Five Minds for the Future

Posted October 26th, 2010

In a time of relentless change, there’s only one thing that’s certain: the face-paced future will demand that we function and communicate in more complex ways. Howard Gardner, known for his Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (2004: Basic Books), has taken his research a step forward saying that we will each need to master “five minds” in order to excel in our ever increasingly complex world. Some of his initiatives are being lived out in The GoodWork Project.

His summary of Five Minds for the Future (2008: Harvard Business Press): In the future, individuals who wish to thrive will need to be experts in at least one area – they will need a discipline. As synthesizers, they will need to be able to gather together information from disparate sources and put it together in ways that work for themselves and can be communicated to other persons.
Because almost anything that can be formulated as rules will be done well by computers, rewards will go to creators – those who have constructed a box but can think outside it.

The world of today and tomorrow is becoming increasingly diverse, and there is no way to cordon oneself off from this diversity. Accordingly, we must respect those who differ from us as well as those whom we have similarities.
Finally, as workers and as citizens, we need to be able to act ethically – to think beyond our own self-interest and to do what is right under the circumstances.

What are the “Five Minds”?

• The Disciplined Mind is a distinctive mode of cognition that characterizes a specific scholarly discipline, craft, or profession.
• The Synthesizing Mind take information from disparate sources, understands and evaluates that information objectively and puts it together to build a new capacity to understand new information.
• The Creating Mind breaks new ground by putting forth new ideas, poses unfamiliar questions, and conjures up fresh ways of thinking.
• The Respectful Mind notes and welcomes differences between human individuals and human groups and seeks to work effectively with them.
• The Ethical Mind ponders the nature of one’s work and the needs and desires of the society in which one lives.

Gardner believes that the future belongs to those organizations, as well as those individuals, that have made an active, lifelong commitment to continue to learn. Powerful synthesizing of all of our multiple intelligences might also include our “existential intelligence,” what he defines as the “capacity to raise and address the largest questions” Could this be the human search for the most existential forms of meaning? Our relationship to the Holy One?

He believes, “The transformational leader creates a compelling narrative about the missions of her organization or polity; embodies that narrative in her own life; and is able, through persuasion and personal example, to change thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of those whom she seeks to lead.”

In terms of educational leadership in the church, how might his new theories inform our work?

How can the Church be ready to face the future of our rapidly changing world?

A Study in Perceptions

As this video illustrates, our perception of reality is often colored by preconceptions and prejudices.  It is important to recognize that our contexts shape our experiences of and in the world.  This, in turn, informs our assumptions and leads to conclusions that may be wrong. The challenge is for us to find ways to approach new experiences and information from a stance of openness. Consider how our interactions would change if we engaged others with an appreciation for the differences our contexts create.