Martin Luther King Jr. and Ronald Regan in the Marketplace

"There are two types of businesses," proclaimed Rob Walker, The New York Times "Consumed" columnist, and author of the soon-to-be released Buying In.

There are "I Have a Dream" companies and "It's Morning in America" companies. Rob received nods and sighs of approval for his insightful and cleaver observation in the opening keynote speech of this year's Kitchen Conference.

Even without Walker's articulate explanation of his witty business descriptors we understand the reference to Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebrated and history-altering speech as well as Ronald Reagan's political TV ad that painted a calm and optimistic picture of America's economy. Rob went on to explain "I Have a Dream" companies cause change while "It's Morning In America" companies react to change. Walker asserts that successful companies tend to operate on the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr., instigating the trends and innovation in the market, while Reagan's figurative followers are actually anti-progress, blissfully accepting the norm and merely reacting to change.

To me this is a lovely image: the Martin Luther Kings of the world overcoming the Reagans with innovation and vision. I pause and look around at the multitude of "I Have a Dream" companies I'm surrounded by at Kitchen. Most of them are thriving. Rob is right, they're succeeding and growing and continuing to push the envelope, instigating the ripples of environmental and social change we see sprouting throughout the marketplace.

I look around again, and wonder just how many of these companies have been purchased by "It's Morning in America" companies as they frantically try to keep up. Clorox's partial acquisition of Burt's Bees immediately comes to mind, although it's far from the only example. And it's true in Burt's situation, as with many others that there are potential positive results of such an arrangement, including: the ethics and methods of the smaller "I Have a Dream" company can be shared with the larger parent company while the larger company is able to provide the resources to see the smaller company's innovative dreams and visions to fruition, the list goes on.

So, maybe it's not so bad to have a dream, first thing in the morning in America, if that dreams stays with us all day.

- Molly

posted on April 25, 2008