One on One with Monitor Talent's Chris Meyer

For half a century, the United States has sat at the center of the global economic system, and Western-style capitalism has dominated. Now, it's no secret that the center of gravity is shifting. The advanced economies that in 2000 consumed 75 percent of the world's output will, by 2050, consume just 32 percent. Meanwhile, the emerging economies of the world—Brazil, India, China, and others—will surge forward. As these fast-growing, low-income economies mature, they will they adopt and create the next prevailing version of capitalism, according to Chris Meyer, Innovator and Founder, Monitor Talent. That, he says, will create new opportunities for consulting firms around the world. Myer will dive deeper into this new paradigm as part of his provocative presentation—"Capitalism's Next Evolution—How Will It Impact the Profession?"—at the Consulting Summit Nov. 9 at the Union League Club in New York. Meyer sat down with Consulting One-on-One to discuss capitalism's next evolution and his presentation, based on the findings on his forthcoming book Standing on the Sun , which is due out on Feb. 12.

Consulting: What is capitalism's next evolution?

Meyer: Many of the ideas around capitalism's next evolution come from my next book, which is called Standing on the Sun . It's called that because a physicist once said to me: 'For Copernicus to understand how the solar system worked, he had to be standing on the sun.' Copernicus said that we had put the wrong thing in the middle of the solar system. The sun is not revolving around the Earth; the Earth is revolving around the sun. So, the idea with this book is that we've also put the wrong thing in the center of capitalism all these years—financial return. Now, that doesn't mean that financial return is meaningless, but it does mean that what people value is much broader than that. That's going to a big, radical shot between the eyes for most people.