speakers

Richard Florida

Entrepreneur, speaker, researcher, and go-to guru, Richard Florida is the founder of the Creative Class Group, a global advisory services ?rm headquartered in Washington, D.C. His discovery of the ?creative class? has been lauded by the Harvard Business Review as one of the major breakthrough ideas of our time and has inspired leading companies like Apple, BMW, and Virgin Atlantic to rethink their marketing and business strategies. Richard has penned three national bestsellers, The Rise of the Creative Class, The Flight of the Creative Class and Who´s Your City?, which launched an intellectual revolution that has changed the way companies, nations, and communities compete and thrive. Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, and fascinating personal stories, Richard is one of the world?s most dynamic, engaging, and sought-after speakers. A leading public intellectual on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation, he was named one of Esquire magazine?s Best and Brightest alongside Bill Clinton, Jeffery Sachs, and other luminaries. Richard has also been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory?s Research Advisory Council and recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation. Richard is Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Previously, Florida has held professorships at George Mason University and Carnegie Mellon University and taught as a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT. He is a former senior scientist with the Gallup Organization. Richard earned his bachelor?s from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He and his wife live in Toronto Canada.

Richard Florida presents his much debated concept of creative class. He looks at the forces reshaping economy and how companies, communities and people can survive and prosper in uncertain times. He gives a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do today ? and where we might be headed. He traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in society: the growing role of creativity in economy. Florida describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant. Millions of people worldwide work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always have. Their values and tastes, their personal relationships, their choices of where to live, and even their sense and use of time follow the same pattern. The creative class is found in a variety of ?elds, from engineering to theater, biotech to education, architecture to small business. Their choices have already had a huge economic impact. In the future, they will determine how the workplace is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities will thrive or wither.

Link:

www.creativeclass.com/speaking/
www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/video/index.php?video=02_CreativeEconomy