Next Agenda is a new kind of hybrid organization that is part new political think tank, part new technology platform, and part new media business – all designed to help solve 21st century challenges of America and the world. This organization is designed as a sustainable business that could scale up in the United States and have a global reach over time.
The Context: The Obama Moment
The Huge Opportunity: The overwhelming election victory of Barack Obama opens up a very rare political opening that we have seen only a few times in American history. It looks like America is moving into a transformational period of change, what could be a new Progressive Era similar to that initiated by FDR.
The Dire Need: The opening comes none too soon since America and the world face a daunting slate of 21st century challenges. Our world is fundamentally restructuring into a much more integrated global whole, and the transition is prompting crises like the recent financial crash. And we are facing unprecedented challenges like climate change, arguably the most complex problem humans have ever faced.
The Missing Piece: The unfortunate truth is that we don’t know what to do about all these myriad problems. The nascent Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress have some good starting points but nowhere near all the sweeping policies needed. The current think tanks of Washington DC are doing good work but their efforts are insufficient to the many tasks at hand. We must dramatically accelerate the process of generating big new ideas and transformative policies.
The Bright Spots: There are some very positive developments pointing the way to the answer. The most powerful tools of all time, computers and the Internet, are now fully developed and ubiquitously deployed – and ready to be put to public service in pursuit of the common good. Plus the human resources of America have never been so vast, so educated, so experienced, or so diverse. That potential is now ready to tap.
The Solution: The generic answer to our quandary lies in doing three things: We need to create processes and intellectual infrastructure to accelerate transformational policy-making. We need to involve the best and the brightest Americans from many different fields and with many different talents. And we need to do this in a way that simultaneously educates the public and builds political support for changes of this scale.
The Plan: Next Agenda Overview
A Concrete Plan: We have a concrete plan for developing a new hybrid organization that could provide that generic solution. Next Agenda is a new hybrid organization that’s a cross between a policy think tank leveraging new technologies and a new media business producing serious shows. It’s an innovative process that gets extraordinary people outside of Washington DC involved in solving national challenges by using both new techniques for facilitating physical gatherings and new technologies for collaboration online. The process is designed as a show and captured on video to expose Americans to transformative solutions to the 21st Century challenges facing our country and the world. The organization is built as a sustainable business with the potential to grow in global markets over time.
The Hybrid Organization: Next Agenda is a cross between three things: A New Think Tank that will physically gather top thinkers and doers like a focused TED conference (see TED.com). A New Technology Platform, scaling online participation like a more collaborative MyBarackObama.com. And a New Media Business, showcasing the process via high quality video to an array of audiences, like a serialized Inconvenient Truth.
The Hollywood Elevator Pitch: The fun way to explain this is “Elite TED meets bottom-up mybarackobama.com, all presented to audiences as Save the World Reality TV.”
Solving the Problem: The overarching process we are proposing is serious and goes a long way towards filling in the missing pieces outlined above. The new think tank reaches beyond DC to top minds outside government to crack key concepts and rough plans. The new technology allows large numbers of smart people all over the country and the world to work 24/7 on developing and refining those concepts and plans. And the new media helps grow a constituency for transformational change through compelling media.
Building a Sustainable Business: On top of solving the problem, we are creating value that can be monetized to sustain the operation rather than completely relying on donations like traditional think tanks. There are three sources of key value creation: The Network, consisting of our assembling top people in key fields around a common cause. The Platform, which is technology for large-scale collaboration and innovative processes that drive toward practical decisions. And The Content, which is interesting and entertaining video packaged for audiences from mass to niche.
For more details on the business overview, we have a slide deck and executive summary, but that material is confidiential and you must contact us.
