Gardners Five Minds MBA6026

u02A1: Gardner’s Five Minds

Capella University

MBA 6026 The Global Leader

Introduction

We live in a time of immense changes that include accelerating globalization, mounting quantities of information and data, ever-growing science and technology, and the clash of civilizations. Those changes call for new ways of learning and thinking in school, business and the professions. In Five Minds for the Future, the author Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities and traits that will command first-class leadership in the years ahead as “The Five Minds”. Below is a summary of Gardner’s Five Minds:

Authors Gosling & Mintzberg state, “Without these “minds”, individuals will be at the mercy of forces they cannot understand, they will be overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of making sensible decisions about personal and professional manners”(2003).Equipped with these capacities, a person will be able to deal with the expected and unexpected of the future within an organization.

• The Disciplinary Mind – mastery of major schools of thought (including science, mathematics, and history)and of at least one professional craft
• The Synthesizing Mind – ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others
• The Creating Mind – capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions, and phenomena
• The Respectful Mind – awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings
• The Ethical Mind – fulfillment of one’s responsibilities as a worker and a citizen (Gardner, 2008)

Describe your experience in each of the five minds

In order to be successful in any role an individual must think their way through their jobs, using five different mind-sets that allow them to deal and adapt with the world around them. Here is an outline of how I currently utilize the Five Minds in my role:

Determine your strengths and weaknesses in each of the five minds.

• My Disciplinary Mind – In addition to my Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership,in 2016 I obtained my certification in Business Administration. By June 2017, I will obtain my Master of Business Administration. I have disciplined my mind to learn about global business theories, procedures and practices. In turn, I incorporate the knowledge and experience I have gained as invested value for my organization.
• My Synthesizing Mind – I have the ability to connect and network with other departments in order to collaborate and investigate inconsistencies in KPI reporting for the organization. This allows different departments to streamline reporting processes and procedures and standardized KPI reporting efforts throughout the organization.
• My Creating Mind – I have been in my current role as a Supply Chain Analyst since July 2016. I am learning and recognizing trends and questioning current processes. I am constantly thinking of new ways to give early visibility to product issues that will affect the entire supply chain.
• My Respectful Mind – In my professional and personal life I live by the “Golden Rule” … “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Meaning I am cognizant and I am able to recognize the differences of others.
• My Ethical Mind – I am a person who understands that integrity builds trust and this resonates in my professional life through my work and in my personal life. I believe in doing the right thing regardless of outcome.

While each person may have strengths and weaknesses in one or more area, we should all endeavor to develop a balance of all of The Five Minds.This is an analysis of my strengths and weaknesses in order to gain a detailed and thorough perspective of how the Five Minds apply to me.

Five Mind Strengths:

Five Mind Weaknesses:

• The Disciplinary Mind – I am constantly learning new things and absorbingnew information to increase my knowledge and experiences.
• The Synthesizing Mind – I have the ability to connect and streamline different departmental functions to increase awareness within the supply chain.
• The Creating Mind – I create complex and detailed reports that add value and visibility to my organization.
• The Respectful Mind – I recognize and understand my personal rules as a human being and treat others in the same manner. I respect and embrace differences among others.
• The Ethical Mind – Not only to I believe in doing what is right, I take pride in know that I put forth the best effort in my work and personal life.

Explain how you can develop and improve your five minds.

• The Disciplinary Mind – I need to expand beyond the realm of business administration, while the knowledge I have obtained over the years is valuable, however with the new advancement of organizational tools and technology, I need to take some additional classes and training to increase my proficiency.
• The Synthesizing Mind –Based on the Skills Inventory: Leadership Instrument assessment, I need to improve my cognitive skills in order to become a well-rounded leader.
• The Creating Mind – Because I am using new technology for reporting for my organization, I use some of the same reporting templates. I need to think outside the box to create new and improved visual reports.
• The Respectful Mind – I have a weakness in regards to the bias in age. I prejudge younger co-workers of having lack of knowledge and no as much experience in the workforce.
• The Ethical Mind – I sometimes shop online during the time that I should be working on projects.

In order to be successful professionally, a person should be able to accept their flaws and take accountability to make improvements. There are multiple resources and tools that I will be able to utilized to improve my Five Mind weaknesses, which includes:

Conclusion

• The Disciplinary Mind – I can give my brain a workout because it teaches me something new, it is challenging, and it is a skill that I can consistently build upon to increase my knowledge and understanding.
• The Synthesizing Mind – I will utilize the resources I have found in order to increase my cognitive leadership skills.
• The Creating Mind –I need to improve my skills by learning from tutorials and read reference materials in order to create reports that utilize complex data to tell a visual story.
• The Respectful Mind –To improve upon the bias, I will attend Diversity and Inclusion training in April 2017. This training class will help me to understanding and possible recognize additional bias that I am not aware that I have and help me to correct this behavior.
• The Ethical Mind – I am in the process of converting to an upgraded work laptop. I have asked the administrator to restrict my access to intranet sites only. I will not be able to access external websites, and I will be able to focus on my project deliverables.

In conclusion, I have an understanding from The Five Minds that cultivating your mind is more important than anything else you can do to prepare for personal and professional success. Because the modern world is unpredictable. The whirlwind of technology changes our lives so quickly that there is no way to anticipate how the future will look. Industries, professional careers, and even day-to-day life may be very different years from now. The only way to gprepare for what comes next is to create the mental infrastructure to thrive in any environment by understand Howard Gardner’s The Five Minds.

References

Gardner, H. (2008). The five minds for the future. Schools: Studies in Education, 5(1/2), 17–24.

Gosling, J. & Mintzberg, H. (Nov 2003). The Five Minds of a Manager. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2003/11/the-five-minds-of-a-manager

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The Five Minds of a Manager. (12 March 2008). Cbsnews.com. Retrievedfrom http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-five-minds-of-a-manager/