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I submitted a speaking proposal entitled:

How creativity will reinvent capitalism

“Stimulating the economy is not about tax cuts or new subsidies. Stimulating the economy is about reinenting the economy and its institutions through creativity. The old “capital” was all about machines and efficiencies, the new “capital” are living networks of many different kinds of capital: natural, human, social and/or creative. The goal has to be to seed those many different forms of capital most productively – nurture, allocate, utilize and renew them. Explore the first signs of this emerging movement to topple the old form of capitalism and build a more sustainable model.”

These are scary times.

Unemployment hovering around 9%. Real unemployment at 20%. A global debt crisis. A global demand crisis. A systemic crisis.

As I discussed before, we are entering the age of strife.

Institutions won’t save us. No President will save us. No party will.

We have to save ourselves.

Capitalism is a good thing. The current expression of capitalism is not. How can we transform capitalism as radically as it happened during Adam Smith’s era? It won’t happen through institutions, it will happen by all of us changing it. While we’re facing the abyss, a few of us have already jumped to the other, transformative side.

The new capitalism has to be about accumulating and saving any productive resource for tomorrow. We have to minimize economic harm and maximize creating real economic value. It’s less about exploitation and more about optimization.

Many people call this the age of constructive capitalism: We’re creatively destroying old institutions, building new institutions, founding on authentic, enduring and meaningful value. Stakeholder value vs. Shareholder value, allowing enterprises to play a more constructive and valuable role in society. It’s as revolutionary as the change from an agricultural society to industrial capitalism. The change from managerial/financial capitalism to a human business design will change the way we work and live. And reclaim our humanity.

It’s much bigger than just building better products and services – it’s about building better institutions first. Hank Paulson and Donald Trump wouldn’t recognize this form of capitalism. It is composed of a disruptive new set of cornerstones, geared for the new economics of interdependence. And it will flush out the dinosaurs of 20th century capitalism.

My goal is to explore this important topic at SXSW 2012. I believe there’s more to talk about than tools or platforms. We need to change the world.

And we need to start now.

Would love to hear your thoughts and any vote for my proposal is welcome.