Umair Haque

Here's something you might not know. There's enough food in the world to feed pretty much everyone. So why are more than 1 billion people — nearly 20% of the world's population — either starving or malnourished? And why, over the last two decades, has global hunger steeply risen? The answer has everything to do with the past — and future — of advantage. Over the last few months, I've discussed in depth the tectonic... More »

What is an economy? Is it just rivers of money and stuff, flowing back and forth between consumer and producer, resting on a bed of information? That's more or less the way we've conceptualized it. It's why economists often say that banks and funds make up the "financial economy," while industries that make stuff are the "real economy." When we conceptualize an economy that way, the implicit goal for both "producers" and "consumers" is merely... More »

Remember Superman's slogan? Let me remind you. "Truth, Justice, and The American Way." Corny, sure. But doesn't it get you a little bit? It sounds funnily evocative right now: a reminder of something deeper, something that we lost. Lately, macroeconomists of all stripes have been on a tear. The crisis we thought would fade and recede into the distance...isn't. It's growing, eating away at the economic vitality we once took for granted. Macroeconomists argue that... More »

Today's zombieconomy has been a long time coming. If you've been following our discussions, you saw it rising as early as 2006. The roots of this deep recession are about what zombies lack: consciousness, intelligence, and, at root, wisdom. America, it was once said, is the richest country in the world. And though Wall St, Washington, and Europe are focused on exploding deficits and rising debt, both are effects of a deeper cause. We're poor... More »

Google Buzz: revolution, evolution, or devolution? Many of you have asked me for my take. So here's how it stacks up against my five next-generation product & service design principles — the principles of "design for meaning." The Hippocrates Concept. WWHD? It's the most fundamental question every next-gen product and service designer should ask: "what would Hippocrates do?" His goal was for physicians to "first, do no harm" — and in the 21st century, we're... More »

It's like a neon sign blaring: "EXIT." A gigantic global economic meltdown, possibly leading to a second Great Depression, should illustrate with finality: business as usual is no longer the road to riches. That's the small answer to the question many of you asked after reading the Great to Good Manifesto: "Wow, cool — but how come going from great to good is, well, profitable?" Here's the big one. The real-world case for going great-to-good... More »

CEO: "So, I hear your forthcoming book's kind of like Good to Great — right? That was my favorite biz book of the noughties!" UH: "Good to Great?! Dude, welcome to the 21st century. My book is the opposite: it's more like 'Great to Good.'" CEO: "Security!!" (Hurls $8000 pen at UH's forehead) I exaggerate, of course, for effect. Recently, Jim Collins' genre-defining Good to Great has surfaced in quite a few discussions about my... More »

A budget freeze in the middle of a (curiously depression-like) recession? That's about as smart an idea, economically speaking, as gulping down a bucketful of magma just because you're thirsty. It's even worse than Hoovernomics, because we have, today, the benefit of hindsight. And though it's probably just PR shadowboxing, a "spending freeze" is actually perfect illustration of the big problem with Obama's economic policy. So far, it has accelerated — instead of decelerated —... More »

Welcome, finally, to...today. The 20th century ended a decade ago, but the 21st century never began: the noughties were a lost decade, where jobs weren't created, innovation became unnovation, and prosperity itself failed. 2010 is the real first year of the 21st century. And it's going to be a year of conflict between the leaders of the old, fraying institutions of the 20th century, and the builders revolutionizing those institutions in the 21st. Here's a... More »

"...Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections." Dear Supreme Court, I'm highly impressed with your recent decision to vaporize limits on corporate political spending. It's the kind of campaign finance reform our ailing res publica needs. In fact, I found it so inspirational, here's an even better idea. Let's give corporations... More »

Beancounter 1: "Our new widgets business — we think it's amazing". Beancounter 2: "We've ridden the learning curve, the product mix is optimized, the supply chain's streamlined, the market's tightly segmented." Beancounter 3: "But we've got a burning question for you, Umair — will it scale?" UH: "You know what doesn't scale? The point. Dudes, welcome to the 21st Century. It's so not about pushing more toxic junk at people." Beancounters 1, 2, and 3:... More »

A hill, a giant chasm, and a cloud-covered peak. Close your eyes and picture a lopsided "M" for a second. That's the new landscape of advantage. And the recent skirmish between Google and China is its best example yet. On one side is the old high ground of the industrial era capitalism; on the other, the new high(er) ground of next-generation capitalism. The yawning chasm in between them is the gap between the 20th century... More »

Dear World Leaders, This relationship isn't working out. Its time for us to explore other government opportunities. We've tried to make it work. But it's not us — it's you (really). I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately. Specifically: why, today, when a wave of crises is sweeping the globe, does leadership seem to be almost totally absent? The answer I've come to is, ironically enough, leadership itself. I'd like to advance a hypothesis:... More »

It's as predictable as the chorus of a power ballad. Every time I discuss good and evil, howls of protest erupt. Is it polemic? Is it deliberately controversial? Isn't hard-nosed business beyond good and evil, anyways? Not a chance. Here's 21st century strategy, summarized in four words: minimize evil, maximize good. Forget a snot-nosed punk like me for a second. Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Hayek laid the foundations (among others) of... More »

They used to be polar opposites. One was the epitome of 20th century business; the other, the textbook example of a better kind of business. By mass-producing, mass-marketing, and relentlessly hard-selling sugar water to kids and the poor, Coca-Cola rose to global prominence and market dominance: thin, artificial value had little better example. But Google's rise was powered by exactly the opposite: building a more meaningful media marketplace, that created authentic value for all. That... More »