A NYTimes article today titled "Simulating Age 85, With Lessons on Offering Care" perfectly embodied several of what Daniel Pink discusses in his A Whole New Mind are right-brain,
R-directed" qualities." (The book was a gift from Oprah to us, Stanford graduates of 2008.) The article describes programs that can be provided to staff at nursing home facilities, medical students, businesses, and other professionals that come into contact with senior citizens. These programs literally put their participants into the shoes of over-85-year-olds (e.g. putting corn kernels into their shoes to simulate the pain experienced during walking due to fat loss) to create for them a personal experience from where their work for the elderly will stem.

First, this is a perfect illustration of how the medical and corporate worlds are incorporating "empathy" into their work. Pink foresees that in a future "R-directed" world, more services and products will have their development and delivery center around empathy. This is true not just in professions that traditionally value empathy such as health care, non-profits, and education, but also in businesses that have always thrived by competition. Today's article provides a clear example of this shift.

Empathy is connected to two other principles Pink describes -- "story" and "design." In a way, humanistic design, which Pink argues will be what gives companies an edge in over-crowded and outsourced industries, cannot be done without understanding the personal experience and stories of its consumers. These connections are also touched upon in this article.