31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 11

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 11 - Umair Haque

I can't recall for certain, but I don't believe Umair Haque explicitly mentioned the Occupy Wall Street movement (which had just started days earlier) when he spoke via webcast at BIF-7, although it seems he anticipated all the signs and portents.

For economies, Umair said, move through three stages:

Functional economy - Survival, subsistence
Aspirational economy - Affluence, power, consumption
Meaningful economy - Fitter, smarter, wiser

And the U.S. is at the end of an aspirational economy. As Umair said at BIF: "We stand in the rubble of an opulence bubble."

The solution, Umair suggests, is to try something radically different, to innovate and begin the transition from "opulence to eudaimonia".

Additional information:
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/

Umair Haque on Twitter:
@umairh

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/umair-haque

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

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