Originally posted in our June 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter.
What is the role of our brains in societal advancement? This might sound like a silly question, but as COVID-19 has revealed, on a global level, we cannot ignore the massive impact on our mental health from pandemic conditions. For example, in an article Nature published in October 2020, we see a compelling argument for improving psychological resilience globally. As the article cites, “[b]rain health disorders account for >US$3 trillion of lost productivity every year.”
I know what you might be thinking; we are so much more than our productivity. And yes, while this is true, productivity is also a valuable metric to measure general societal engagement. Furthermore, productivity as a metric needs to change as the economy shifts from a goods-based system to one of services and knowledge. “The jobs of the future, for which we must prepare today, will increasingly value an individual’s cognitive, emotional, and social brain resources. This is particularly important given that pressures on present-day jobs will emerge through the vast infusion of artificial intelligence and robots into workplaces and economies around the world requiring new workplace and brain function skills.”
Continue reading this fascinating take on the value of establishing a “Brain Capital Grand Strategy” that may indeed lead to a more appropriate assessment of how we as individuals interact with each other and the economy.