Econovation The Red, White, and Blue Pill for Arousing Innovation

EconovationTM links macroeconomics to practical, creative opportunities across multiple industries. It provides a framework for a focused search for innovations based on where consumer, government, and business capital is likely to flow. Steve Faktor's ideas are field tested. In 2008, he gave over a dozen talks on 'Recessionomics' to hundreds of executives and staff across American Express. What struck him was the level of anxiety people had about the future. They craved guidance and certainty. Though his prognosis wasn't rosy, it gave people context, a way to think through what might happen next and how they could still thrive. That's when he got the idea to combine his proprietary '4C's of Innovation'TM approach with his economic predictions. EconovationTM offers readers a better understanding of our economy, insight on economics-driven opportunities, and a framework for analyzing them.

STEVE FAKTOR is the former Vice President of Growth and Innovation and head of the Chairman's Innovation Fund at American Express. There, he developed and incubated numerous growth ventures including Zync, Loyalty Edge, and Private Sales, a joint venture with Vente Privée. Steve is the founder of Blue Beacon Partners, LLC, which helps start-ups and corporations innovate new products and services, think big, and build a sustainable growth pipeline. In his career, Steve has created several $100-million-plus businesses, generated billions in sales volume, and deployed three enterprise-level innovation programs. Previously, Steve was a senior innovation and strategy executive at Citi and MasterCard. As a management consultant at Arthur Andersen, Steve led strategy, marketing, and technology projects for clients like WPP (Ogilvy), Samsung, JVC, Bombardier, Boise Cascade, Omnicom Group, and PSEG.

As a futurist, innovator, and digital payments expert, Steve is a popular global keynote speaker on future growth opportunities. Steve also leads innovation workshops, ideation, and training sessions based on his proprietary 4C's of Innovation methodology. An author with a satirical touch, his latest musings on trends in business can be read at ideafaktory.com.