Media conglomerates have succeeded in the past, because they were de facto monopolies. They controlled the whole media production chain, from the content creation to the distribution. They would dominate a segment of the market and prevent any other actor from entrenching their market share. Advertisers had no choice but to comply to the media conglomerates rules to diffuse their messages.

Well, this model is quickly fading. Social Media and Web 2.0 technologies have changed the rules of the game and shaking the old paradigms.

Content has evolved. In the old model a handful of people were generating content and information that was then selectively transmitted to a passive population of consumers.  Today, consumers become active producers of the content. Web platforms give to anyone the possibility to generate content and share it with the community. Consumers spend more and more time reading blogs  and watching user generated videos on YouTube or similar sites.

Distribution has opened up. Platforms like Twitter (micro-blogging), Facebook (social network), Boxee (TV and music platform) and the I-Phone AppStore have revolutionized the access to content and by-passed the traditional media distributors.  New applications are developed that bring a new experiences never seen before. By opening their APIs these platforms have let thousands of developers use their creativity and build new applications creating new experiences to the consumers. For example, applications have been developed on Boxee to let users link their Last.fm customizable radio to YouTube corresponding music videos. Hence, consumers can create their own MTV channel playing only music that corresponds to their profile and likings.

How can traditional media companies respons to this threat? Instead of  competing against the evolution of the consumers behaviors, they should acknowledge it and focus on their real value added: the professional content. They should become content providers and let their product be syndicated through all the existing distribution channels.

He believes that Economy in the 21st century should radically change to adapt to the new reality imposed by the collapse of the old economy. He thinks that the 21st century growth will be a  “smart growth” as opposed to the “dumb growth” that investors have been desperately seeking so far.

He proposes to reboot capitalism and to rethink growth. To that end, he suggests four pillars of smart growth, that he calls the smart growth manifesto. Here they are:

1. Outcome not income

Dumb growth is about incomes – are we richer today than we were yesterday? Smart growth is about people, and how much better or worse off they are – not merely how much junk an economy can churn out. Smart growth measures people’s outcomes – not just their incomes. Are people healthier, fitter, smarter, happier? Economics that measure financial numbers, we’ve learned the hard way, often fail to be meaningful, except to the quants among us. It is tangible human outcomes that are the arbiters of authentic value creation.

2. Connections, not transactions

Dumb growth looks at what’s flowing through the pipes of the global economy: the volume of trade. Smart growth looks at how pipes are formed, and why some pipes matter more than others: the quality of connections. It doesn’t just look at transactions at the global, regional, or national level — how much world trade has grown, for example — but looks at how local and global relationships power invention and innovation. Without Silicon Valley’s relationships powering the development of personal computing and the internet, for example, the volume of trade between Taiwan, Japan, and China, would be a fraction of what it is. Smart growth seeks to amplify connection and community — because the goal isn’t just to trade, but to co-create and collaborate.

3. People not product

The next time you hear an old dude talking about “product”, let him know the 20th century ended a decade ago. Smart growth isn’t driven by pushing product, but by the skill, dedication, and creativity of people. What’s the difference? Everything. Globalization driven by McJobs deskilling the world, versus globalization driven by entrepreneurship, venture economies, and radical innovation. People not product means a renewed focus on labour mobility, human capital investment, labour market standards, and labour market efficiency. Smart growth isn’t powered by capital dully seeking the lowest-cost labour — but by giving labour the power to seek the capital with they can create, invent, and innovate the most.

4. Creativity, not productivity

Creativity is an economic four-letter word. Why? Because it’s hard to measure, manage, and model. So economists focus on productivity instead — and the result is dumb growth. Smart growth focuses on economic creativity – because creativity is what let us know that competition is creating new value, instead of just shifting old value around. What is economic creativity? How many new industries, markets, categories, and segments an economy can consistently create. Think China’s gonna save the world? Think again: it’s economically productive, but it’s far from economically creative. Smart growth is creative — not merely productive.

This disruptive thinking is for me compelling. For companies to transform their dumb growth to smart growth however, they should create new ways of incentivizing their managers. Redefining their balance sheets to integrate new assets like the wellness of their employees, the environmental consequences of their activities, their behavior towards the society and their impact on the community.

For more great thoughts on the decline of the “zombieconomy” and rise of the “Capitalism 2.0″ check out Umair’s defining blog. A must.

I was always wondering what makes this city like no other in the world, why it has been so successful in inspiring so many writers, movies and poets? I think that the mix of people and culture in New York is a very important factor. The multiculturalism of the city is second to none and enriches anyone who is open to it. The young population of the city is another critical one. The ideas, ambitions and ideals coming from young New Yorkers is amazing. But the most important factor in my opinion is the freedom that you feel when you live here. There is something magical here that stimulates in you thousands of ideas, gives you energy and makes you feel free.

In New York, everything is possible.