Richard Florida

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading urbanists and the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, a groundbreaking book that revolutionized how cities, regions, and nations think about economic development, talent attraction, and innovation. He is a senior editor at The Atlantic and a regular CNN commentator on economic and urban affairs.

The Creative Class Theory That Changed Everything

Florida’s research demonstrated that economic growth is driven by the concentration of creative professionals, and that the cities and regions that attract creative talent are the ones that thrive. His books including The Rise of the Creative Class, The Flight of the Creative Class, and Cities and the Creative Class have shaped urban policy worldwide and provided frameworks for understanding why certain places attract talent while others lose it. His work has influenced mayors, governors, and economic development leaders across the globe.

Understanding the Geography of Innovation and Talent

Florida’s insights help organizations and communities understand the forces that drive talent attraction, innovation clustering, and regional economic success. His keynotes deliver compelling insights on what makes cities and regions thrive in the knowledge economy, the geography of innovation and creative talent, building environments that attract and retain creative professionals, and the economic and cultural forces shaping where people choose to live and work.

Creative Class Communities – City, Regional, and Global Economic Growth

No longer are cities competing with neighboring cities, rather mega regions are competing globally. Focusing on city, regional, and global economic growth, Richard Florida shares the knoweledge that gives community leaders the tools they need to generate greater economic prosperity in their region. In this talk, Florida presents the most current regional economic and demographic data of cutting-edge community-building practices to give you framework to make your community more competitive and vibrant.

Innovation, the Culture of Creativity and Managing for It

Richard Florida ignites new thinking and strategic initiatives on how to manage, motivate and inspire creative people. Drawing from his breakthrough Harvard Business Review article and more than two decades of research and experience on leading edge companies, Florida show teams of executives and managers how to manage.

Creative Class Consumption: Marketing to the Creative Class

Who is the Creative Class and why do they matter? They are a consumer group, consisting of scientists, engineers, managers, innovators and people in research and development, as well as artists, writers and musicians are the most educated and demanding consumers in the marketplace. The Creative Class is 40 million strong and makes up 30 percent of the U.S. workforce, with 50% of wages earned. They control nearly 70% of discretionary spending in the US. That is over $500 billion in purchasing power annually. In this talk, Richard Florida presents years of data on who they are, where they are, what they read, what they purchase and the ethos that drives their decisions.

The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity

In his new talk, Richard Florida provides an engaging and sweeping examination of previous economic “resets,” distilling the deep forces that shaped their physical and social landscapes, reshaping economies and societies. Looking toward the future, Florida identifies the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and simultaneously reshape virtually every aspect of our lives, from how and where we live, to how we work, to how we invest in individuals and infrastructure, and how we shape our cities and regions. In a refreshingly optimistic tone, Florida shows how these core elements, when taken together, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and stimulate surprising opportunities for each of us.