Thumper’s mom in the Disney cartoon Bambi was seriously wrong. We all said nothing because we had nothing nice to say. Look what economic mess that got us in. It is time for some honesty to break up our economic religions.
At times I get emails from readers who, after reading the articles on my blog, question the purported negativity of my blogs. Not with counter-arguments that hold a profound thought or suggests ulterior validity (I wish), but rather with annoyed references of the most unfriendly kind.
Freedom of speech
In our nine years of “thoughtful” blogging about the trials and tribulations of venture capital, asset management, and economics combined with their impact on innovation, we have been banned from posting articles on certain LinkedIn groups (while highly praised on others). Specifically – we noticed – when our articles contradict the general thesis of the group, aided by the protectionism of a specific application of freedom of speech by “unknown” moderators.
We were asked to stop posting references to our articles on a Harvard Alumni group by a small group of forceful members, in which we systematically invalidate some of the educational dogmas that have negatively and poignantly affected the economics of (any kind of) innovation.
We have been shunned by individual reporters, after we burst their bubble, and concluded in no uncertain terms and arguments they know nothing about the sector of which they claim, or “grew” to be an expert.
Albeit the above are just a drop in the bucket compared to the positive reviews, it appears we are causing precisely the trouble that is bound to shake us all up. To shake us into economic renewal. So, get ready and put your dancing shoes on.
Merit bites
Strangely, such occurrences of anger and frustration increased when we decided to hold our readers to the most basic application of merit using the email distribution of our blogs; to read them.
For we are on a mission to connect with people who genuinely care about the future of this country and our world. We do not aspire to the lifeless merit assigned to a local newspaper that gets thrown on everyone’s driveway and tossed straight into the garbage can each day. Our sizeable investment in the reinvention of our foundational economics deserves better than to be measured by the hollow volume of its circulation.
Frankly, we care less about how many people read our articles (we do not monetize our blog). Instead, we care about the merit of who reads our articles. We specially care about people affected by flawed economic and financial policies and care less about the validation of our thesis by purveyors who, despite the significant economic pressures we all face, still mindlessly regurgitate the old.
So, with a little upfront warning and as the first – we know of – to deploy this kind of practice, we announced to soon cancel the subscriptions from readers who had not read our emails over the last six months (for whatever the critical reason) as a courtesy to them and us.
The outrage was palpable.
Say what? Let’s rewind: why do you get upset that we cancel your subscription to the articles you don’t read. That logic escapes me, or does it?
Your mope
Now, believe it or not, I understand people’s frustration. Our economy is a mess, and those in control want us all to think we’re edging towards recovery. People generally don’t buy it, and neither do I.
On top of that, I frequently rub the salt from my highly praised rationale in the wounds of the failed financial and economic religion people continue to hold in such high regard. Religions they bet their careers and lives on, and dutifully preach to their children as the way to secure their future.
I understand, their first instinct is to want to shoot the messenger. And my contrarian message to the pageantry of false positivity hurts, badly. But, I did not create the flawed economics of the past.
Our problem
Bear with me, it is through my unique process of fearlessly questioning authority through the complete chain of command (including Congress), combined with deep experience in the business of innovation, that a reinvention of our foundational economics is born. Its invention and its gestation covered on this blog, from the bottom-up.
Not just another top-down economic strategy cooked up in the dark catacombs manned by economic theorists but validated, and itself questioned at every juncture by the merit of the marketplace to which it applies. Renewable economics, therefore, is not just another economic theory; it is a practical and imperative implementation.
My blog today is a diary and interpretation of my discovery, meant to take other marketplace participants on that ride. A ride that gives them the ammunition to question the authority of our old economic religion too, and open their eyes to what is possible.
My solution
Sure, I have options not to have to worry about this kind of stuff and play nice. But I cannot sit idle and watch the embedded dysfunction in our economic systems continue to erode the renewable evolution of humanity systematically.
I care too much about a bright future for my offspring, as well as yours. I do not enjoy wasting time on our frivols from the past. But the truth of our current greater-fool economics has to be told, even when it is ugly.
The beauty of my invention of renewable economics is that it turns a standard economic system with highly subprime and finite characteristics that permeates everything we do, into a self-tuning mechanism that is infinite and prime. And thus while my criticism to the current state of economics is harsh and punitive (in line with its performance), the future looks bright, and I am filled with immense positivity correlated to fixing our reality.
The same positivity by which I turn every mediocre status-quo into newfound success.
Be real
So beware when you classify my purported negativity as destructive.
Only an accurate observation of reality can spawn innovation that yields a meaningful resolution. Playing nice and smiling, while you feel like crying as you sink further into severe economic demise, will turn you into the blind follower of an economic religion that remains beyond your control.
It turns out Thumper in the Walt Disney cartoon Bambi was wrong when she urged us: “when you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.” We all did. Everyone played nice and questioned nothing. See what that got us?
The impetus for innovation comes from a healthy disdain for the inefficiencies of the past. And I look for discerning readers with the same unrelenting goal. Feel free to question my economic assertions in the same spirit by why we must examine the old, all for the pursuit of making this world a better place.
Not just for ourselves – but to preserve a healthy and renewable future.
