The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited

Richard Florida is one of the most original thinkers explaining how the world works. Others are better known such as Thomas Friedman. But, not many are more insightful. I got to R. Florida's work in reverse. I read his most recent book first Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. I enjoyed this book so much; I read this earlier book second. It is just as interesting. If you are in the workforce, you will identify with Florida "Creative Class." He analyzes all the economic, social, cultural, and psychological trends associated with the emergence of this Creative Class. The world he depicts is recognizable because it pictures the working world we live in. He observes two major emerging trends: first people sort themselves by his defined classes (creative -, working -, service -) and by places. Second, the Creative Class represents the economic winners. Wherever they cluster, places thrive. This work supplements Hernstein and Murray's observations in Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book) that people sort themselves by cognitive abilities. R. Florida supplements that this cognitive stratification has a geographical component. There is nothing fuzzy about his `Creative Class' concept. It is based in precise definition of census job categories (IT, engineer, lawyer, scientist, business, finance, health care, arts, etc...) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Appendix Table 2 shows that the Creative Class grew from 10% of the workforce in 1900 to 30.1% in 1999. During the same period, the Working Class shrank from 35.8% to 26.1%, and Agriculture shrank from 37.5% to 0.4%. With the rise of the Creative Class, innovation in the U.S. has grown exponentially. In the third chapter `The Creative Economy,' the author shows graphs disclosing the very rapid growth during this period in R & D, patents, and number of scientists. R. Florida shows how the U.S. in 1999 was the world leader in the majority of Creative Class sectors such as R & D, software, Media, film, fashion, and art. This is because of the U.S. competitive advantages such as first class universities, research, and venture capital financing. Also, those factors are supported by a tolerant culture that he measures at the MSA level with his Gay Index and Bohemian Index. He states that the U.S. hi-tech centers (San Francisco-San Jose, Seattle, Boston) were first culturally tolerant cities that fostered out-of-the boxes concepts generated by any weirdoes that came by. He describes Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates in such fashion. Their ideas would have not succeeded in traditional locations. R. Florida views creativity as the main economic engine. It is more important than labor, land, or capital. He refers extensively to the major economists who studied the economic impact of creativity before him, including Joseph Schumpeter who came

Possibly anyone who wrote a book on the ?Creative Class? just before 2003 should be exempt from critical review ? just like anyone who wrote an investment guide in 1928, or a colonial government primer in 1775. But ?The Rise of the Creative Class? has recently been reissued in paperback, is frequently quoted by ambitious politicians, and is still being touted by its author. Therefore, it matters that we re-examine its contents carefully.Richard Florida?s thesis is that there is a niche group of society, which over the past century has grown to become a separately identifiable class in its own right, distinguishable from the Working Class or the Service Sector Class or the almost-disappeared class of agricultural workers. This is different from saying that today?s better-educated workers need less direct supervision, or that many jobs vary more in content from day to day than used to be the case. The author struggles mightily to define the nearly one-third of the population that he calls ?creative? as a valid class. He proposes definitions, backs up a couple of pages later, corrects his proposal, and starts off down another path. The result is more of an out loud conversation with himself than a clearly delineated model. There are no neat conclusions here.The book uses both published sources and the author?s own research to identify the characteristics of his new class: who they are and what motivates them. Sometimes the sources are of doubtful value. One has to wonder why he would turn to his public policy students at prestigious Carnegie Mellon University to find out why highly-paid manufacturing jobs are no longer attractive to young blue-collar workers. A stroll through any of Pittsburgh?s poorer neighborhoods would surely have elicited a more sensible and substantive response than that such jobs were ?insufficiently creative?. Similarly, the book quotes an Information Week magazine survey of high-tech workers on what mattered to them. Florida reads the low rating of stock options as a motivator to mean that respondents valued ?creative work? more than money. As one of those respondents, I can tell you that we were simply saying that the declining stock market had rendered all our options worthless. We were tired of being paid in funny money.A core point in the book?s thesis is that ?creative workers? deliberately move to ?diverse, open, tolerant? regions and that ?creative companies? follow them there ? a reverse of the earlier pattern of workers going to where the jobs were. This is one of the many patterns Florida tries to pin down, but which squirm under his microscope. San Francisco follows the pattern, but pleasantly homogenous, middle-class Austin, TX is a high-tech Mecca, while funky, artistic, open, tolerant, diverse New Orleans lags. Tolerant of whom, by whom? Florida points out that there is a negative correlation between ?non-whites? and ?creative class? companies. The best leading indicator is the presence of a gay community. B

