Noted scholar Howard Gardner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Presidents Institute on the importance of the “five minds”—or mental abilities—needed to be successful in today’s rapidly changing world and how to nurture them in leaders as well as students. Gardner’s remarks were based on his recent book, Five Minds for the Future (2007), which describes the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind.

The disciplined mind, according to Gardner, encompasses learning major ways of thinking—“historical, artistic, scientific, or mathematical”—and also “being a disciplined individual who works at becoming an expert in a profession, craft, or art.”

The synthesizing mind allows individuals to take the data gathered and “decide what to pay attention to and what to ignore—and how to put it together so that it makes sense.” The need to synthesize well is becoming a more important educational goal, he noted.

The creative mind “forges new ground and goes beyond the known—it enables us to think outside the box; to have an iconoclastic temperament; to risk failure.”

The respectful mind “begins with the knowledge that we’re all different from one another but with a goal of understanding people who are different and giving other people the benefit of doubt…. It goes beyond mere tolerance. We need to understand the perspectives and motivations of others with no conditions.”

Finally, Gardner described the ethical mind: “A person possessed of an ethical mind is able to think of himself abstractly, asking what kind of person or citizen or worker he wants to be. This person is socially responsible and asks about rights and responsibilities, and thinks on a more abstract level than a respectful individual.”

The role of formal and informal education in nurturing the five minds, said Gardner, is different depending on the age of the student. “Each of the minds plays out differently depending on the student’s developmental level, so educators need to approach students differently depending on their age.” Gardner cautioned that, “Even if all five minds are developed, they don’t necessarily work together easily…. The respectful and ethical minds are the most likely to be confused. One can be respectful from early childhood, even without having a deep understanding. In contrast, ethical conceptions and behaviors presuppose an abstract, self-conscious attitude: a capacity to step away from the details of daily life and to think of oneself as a citizen or a worker.”

“In the end, however,” Gardner stressed, “no one can compel the cultivation and integration of the five minds—the individual must come to believe that the minds are important, merit the investment of significant amounts of time and resources, and are worthy of continuing nurturance….”

He noted that “Belief in the power of education—for good or for ill—is ubiquitous…. We have little difficulty in seeing education as the enterprise par excellence for shaping the mind.”

His book, published by Harvard Business School Press (2007), is available in bookstores; a summary is available here on CIC’s website.