As a massive David Bowie fan, I’ve long believed the Thin White Duke could teach today’s aspiring pop stars a thing or two about how it’s done.
There aren’t many artists out there who, at 66 years of age and 10 years since their last album, could make front page news around the world, go straight to number one in the charts and genuinely surprise everyone – no easy feat in today’s celebrity-obsessed world where Twitter allows you to learn what Lady Gaga had for breakfast – and was a useful reminder that sometimes less is more. According to one observer however, Bowie can also provide valuable lessons for the economy.
Peter Matheson, who heads up the economics team at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. believes Bowie’s “phenomenal” career provides at least three “key lessons” which could improve Britain’s “broader economic performance”. Writing on his blog on the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, Matheson claims Bowie’s “number one” lesson was that of global recognition. The musician is “the quintessential internationalist” and a “superb manifestation of transatlantic team work”, he claims, and from his example, economists should learn to “think internationally and grow internationally”.
The second lesson from the Chameleon of Pop is that of constant evolution and diversity, keeping one step ahead of his rivals by never putting his eggs in one basket. “Modern economies need to be sufficiently diversified in terms of the industries and sectors on which they are based,” he adds. In the UK, this means recognising the economy was too dependent on financial services, and working to build a wider range of strengths.
The third lesson is Bowie’s ability to learn from his mistakes – such as his “woeful” output from the 1980s – and strive never to repeat them. “Economic policy making is similar – policymakers have often made mistakes that they are sometimes forced to learn from,” he says. “Changing course can be necessary. That can be difficult but, in the long run, well worth it.”
Bowie clearly has a lot to teach us about the economy, but we should beware embracing his examples too wholeheartedly: in 2009, he was blamed for the credit crunch following the launch of ‘Bowie Bonds’, which entitled investors to a share of the royalties from his back-catalogue. In return, Bowie collected future profits up-front.
The BBC’s Evan Davies said his initiative was adopted by banks for use on customer mortgages. “They thought, ‘We have billions out there in mortgages which are going to pay us back very slowly. Why don’t we sell those and get the money now?’ So the banks started doing what Bowie had done – in a big way.”
Comments