Going from Class to Economy: How Creativity has its Place

As we're thinking about the role of story in our personal lives -- family, friends, adventures, etc. -- and in our professional encounters -- brands, marketing, communications, etc., the dynamics tend to be the same. It feels like story is the perfect container for capturing the higher concepts of commerce and bringing about the shifts we are observing on the socio-economic side.

We all build our lives around stories. Those who can build an open and expansive story will have an open and expansive life. Those who build a limited story, will live a limited life. This is as true about individuals as it is about cities, and countries.

When Richard Florida started talking about a creative class, he examined a niche group of society. He defines this class as those whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content. In his books and on his blog, The Creativity Exchange, Florida focuses on statistics and data that tell us about where to find creativity and what it looks like. Members of this class include scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists, and entertainers.

These are all people who use their talents to realize a dream, and engage in activities that will make them money. Among the concepts put forth in front of an audience of about 300 last week at the inauguration of the new Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

When I first moved to the city of brotherly love in 1988, it looked very different than today. Thanks to the renewed energy of education centers in the city and the region, and the contribution of young professionals throughout the region, this place has transitioned more securely from an industrial city to a destination for the sciences and technology.

Always alert on how we use language, I wonder then if we could do away with the term 'class' and go directly to 'economy'. After all, we're talking about unleashing a talent for the benefit of self and society at large. I'd like us to consider the power of these words also on the merits of what Florida shared has been a shift from a commerce based on the concept of rents, which are distributed like the unions, to one based on royalties, which are skewed and based on star systems.

For a creative economy to work, the earlier questions of what (you know, for example) and who (you are, or know) are replaced by the idea of where -- place matters. I've seen this trend develop when the City of London worked on a campaign to rebrand itself, which is probably one of the reasons it won the bid for the 2012 Olympics from Paris. I was in Paris the day of the rally to host the games, which took place in Champs d'Elysees. Confetti was several inches deep.

If you've been reading this blog, you know what I think about Made in Italy. To me it has always meant much more than creative: sexy, delicious, musical, beautiful, sustainable, popular, etc. Made in Italy has been and is a great brand. If location matters, then story really plays a key role.

Compare that with Made in China. What are you thinking about now? As Aric Chen writes in the June issue of Fast Company [available online now to subscribers], China is poised on The Next Cultural Revolution, one of the creative kind. Aric talks about a new dynamic, business-savvy generation that wants to redefine product design, architecture, fashion and entertainment.

From the planning of next year's Olympic games to showcase the innovation of the Chinese people by, among others, legendary film director Zhang Yimou, to the international stardom achieved by actress Ziyi Zhang, the future of Made in China wants to mean more than a cheaper replica of a widget, or a knock off of a DVD. It wants to tower proudly in our consciousness for beauty and style, in the same way that MAD Design Absolute Towers will catch our eye and breath near Toronto after 2009.

Creativity has had its time for a while; it now seems to begin to have its place as well. Dr. Florida is asking readers to weigh in the title of his new book, which will discuss the economy of place in more depth. One of the favorites so far seems to be Who's Your City. The argument of physical place seems to be counter the whole flat world movement. As I said before, while we may connect globally, we live and produce in the local.   

What are your thoughts? I would love to invite a conversation with people who are most immersed in the creative economy -- David Armano, Bruce Nussbaum, Roger von Oech, Mike Wagner, Helen Walters and Jessi Hempel, David Miller, and Dan Pink. Dan has been posting a series of wonderful reports on design in Japan. [Garr Reynolds just posted an interview with Dan at Presentation Zen.]   

Comments

[David Armano]

Valeria,

Your proposition to move beyond creative class to creative economy is interesting. However, I'm more interested in this statement:

"We all build our lives around stories. Those who can build an open and expansive story will have an open and expansive life. Those who build a limited story, will live a limited life."

I think one of the things we're seeing in all of the "creative" disciplines is how critical it is to tell stories effectively in the changing media landscape. Actually, I think the notion of sharing stories is more accurate.

I was fortunate enough to attend a few conferences recently where so called "right brainers" were present in abundance. Designers, writers, etc. I couldn't help but thinking that the ones who truly held the most potential were the ones who had figured out how to take their knowledge, skills and talents and transfer it into a story that is worth sharing. A story that's worth being told and re-told, shared and ultimately experienced.

I may be getting a little heady here, so I'll bring it back to earth. We live in a time where creativity and self expression is peaking. Sure much of it stinks (just look at all the terrible myspace pages). But much of it is also very good. Some of it in fact is coming from individuals out there without the "creative pedigrees" and they are producing stuff of value.

So how do I know this? Well, I started a blog with absolutely no equity to my name and certainly no connections in the industry. For me, the creative economy is about providing value. It doesn't matter where it comes from, as long as it's valuable.

Nice thinking here. :-)

[Roger von Oech]

Valeria,

I'm almost out of breath from reading your post — so many ideas, assertions, and postulations!

