FIVE MINDS

FOR THE FUTURE

HOWARD GARDNER

HOWARD GARDNER is professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
He is also a senior director of Harvard Project Zero. Dr. Gardner, a graduate of Harvard University, is the
recipient of twenty-one honorary degrees from universities and colleges in a number of countries. He is the
author of more than twenty books including Changing Minds, Good Work and Multiple Intelligences. Dr.
Gardner was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of 100 most influential public
intellectuals in the world in 2005.
Dr. Gardner’s Web site is at www.howardgardner.com.

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 Five Minds for the Future - Page 1

MAIN IDEA
The marketplace of the 21-st century is certain to feature accelerating globalization, rapid increases in the amount of information
which is available and stunning breakthroughs in science and technology. What will it take to succeed in that kind of world?
Irrespective of how the future will eventually unfold, there are five types of cognitive abilities or “minds” which are certain to command
a premium in the years ahead:

Be able to select key information To go beyond political correctness

from a wide variety of sources and and develop solutions which are
arrange that information in ways culturally acceptable and inclusive
that make sense and add value rather than divisive or offensive

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The Disciplined The Synthesizing The Creative The Respectful The Ethical
Mind Mind Mind Mind Mind

Understand and apply the structured Go beyond existing knowledge to To act in ways which exemplifies
ways of thinking associated with fashion new solutions that build on sound judgement and which in
academic disciplines or major and enhance what has been done every way will be considered
professional fields before in the same field to be good citizenship

If you plan on excelling in the future, cultivate these five very different and distinctive ways of thinking.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The Disciplined The Synthesizing The Creative The Respectful The Ethical
Mind Mind Mind Mind Mind

With so much Respect deals directly Ethics has moved to

You have to learn to
information now being
think in a disciplined
available, the ability to
manner in order to excel
synthesize or to knit
in the future. It usually
together information
takes about ten years to
from a variety of sources
become competent in a
into coherent ideas is
profession or in any
very important. Unless
particular area of human
you learn how to do this
expertise. Unless you
for yourself, you’re going
actually pay that price
to be overwhelmed by
and get up to speed in a
the flood of information
profession, you’ll always
which will confront you
be forced to march to the
every day of your career.
beat of someone else’s
More and more, the job
drum. By learning how to
description of all kinds of
think and act
jobs in the future will call
systematically about a
for synthesis. Unless
subject – which is what a
you can place t he
professional education
current state of
does – you position
knowledge in its proper
yourself to be able to
context, it’s very hard to
move into other fields of
come up with anything
your choice in the future.
new.
The creative mind builds
with our relations with center stage with all of
on discipline and
other human beings. the c orporate
synthesis to put forward
Nowadays, it is accounting scandals
new ideas, f resh
impossible t o do which have made the
thinking and unexpected
business without news in recent years. In
solutions to problems.
considering how what simple terms, ethics is
Creativity and originality
you do impacts on about understanding
have always been highly
others. To be respectful your role as a worker or
valued in business and
means you welcome as a citizen and acting
the ability to go beyond
differences, you try to accordingly. You have to
existing boundaries and
understand where act in ways which are
fashion ideas which
others are coming from consistent with your
stretch the boundaries
and you attempt to work personal beliefs and
of what’s possible will
harmoniously with them. which can withstand
remain highly valued in
In the m odern scrutiny s hould t he
the future. It is entirely
interconnected world, if tables be turned at some
feasible in the future,
you show intolerance or point in the future. To act
those c orporations
disrespect word will get ethically means for you
which embrace
around and your actions and your organization to
innovation will
will come back to haunt do all those things which
outperform by a
you. You need to be will make you proud
considerable margin
worthy of respect to rather than hiding in a
those that do not.
prosper in the future. veil of ignorance.

1. The Disciplined Mind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 2 - 3

2. The Synthesizing Mind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 3 - 4
3. The Creative Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 5 - 6
4. The Respectful Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 6 - 7
5. The Ethical Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 7 - 8

