Perhaps I’m just now noticing it but over the last 5 years there’s been what I consider an upswing in speaking series, notably around new ways to think and perceive our world. A local college in Charlotte – University of North Carolina in Charlotte – has a program going called NEXT in the Belk School of Business. Dan Pink is speaking tomorrow night (February 1st, 2011) and I’m excited about attending it.
I’ve featured Dan Pink throughout this blog and figured I’d email him some questions. Below is our exchange plus links to his books and a video with Oprah.
1) You’re currently doing a speaking tour – sharing ideas and promoting your books. Does the repetition of this ever sap your enthusiasm for it?
Airport security lines sap my enthusiasm. Big time. As does bad food and lack of exercise on the road. But the conversations with people never get old. Folks seem extremely engaged in this set of ideas — and they’re always showing me new practices or new ways to look at the topic. That’s what keeps me going.
2) Clay Shirky and others have recently highlighted a change in how people spend their time. He calls it the Cognitive Surplus. It’s the observation of people spending less time watching TV and more time creating something, whether its an update to Wikipedia or a dance video on youtube. These themes tend to run throughout your books as well. What are your thoughts on this situation? Is it good or bad that math and science scores are down, but evil squirrel videos are up?
Cognitive surplus is a fascinating idea. And if even a fraction of it goes for noble, interesting pursuits, that can be a game-changer. Wikipedia is a good case in point. That said, some people will always squander their time. Today, though, there are many more options for people to use time in (slightly) more creative and ennobled ways. As for math and science scores, I give evil squirrels a pass on this one. The real problem is that we’ve got an 19th century education system that’s designed mostly for the convenience of adults rather than the education of children.
3) Since publishing Drive, I bet many people have told you about how they instituted ROWE or 20% time. For instance Michael Lebowitz of Big Spaceship in the NY Times mentioned Intellectual Property Fridays. A few hours where they brainstorm very simple ideas and see which ones to run with. Can you share one or two that stuck out to you?
There are lots of examples – and they’re all pretty cool. For instance, I heard about Intuit doing 10 percent time — with terrific results. The head of innovation there, Roy Rosin, told me: “After our CEO declared ‘mobile’ was key to our strategy, none of our business units were able to change direction on a dime, but our employees using 10 percent time create seven mobile apps before any other mobile projects even got started.” What’s also cool is that several schools have begun holding “FedEx Days” — both for teachers and for students.
4) How are your books received in other countries? I imagine many of the concepts in Drive are scoffed at in China or the ideas of A Whole New Mind are “duhs” in Europe.
Both of those books have done surprisingly well overseas — especially in Japan, South Korea, and Brazil. In Europe, A WHOLE NEW MIND did pretty well — but DRIVE has done much better. In general, though, the curious reaction to both baskets of ideas — anywhere in the world — is similar. People say, “I’m a right-brainer. I’m motivated internally. That’s how I want the rest of the workplace to be.”
Working Thoughts 