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evolving framework of rules, habits,
agreements, behaviors, and practices
that facilitates meeting the needs of
people and their communities, and
engages human skill and effort, as
well as technology and capital, to
do so. We also need to consider how
emerging technologies can help us
reimagine ways to meet human needs,
those we have been incapable of
addressing in a traditional manner.
It will be hard to bring about this
change. In the first place, the three
critical drivers have created an
interdependent system that must
be addressed in its entirety if
we are going to alter our current
course. Seventy years of success
has created a highly interdependent
web of regulation, business
practices, and institutions based on
assumptions about the proper form of
globalization, financial metrics, and
technology. Changing one strand of
the web will not work; the others will
act as a force of inertia. Any change
needs to take place at a broader level
— involving the whole system in which
institutions are embedded. Only then
can we influence both behaviors and
outcomes so that they align with a
reframed system.
In the second place, change entails
managing a set of dualities. In the
recent past we have tended to seek
the answer in a choice between
apparent opposites: one measure or
many, globalization or localization,
technology or people. Many of the
observations below suggest that we
need to take a more sophisticated
approach by reflecting this duality. For
example, human needs must be met —
progress must be made — on a local
basis, albeit in a global context. This
duality — global and local — applies
to the other drivers also.
Taking all this into account, here are
some observations as a starting point
for discussion:
1. Economic growth is not
universally benign. One fundamental
assumption of economic theory for
at least the last 70 years has been
that social progress follows economic
growth as traditionally measured. We
must now recognize that this is not
necessarily true. We must intentionally
target acceptable societal outcomes,
leveraging market economies to do so.
2. Both financial (GDP) and
societal target outcomes should be
explicitly framed. This necessitates
a key role for government and citizens
in articulating goals that reflect the
needs of local communities, cities,
and regions, as well as countries as a
whole. Not all needs are equal. Basic
human needs must be prioritized,
consistent with the concept of a
hierarchy of needs.
3. We need to devote more energy
to creating thriving communities.
Human needs are best identified
and managed at a local level. Cities,
towns, and villages are the places
where social progress and economic
success most naturally meet. We
need to create conditions for these
communities to thrive, with business as
a key part of the ecosystem. Exhibit 10
presents a basic model of the ongoing
development of an urban community.
This will require some rethinking of
both the role of the nation-state and
of globalization. We need to consider
how to operate in a world of increasing
global connectedness while fostering
local initiative.
4. We need to leverage the full
potential of market economies in
a globalized environment. Better
outcomes are needed at all levels:
regional, national, metropolitan,
and local community levels. A key
role for government is to create the
conditions necessary for localities
to address opportunities and
challenges effectively and to create
the institutional framework that will
encourage the economic engine to
match human needs and opportunities.
5. Governments and businesses
should engage to develop policies
that align business outcomes with
broader objectives — especially
in the context of global businesses
operating locally, reflecting their
license to operate and broader purpose.
The very wealthy also have a role to
play in deploy