1.
Five Minds for the Future The Disciplined
Mind
You have to learn to think in a disciplined manner in order to
excel in the future. It usually takes about ten years to become
competent in a profession or in any particular area of human
expertise. Unless you actually pay that price and get up to speed
in a profession, you’ll always be forced to march to the beat of
someone else’s drum. By learning how to think and act
systematically about a subject – which is what a professional
education does – you position yourself to be able to move into
other fields of your choice in the future.
“Individuals without one or more disciplines will not be able to
succeed at any demanding workplace and will be restricted to
menial tasks.”
– Howard Gardner
Formal training in a discipline – whether it be as a scientist, as a
lawyer, as an architect, as a business manager or as in any other
profession – allows a student to acquire at least three different
and worthwhile elements:
1 Background knowledge
Discipline 2 Mental habits
3 Patterns of behavior
1. Background knowledge – to become proficient in any field,
you first need to study what those who have gone before
have learned. As you gain this knowledge base – which takes
time – you’ll also gain a deeper appreciation for the
knowledge which exists in other professions and fields of
expertise as well. Once you’ve gone through the process of
learning a discipline yourself, you’ll also have a better
appreciation for what it takes to become proficient in some
other field.
2. Mental habits – studying a discipline to professional standard
always requires that you put aside unstructured thinking and
develop solid mental habits. In effect, you learn how to think
about problems in a structured and systematic way. Almost
all of the professions and certainly all of the different
academic fields have their own distinctive way of thinking and
discussing things. Unless you know the accepted way of
thinking in each discipline, you’ll find it very difficult to work
with others who are deeply immersed in their areas of
specialization.
3. Patterns of behavior – disciplined professionals approach
problems in a structured manner which is ingrained by their
training. For example, scientists observe the world, come up
with tentative suggestions, design experiments to test their
theories, revise those theories in light of what they find and
then return to make new observations and start the cycle
running all over again. Professionals in other fields often use
equivalent or similar patterns of behavior which are the direct
result of their professional training.
Five Minds for the Future - Page 2
Of course becoming formally trained in a profession isn’t merely
just a matter of memorizing the various facts and formulas which
are commonly used. Nor do you become a professional by
reading a few books on a topic. Instead, developing expertise in
a formal discipline usually involves four distinct steps:
1 Find someone who is sufficiently well versed in the
field that they can help you identify all of the
important topics or concepts you need to know
in order to succeed in that discipline. Some of
these topics will be content (important facts you
need to know in depth) while others will be more
methodical (how to set up a rigorous scientific
experiment or how to analyze a balance sheet).
2 Spend enough time to become genuinely competent in
this field. This will require in-depth study over a
substantial period of time so you can analyze the
subject from a number of different analysis modes.
3 Study your field in a number of different ways
or from a number of different entry points. Look in
depth at various case studies, logical analysis,
controversial debates and so forth. Doing this
enables you to develop a genuine understanding
for the state-of-the-art and robust mental agility.
4 Set up ample opportunities for you to get some
hands-on experience in this field. This may be under
the guidance of an experienced mentor or in other
settings. Doing this enables you to gain performances
of understanding or actual experience in how things
happen under a variety of conditions. By participating in
these formative exercises, your understanding of your
field will be deepened beyond mere memorization of
key facts and formulas. Until you are forced to apply
what you’ve learned into real-world situations, your
know-how is of limited use. You then become equipped
to pose new questions or puzzles in your field and to
add to the knowledge base throughout your career.
Clearly then to master a discipline is not something which can
happen overnight or even by mail order. Instead, time and
access to mentors who are themselves sufficiently well qualified
is required, along with actual hands-on experience in the field to
validate the learning which is happening. If you don’t pay the
price to become competent in the discipline of your choice, you
effectively stay at the same level of someone who is completely
unschooled. Instead of taking advantage of the progress made
by experienced people in your field over the past few thousand
years, you have to figure everything out for yourself. This is, of
course, highly restrictive and counterproductive.

