Hey, journalists: Use your whole brains!

No doubt many of us journalists could use a mental shot of adrenaline after being exhausted by corporate restructuring, downsizing and outsourcing. Author Daniel H. Pink provides one with his book, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.”

We’re in danger of being replaced, folks, just like factory workers before us (and supplanted, like farmers before them), because the information economy is evolving. “Last century, machines proved they could replace human backs. This century, new technologies are proving they can replace human left brains. … Any job that depends on routines — that can be reduced to a set of rules, or broken down into a set of repeatable steps — is at risk,” Pink observes (p. 44).

He’s right. Copy editors: Consider spellcheck. And if you believe knowing AP (Associated Press) style will save you: Consider your many low-cost replacements in India …

Pink calls this the “conceptual” age, or the second stage of the information economy, in which left-brain thinking — logic, like that which we use to construct AP-compliant ledes — is no longer enough. He calls on people to start using their whole brains, including the once-disparaged creative right sides.

I know what you’re thinking: We already do! You’re right.

Pink claims we need to develop six “high-concept, high-touch senses” (p. 65) that will help us remain relevant as evolution occurs: story, design, symphony (creating a whole from pieces), empathy, play and meaning. We’re more than half way there, folks! Our careers involve crafting stories that are interesting enough to be heard; that are designed to catch the attention of people suffering from information overload; and that assemble puzzles using pieces the public may otherwise never connect (creating symphony). Journalism is story, design and symphony.

Further, I believe we journalists are masters at play—yeah, Pink literally means having fun at work. My favorite Facebook page remains Overheard in the Newsroom; our humor can’t be beat! I doubt we would have survived the layoffs and closures with sanity intact if we didn’t enjoy each other’s company — or if we didn’t find meaning in what we do. Pink emphasizes meaning: “[W]e live in an era of abundance, with standards of living unmatched in the history of the world. Freed from the struggle for survival, we have the luxury of devoting more of our lives to the search for meaning” (p. 218). We journalists don’t need to develop this sense; certainly, we’re not in this struggle for the awesome pay! We believe a free democratic society depends on the free flow of accurate information. We live meaning.

In a perfect world, we also employ empathy. Unfortunately, given that the public now views us as lower forms of scum than politicians and lawyers, I suspect many of us have shelved empathy, as it takes time and energy — and who has time or energy in the day of instant news?!?

Pink gives readers some exercises to help strengthen empathy, and — let’s face it, peers of mine — we need a refresher. If we employ empathy, we understand it is more important to get the facts about the Boston bombings correct than it is to immediately inform (read: inflame) the public with rumors. We have been betraying the public trust by putting immediacy ahead of emotion. And, yes, I know the public demanded immediacy, in the beginning of the information age … but I suspect you’re going to find, in the conceptual age, that the public wants its emotions tended, as well.

Let’s given them what they want and be the whole-brainers I know we can be!