Meine Notizen
Introduction
High Concept, High Touch kurz erklärt: âHigh concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in oneâs self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.â (S. 2f)
Part One: The Conceptual Age
Produkte âin the age of abundanceâ: âIn an age of abundance, appealing only to rational, logical, and functional needs is woefully insufficient. Engineers must figure out how to get things to work. But if those things are not also pleasing to the eye or compelling to the soul, few will buy them.â (S. 34)
Inspiration: DEEP-Framework = mastery of
- design
- empathy
- education (meine Ergänzung; im Sinne der Fähigkeit, sich zu erklären. Vgl. Wolf Lotter)
- play
âand other seemingly âsoftâ aptitudes is now the main way for individuals and firms to stand out in a crowded marketplace.â (S. 34)
Auf der Suche nach Transzendenz
- Andrew Delbanco: âThe most striking feature of contemporary culture is the unslaked craving for transcendence.â (S. 35)
- â[…] the pursuit of purpose and meaning has become an integral part of our livesâ, weil wir im materiellen Ăberfluss leben.
Information Age â Conceptual Age (S. 49)

- Das bedeutet, mit anderen Worten aus der Theory U: Im Information Age haben wir auf E1 gearbeitet, im Conceptual Age gehen wir tiefer, zumindest auf E2 â wobei eine groĂe Sehnsucht nach Gesprächen auf E3 vorhanden ist.
- Vgl. Aaron Hurst: The Purpose Economy: Bei ihm: Information Economy â Purpose Economy. Sinngemäà ist das das Gleiche oder zumindest ziemlich ähnlich.
- âAnd now weâre progressing yet again â to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers.â (S. 50)
- âWeâve move from an economy built on peopleâs backs to an economy built on peopleâs left brains to what is emerging today: an economy and society built more and more on peopleâs right brains.â (S. 50)
Money and Meaning
- â[…] the most significant chance of the Conceptual Age might be occurring outside the office â and inside our hearts and souls. Pursuits devoted to meaning and transcendence, for instance, are now as mainstream as a double tall latte.â (S. 60)
- âIn other words, as individuals age, they place greater emphasis in their own lives on qualities they might have neglected in the rush to build careers and raise families: purpose, intrinsic satisfaction, and meaning.â (S. 60)
- vgl. Midlife Crisis; Midlife Founders
- â[…] for many others in this new era, meaning is the new money.â (S. 61)
Part Two: The Six Senses
Design
âNot just function but also DESIGN. Itâs no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle thatâs merely functional. Today itâs economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.â (S. 65)
âItâs easy to dismiss design â to relegate it to mere ornament, the prettifying of places and objects to disguise their banality. But that is a serious misunderstanding of what design is and why it matters […].â (S. 69)
âGood design, now more accessible and affordable than ever, also offers us a chance to bring pleasure, meaning, and beauty to our lives. But most important, cultivating a design sensibility can make our planet a better place for us all.â (S. 86)
Story
âNot just argument but also STORY. When our lives are more brimming with information and data, itâs not enough to marshal an effective argument. Someone somewhere will inevitably track down a counterpoint to rebut your point. The essence of persuasion , communication, and self-understanding has become the ability also to fashion a compelling narrative.â (S. 65f)
âWe are our stories. […] That has always been true. But personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose.â (S. 113)
âWhat these efforts reveal is a hunger for what stories can provide â context enriched by emotion, a deeper understanding of how we fit in and why that matters.â (S. 113)
Symphony
âNot just focus but also SYMPHONY. Much of the Industrial and Information Ages required focus and specialization. But [in the Conceptutal Age], there is a new premium on the opposite aptitude: putting the pieces together, or what I call Symphony. Whatâs in greatest demand today isnât analysis but synthesis â seeing the big picture and, crossing boundaries, being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole.â (S. 66)
âModern lifeâs glut of options and stimuli can be so overwhelming that those with the ability to see the big picture â to sort out what really matters â have a decided advantage in their pursuit of personal well-being.â (S. 127)
- Und z.B. als GrĂźndungsberater und Hochschullehrer.
The Metaphor Maker
âMetaphor is the lifeblood of all art.â (Twyla Tharp, S. 135)
â[…] everything you create is enriched by metaphorâ, writes choregrapher Twyla Tharp. She encourages people to boost their metaphor quotient, or MQ, because âin the creative process, MQ is as valuable as IQâ.â (S. 135)
- Das gilt wohl ganz besonders fĂźr die rechte Seite des U-Prozesses. Metaphern helfen, Dinge aus den tiefen Ebenen des U in die Welt zu bringen und Landebahnen der Zukunft zu schaffen.
- Twyla Tharp: The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use it for Life. 2003.
âMetaphorical imagination is essential in forging empathic connections and communicating experiences that others do not share. Finally â and perhaps most important â is metaphorâs role in slaking the thirst of meaning.â (S. 136)
â âA large part of self-understanding,â says [linguist George] Lakoff, âis the search for appropriate personal metaphors that make sense of our lives.â â (S. 136)
Empathy
âNot just logic but also EMPATHY. The capacity for logical thought is one of the things that makes us human. But in a world of ubiquitous information and advanced analytic tools, logic alone wonât do. What will distinguish those who thrive will be their ability to understand what makes their fellow woman or man tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others.â (S. 66)
Play
âNot just seriousness but also PLAY. Ample evidence points to the enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games, and humor. There is a time to be serious, of course. But too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play.â (S. 66)
Meaning
âNot just accumulation but also MEANING. We live in a world of breathtaking material plenty. That has freed hundreds of millions of people from day-to-day struggles and liberated us to pursue more significant desires: purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.â (S. 66)
Afterword
âWhatâs more, as Iâve tried to make clear, the abilities youâll need â Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning â are fundamentally human attributes. They reside in all of us, and need only be nurtured into being.â (S. 234)
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