Five Minds for the Future

by Howard Gardner

Overview

We live in a time of relentless change. The only thing that's certain is that new challenges and opportunities will emerge that are virtually unimaginable today. How can we know which skills will be required to succeed?

In Five Minds for the Future, bestselling author Howard Gardner shows how we will each need to master "five minds" that the fast-paced future will demand:

· The disciplined mind, to learn at least one profession, as well as the major thinking (science, math, history, etc.) behind it

· The synthesizing mind, to organize the massive amounts of information and communicate effectively to others

· The creating mind, to revel in unasked questions - and uncover new phenomena and insightful apt answers

· The respectful mind, to appreciate the differences between human beings - and understand and work with all persons

· The ethical mind, to fulfill one's responsibilities as both a worker and a citizen

Without these "minds," we risk being overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of the judgment needed to thrive both personally and professionally.

Complete with a substantial new introduction, Five Minds for the Future provides valuable tools for those looking ahead to the next generation of leaders - and for all of us striving to excel in a complex world.

Howard Gardner—cited by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the one hundred most influential public intellectuals in the world, and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient—is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781422145357
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	01/06/2009
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	536,601
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and twenty-one honorary degrees, he is the author of more than twenty books, including Changing Minds, Good Work, and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons.

Editorial Reviews

. . . a detailed and thoughtful description of the multifaceted brains that are likely to be most valued in the coming decades.

BusinessWeek

Psychologist, author and Harvard professor Gardner (Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons) has put together a thought-provoking, visionary attempt to delineate the kinds of mental abilities ("minds") that will be critical to success in a 21st-century landscape of accelerating change and information overload. Gardner's five minds-disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical-are not personality types, but ways of thinking available to anyone who invests the time and effort to cultivate them: "how we shoulduse our minds." In presenting his "values enterprise," Gardner uses a variety of explanatory models, from developmental psychology to group dynamics, demonstrating their utility not just for individual development, but for tangible success in a full range of human endeavors, including education, business, science, art, politics and engineering. This is a tall order for a single work, yet Gardner avoids overly technical arguments as well as breezy generalizations, putting to fine use his 20 years' experience as a cognitive science researcher, author and educator, and proving his world-class reputation well earned. Though specialists might wish Gardner had dug a bit more into the research, most readers will find the book lively and engaging, like the fascinating lectures of a seasoned, beloved prof. (Apr.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly