Mgmt 5050

MGMT5050 Assignment1

Xinying Guo

Z5145026

According to the arguments of Gardner (2008) and Fernandez-Araoz (2014), I find out that both author have many similar ideas on the question of important skills for 21st century. In the article ‘5 Minds For the Future’, Gardner outlines five specific minds: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind, which each person should aim to develop in case of knocking out by the society that shows no signs of slowing down. Gardner believes that it is time to undertake the new education practices rather than only focus on the professional matching skill, which tend more toward art than science, because scientific ways of thinking and liberal arts perspective are the main human qualities that we need in the future (Howard Gardner, 2008). ‘Potential’ is the main point of “21st Century Talent Spotting”; Fernandez-Araoz notes that as today’s business is too complex, the old model for companies to hire and develop the competence of employees won’t work any longer. As what he mentioned in his article, we cannot predict the needs for success in this rapid-developed business world; ‘Potential’, which means the ability to adapt in any situation becomes so important. In this situation, companies should learn to evaluate managements with abilities of ‘motivation’, ‘curiosity’, ‘insight’, ‘engagement’, and ‘determination’. In the end, he notes that pushing the true high potentials out of their comfort zones and providing more opportunities for them to maintain their abilities will help them grow（Fernandez-Araoz，2014）.

After comparing and contrasting the argument of those two articles, I think disciplined mind, which refers to the ability to think in ways associated with at least one major professional field and practice steadily to make it perfect (Howard Gardner,2008), is pretty similar with Determination, which means to step out from the comfort zone and looking for new challenges to achieve more difficult goals. Without integrating knowledge of subjects like science, math and arts, students would only dependent on other’s view about each field, sometimes, it is hard to step on others shoulders and come up with news thoughts and creation; therefore, individuals will be succeed if they can synthesize capabilities and create capacities with audaciously thinking patterns. In addition, Insight, which represents the ability of searching for new possibilities by gathering and understanding information(Fernandez-Araoz，2014), has something in common with the synthesizing mind, which means the ability of selecting the crucial information from different sources, and help others to understand by integrating the information (Howard Gardner,2008). Combining information needs the sense of sensitivity of selecting, also the knowledge of taxonomies and narratives, if we are working with different individuals from different fields, the ability of having multi standpoints will help to find a appropriate solution by satisfying different needs. The idea of The Creating Mind, which means the ability of asking new question based on the existing knowledge and trying to extend for more opportunities by gathering information (Howard Gardner,2008), is similar with Curiosity, which talks about seeking out for new knowledge and experiences for changing and innovation(Fernandez-Araoz，2014). Creativity makes things perfect, it tends to ask questions and never satisfy with the existing answers; people with curiosity always have the passion of exploration, they need to focus on the feasibility rather than unrealistic imagination; therefore, enough professional knowledge of each field and the ability of combining them together are also important for changing thoughts to realistic. Moreover, Respectful mind of realizing the difference between groups and individuals (Howard Gardner,2008) is similar with Engagement, which refers to connect and communicate with people by using emotional and persuasive means of expression (Fernandez-Araoz，2014). There are many people on this planet; each of them has different personalities; therefore, integrating the goal of the organizations and that of individuals become very important. Instead of using weapons and starting wars, respecting could help us to stick together and solve problems. Otherwise, I think Ethical Mind, which has the meaning of being a good citizen and work hard (Howard Gardner,2008), is also related to Engagement. Even there are no standards of ethics or principles, we should insist to do the right things by perceiving our responsibilities for the society, family, or even ourselves. In this case, we can finally blend in the big community, which has so many unknowns, cultures, and differences. Those are pretty much the similarities of two arguments. Fernandez-Araoz also notes Motivation as a strong promise to achieve unselfish goals, since high potentials always see themselves as a professional in each field; it is hard for those high potentials to work together and achieve collective goals，then motivation of team work become so important for success.