Mind maps in the professional world.

From industrial society to knowledge society

Most of us went through education systems designed to supply people for an industrial society. Their main purpose was to give individuals the knowledge, skills and discipline suited to routine work in factories and production facilities. In an industrial society, the main raw materials of production were labour and materials, and an education system designed around them did its job very well.

In the 21st century, however, the main raw material of the knowledge society is knowledge itself. According to the renowned management thinker Peter Drucker, we are living in an age defined by the use of knowledge. If that is so, and we are all, in a sense, knowledge workers, then we need to develop our knowledge-processing minds accordingly and redesign our education systems around this new paradigm.

Investing in people

Many steps are already being taken in this direction for future generations. But what about the people already in work? At a time when only competitive, innovative businesses can win a place in the market and stay there, how do we change the old paradigm among company professionals? It is precisely this need that makes specialist training in techniques suited to new market conditions and new ways of working so vital, and why investing in employees, a company’s most valuable asset, matters so much.

What sets companies apart is how much they invest in their people and their technology.

We already know where the things we have learnt so far have brought us. It is clear that we now need game-changing methods that give us fresh perspectives.

What working with mind maps does

When Tony Buzan introduced mind maps to the world in the 1970s, they were known as an effective, brain-friendly note-taking technique. Over the years that followed, this technique grew into a powerful method for thinking and learning. Mind maps help you use your whole brain and so release your true potential. When you work with mind maps:

• You work with keywords, which helps you focus on the essence of a topic.
• You think in images, humanity’s shared language, which sparks your imagination and draws on the power of visual memory.
• You see the whole picture on a single map and understand the topic as a whole.
• You work with categories in a clear hierarchy, learning by breaking information down and structuring it.
• You bring colour into your work, making it more enjoyable and using colour to encode meaning.
• You learn to capture everything on your mind in a structured way: following clear rules, yet in a way that is creative and uniquely your own.

What changes for employees

By drawing on all these advantages:

• Employees grasp the heart of an issue, write shorter and clearer reports, and get their message across clearly in less time.
• Instead of dull, text-heavy presentations that are hard to follow, they create persuasive presentations with fewer words and key messages supported by visuals.
• Instead of getting lost in piles of documents and missing the key milestones of an operation or project, you have a guide that lets you track every important point on a single map and take the right action at the right time.
• Instead of being buried under information in the age of big data, or becoming ‘information obese’ by trying to absorb it all, you learn to select, filter, learn with purpose and truly understand.

All the skills you develop by working with mind maps help you become more creative, someone who knows how to learn and who makes decisions based on sound thinking.

You do not just learn by structuring information. You also develop yourself by structuring your own thinking.