The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent

Research–driven and clearly written, bestselling economist Richard Florida addresses the growing alarm about the exodus of high–value jobs from the USA.

Today’s most valued workers are what economist Richard Florida calls the Creative Class. In his bestselling The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida identified these variously skilled individuals as the source of economic revitalisation in US cities. In that book, he shows that investment in technology and a civic culture of tolerance (most often marked by the presence of a large gay community) are the key ingredients to attracting and maintaining a local creative class.

In The Flight of the Creative Class, Florida expands his research to cover the global competition to attract the Creative Class. The USA once led the world in terms of creative capital. Since 2002, factors like the Bush administration’s emphasis on smokestack industries, heightened security concerns after 9/11 and the growing cultural divide between conservatives and liberals have put the US at a large disadvantage. With numerous small countries, such as Ireland, New Zealand and Finland, now tapping into the enormous economic value of this class – and doing all in their power to attract these workers and build a robust economy driven by creative capital – how much further behind will USA fall?

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#1 written by Tanya Abramovitch 1 year ago

Review by Tanya Abramovitch for The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
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Although the author builds on premises put forth in his previous books (The Rise of the Creative Class, and Cities and the Creative Class), this is by far the best of the three. With fewer economic tables and statistics, it is highly accessible and relevant. I read it immediately following his presentation at a conference I was attending, and was both enlightened and inspired.

Florida discusses the three Ts that draw people to a city: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance, and describes how people will go to places that harbor those three conditions. Further, they go to what are essentially `good places to live’, rather than `where the work is’. Countries like Canada and New Zealand, to name just two of the many possibilities outside the United States, are fast becoming ideal places for creative people to flourish.

This book is a harbinger of sorts, recognizing that the smart, talented, and creative people of our age (which Florida believes is everyone, to some degree), have a wide world to choose from unlike their forbears of the previous industrial age.

I admire this book, and look forward to the publication of his latest findings, which go further still in assessing the global picture.

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#2 written by W. Savage 1 year ago

Review by W. Savage for The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
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Here’s a thought…those who have extremely negative reactions to this book may actually be a part of the challenge facing us all, from corporate management to community leaders. Perhaps many of us are too close to and protective of our own narrow “dots” to connect the dots of the bigger picture.

If you read Florida’s book with an open mind and the confidence to challenge your patterns and perceptions, you realize that he dares himself and others from many realms to see the wider ripples in our global pond. I work with a group of employers and community leaders facing the real issues this book addresses. The best part about Florida’s work is that while each of our individual corporate or community members may find certain `dot connections’ in the books they may question, they all have been energized by the ideas which stimulate a more comprehensive dialogue.

Don’t rely on any one review – rely on your intuition… if people are so passionate in responding to the book, it is worth reading…especially if you are a critical thinker yourself. It is not about separating classes further or offering one complete solution for our economic future. It actually gives you interesting material and exercise for your brain to come up with solutions which apply to your own corporations and communities. Engaging more sectors to work together is a solid step, just as a successful leadership team in any organization includes people with very different talents. This is where new solutions are born, and where the broad appeal of Florida’s work is having a tangible impact.

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#3 written by A. McDonald 1 year ago

Review by A. McDonald for The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
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This book is an extension of Florida’s “Creativity Thesis” from his earlier book (although this work certainly stands on its own). His primary theme is that a new economic category has begun to dominate our society in a challenging way: the “creative class,” a broad term defining those who work in idea-based jobs. It doesn’t mean merely artists and musicians but encompasses lawyers, scientists, and others that consult, advise, invent, etc. This group is fast becoming a critical part of any region’s economic success, and Florida attempts to sort out the consequences. Importantly, for success a city must have more than job availability. To attract the creative types a city must offer diversity and lifestyle opportunity too — a thesis I find humane and reasonable. Cities must provide fulfillment, as well as dollars.

Florida argues that the United States must now compete globally for talent in order to succeed. We are currently failing, he argues, by limiting opportunities for immigrants which are the key to diversity and economic drive. Florida’s is not a gloom and doom image, but a suggestion that the playing field is leveling — although the US currently has an important advantage of having vibrant, connected and exciting cities to attract creative talent.

