If Richard Florida ever finds himself out of work as an academic/author he should have no problem making a living as a TV evangelist.
As keynote speaker at the January 26 Student-2-Business Networking Conference held at the London Convention Centre, Florida shared his views on the economy along with advice for students on what to consider in entering today’s workforce.
Florida delivered his lecture without notes, sprinkled it with personal parables and managed to create a compelling case for believing in his vision for the future. Granted, if you happen to be a laid off auto assembly worker or a graduating student looking for that first job, you may not agree with the term he uses to describe our current economic meltdown.
Instead of referring to the economy as being in recession Florida uses the term “economic reset”. Definitely more pleasant sounding than recession but the shifts in employment he describes as occurring as a result of this reset have the power to cause tremendous economic upheaval and at the same time provide enormous opportunities.
Florida is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. The reset that Florida refers to is a massive shift from manufacturing industries to the creative economy. He suggested the change we are experiencing is, “one that occurs only every 100 years and it is fundamentally a shift from one based on industrial output to one based on knowledge, from physical labour to mental labour”.
Statistics tend to back up this shift as he points out that in the 1950s more than 50 per cent of our workforce worked in manufacturing and less than 10 per cent worked in what he refers to as the creative class. Today we have less than 20 per cent in manufacturing and more than 30 per cent in the creative class. His prediction for 2020 is that more than half of our workforce will be in these creativity-oriented occupations.
His critics have suggested this creative class in fact perpetuates an elitist outlook and will result in a society with an even greater division of the haves and the have-nots. During the London presentation, Florida spent a significant amount of time refuting this premise. He suggests we need to continue to develop work that recognizes the knowledge and creativity of every worker and reduces the waste of human talent.
He also stressed that we also need to establish new social safety nets, such as increasing the skills development opportunities for recent immigrants.
Predictions were that with the development of fast and interactive electronic networks our world would experience a flattening of the landscape and “place” would no longer matter. Florida suggests that what has really happened is that cities have become even more important with 80 per cent of the world’s population living in two per cent of the land area. These giant urban clusters attract talented and productive people who serve as the basis for higher-level economic activities.
In this model Florida suggests Ontario is actually well positioned to succeed in this new economic order, especially if we keep a few of his key points in mind.
Based on economic output, the Ontario mega-region, stretching from London in the west to Montreal and Ottawa in the east and south to Rochester NY, makes up the 12th largest mega-region in the world. Key to strengthening this region is investments supporting connectivity.
Another key for the province is to nurture success by remaining open to diversity. It is this openmindness that supports a culture of creativity. Florida highlighted that of all the high tech companies located in the Silicon Valley region over one third were started by someone from outside of the U.S. There is a direct correlation between openness, diversity and economic drivers.
His observation is that Ontario has in its DNA a desire to provide fair treatment to its residents and this will serve as a strong foundation for developing our collective capabilities.
What role does higher education play in this creativity-based economy?
The future economy that Florida envisions for Ontario requires a greater percentage of our work force attaining a post-secondary education (PSE). A key requirement of PSE providers, such as Western, will be to assist students in developing social and analytical skills that ultimately support a culture of creativity.
Increased creativity, connectivity, diversity and social supports are the main pillars of the economic gospel according to Florida. His social, economic and demographic research serves as the foundation for a recently released report commissioned for the Province of Ontario called Ontario in the Creative Age. In his blog Florida stresses the one overarching goal from this report is to “help catalyze a real conversation about the long-run future of the economy.”
Students at the Student-2-Business event not only received an intriguing overview of Florida’s economic model but before his sermon ended he provided two simple but key pieces of advice. Find work that you love and pick a place to live that gives you energy. Throw in access to our natural environment and you will have a strong foundation upon which to connect with the creativity that might just be the key to our future economic engine.
Richard Florida Blog
https://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2009/02/07/our-economic-future-depends-on-the-creativity-of-all/