Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

I just read an interesting article… “The imagination economy,” in the July 10^th issue of Fortune Magazine. Geoffrey Colvin, senior editor-at-large, tells readers that “to keep wages rising, American workers need to get creative.” Bravo! Hopefully now that Fortune magazine said it so well – we’ll begin to hear it with fresh vision.

I agree with Geoffrey Colvin, that “The U.S. economy faces a historic problem, and how it is resolved will drive major consequences for managers, investors, politicians, and especially workers.”

And he hit the nail on the head in his conclusion that “The problem is that Americans' pay isn't going up.” In fact we’ve standardized more and more so that fewer and fewer only can prosper by rigid formulas used. I run a brain based business and it is based on using imagination … to convert facts learned in science about the brain in ways that create doable tactics for business and college leaders to increase successful outcomes in a knowledge era.

If I had a concrete widget – my business would have prospered by Colvin’s notion that we  look more to  “greater achievement in science and technology, long our economy's foundation.”  Instead I’ve had to personally fund and support my entire work – and luckily it grew well and is successful in many countries. However,  I see amazing grants poured into new technology companies that go bust in a few years, because they meet the narrow formula for what the economy currently supports.

Maybe that’s why I am heartened by Fortunes’ willingness to show another side and “argue that the whole debate is wrong - that focusing on science and technology is fighting the last war. They hold that the very basis of value creation is shifting from the disciplines of logic and linear thinking to the intuitive, nonlinear processes of creativity and imagination. Tech advances will cease to confer much competitive advantage as they circle the world almost instantly.”

Like Geoffrey, I am deeply challenged by authors like Daniel Pink who look to a wider mental scope and by Richard Florida who helps us to understand the consequences of ignoring key parts of the human brain to move a nation. In the meantime after reading Geoffrey Colvin’s terrific article… I challenge Fortune Magazine … to publish more such pieces about  the “Imagination Economy” now that they have taken this exciting risk to say it as they see it! I’ll be the voice you hear cheering loudest from the bleachers… and I am sure many other leaders will be rooting for that new formula or vision might be a better word….

For instance, Geoffrey Colvin said:  “The larger point is that American workers need a new formula for raising their living standard.”

I’d like to see Fortune magazine help us all to create just that formula …” It could be done at a brain based roundatable that was well facilitated to glean the best imaginations in the field. I’d be glad to support their efforts in any way I can! We need this formula they’ve proposed sooner rather than later …. Just as Fortune  Magazine said through Colvin… we at Brain Based Business… see that our brains hold a zillion active parts for imagination and invention …. We also know these simply atrophy without use. Hopefully there is still time… before other nations … who standardize less while imagining and creating more … simply pass us by. What do you think?