Florida’s boldest argument in political terms is the importance of immigration. Immigration is the lifeblood of a creative economy, and Florida notes that immigration is important both in its quantity and its diversity. Immigrants from varied countries will add to the creativity the new economy requires. The current drop in immigration alarms Florida; immigrants must make up, for example, the shortfall in current science research by that of American citizens. This interchange of immigrants benefits all: this is not merely about the US succeeding but the benefits economies and expertise of home countries too.

Florida’s examples are varied and sometimes surprising. His emphasis on the paramount importance of education explains why Ireland succeeds while Italy languishes. Successful cities such as San Francisco and Seattle provide the elements of 1. technology, 2, talent, 3. diversity he sees necessary for the right creative mix. Curiously New York City is absent from much of his discussion. He notes that due to lack of a creative element to their economy, China and India are not the future of economic development. On the downside, Florida warns that the creative economy has losing cities too, and has the consequence of stratifying an economy to extremes of wealth and poverty, such as St. Louis, Detroit, and Buffalo.

Although this is an excellent book, as a nitpicky complaint I would add that the charts Florida uses — 2d information drawn as a 3d aspect — are cheesy and flawed, as presenting 2d information in perspectival view visually exaggerates the force of charted information. The arguments are interesting enough with this ridiculous razzle-dazzle.

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#4 written by jahaka 1 year ago

Review by jahaka for The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
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I’ve found the negative reviews to be perplexing- such vitriolic diatribes and very little critical thought evident- I wonder if the book was actually read by these reviewers. This is a really good book that deserves to be read and discussed. Florida doesn’t pretend to have all of the answers. People with pulses and a modicum of creativity seem to understand the premises he puts forth. For those looking to blame someone, anyone, for the economic equity gap evident in this country, Florida is an easy target. Folks, don’t kill the messenger, he may have something to teach you. The cultural insularity and puritanical values perpetuated in current public policy have long term consequences. Wake up!

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#5 written by P. Lozar 1 year ago

Review by P. Lozar for The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
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RF has written an excellent followup to his first book. His concept that the U.S. is suffering a “brain drain” has been discussed pretty thoroughly by other reviewers, so I won’t rehash it, other than to say that I think he’s right on the button. The title, in fact, reflects only part of the story: what I found most stimulating about the book is his suggestions for the future.

I think that his recommendations about education are excellent. He does NOT say that a college education is a necessary prerequisite for prosperity; rather, he points out that the present U.S. educational system doesn’t foster (and indeed squelches) the creativity, flexibility, and initiative that students need to succeed in today’s volatile economy. While training a nation of workplace drones and mindless consumers might have been expedient in the age of large factories, it’s counterproductive today and represents an immense waste of human abilities, especially if we’re losing the influx of immigrant talent and ambition that has fueled our economy up to now. (Current educational reforms, e.g., No Student Left Behind, are a step backwards in their focus on rote memorization and standardized tests; the aim appears to be to create easily measurable results to make a political point.)

It’s noteworthy that RF doesn’t take sides politically: while he bewails the political climate that has led to the “flight of the creative class,” he also deplores the increased polarization of the major parties, which has more to do with Washington power politics than with voters’ actual beliefs. (He’s right about that: it’s a pity that the “purple America” map from the 2004 election reproduced so poorly in the book, because it makes the important point that we’re not nearly as divided a nation as we’re made out to be.) He faults the Republicans for being wedded to old-money industries such as oil, but faults the Democrats equally for buying into the nineteenth-century business model by catering to unions. And both parties have failed equally in recognizing what truly drives the U.S. economy (hint to some previous reviewers: it’s not just money).

As for the commonly expressed criticism that RF is glorifying an effete, self-centered “creative class” while ignoring the unwashed masses, do the math: these people prospered economically not because they inherited money, but because they WORKED FOR IT. Regional success stories such as Silicon Valley and Seattle were built, not by trust-fund babies (or, for that matter, on Enron-style accounting), but by people who committed themselves passionately to a project, took financial risks, and worked long hours. His suggestions in the later sections of the book have to do, not with keeping the “creative class” exclusive, but with improving both the work environment and the educational system so that the rest of society can draw upon their own creativity to achieve the same personal and financial success.

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