The costs of inno­va­tion have exceeded the ben­e­fits, says Umair Haque, and it’s time to move away from this “relic of the indus­trial era” towards some­thing specif­i­cally “built for the 21st century”. Haque has dubbed this the almost too hip Awe­some­ness Man­i­festo.

The three prob­lems with inno­va­tion as it stands, accord­ing to Haque:

  • Inno­va­tion relies on obsolescence.
  • Inno­va­tion dries up our seedcorn.
  • Inno­va­tion often isn’t.

The four pil­lars of new-innovation, or awe­some­ness:

  • Eth­i­cal production.
  • Insanely great stuff (creativity).
  • Love.
  • Thick value (mak­ing peo­ple authen­ti­cally bet­ter off — not merely by adding more bells and whistles).

Let’s sum­ma­rize. What is awe­some­ness? Awe­some­ness hap­pens when thick — real, mean­ing­ful — value is cre­ated by peo­ple who love what they do, added to insanely great stuff, and mul­ti­plied by com­mu­ni­ties who are delighted and inspired because they are authen­ti­cally bet­ter off.