Richard Florida

Richard Florida is one of the world's leading public intellectuals. Esquire Magazine recently named him one of the Best and Brightest in America. He is the author of a number of national bestsellers including, The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class, which launched an intellectual revolution that has changed the way companies, nations, and communities compete and thrive. Florida’s latest book, Who’s Your City: How the Places We Pick Shape the Lives We Lead takes a look at the importance of place and how it affects everything from job opportunities to economic prosperity to relationships and networks. His previous books, including The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production, paved the way for his provocative insights into how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy.  His ideas have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business.

Florida was recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation. He is regular columnist with The Globe and Mail and has written articles for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and The Financial Times. He was a contributor to the 2004 Harvard Business Review's List of Breakthrough Ideas. He is founder of the Creative Class Group, a global advisory services firm in Washington, DC. He is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Florida has been a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT, and a visiting fellow of the Brookings Institution. Florida earned his Bachelor's degree from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Published in 2010, Florida’s latest book, The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity, was nominated for the National Business Book Award.

• 2. How the Economic Crisis Will Forever Change Our Economy, Society, and the Way We Live

• 1. The Rise of the Creative Class

• Richard Florida is one of the world's leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation.
  
  Not content to live life in the ivory tower, he has become a self-taught dynamic and inspirational speaker, leveraging his natural curiosity and ease with people to disseminate ideas on economics, technology, and society to a broad public audience. Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, a fascinating personal story, and just a touch of self-deprecating humour, it's no wonder Florida is one of the world's most sought after speakers.
  
  Expertise: ·City, Regional, and Global Economic Growth
  ·Talent Attraction and Retention
  ·Innovation and the Culture of Innovation
  ·Real Estate Analysis
  ·Consumer Marketing and Strategy
  

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  April 2010

  The Great Reset

  In The Great Reset, bestselling author and economic development expert Richard Florida provides an engaging and sweeping examination of these previous economic epochs, or "resets." He distills the deep forces that have altered physical and social landscapes and eventually reshaped economies and societies. Looking toward the future, Florida identifies the patterns that will drive the next Great Reset and transform virtually every aspect of our lives—from how and where we live, to how we work, to how we invest in individuals and infrastructure, to how we shape our cities and regions. Florida shows how these forces, when combined, will spur a fresh era of growth and prosperity, define a new geography of progress, and create surprising opportunities for all of us.

  
  
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  March 2008

  Who's Your City?: How The Creative Economy Is Making Where To Live The Most Important Decision Of Your Life

  In this groundbreaking book, Richard Florida shows that where we live is increasingly a crucial factor in our lives, one that fundamentally affects our professional and personal prospects. As well as explaining why place matters now more than ever, Who’s Your City? provides indispensable tools to help you choose the right place for you. Sparkling with Florida’s signature intellectual originality, Who’s Your City? moves from insights to studies to personal anecdotes, from a startling “Singles Map” of the United States to surprising data on the difference aesthetics makes to people’s sense of place. A perceptive and transformative book, it is both a brilliant exploration of the fundamental importance of place and an essential guide to making what may be the most important decision of your life.

  
  
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  February 2007

  Flight of the Creative Class

  In The Flight of the Creative Class, Florida expands his research to cover the global competition to attract the Creative Class. The United States was, up until 2002, the unparalleled leader in creative capital. But several key events--the Bush administrations 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 substantial dis-advantage.

  
  
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  December 2003

  The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life

  Richard Florida explains how the people in a group of creative professions are more valued than ever and make up more than 30 per cent of the US workforce.  The book explores why we value creativity and how the group would best thrive in society as a whole.