If you fail to master a profession or learn how to think in a
structured and disciplined way, then you’ll probably have some
problems including:
n You won’t be in a position to participate fully in the world of
commerce or other areas because you don’t understand how
human progress has unfolded in the past.
n You’ll be limited to your own thinking rather than knowing how
to access the output of some of the finest minds ever to turn to
a subject.
n You’ll be less equipped to understand the significance of
current events, new scientific breakthroughs, new regulations
being proposed and so forth. In other words, you won’t be able
to have informed opinions about anything of consequence.
n You’ll feel alienated from the rest of society and be relegated
to watching things happen rather than making things happen.
n You’ll be completely dependant on others to make key
decisions about matters of public health, regulation and the
future of society.
In short, mastering a professional discipline lays a solid
foundation for success, even if you then choose to work in a
completely different field. You achieve genuine understanding of
the world rather than just a superficial appreciation for what’s
happening. You will also see why ongoing learning is a lifetime
necessity rather than a one-time event. Anyone who has
mastered a professional discipline understands the importance
of staying current with the new knowledge which is constantly
being developed and propagated in their field. Disciplined
individuals continue to learn not because they are preparing for
an end-of-year exam but because they are passionate about the
process of learning and appreciate the benefits to be derived
therefrom.
“The disciplined mind has mastered at least one way of thinking –
a distinctive mode of cognition that characterizes a specific
scholarly discipline, craft or profession. Much research confirms
that it takes up to ten years to master a discipline. The disciplined
mind also knows how to work steadily over time to improve skill
and understanding – in the vernacular, it is highly disciplined.
Without at least one discipline under his belt, the individual is
destined to march to someone else’s orders.”
– Howard Gardner
“Like the most salient experiences of life, the achievement of
disciplinary understanding breeds a desire for more. Once one
has understood well a particular play, a particular war, a
particular physical or biological or managerial concept, the
appetite has been whetted for additional and deeper
understanding, and for clear-cut performances in which one’s
understanding can be demonstrated to others and to oneself.
Indeed, the genuine understander is unlikely in the future to
accept only superficial understandings. Rather, having eaten
from the tree of understanding, he or she is likely to return there
repeatedly for ever more satisfying intellectual nourishment.”
– Howard Gardner
“It does not help to simply understand that a lawyer or engineer
or manager thinks differently; placed in the shoes of the lawyer,
engineer or manager, one must act differently as well. Thinking
and action are more closely allied than ever before.”
– Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future - Page 3
2.
Five Minds for the Future The Synthesizing
Mind
With so much information now being available, the ability to
synthesize or to knit together information from a variety of
sources into coherent ideas is very important. Unless you learn
how to do this for yourself, you’re going to be overwhelmed by the
flood of information which will confront you every day of your
career. More and more, the job description of all kinds of jobs in
the future will call for synthesis. Unless you can place the current
state of knowledge in its proper context, it’s very hard to come up
with anything new.
“Individuals without synthesizing capabilities will be
overwhelmed by information and unable to make judicious
decisions about personal or professional matters.”
– Howard Gardner
By many estimates, the amount of accumulated information
doubles every two to three years. The ability to access those vast
sources of information and give them coherence and integration
will be at a premium in the twenty-first century.
A synthesis can take any of several forms:
n A narrative or story – which illustrates one or more principles.
n A taxonomy or system – such as the double-entry balance
sheet commonly used in annual reports. These systems may
also be presented in charts or tables like the periodic table for
example.
n A complex concept – which blends or ties together a range of
different phenomena. Good examples of this are the business
cycle, price-earnings ratios and the 80/20 principle.
n Rules-of-thumb and what can be termed “folk wisdom” –
which often encapsulates sound ideas. Examples: “Think
before you act”, “Don’t try to keep too many balls in the air at
the same time” or even “Always diversify your portfolio”.
n Commonly used metaphors, images and themes – which
bring arcane ideas to life by giving them a graphic element. A
good example of this was economist Adam Smith who
characterized the self-regulatory nature of free markets as
being guided by an invisible hand. Companies create brands
which are a combination of words, graphics and jingles for this
same reason.
n Embodiments of ideas in works of art – for example
Michelangelo’s illustration of various biblical events on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. These works of art can
synthesize lots of different ideas and bring them together in
one place.
n Theories – which amalgamate a number of different
concepts. Adam Smith’s theory of a market economy
combined the ideas of supply and demand, labor and
production, profit and loss into one unified concept.
n Metatheories – or overall frameworks for knowledge.
Metatheories attempt to bring together a number of theories
into one structured and unified whole. Physicists have been
attempting to develop a single theory which will unite the
different branches of physics into one for many years without
any success yet. The same attempts are also being made in
numerous other fields.

