Six Senses for the Conceptual Age
Master six right-brain aptitudes to thrive as the economy shifts from information to meaning
The Six Senses framework identifies six essential aptitudes that will define professional success and personal satisfaction in the emerging Conceptual Age. As three forces - Abundance, Asia, and Automation - erode the advantage of purely analytical left-brain thinking, the future belongs to those who master Design (creating beauty and emotional resonance), Story (crafting compelling narratives rather than just arguments), Symphony (seeing the big picture and combining disparate elements), Empathy (understanding others and reading nonverbal cues), Play (bringing levity and games into work and life), and Meaning (pursuing purpose and transcendence). These are not replacements for left-brain capabilities but essential complements. The framework is built on neuroscience showing that the two brain hemispheres process differently - left is sequential, textual, and analytical while right is simultaneous, contextual, and synthetic.
- Left-brain capabilities are necessary but no longer sufficient for professional success
- Three forces - Abundance Asia and Automation - are driving the shift from Information Age to Conceptual Age
- The six senses are fundamentally human abilities that everyone can develop
- The brain hemispheres are complementary not competing - we need both but the right has been undervalued
- High concept and high touch abilities will set the tempo of modern life
- Develop Design ThinkingLearn to create products experiences and solutions that are not just functional but emotionally engaging and aesthetically pleasing. Design has become a key differentiator as abundance means people have their basic needs met and now seek beauty and meaning in what they buy and use. Study design principles, visit museums, notice the designed world around you, and apply design thinking to your own work and environment.Pro tipTarget has demonstrated that good design is no longer a luxury - it has been democratized and consumers now expect it everywhere
- Master StorytellingMove beyond facts and arguments to compelling narratives. In a world of abundant information, the ability to place facts in context and deliver them with emotional impact is essential. Stories are how humans make sense of experience. Practice crafting narratives in business presentations, learn story structure, study great storytellers, and recognize that context and emotional resonance often persuade more effectively than raw data alone.
- Cultivate SymphonyDevelop the ability to see the big picture, detect patterns, and combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. While analysis breaks things into components, symphony puts them together. This is the hedgehog ability - knowing one big thing rather than many small things. Practice connecting ideas across disciplines, seek out diverse experiences, and train yourself to see relationships between disparate fields rather than just the details within one domain.Pro tipIsaiah Berlin distinction between foxes who know many things and hedgehogs who know one big thing illuminates this capability - symphony is the hedgehog skill
- Build Empathy SkillsDevelop the ability to understand others, read nonverbal cues, forge connections, and care. Empathy is not sympathy - it is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else position and feel what they feel. Practice reading facial expressions, study body language, engage in conversations where you focus entirely on understanding the other person perspective. This skill is crucial because it cannot be automated or outsourced and is essential for leadership, sales, medicine, and any human-centered profession.Pro tipThe right hemisphere specializes in interpreting faces and emotional expressions - you can train this ability with practice
- Embrace PlayBring levity, humor, and games into work and life. Play is not the opposite of seriousness - it is a way of engaging more deeply and creatively. Research shows that play improves problem-solving, boosts morale, and fuels innovation. Incorporate games into team meetings, use humor strategically in presentations, and create space for experimentation and fun in your professional environment. Laughter clubs in Bombay demonstrate how play can even improve health.
- Pursue MeaningGo beyond the quotidian pursuit of material success to find purpose and significance. As material needs are increasingly met in affluent societies, people hunger for meaning - understanding why they do what they do and connecting their work to something larger. Develop spiritual practices, volunteer, reflect on your purpose, and align your career with your values. Meaning is the ultimate right-brain aptitude because it requires integrating all the others into a coherent life narrative.
Caltech professor Roger Sperry studied epilepsy patients who had their corpus callosum severed. He discovered that the right hemisphere which had been considered subordinate and mentally retarded was actually the superior cerebral member for certain mental tasks. The two hemispheres had fundamentally different approaches - left was sequential and analytical, right was holistic and pattern-recognizing.
Target hired designer Michael Graves to create affordable household products with beautiful design. This demonstrated that good design was no longer reserved for luxury brands - it could be mass-market. When basic needs are met through abundance, consumers choose products based on aesthetic and emotional appeal, making design a business necessity rather than a luxury.
Daniel Pink, former chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore and author of Free Agent Nation, developed this framework after observing that three macro forces were reshaping the economy. Material abundance meant products needed emotional resonance not just functionality. Globalization meant analytical work could be shipped to Asia for a fraction of the cost. And automation meant computers could perform routine knowledge work faster than humans. He underwent an fMRI brain scan at the National Institutes of Health which revealed how differently the two hemispheres process information, providing the neurological foundation for his argument that high concept and high touch abilities would increasingly determine who flourishes.