Einstein would feel at home in today’s world. His creative genius in solving problems would
be of great demand in today’s world. Gone are the industrial days where
following simple instructions from start to finish guaranteed success in life. Today’s
employment opportunities have a greater need for creative thinking, STEM, and
unique approaches to solving problems. The world is changing and society will need to
catch up.
A great many things in our society are still built
off of the Industrial Era mentality. Our educational system, government
offices, law enforcement, etc. continue to use a sequential pattern to process
people and information in an inefficient and often ineffective manner. Contrary
to institutional sluggishness, most businesses have already moved into the Information
Era where they focus on competitive advantages to solve problems and reduce
costs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics between
1998-2004 30% of new jobs created were algorithmic while 70% involved complex heuristic
work (Bradford,
Manyika, & Yee, 2005). In other words, most jobs today don’t involve simple
A to Z processing and require thinking at a higher level to effectively process
information in a way the can generate new ideas. The use of creativity and
intuition are not foreign in this environment.
A paper in Educational
Leadership highlights how creative thinking is more rewarded in today’s
society than sequential thinking (Goodwin & Miller, 2013). The global
economy requires new ways of educating people to use those skills and abilities
that were second nature to geniuses. Education has the responsibility to meet
the needs of preparing people for more complex work environments.
Einstein was considered “dim witted”, Thomas Edison
had a “confused mind”, and Darwin was a “little slow”. They were characterized
by “experts” in this manner because a healthy human mind was one that could easily
follow instructions. Line up and take your number was the main criteria for
success-not a whole lot of creative thinking needed. People were stuck where
they were born regardless of their abilities.
Luckily things have changed for the better in most
sectors of society. According to the paper divergent thinking, heuristic
problem solving, and right brain thinking are needed in today’s world and
should be taught, not thwarted, in education. There will be an increasing need for
graduates to think beyond what is front of them and move into more complex thought
patterns to overcome market challenges.
When a person can think about problems from multiple
vantage points they can be more creative. Likewise, it is necessary to try and
understand problems as much as possible and make an intellectual leap when all
of the information isn’t available. The right brain will need to be employed to
tackle issues emotionally,
intuitively, creatively, globally and analytically.
For those developing new products and solving
complex problems they will need to come up with answers to very complex
problems. They cannot solve problems simply by following pre-made steps but
must move forward, upward, backwards, sideways and downwards to understand
problems. The use of multidirectional perception is needed to tackle problems
effectively.
We can see this process occur in software creation,
product development, consulting, science, and other fields that require heavy
intellectual labor. As the economic output speeds up and relies less on
physical attributes mental faculty will help in developing businesses to push
the envelope of their industries. The educational process will need to adjust
their processes to ensure that the brightest minds, not only the ones that can
follow instructions, can move forward to meet the intellectual needs of
employers. I’m sure that Einstein will find his employment options today much more
to his liking than sitting on an assembly line.
Bradford, C., Manyika, J., &
Yee,L. (2005). The next revolution in interactions. McKinsey Quarterly, 4,25–26.
Goodwin, B. & Miller, K. (2013). Creativity
requires a mix of skills. Educational
Leadership, 70 (5).
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