In my work, I've always tried to downplay the heroic, genius side of creativity in order to emphasize its presence in ordinary people and ordinary activities.

Who is showing more creativity: a homemaker with a very restricted budget who runs, decorates, and manages a home in a creative way, or a second-rate designer with a slick PowerPoint presentation spouting aphorisms about the future?

In a decision between the everyman (given a few tools) and the priestly elite, I'll go with the former almost every time.

One of the really nifty things about technology — beginning with the personal computer in the late 1970s on through to today with the various forms of social media — is how democratic it is: more and more creative tools are getting into the hands (and heads) of more and more people. I think this is good. Although a lot of schlocky stuff gets created, some pretty cool stuff does as well. What an exciting time to live in!

[Chris Baskind]

I'm not an Anthropologist, but I've long thought that the main thing which differentiates humans from other animals is our capacity for storytelling.

Plenty of creatures communicate verbally, but storytelling seems to be uniquely human. It's probably the reason we developed a nuanced grammar, and the key to our success as a species. Storytelling stands alongside agriculture as the basic of civilization.

Storytelling is how we assign importance to things, place ourselves within the context of a larger whole, and transmit the various myths which comprise culture between the generations. So I'd think that in terms of marketing and communications, storytelling is sort of the common currency. Those who can tell their story -- and, more powerfully, place their story within the storytelling of others -- speak to something right at the core of our humanity.

We're all hardwired to be hearers and tellers of stories. When we talk about creativity, this is really what we mean.

[Valeria Maltoni]

David -- sharing stories is very powerful. Think about how in movies and books it is always the shared experience that lets people fall in love with each other. And we, as spectators, fall in love with the story. Being right-brained in business to me means having the ability to weave what you bring to the table into the story of you. And value you bring for sure.

Roger -- yes, it was a heady post. I wanted to show the connections on a broader and more expansive scale. You drive home further the concept of going from 'class' to economy. That's why we need to make sure that everyone has the tools, which makes many of the folks who consider themselves 'elite' very uncomfortable. It's just another way of looking at opportunity and possibility. We talked about your 'Ball of Whacks' when we were all together.

Chris -- a man after my own heart. Absolutely, you are spot on. Stories as vehicles to transmit what matters to us and to collect that information to remember, advance ideas, create something new.

[Jessi Hempel]

Agree with everyone on the power of storytelling.

Just read the Fast Company story myself. I'm not sure if I totally get what you're saying about place, but I do agree with David that the creative economy is about providing value. Made in China doesn't work as a brandon slogan for creativity yet because consumers aren't experiencing it as such yet, not because the marketing slogans haven't succeeded. The City of London's rebranding campaign wouldn't have worked if the city didn't live up to its promises. And if Italy's fashion creativity flags, Made in Italy won't pack the same punch.

It's true creativity has its place now - in this moment. Silicon Valley is arguably hotter than Cleveland, for example. But place has always been fluid, and the rise of the 'net makes it more fluid. People will follow ideas that bring value to the places where they begin. And by limiting ourself to geographic places as we search out that value, we might miss the real breakthroughs.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Jessi:

My insertion of Richard Florida's theory on place was done on purpose to test reactions. I think on one hand we all feel that 'where' things are happening matters; on the other, it is easier to just do things that matter anywhere.

I agree with you on living the brand promise, too. And as a Made in Italy myself, I work really hard at leaving the sort of impression and experience that people learned to love about the country. This is not a construct, of course. I am the product of centuries of immersion in the cultural and physical reality of a country that is quite enterprising at delivering the flavors, taste, and elegance it promises in a genuine fashion.

I have invited David Miller from The Creative Class organization and I hope he will find the time to join us here.

[Tim Brunelle]

What odd synchronicity. Is everyone trying to figure out a unified theory of digital life, centered on the power of stories? Maybe it was just the long weekend. Thanks for igniting another useful conversation, Valeria!

Sure, everyone's a storyteller. And we're evolving (or mutating) to enable more storytellers. But the audience is still relatively the same--and smaller online than traditional mediums--meaning, my Mom doesn't consider the Series of Tubes to be a storytelling medium (yet), compared to a moview theater or even TV.

I think we're in need of some kind of tipping point...both in terms of content (like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, or the Moon walk), as well as technology (Surface Computing anyone?) for true mass audiences and sponsors to come tumbling into the digital space, like they did television.

Until then, it's niche talking to niche.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Tim:

We're not talking about online only. Creativity and stories are universal and everywhere. The audience is everyone. I tell stories in elevators on the way to the first floor.

In the case Richard Florida makes, creativity collects in specific places and spaces where diversity and tools collide to energize the conversation.

[CommGuy]

You all might be interested in knowing that Richard Florida will open the 2007 National Conference on the Creative Economy in October in Virginia. The Web site is www.creativeeconomies.org.