FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2005

CONTACT: Michael Wagner, White Rabbit Group, (515) 371-7711, mike@whiterabbitgroup.com
Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

RIGHT MAKES PEACE WITH LEFT – IN THE BRAIN, ANYWAY: DRAKE HOSTS WORKSHOP TO ILLUSTRATE VALUE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF THINKING

Helping integrate creativity and design with traditional workplace leadership skills and goals is the focus of a workshop hosted by Drake University from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday, July 26.

Graphic designers and marketing and communications professionals from a wide array of industries will explore how to exercise different parts of the brain to maximize success in the 21st century workplace.

Right-brain thinkers tend to be creative with gifts in writing and art. Left-brain thinkers tend to be more analytical, tending toward math or other linear and analytical skills.

Facilitated by Michael Wagner, president of the White Rabbit Group, the "Bring Your 'Right Brain' to Work" workshop will demonstrate how skills in design, empathy, inventiveness and understanding are as key to success in today’s business world as left-brain linear, analytical and computer-like thinking.

“If you’re a creative-type person, (a right-brain thinker) this workshop will help you learn to better communicate with your clients and or boss,” Wagner said. “If you’re an analytical-type person (a left-brain thinker), you’ll learn why design is practical, regardless of the business you’re in.”

In a recent article in BusinessWeek titled "The Global Economy: The Empathy Economy," Bruce Nussbaum writes that "Increasingly, design thinking is making its way to the 'C' suite levels inside corporations, with chief creative officer, chief innovation officer, or even chief customer officer joining the organization table. Sometimes, design thinking goes all the way to the top."

The Des Moines chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, working with Drake’s Department of Art and Graphic Design and College of Business and Public Administration, sponsors the workshop.

The cost is $30 for members of the American Institute of Graphic Arts or $50 for non-members if they register by Friday, July 15. After that, non-members will pay $70 before the Tuesday, July 19, registration deadline. For more information and registration, visit www.iowa.aiga.org or contact Sharon Soder at (515) 282-7145 or s.soder@essmanassociates.com.

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