Any good synthesis attempt will have four essential components:
1 A goal
2 A starting point
Synthesis
3 Selection of approach
4 Drafts and feedback
1. A goal – you state what you’re actually trying to achieve with
your synthesis.
2. A starting pint – the idea, image or previous work on which
you are attempting to build your synthesis. Darwin developed
his theory of evolution based on matching earlier
evolutionary theories to his field observations made while
travelling on the Beagle.
3. Selection of approach – the strategy and method you are
choosing to use. If you’re developing a business plan as a
synthesis, for example, you would probably consult experts,
do some test marketing, run focus groups and then make
financial projections based on extrapolations of data
samples. Every synthesis has to have some method on how
things are to be done.
4. Drafts and feedback – sooner or later the material has to be
put together and then shown to others for their feedback.
First drafts of anything are usually reasonably primitive and it
isn’t until the later reworkings of the synthesis that the real
polish is applied.
The most ambitious of any synthesis is when a person takes
ideas from one discipline or field and applies them to another
with great success. If this integration of ideas is handled well,
synergy can be created which hopefully will lead to greater value
further down the track. In the business context, an
interdisciplinary synthesis is more often termed as being
“cross-functional” because it combines the input of inventors,
designers, marketers, the manufacturing team and so forth.
There are three different contexts in which interdisciplinary
synthesis really comes into its own:
1 Test a new concept
Interdisciplinary 2 Understand a phenomena
Synthesis
3 Solve an emerging problem
1. To test a new concept – for example a disruptive new
technology has been developed and your management team
wants to forecast what will be the flow-on impact.
2. To understand a new phenomena – such as when a new drug
turns out to generate toxic side effects in a small proportion of
the population and a way forward needs to be agreed upon.
3. To develop a solution for some pressing new problem –
which is beyond the scope of any individual discipline to
handle. Typically, the challenges facing society (poverty,
pollution, terrorism) can’t be addressed unless numerous
disciplines and specialties are combined in the overall effort.
Five Minds for the Future - Page 4
To come up with a robust synthesis is difficult because anyone
who is trained professionally has mastered disciplines which are
unique to his or her chosen field of specialization. To leap with
equal competence into entirely different areas of specialization
simply isn’t credible but a good synthesis enables these creative
leaps to happen. This cross pollination of ideas from one field
injected into another entirely different subject area has produced
some stunning business breakthroughs, and will likely do so
again in the future.
As the business world’s ability to generate new information
continues to accelerate in the foreseeable future, the ability to
give this information genuine context also increases in value.
The key to being able to do this is to generate robust
interdisciplinary or cross-functional thoughts. If your
organization aspires to be well positioned in the future, train
more people on how to develop a world-class synthesis of the
facts.
“There are two kinds of truth, deep truth and shallow truth, and
the function of science is to eliminate the deep truth.”
– Neils Bohr, physicist
“We live in a time where our most talented minds know more and
more about increasingly narrow spheres. The division of labor
that Adam Smith noted in the marketplace of commerce has
swept the marketplace of ideas as well. And there is no reason to
expect the drive toward specialization will be stemmed – or even
that it would be a good idea to put the brakes on heightened
‘laser’ disciplinary exploration. We need role models –
individuals who are themselves good at synthesizing. We also
need criteria that establishes the difference between excellent,
adequate, and inappropriate integrations. And we must accept
that these criteria are mission- or topic-specific. What counts as
a good synthesis in evolutionary biology may differ markedly
from an integration that is appropriate for the arts or commerce.
A synthesis suitable for determining the limits of complexity
theory may bear little resemblance to a synthesis adequate for
addressing the eradication of poverty or the control of the AIDS
epidemic.”
– Howard Gardner
“I think intellect is a good thing unless it paralyzes your ability to
make decisions because you see too much complexity.
Presidents need to have what I would call a synthesizing
intelligence.”
– Bill Clinton
“Synthesizing massive amounts of data, intelligence, slants,
opinions, tactics, and trying to maintain a strategic big picture
was a challenge. You feel it creeping up into your brain alike a
numbing cold and you just have to choke it down, sift faster, and
stay with it. It’s challenging to be sure, but if you practice it, you
develop a good tool for the leadership toolbox.”
– Richard Severs, navy captain
“Whether one is working at a university, a law firm, or a
corporation, the job of manager calls for synthesis. The manager
must consider the job to be done, the various workers on hand,
their current assignments and skills, and how best to execute the
current priority and move on to the next one. A good manager
also looks back over what has been done in the past months and
tries to anticipate how best to carry out future missions. And of
course, synthesizing the current state of knowledge,
incorporating new findings is part and parcel of the work.”
– Howard Gardner

