In Rainbows

I don't know what it is exactly, but I feel there's a common thread uniting Radiohead's recent announcement that their latest album will be available on their website for whatever you want to pay with Bill Clinton's most recent comments about philanthropy. It seems to me that they may be starting at opposite ends of the spectrum and finding themselves in a slightly similar middle ground. Both the former president and the world's greatest rock band are shedding old ways of understanding commerce and philanthropy--ways of exchanging symbols of wealth for goods and services.


Both are posing intriguing questions to the business community and society at large. What is something worth to you and what do you truly value? By offering up their music for whatever price you think is fair, Radiohead has sidestepped not only the record industry but many of the common complaints about the record industry today. They haven't replaced the traditional model with a pseudo-traditional model, ala itunes. Pay whatever you think is right.


Similarly, President Clinton, and his Clinton Global Initiative, seek to connect business, government, and non-profits in ways that break out of traditional modes. Non-profits are more able to meet their goals when they're financially sustainable. Businesses are more profitable when they're grounded in realities facing our world today--climate change, poverty, etc. Governments are most effective when they harness the capacities of the private and non-profit sectors to implement smart policy. Don't switch to clean technology merely out of the generosity of your heart--do it because it makes smart business sense. Don't invest in education in lesser developed countries because you take pity on people--do it because it strengthens the global economy, opens up new markets, enhances security, and has a positive impact on global health issues.

We have been ripe for such groundbreaking ideas as they are at once strikingly different from the common sense of the day, yet seem so obvious.