The abilities that mattered most in the 20th century workforce were left brain hemisphere activities. For instance logical reasoning, linear programming and other rule based skills like accounting abilities, computer programming, etc. However, these skills are still very important and necessary today, but not sufficient. If you want to survive in the 21th century business environment, you’ll need skills which are hard to outsource. Like artistry, creativity, empathy, big picture thinking, inventiveness,etc. Typical right brain hemisphere activities.

A way to test this is the so-called Duncker candle problem. Subjects are posed with three objects, sitting on a table next to a cardboard wall: A candle, a box of matches, and a box of tacks. From those, they had to make a candle holder that wouldn’t drip wax. Most people fumble with the tacks and the candle, but the correct solution is to empty the box of tacks, attach it on the wall, and make an ad-hoc sconce. The problem has been considered a classic test of creativity because it requires seeing objects as being useful in ways never intended. Tests which the regular Discovery channel viewers will recognise from Ray Mears and Bear Grills. Older viewers may remember the infamous MacGyver…

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