Reading 1/1:
Young people-coping with an unpredictable future
2345678
(1)Young people here in Asia and indeed in every continent are facing new challenges at an unparalleled pace as they enter the global economy seeking work. But are the young in all parts of the globe fully equipped to deal with the unforeseen hazards of the twenty-first century?
(2)With the globalization not just of commerce, but of all knowledge itself, young graduates in India, Pakistan, or China are just as prepared for the future as their counterparts in any other nation. Except for one thing, that is. Young people wherever they are still lack something of paramount importance. There was a time when those companies or nations with the most knowledge had an edge over their competitors. That is now almost gone.
(3) In future, the success of all nations and companies, and indeed the success of young workers, will depend not on analytical thinking as has been the case until now, but on creativity and flexible thinking. This will have huge implications on the way companies and people function.
(4) Knowledge has now become like the light from the light bulb. It is now available to all of us, worldwide. We can now 'switch it on' in India, China, or Korea as easily as in, say, France or Australia. Knowledge is also packaged into systems that allow professionals of any kind and level to move around the world in the employ of multinational companies much more easily than in the past. So it matters less and less where people are from, where they are working, or where they move to. The same rules and systems apply to all.
Next Question
Next Reading
1
(5)With this knowledge-based system of industry now firmly established, mainly as a result of the Internet, economies and people have been forced to move up to another level of competition. What will make or break the economies of the future in Asia and the West is not workforces equipped with narrow life skills, but more creative thinkers who can deal with the unknown. But the world is still churning out young workers to cater for knowledge rather than creativity-based economies. Edward de Bono has long championed lateral thinking and his work has found its way into many companies and conservative institutions.
(6) More recently. Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind (2005), a book about the mindset needed for the coming century, has predicted that success in the future will depend on creative thinking, not analytical thinking more use of the right side of the brain as opposed to the left. Most people are either left-brained or right-brained, meaning that one side of their brain is dominant. If you're mostly analytical and methodical in your thinking, you're said to be left-brained. If you tend to be more creative or artistic, you're thought to be right-brained. This theory is based on the fact that the brain's two hemispheres function differently. This first came to light in the 1960s, thanks to the research of biologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry.
(7) Knowledge-based professions which control the world like banking and management, Pink argues, will wane as more and more jobs are replaced by computers, a prospect government must wake up to or they will have hordes of young people trained for a redundant worldview. The analytical brain types that have dominated job interviews in recent years have had their day.Those who see the bigger picture at the same time, i.e. those who use the right side of their brain as well or more than the left or can switch between the two at will, are about to come into
their own.
(8)The most prized individuals will be those who think outside the analytical boxes. If governments are sleep-walking into this situation, young people need not do so, but can prepare themselves for this dramatic evolution. Broadly speaking, young people are much more flexible and prepared to adapt to new situations than their older counterparts. Their very familiarity