3.
Five Minds for the Future The Creative
Mind
The creative mind builds on discipline and synthesis to put
forward new ideas, fresh thinking and unexpected solutions to
problems. Creativity and originality have always been highly
valued in business and the ability to go beyond existing
boundaries and fashion ideas which stretch the boundaries of
what’s possible will remain highly valued in the future. It is
entirely feasible in the future, those corporations which embrace
innovation will outperform by a considerable margin those that
do not.
Creativity actually rests on a foundation of effective synthesis.
Sometimes, developing a synthesis will be quite straightforward
while at other times, a creative leap of one kind or another will be
required. Creativity is the ability to stretch in new directions
without losing touch with the realities involved.
It is only in recent times creativity has been highly sought after.
For much of human history, those who came up with new ideas
which went against conventional wisdom were ridiculed and
strongly discouraged. It’s really only in the modern era that
creativity has been considered to confer a sustainable
competitive advantage as has been evidenced by the
commercial success of the telephone, the automobile, the
airplane, the personal computer, the Internet and the cell phone.
So where, exactly, does the spark of creativity come from? The
answer to this question has also undergone some radical
changes throughout history:
n At one time, creativity stressed either the role of the divine or
the random roll of the dice. It was assumed creative
individuals were touched with some mysterious inspiration
which you either had or you did not.
n This was followed by the era of lateral thinking – which is the
capacity to take a framework which applies in one sphere and
apply it in a completely different setting.
n It was later acknowledged creativity was not always
one-size-fits-all. The idea of a lone inventor having a sudden
“Aha!” burst of creative thought makes for good press but it
doesn’t always sync with reality. Instead, it was realized
creativity is the occasional result when three independent
elements are brought together:
• An individual who has mastered some discipline.
• An identified need or a problem to solve.
• Access to peers who can validate the breakthrough.
n It is now considered breakthrough products exert a genuine
and measurable influence on subsequent work in that same
domain. Genuinely creative products impact on all other
products which get subsequently developed for that domain
or area of commercial activity.
Obviously to be creative, you need to have a generous supply of
intelligence, skill and discipline. You also require a temperament
which means you are dissatisfied with current standards and
prepared to strike out in new directions. Then, when an anomaly
does arise, you need to be able to decide whether this was just a
trivial error, an unrepeatable fluke or a genuine breakthrough
which is based on some hitherto unknown facts. To be creative,
you need to be prepared to fail a great many times before you
forge a creative achievement.
Five Minds for the Future - Page 5
Interestingly, 5-year-old children are inherently creative and the
more education they get, the less creative they tend to become.
The challenge of formal education is to find ways to retain
childlike sensibilities and preserve those creative instincts even
while honing the disciplines which will also be required.
Almost every commercial enterprise of any note prides itself on
being creative, and yet it is rare for any company to actually walk
the talk. Instead, all too often creativity is relegated to some
“skunkworks” project team while everyone else is encouraged
not to use any originality in dealing with customers, expressing
political views or even breaking the corporate dress code.
Experience has shown this divide-and-conquer approach to
creativity rarely lasts and only those organizations which have
creativity embedded in their DNA ultimately end up being
sources of creative thinking.
Rather than viewing creativity as a separate activity, consider
how a company like 3M harnesses its own in-house creative
abilities and talents:
n The company’s managers are individuals who have a proven
track record of success in developing new products.
n Promotions and other rewards are offered to those who come
up with new ideas.
n The company’s leadership teams works closely with early
adopters of new products to ensure what gets developed will
actually fit real world needs.
n Those who think outside the box are given a lot of latitude to
run with their ideas and see how they pan out.
n There is a general understanding of the fact creativity is risky
and success can never be guaranteed.
While historically the concept of a lone inventor coming up with a
breakthrough idea has been enshrined as the “poster child” of
creativity, in most real world situations a huge team is required to
actually get things done. Teams may take two different forms:
1. A project team may come together – where a large ensemble
of specialists in their field gather for a brief period of time,
apply their skills and then disband and move on to the next
assignment somewhere else. This is the Hollywood-inspired
team approach which has worked exceptionally well for
making motion pictures.
2. The alternative is termed “the wisdom of crowds” – where
hundreds or even thousands of people each contribute
something to a project which combined is superior to
anything any single person could have produced on their
own. This is the phenomena which is at work to decide
Google search engine ratings, to make recommendations
about books on Amazon, to develop open source software or
to compile Wikipedia the online encyclopedia.
Some types of creative assignments – like addressing poverty or
racism – are unlikely to be addressed by solutions offered by the
public at large so there are situations where individual creativity
is still required. However, in many other areas, the combined
suggestions of a large number of people can be highly useful. A
hybrid approach which combines the best features of both is also
feasible. In appointing a new university president, developing a
short list from public suggestions of candidates worth
considering has merits but making the appointment as the result
of an election process is problematic. It’s usually better for a
small group of knowledgeable insiders who have hands-on
experience in the field to make that final selection. This hybrid
approach has genuine benefits and advantages.

