Digital ID Coach

Getting Tested

August 14th, 2009

1 comment

CNN has an article about families in China whose children are “participating in a new program that uses DNA testing to identify genetic gifts and predict the future.” The article, In China, DNA tests on kids ID genetic gifts, careers, states that the reason for these tests is to help give children an advantage by determining what the children’s genetic profile reveals.

The test is conducted by the Shanghai Biochip Corporation. Scientists claim a simple saliva swab collects as many as 10,000 cells that enable them to isolate eleven different genes. By taking a closer look at the genetic codes, they say they can extract information about a child’s IQ, emotional control, focus, memory, athletic ability and more. …

For about $880, Chinese parents can sign their kids up for the test and five days of summer camp in Chongqing, where the children will be evaluated in various settings from sports to art. The scientific results, combined with observations by experts throughout the week, will be used to make recommendations to parents about what their child should pursue.

Coaching moment: Your DNA is the instruction book to how your body develops and works. Scientists are studying the combinations and locations of various genes to try and figure out where our health problems begin or end. In this article, the scientists are using certain tests to “determine a child’s future.” The children’s DNA map becomes part of their digital health records.

Of more interest to me was this sentence: “Examining one child’s results, he told CNN: ‘This child is very thoughtful and focused, so I suggest she go into management.’” Being thoughtful and focused might also represent the creativity of an artist, the clarity of a physicist, or the drive of a programmer. However, the notion of casting a child’s future as a manager is much more problematic because it assumes that the Chinese scientists studying these children believe that they know what “management” as a line of work will be like in the future.

Will there be a great ongoing need for managers? Will “management” add value to the world in 20-30 years? We don’t know. We do know that technology will change the way we work and communicate, which is central to “management” today.

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