Betting on counterculture

The tension in the world is most acutely felt at its frontiers. As a natural reaction to this, a kaleidoscope of informal cultures have emerged, battling for share of voice in a tug of war with the status quo. Although factional, and at times chaotic, this citizen wave represents a critical mass capable of subverting the businesses, industries, and underlying principles that mechanize our economy. Success now comes with a new set of requirements; one must transcend the existing principles in order to meet new expectations and hope for success, but the capital required to rebuild from scratch is prohibitive. Or at least, only for the few. As a result, we find ourselves in limbo.

With everything seemingly up in the air and nothing decided, what are we to do?

Countercultural creative communities live just beyond the frontiers of culture, and offer a positive path forward. They exist at the intersection of art and all other mediums, constantly innovating within the adjacent possible to provide viable alternative futures, by creating novel solutions that use existing infrastructure in new ways. These new and often boot-strapped potentials create the space for localized communities and new cultures to form around them. The rise of new communities catalyse novel industries to produce goods and services that connect with their world views, predicated on new models and a transformative code of conduct. Those that manage to bubble up to the surface and breach the levees of mainstream culture have the ability to create a profound societal shift, often for the better.

The value unlock here can be transformative at scale. New aspirational lifestyles and forms of expression are created, new uses of existing channels and spaces are devised, new business models can be tested, new pathways discovered within the same known territories, and sometimes even entirely new solutions can be found. The cleverness is in the how, in the way in which these new forms subvert the existing system while resting upon its infrastructure. This proposes not only a joyful, but also ruthlessly capital efficient, motor of creation and of progress.

Now while these countercultural communities are creative, the world on the other hand is aggressive - especially at its frontiers. Unsurprisingly, creatives usually don't fair so well in an aggressive world. Usually they occupy authentic but low-impact corners, living up to their label as countercultures but rarely empowered to become more.

So the question to be asked is, how can the sideway become the highway?

If we are to somehow work through the tensions in the world, or hope to at least overcome some of the dead ends we face, it makes sense for Capital and Industry to align with innovative, countercultural creative groups.

We can empower them, by capitalizing their initiatives, platforming their work, and supporting their communities. We can learn from them, considering in particular how the same thinking could be applied to other fields. And we can collaborate with them, combining perspectives into joint efforts at the service of breakthrough solutions. This requires us to take a walk on the wild side, maybe even dare ourselves to consider their defiant ideas, giving them a place at the table alongside conservative wisdom. Maybe even bet on them. Because in this Schumpeterian world of Creative Destruction we face a choice: rely on established systems to adapt, join a faction, or empower creative communities to lead us toward a future rich with inventive and positive cultural shifts. The decision is ours to make.

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