There are some obvious parallels between synthesizing existing
information and creating new ideas. Both require multiple
examples to be analyzed and extrapolated and both tend to
demand the development of multiple representations of the
same topic. In fact some of the most creative new ideas have
actually sprung from attempts to synthesize that have gone off
on an unexpected tangent. But the differences between creating
and synthesizing are also quite obvious:
n The synthesizer is attempting to structure what is already
known so there is order and hopefully closure.
n The creator’s goal is to extend the knowledge of the field and
to come up with something new and exciting.
No society or organization can be composed entirely of creators
because they are by nature too destabilizing. Innovators need
those with synthesizing skills as well as others with practical
know-how to come along after them and handle all the
practicalities involved. In a corporate setting, managers and
leaders need to be good at synthesis whereas the business
leaders assume a wider perspective and inject some creativity
into the organization’s goals and objectives.
What will the creativity of the future look like? Up until this point in
time, creativity has always been a human-centered activity.
Places like Silicon Valley have excelled because they have
attracted a critical mass of talented people. In the years ahead,
however, three new players will also enter the race to come up
with new and creative ideas:
1. Neuroscience will identify which human genes contribute to
creative activities. Individuals who have the right biological
makeup may be identified and steered towards creative
activities, possibly leading to the establishment of new
centers of creative excellence around these superstar
creators.
2. Artificial intelligence will continue to advance in scope and
power. Computer programs will be developed which will yield
new works of art, improved commercial designs and new
scientific theories. Computer simulation of the human
intellect will continue to improve steadily and thereby open up
all kinds of new possibilities.
3. Computers will continue to increase in power and therefore
will become even more useful partners in the creative
process. Already computers are being used to crunch
through massive amounts of data that would have been
inconceivable a few years ago. Architects are today able to
test their designs under a much broader range of operating
parameters than ever before. Using expanding computer
power as a tool will greatly enhance the creative output of
some very smart people.
“Major creative breakthroughs are relatively rare in accounting or
engineering, in law or medicine. Indeed, one does well to be
suspicious of claims that a radically new method of accounting,
bridge building, surgery, prosecution, or generating energy has
just been devised. Increasingly, however, rewards accrue to
those who fashion small but significant changes in professional
practice. I would readily apply the descriptor ‘creative’ to the
individual who figures out how to audit books in a country whose
laws have been changed and whose currency has been
revalued three times in a year, or to the attorney who ascertains
how to protect intellectual property under conditions of monetary
(or political or social or technological) volatility.”
– Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future - Page 6
4.
Five Minds for the Future The Respectful
Mind
Respect deals directly with our relations with other human
beings. Nowadays, it is impossible to do business without
considering how what you do impacts on others. To be respectful
means you welcome differences, you try to understand where
others are coming from and you attempt to work harmoniously
with them. In the modern interconnected world, if you show
intolerance or disrespect word will get around and your actions
will come back to haunt you. You need to be worthy of respect to
prosper in the future.
“Individuals without respect will not be worthy of respect by
others and will poison the workplace and the commons.”
– Howard Gardner
Humans have always exhibited a deep-seated need to create
groups and to provide distinctive markings for those groups. It is
then easy for people to adopt clearly positive attitudes towards
groups they identify with and equally obvious negative attitudes
towards rival groups. This is why fights break out over soccer
teams, between Catholics and Protestants and even between
users of one computer operating system and another.
In the present era, however, things are somewhat different. This
is the age of mass weaponry – nuclear, biological and chemical
weaponry which has the power not only to readily cross territorial
boundaries but also to render the world uninhabitable. Today,
war on a global scale is clearly recognized as a zero-sum
exercise which nobody ends up winning regardless of who is left
standing at the end. Everyone readily acknowledges it is now
impossible to outlaw war and weapons altogether, so a different
tack is required.
“In a world composed of a few hundred nations, thousands of
groups speaking thousands of languages, and more than 6
billion inhabitants, what is a reasonable goal? Clearly, we can no
longer simply draw a curtain or build a wall that isolates groups
from one another indefinitely. We homo sapiens must somehow
learn how to inhabit neighboring places – and the same planet –
without hating one another, without lusting to injure or kill one
another, without acting on xenophobic inclinations even if our
own group might emerge triumphant in the short run. I prefer the
concept of respect. Rather than ignoring differences, being
inflamed by them, or seeking to annihilate them through love or
hate, I call on human beings to accept the differences, learn to
live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts.”
– Howard Gardner
To respect the people you do business with doesn’t mean to
suspend judgement. Instead, it means to treat each person on
their own merits rather than to group people together by some
arbitrary yardstick such as the color of their skin, their political
point-of-view or the religion of their choice. Some other points to
remember with regards to respect are:
n Avoid attaching any moral significance to group membership
– because its always difficult to state definitively Group A is
better than Group B. In making these kinds of judgement
calls, all you’re doing is reflecting your own personal biases
and preferences. Accept that almost all groups have some
positive elements and some negative and leave it at that.

