Instead of trying cynically to manufacture an image to cover up an ugly reality, Britain is furiously trying to change its homely image to reflect a reality that is genuinely attractive. But even that effort makes lots of Brits uneasy. They're uncomfortable with talk of changing the government letterhead or issuing new stamps, although neither change has come close to happening. Some view rebranding as an exercise in elitism. (Political commentator Ben Elton said recently, "It's no good going on about our great designers, if everything they design is made in China. Jobs are cool, not some bloke in a dress getting applauded by Naomi Campbell.") Others consider the idea of rebranding to be superficial, vacuous, and unseemly. After all, it's hard to imagine Margaret Thatcher intoning, "The United Kingdom -- strong enough for a man, but made for a woman." And many in Britain's chattering class have taken issue with the very idea that a country can be treated as a brand.

Mulgan's response to the scoffers? "They tend to be people who never read a history book," he scoffs back. "Go back 200 years, and you'll see that Britishness was an invented identity." Take the Union Jack, for example. It didn't just grow from the soil; it didn't even become the symbol on the British flag until 1801. The same point can be made about the United States. The American flag, Uncle Sam, "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- all were consciously designed to "brand" the new republic. The larger point is obvious once it sinks in: National identities don't emerge from nature; people create them.

For much of this century, countries forged national identities that were largely military: A nation was something that you fought and died for. Today national identities have become less demanding and more varied. But at their core, they are now heavily economic in focus. Fast ships and smart bombs are less important to a nation's well-being than fast companies and smart workers. Reengineering reality is necessary -- but far from sufficient. Shrewd nations also refashion their identities.

Geoff Mulgan was one of the first people to figure all of this out. He knows the limits of relics like "Rule Britannia," Britain's unofficial national anthem -- a military hymn whose refrain goes, "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves/Britons never will be slaves." A new Britain requires a new song. Mulgan wants to help Britain compose it.

Sidebar: Stories Of The Future

"Identities consist of more than images, flags, logos and ceremonials," reads "Britain?." "Successful national identities are also shaped around compelling stories that make sense of where a nation has come from and where it is going." The storytelling challenge is as relevant to the future of companies as it is to the future of countries. "Britain?" lays out six stories that describe the country's future without abandoning its past.

Hub UK: The UK has always been a central passageway of goods, people, and ideas. That's even truer today. English is a world language. Britain's time zone allows its inhabitants to talk to Asia in the morning and to North America in the afternoon. Heathrow is the world's busiest airport for international passengers.

Creative Island: From Shakespeare to Helen Fielding, from Handel to the Beatles, Great Britain has been a world leader in both high art and pop culture.

United Colours of Britain: The country is now home to people of nearly every race and religion.

Open for Business: Always a nation of shopkeepers, Great Britain is updating that tradition for the new economy. Eight out of the ten most profitable European retailers are British.

Britain as Silent Revolutionary: "Far from being a nation of unchanging tradition, Britain is a prolific inventor of new forms of organisation and new ways of running society." Consider, for example, parliaments, post offices, and privatization.

The Nation of Fair Play: Brits pride themselves on what they call a "sense of cricket": fairness, charity, manners, support for the underdog. A new Britain can still adhere to the nation's old values.

Daniel H. Pink (dan@freeagentnation.com), formerly an aide to U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich and Vice President Al Gore, is a Fast Company Contributing Editor based in Washington, DC. You can contact Geoff Mulgan by email (gmulgan@pmo.gov.uk).