Course Overview:

Today, ideas matter more than ever. Idea generators – from opinion columnists and non-fiction writers to podcast hosts and those delivering TED Talks – shape how we think about the world, and ourselves. They help drive consumption patterns, offer new insights and question old ones, and make communication feel provocative, inspirational, or sometimes just fun. And they’re big business: book publishing, the news industry, and other, emerging mediums generate hundreds of billions of dollars globally each year.

We are living in a moment of historical acceleration, one where ideas and their dissemination are rapidly shifting, dramatically altering the landscape in which we live and conduct business. We stand at a crucial inflection point and, perhaps more than any time in recent memory, future business leaders must understand how ideas shape individual and public perceptions of the world. This course will introduce students to the creation, monetization, and distribution of ideas, how individuals consume these ideas, and the evolving ways in which experts and expertise are cultivated and understood. It will interrogate how and why ideas rise and fall, and how this process is linked to broader sociopolitical trends like populism, the rise of a “new oligarchy,” the democratization of idea production, and the ways in which idea consumption are (and are not) changing. Discussion topics will include The New York Times, TED, Jeff Bezos and his acquisition of The Washington Post, “new media” figures like Joe Rogan, and the impact of AI on the ideas landscape and algorithms in distribution models.

At its core, Business of Ideas is a course about two things: “ideas” and how they shape the world in which we operate; and the big businesses that nurture, launch, and sustain idea creators as well as the supply chains that create value from them. Several questions will animate the course. Which businesses and business leaders have the power to control ideas? How do idea generators and the businesses surrounding them create and capture value? How do different distribution models impact perception? This course complements RC BGIE, offering students a social and cultural macro-lens for understanding society. Indeed, careful attention will be paid to larger social, cultural, and political trends, examining how the business of ideas has changed over time, and how and why it has influenced the ways in which individuals and societies today imagine themselves and the world they aspire to inhabit.

Grading / Course Administration:

The course will be graded 50% class participation and 50% final paper.