Creative-Class Struggle

Not heard the term ‘mini-industry’ in quite some time. Still, the argument that such a thing does exist in the Web world does get one thinking…

Intuitive ideas need to be quantified before they can be transmuted into policy and action. And Richard Florida, who’s turned his theory of the Creative Class into a mini-industry, gets it. His foundation thesis — that the Creative Class is a distinct segment that drives innovation, creates urban success, and is critical to American competitiveness — isn’t just nifty rhetoric. He’s documented it with extensive demographic and economic research around the world, detailed in his book, The Flight of the Creative Class (HarperBusiness, 2005). Cities desperate to attract the Creative Class come knocking on his door, hoping for the magic magnet. In this WEB-EXCLUSIVE exchange, marketing guru Adam Hanft, founder and CEO of Hanft Unlimited, asks Florida to elaborate on some of his ideas, and challenges him on some others. Currently, Florida is a nervous guy, worried about American competitiveness as we’re losing perhaps the most important global struggle of all: the one for the Creative Class. [Read the rest]

[tags]mini-industry,creative class,hanft unlimited[/tags]