n Messages of either respect or disrespect will be mirrored by
your organization – whether you know it or not. If your
company states 20-percent of its workforce are African
American, people will soon pick up on whether the blacks fill
the boardroom and the management ranks or simply act as
receptionists. This is a case of what you do speaks volumes,
much more than what your organization says it does.
n Avoid signs of false respect – like that commonly termed as
“kissing up and kicking down”. Make certain those who are
appointed to positions of power get there because of their
genuine merits rather than on the strength of their ability to
flatter and serve those who already occupy the positions of
power.
n Watch out for examples of “political correctness” – the
practice of speaking positively of a certain group solely
because that group has been poorly treated in the past.
Political correctness conveys disrespect because it involves
acting towards a person because of the group they belong to
rather than on the merits of their individual behavior.
The value of respect to a commercial enterprise is readily
apparent. When respect is present:
n Organizations and communities work more effectively –
because the individuals involved work hard to understand
each other and then to work towards common goals.
n Leaders can focus on positive themes and objectives – rather
than endlessly focusing on competitors as “the enemy”. After
all, it isn’t unusual for people who work for one organization to
end up working for one of their rivals later in their careers, or
even for the two companies to be merged in the future.
n Teamwork will flourish – because everyone will be confident
their suggestions are being taken seriously rather than being
dismissed out of hand.
n Decision making will become more widespread – because
people will be far more proactive in making things happen.
They won’t merely sit back and expect the leader to do
everything themselves. As decision making becomes more
inclusive, there will also be greater buy-in for what is decided
by the rank-and-file.
n Companies will be able to get more products out of the lab and
into the marketplace – because the managers will understand
and respect the engineers and vice versa. Instead of wearing
their respective hats in an adversarial atmosphere, everyone
will be focused on bottom line results.
n Managers will get more done by discussion and mutual
agreement than they ever could hope to achieve through
bullying and intimidation.
“A person who is determined to do something constructive with
his life needs to come to terms with the fact not everyone is going
to love him.”
– Daniel Barenboim, Jewish pianist and conductor
“Whether you are writing, researching or managing, it is
important to avoid stereotyping or caricaturing. You must try to
understand other persons on their own terms, make an
imaginative leap when necessary, seek to convey trust and try
so far as possible to make common cause with them and to be
worthy of their trust. You are obliged to make the effort, and not
merely to assume that what you once believed on the basis of
scattered impressions is necessarily true.”
– Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future - Page 7
5.
Five Minds for the Future The Ethical
Mind
Ethics has moved to center stage with all of the corporate
accounting scandals which have made the news in recent years.
In simple terms, ethics is about understanding your role as a
worker or as a citizen and acting accordingly. You have to act in
ways which are consistent with your personal beliefs and which
can withstand scrutiny should the tables be turned at some point
in the future. To act ethically means for you and your
organization to do all those things which will make you proud
rather than hiding in a veil of ignorance.
For an individual or an organization to do “good” and “ethical”
work, there are three different facets involved:
1. Work can be termed good when it is excellent in nature and is
the result of highly disciplined effort on the part of someone
who is skilled at what they do.
2. Work can be good when it is responsible in that it takes into
account its implications for the wider community as a whole.
3. Work can be good in terms of it feels productive, engaging
and meaningful for those who have hands-on involvement.
If that same individual or organization cuts corners or fails to
meet industry or society’s standards, what ends up being
produced will be termed as “compromised”. Ethics is all about
doing good work and avoiding producing work which is
compromised or tainted in any way.
At a personal level, ethical behavior is usually quite obvious to
figure out. To get a reading on where you’re at, consider
questions like these:
n “What does it mean to me at the present time to be a lawyer /
physician / engineer / business manager / educator?”
n “What are the rights, obligations and responsibilities which I
signed on for when I entered this profession?”
n “What does it mean to me personally to be a citizen of my
neighborhood / city / region/ country / planet?”
n “What do I feel I owe to others, especially to those who
through circumstances beyond their control or bad luck are
less fortunate than I am?”
To act ethically on an ongoing basis, you have to step back from
time to time and conceptualize for yourself how you see the
nature of your work and the community in which you operate. To
act ethically, you need an abstract attitude – the ability and
capacity to reflect on what you’re doing, and then to follow
through on the choices you make.
There is no “magic formula” which can guarantee people will
develop ethical minds. There are, however, a few guidelines
worth considering:
n Children gain their perspective on what it means to act
ethically first by observing their parents. If they see firsthand
their parents doing things which are good for society even
when nobody else is watching, children will develop an
awareness of ethics. By contrast, if children see their parents
only doing the right thing when compelled by law, they will
probably view ethics as a sometimes thing rather than a
sound way of life.

