Daniel Pink is a man who requires no introduction. His five books, including A Whole New Mind, To Sell is Human, and Drive, have sold a whopping two million copies worldwide. We’ve culled four of his best tips on business, work and behaviour.
- Finding Flow
The idea of Flow comes from Pink’s runaway bestseller, Drive. To thrive in the modern workplace we need a mixture of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Autonomy is defined as “freedom in how you complete a task,” Mastery as “working on tasks that consistently challenge you,” and Purpose as the belief that “the work you’re doing is making a difference in the world.” When we have a healthy balance of all three we experience flow, that state where you become so connected to your work that you look up and somehow an hour has gone by without you even knowing it. - We’re all salespeople
The internet has revolutionized the way we work and has made us all salespeople. “In the United States alone, some 1 in 9 workers still earns a living trying to get others to make a purchase,” Pink writes in To Sell is Human. “More startling, though, is what happened to the other 8 in 9. They’re in sales, too… They—make that ‘we’—are engaged in what I call ‘non-sales selling.'” Still not convinced that we’re all salespeople? Read our summary of To Sell is Human to learn the new ABC’s of selling. - Visualize rather than map your future
A few decades ago it was considered imperative to map out your future. Now, however, it’s not only impossible, but foolhardy. Put it this way: none of us could have envisioned our present workplace back in 1995 (we mentioned just one of them above!). In The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, Pink cautions: “It’s nice to believe that you can map out every step ahead of time and end up where you want. But that’s a fantasy. The world changes. Ten years from now, your job might be in India. Your industry might not even exist.” Instead of mapping out every step of your future, try visualizing where you want to be in 10, 15, 20, or even 30 years from now. - The androgynous mind
The 21st century workplace requires an androgynous mind. “Sometimes we need detachment; many other times we need attunement,” Pink writes in A Whole New Mind. “And the people who will thrive will be those who can toggle between the two.” With a seemingly endless array of options available today, customers want a unique, personalized experience, one that can be achieved only by possessing an androgynous mind. As Chris Taylor wrote in his summary: “Relate-ability. Empathy. Meaning. When we were small town merchants we understood the value of connecting with our customers–truly caring and learning about their lives. We moved away from that with the advent of big-box stores and a cultural focus on price, but the tide is shifting again.”
What’s your all-time favourite Dan Pink takeaway? Let us know in the comments below! (And for a walk down memory lane, revisit out our 2010 pilgrimage to the inner sanctum of Pink Inc. headquarters in Washington, DC. You can check that out here.)
