization of the two brain hemispheres. To succeed in the stage of creativity, we need both concepts (logic brain) and feelings (gestalt brain). In practice, we need to invest our attention into 6 particular aspects:
Concern for not only functionality, but also design -The iPad and iPhone of Apple are still trend-setters for the time being. It is not just due to their functionality, but also the fact that it feels good in using them – the products are beautiful and convenient to use.
Concern for not only theories, but also stories – Books on popular science explain to the general public about difficult new theories in a easily-understandable manner, by telling the stories of the ups and downs of scientists in their research processes.
Concern for not only specialization, but also integration – Specialization is good, yet easily becoming lopsided. Inter-disciplinary collaboration is the trend in modern scientific researches; fusion menu with cuisines of various cultures is the boast in the catering industry; … all these denote integration of the strengths of different sources.
Concern for not only logic, but also care – Telling someone what he should do is one thing. Yet, it takes more to prompt him into action – to care and/or be cared for. After all, people are animals of feelings!
Concern for not only seriousness, but also playfulness – There is the well-known English idiom: work hard, play hard! Our pursuit is to work seriously with a playful heart. Studies reveal that people with such an attitude would succeed happily, rather than miserably.
Concern for not only money, but also meaning – Why need money? Sustenance. After that? Sense of achievement. After that? Meaning – to make a difference in this world.
To achieve all these, and achieve them well, requires utilization of both the logic and gestalt brains at the same time, as well as collaboration between the two hemispheres. In previous times, whole-brain operation was a good-to-have luxury. But in the stage of creativity, it is a necessity for success. Have you done anything today to facilitate your whole-brain operation?
