"IR people should be a voice of reason to the companies they represent. They should help companies think about the hidden value within the company and how to communicate this value to the market," says Robert V. Brazell, who was the founder and founding board member of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and also served as the company's president and chief executive officer.

"This communication strategy is not at the expense of all the traditional information and reporting—but, to me, a company's ability to communicate more than just the status quo indicates corporate IQ," elaborates Brazell, who has been the owner of several other Internet properties, including eHow.com, a content and search site; Delphi.com, the Internet's first discussion group community; and Sandbox.com, the Internet's largest fantasy sports site.

He is also the controlling owner and chairman of the board of data tracking companies Live Global Bid and VinIQ, and currently serves as chairman of In-store Broadcasting Network (IBN), the world's largest retail media company. In addition, he has raised and invested more than $200 million in the past ten years—and is co-author of "The Idea Economy," another edition of which is due out in February.

Read on for his take on everything from the skills you'll need to survive in this new economy to why shareholder activism is akin to trying to "legislate intelligence" and "scale stupid":

What is "The Idea Economy"—how are its key concepts relevant to IR?

The "Idea Economy" is the economy that followed and replaced the service economy in the same way that the service economy replaced the manufacturing/industrial economy, which replaced the agricultural/farming economy.

Each economic shift was driven by new technology and innovation—and work followed as humans migrated from the farms to the factories and to the desk. This economy is different from past economic shifts in many ways. For the first time in recorded history, work must and will take place in the factory of the mind. We become manufacturers of ideas in near real time. Also for the first time in history, technology not only led us into an economic shift, it passed us. Humans are not equipped for the environment in which we find ourselves today. Our education systems are obsolete. By nature (evolution), we did not develop the skills to survive and prosper in the new economy.

What are the skills necessary to survive in this new economy?

Skills associated with ideation, creative problem solving, pattern recognition and reason are required in an environment where information is ubiquitous and accessible in real time.

Most service economy jobs and work are relegated to what I call "Information Brokers"—a role and function assumed and performed better by machines than humans. In a world where humans must find and create value by doing something that a machine cannot, we must discover and navigate new skills and processes.

In the "Idea Economy," information grows at geometric and exponential rates. Humans connect effortlessly and share information. Thus, we live in a world of relevance or irrelevance. Information lives within a hierarchal structure moving upward in relevance from spam, to nonsense, to proxies, to new and relevant ideas. One skill set, for example, that we must develop is a disciplined reason and pattern recognition. We must learn to ask questions, such as:

• What does that mean?
• How do you know that?
• Compared to what?
• At what cost?
• Now what?

What hot areas of the economy and sectors are you looking to invest in now?

We have developed a non-traditional assessment and valuation methodology that we apply with traditional valuation methods in an effort to identify hidden value. Assessing credit value is of little value in the "Idea Economy." This is easy, formulaic and, frankly, flawed (for reasons I will not elaborate on here). It becomes a formula for the greater fool. We look at things such as where a business or product fits within compressing distribution channels and timing horizons.

My approach has changed this year. We will continue our current course of finding distressed or hidden value. Everyone talks about the obvious trends: green strategy, new energy, nanotechnology and biotechnology. We are stepping back a few years and looking for proven technologies in established markets who are experiencing unusual disruption.

What's your take on what's going to happen through Q4? How do you think we'll start 2010—and how should IR people be preparing as a result?

Sleep with a bear. Work like a bear. Watch the bulls.

I don't watch television new programming very often. At some point, you have to go with math, I think. I am a big believer in human ingenuity, but I don't believe we are seeing productivity gains (in the way that I define productivity). I don't see much reason for short-term optimism if one relies on the math. Hope can only get us so far up the mountain. I think we will recover (whatever "recover" means). I think the recovery will be bumpy and fairly flat for several years. Uncertainty is a responsible place to begin and an intelligent place from which to lead.

What do investors like you expect from IR professionals?

I don't think I am like many high dollar investors. I look for really smart, really creative people in any profession. If I can assess that an IR professional is really smart and really creative, I will give him or her the opportunity to become relevant to me. Remember, to survive and prosper, we must find a way to rise above the flow of spam, nonsense and the flood of irrelevance.

As an investor, what is your stance on shareholder activism?

I am a Libertarian. You can't legislate intelligence and you can't scale stupid. It feels like we are trying to do both.

What do you see as biggest challenges facing stock issuers and their IR people in the year ahead?

Management must execute a business strategy and the company and IR professionals must provide transparency, disclosure and accountability. Intelligent people will tolerate less and less noise and nonsense. This communication thing is really not rocket science.