n For the first few decades of life, most people are engaged in
gaining an education. Teachers and formal education play
key roles in encouraging young people to do good work and
have active citizenship practices.
n New employees take their cues for ethical behavior from their
peers and from their superiors. If they observe their friends
and associates paying lip service to ethics but then doing
whatever they want, new employees will get the message
anything goes. This will be reinforced if they then see their
superiors crossing ethical lines and favoring those employees
who follow suit.
In the end, ethics is all about doing good work that you and your
organization can be proud of. A person with a strong ethical
grounding still keeps on trying to do good work even when the
going gets tough. The signposts towards the achievement of this
good work can be summarized in the four Ms of ethics:
Mirror test – Professional
M slogans become our litany, when our worth is measured by how
M Ethics M – Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of Britain
Mission Models
M inevitably differ across cultures and eras. Yet, these differences
Mirror test – Individual
1. Mission – Whether at school or in the workplace, an
individual needs to specify what he or she is trying to achieve.
The absence of any goals means the person will be
directionless which usually leads to trouble.
2. Models – It’s vital for individuals who aspire to do good work
to have strong role models – people who embody what is
desired. This conveys the sense that everything can be done
ethically and properly.
3. Mirror test – Individual version – Aspiring good workers need
to be able to look in the mirror and like what they see. There
needs to be a sense if everything you did was printed in the
local newspaper, you’d feel proud rather than ashamed.
4. Mirror test – Professional version – If you’re doing good work
personally but the organization you belong to is acting
unprofessionally or even illegally, then problems lie ahead.
You can’t belong to an organization you’re deeply ashamed
of and do good work. You have to look at your peers.
1. 2. 3.
The Disciplined The Synthesizing The Creative
Mind Mind Mind
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Five Minds for the Future - Page 8
More and more, business ethics are moving to center stage. If
you’re hoping to attract high quality talent to your organization,
you have to act transparently and ethically. Definitions may differ
but the litmus test of an ethical organization has always been:
“Does what we do make for a better organization, a better city, a
better nation and a better world?” Increasingly, people will
choose occupations and organizations which are helping bring a
better world into reality.
“Individuals without ethics will yield a world devoid of decent
workers and responsible citizens; none of us will want to live on
that desolate planet.”
– Howard Gardner
“He is certainly not a good citizen who does not wish to promote,
by every means of his power, the welfare of the whole society of
his fellow citizens.”
– Adam Smith
“When everything that matters can be brought and sold, when
commitments can be broken because they are no longer to our
advantage, when shopping becomes salvation and advertising
much we earn and spend, then the market is destroying the very
virtues on which in the long run it depend.”
“Perhaps there are no truly universal ethics: or to put it more
precisely, the ways in which ethical principles are interpreted will
arise chiefly at the margins. All known societies embrace the
virtues of truthfulness, integrity, loyalty, fairness; none explicitly
endorse falsehood, dishonesty, disloyalty, gross inequity.”
– Howard Gardner
“At the start of the third millennia, we live in a time of vast
changes – changes seemingly so epochal that they may well
dwarf those experienced in earlier eras. In shorthand, we can
speak about these changes as entailing the power of science
and technology and the inexorability of globalization. These
changes call for new educational forms and processes. The
minds of learners must be fashioned and stretched in five ways
that have not been crucial – or not as crucial – until now. How
prescient were the words of Winston Churchill: ‘The empires of
the future will be empires of the mind’. We must recognize what is
called for in this new world – even as we hold on to certain
perennial skills and values that may be at risk.”
– Howard Gardner
“With these minds, a person will be well equipped to deal with
what is expected, as well as what cannot be anticipated; without
these minds, a person will be at the mercy of forces that he or she
can’t understand, let alone control.”
– Howard Gardner
4. 5.
The Respectful The Ethical
Mind Mind