Here's an excerpt from Dilip Mukerjea's new book, Brainaissance: The Renaissance of the Brain, The Rebirth of Imagination:

THREE CRUCIAL QUESTIONS FOR THE LEARNING ECONOMY

To compete and adapt effectively in the future, focus needs to be directed at: 

What organisations will need to know: “literacies for the future” 

The skill sets they will need to acquire: “competencies for the future.”

A distinct skill that we now need to cultivate is not spot knowledge (“just-in-time” - “hit-and-run” learning) or single-dimension knowledge, but knowing how things relate to one another, and the profusion of ideas that can emerge from the cognitive friction between them. It is therefore crucial that we become adept at creating and cross-fertilising ideas to generate new knowledge. 

We are living in perilous, gyrating times ... in an era that is hugely complex and highly unpredicatble...yet replete with powerful possibilities. The world of today is driven by curiosity, imagination, and original thinking ... of multiple types of intelligence and deep thinking. Without these qualities, the possibility of intellectual decay is very real. 

Whenever things are changing fast, what people already know becomes obsolete quickly. Only the ability to learn lasts ... once you have learned how to learn, of course. If you’re not constantly learning, you’re actually falling behind! The half-life of knowledge is now less than 2 years!

Know that change might be challenging, but not changing is fatal! And thus, every leader is called upon to be a change agent ... or face extinction! 

“Beware! Your degree is not a proxy for your ability to do any job. The world only cares about — and pays off on — what you can do with what you know ... it also cares about ... loving to learn and re-learn. This will be true no matter where you go to work.” 

~ Laszlo Bock, the senior vice-president of people operations for Google

The smallest change in thinking can transform your life. 

Constantly ask yourself: 

“What am I doing ... and am I paying attention to what I am doing? 

Ideas are the currency of competition and innovation is the engine of economies. 

STRIVE TO GET AT LEAST THREE NEW IDEAS EVERY DAY!