Executive Reading: The Flight of the Creative Class

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by Richard Florida
HarperCollins, April 2005; ISBN: 006075690X

Reviewed by Margaret Teichert and Oleg Kaganovich 

Once upon a time, America was known throughout the world as the first and only place the talented from other countries wanted to come — the kind of place where dreams could come true. By providing a welcoming, if highly competitive, environment for creativity to thrive, America became the adoptive home of much displaced brilliance in the form of artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and other geniuses who collectively make up the “creative class.”
     This nebulous group, which drives innovation, pioneers technologies and creates urban success, is the focus of admiration and concern in Richard Florida’s latest book, “The Flight of the Creative Class.”
     A professor of economics and public policy, Florida has conducted extensive and groundbreaking demographic and economic research around the world. His first book, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” theorized that long-term prosperity in any region depends upon how much the local leadership embraces the “three T’s of economic development” — technology, talent and tolerance. While the United States has one of the most diverse and creative populations in the world, other countries are catching on, developing public policies that amount to a recruitment pitch.
     He offers a compelling description of the rise of “global Austins,” small, international cities investing heavily in “livability” to lure talented firms and people. The book’s opening anecdote describes the lavish film studio Peter Jackson built for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in New Zealand.
     America, according to Florida, is on the verge of a creativity crisis that will have a significant impact on our economy. As he explains it, creativity is a critical component in every business. It’s the ability to find better ways of making products, developing services or filling needs. Further, it is the ability to recognize and value those skills in others and to allow them to thrive.
     Increasingly, however, Florida argues that our rising intolerance, heightened sense of suspicion (often under the auspices of national security), flawed educational system and divergent political leadership is doing serious damage to our economy, and worse, to our national identity — at home and abroad.
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