Howard Gardner's Five Minds For The Future

The following essay will approach the workplace philosophies of Howard Gardner and Mike Rose and attempt to apply them to real-world work-related problems and situations. First, before proceeding any further, it is necessary to provide a brief overview of the basic. Gardner, in his book Five Minds for the Future, identifies five mind that people can apply to their jobs and their work environments: the disciplinary mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind (Gardner 3). For the creating mind, as Mike Rose redefines the intelligence in his book The Mind at Work, he believes the blue-collar workers are as creative as other white-collars. Besides the creative mind related to the physical workers, Mike

Gardener states that the ethical mind primary thinks about societal needs and desires, he said, “In taking ethical stances, an individual tries to understand his or her role as a worker and his or her role as a citizen of region, a nation, and the planet” (4). Unlike other minds, ethical mind is one’s belief in the work and life. This sense of ethics can be formed sometimes just by paying attention to and heeding the example of a person whom one admires, especially a person who behaves in a way that one finds ethical and respectful, such as Rose 's example of Mario Cuomo 's father (Rose xxxv). The story of Mario Cuomo’s father tells young Mario his father as a service people who works in the grocery store works hard and has the faith to support the family. Not only Mario’s father, also Mike’s uncle, his mother who are the physical workers; they all work so hard and take their responsibilities in the jobs. They must have the ethical mind in their jobs; they know their responsibilities as a family member, as a worker, as a citizen, they have the faith to live and to

Next, let’s see the connection of creating mind and ethical mind in the real word. As creating mind is capable in the work environment of devising and inventing a variety of new tools, devices, and techniques for use both within the environment and as commodities that can be sold to consumers. But how do these productions of the fertile creating mind relate to the ethical constraints of the real-world environment in which they are about to be introduced? Is it possible that they may be some kind of conflict with the world and the people these ideas or products are about to come into contact with? The simple fact is that new ideas and new inventions due not necessarily have a positive ethical value or application. Therefore it is beyond the scope of the ethical mind to make the determination of whether the output of the creating mind is in fact ethically valid. But applying principles of the ethical mind in real life and real workplace settings is not always easy. But one thing is certain: if one hides behind a "veil of ignorance" and deliberately shuts off one 's mind to one 's real position in the world, then one is certain to have a faulty ethical mind that makes bad ethical decision (Gardner 9). For instance, the companies globally are now under scrutiny for setting up off-shore shell companies in the tax heaven through a Panamian law firm called Mossack Fonseca (“Giant”). This scandal shows the huge willingness of global corporations and even powerful political leaders