The Rise of the Creative ClassFar from being a flavor-of-the-month type of book like so many on my shelf that were written during the height of the dot-com era, The Rise of the Creative Class methodically lays out the imperatives for our creative-class members in this, the era where knowledge and human capital is king. In fact, recent reports cite figures of upwards of 80% of the valuation of organizations is in its human and intellectual capital resources.Who's in the Creative Class?Dr. Florida takes a stab at explaining 'creativity' in the beginning of the book, lists a batter of elements that make it seem as if each and every one of is almost part of the Creative Class. It's true; creativity is all around us. There are many ways for one to be creative, as is illustrated in the book; however, I tend to regard the creative class as anyone who derives their livelihood from investing in and harvesting their intellectual and human capital in the perpetual game of problems and solutions. Dr.'s, artists, movie producers, computer programmers, you and me - you get the point. We're all creative in one-way or another.Dr. Florida presents the issue of "who's actually in the Creative Class" in much the same way, by listing some of the occupations that make up the Creative Class. Arguments about class wars aside, it pays to put some parameters around this 'thing' we call the Creative ClassThere are two major groups of the creative class: a Super-Creative Core and creative professionalsSuper-Creative Core* Computer & math occupations* Architects & engineers* Scientists* Education & library* Art, design, media, entertainment and sports occupationsI'm not sure why sports occupations show up there, as I don't feel that your average athlete is a member of the elite creative class (although, they are certainly members of 'some' elite class).Creative Professionals* Management* Business & financial operations* Legal* Healthcare (Dr.'s & technicians)* High-end sales & sales managementPaint by NumbersThe book is based a great deal on the stats and analysis, but wouldn't pay much attention to that if you didn't read into the appendix and weren't a keen number cruncher yourself. Much of the story that's told in this book deals with psychology, sociology, and human factors in general. This is a story about who we are, as humans, irrational thought and all.3T's of Economic DevelopmentIn order for any city to take on the challenge of creative a creative class friendly area, they must commit to the development of the 3-T's of economic development: Technology, Tolerance, and TalentWe Have our Marching OrdersPerhaps the greatest thing this book has to offer is that it has been an impetus for dozens of cities around the country to stand up and take notice of the swelling creative class around them and take steps toward shaping their cities to become havens for these creative class members who inherently seek employment in areas which exhibit several of th

Richard Florida's study began with a rather straightforward premise: what characterizes the cities and regions that are economically successful today? His conclusions are rather controversial, but, based on the statistical evidence he presents (as well as my own experience), I found them highly convincing.The liveliest economies, he finds, are in regions characterized by the 3 T's -- talent, technology, and tolerance. The implications are profound, to wit:1. Conventional wisdom holds that, to boost an area's economy, it's necessary to attract large companies and thus create jobs. In fact, companies locate where the talent is; all the tax breaks in the world won't bring a large company to your area if they can't find the quality of employees they want there. Often, too, the talent itself will generate new companies and create jobs that way.2. Urban planners assume that, to attract talent/jobs, what's important is to provide infrastructure: sports stadiums, freeways, shopping centers, etc. In fact, creative people prefer authenticity -- so making your city just like everyplace else is a sure way to kill its attractiveness.3. The often-misunderstood "gay index" doesn't mean that gay people are more creative, or that attracting gays to a community will ipso facto boost its economy. Creative people tend to prefer gay-friendly communities because they're perceived as tolerant of anyone who isn't "mainstream"; a city that's run by a conservative good-ole-boys network isn't a good place to try to start a business unless you're one of the good ole boys.The book is primarily descriptive and analytical, rather than prescriptive. But I feel it's immensely valuable for pointing out that much of the conventional wisdom about economic development and community planning is just plain wrong, and suggesting alternative approaches that have a greater chance of succeeding. And I'm amused (and bemused) by the reviewers who sneered that this book propounds an elitist, liberal, contempt-for-the-working-masses view of American society. To me, the book is almost TOO descriptive: didn't these reviewers read the many statistical tables and the lengthy analyses that the author provides? Fact: The most economically successful cities and regions have these characteristics. That isn't propaganda; it's the way things work.

According to Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class", 38 million Americans belong to his newly identified group. Who are the Creative Class members and what motivates them? How and where will they live and work? Members of this mobile group want freedom, diversity, and tolerance in their neighborhoods and workplaces. At the simplest level, they crave authenticity. We, because I too am a member and agree with Florida's principles, do not want chain restaurants or cookie-cutter retail outlets. We want culture, experiences, and various lifestyle amenities. Vibrant neighborhoods that include galleries, coffee shops, and theaters are more important than professional sports teams. There is no need for separate work and social personas and the work/leisure time continuum essentially does not exist. There is a blending of work and life because creativity isn't scheduled and our workplaces offer freedom regarding time and place. Creative types will often rank job location and responsibilities over salary when it comes to choosing work and given the decrease in company loyalty over the years, many now form identities based on where they live rather than where they work. For those who want to create or save their companies or cities and recruit and retain talent (one of Florida's three T's of success, the others being technology and tolerance), this book is an essential read.