Recently, Umair Haque’s presentation on Constructive Capitalism caught my attention.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

In short, this presentation discusses a shift in the economy from strategy to ideals, claiming that organizations can no longer be successful by trying to dominate markets or coerce people into buying products. He feels this is a result of an influx in richer and freer interactions among customers and between customers & organizations – this is no doubt a result of an increase in social media adoption through digital platforms.

With this economic shift, there is a change in its associated institutions, which act as the rules to interaction. The 20th Century institutions led to various crises that have encouraged this change:

Looking at the 21st Century institutions, Umair believes this economic shift starts with meaning – focusing on creating positive outcomes rather than income – and by focusing on meaning, the other institutions will follow.

As a person passionate about branding, and who uses digital to leverage brands, I gravitated to this thinking because of its emphasis on creating interactions through ideals, which requires a combination of strong branding & engaging digital initiatives.
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