The creative class

In today’s Dagens Nyheter I read an article by Isobel Hadley-Kamptz (in Swedish) who referred to the book The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. Florida says that there’s a new class, the creative class, with people like scientists, programmers, artists and musicians, but also lawyers, doctors and nurses.

At least in the United States, this class is the dominating, and because of that their values, Hadley-Kamptz writes, must be the foundation for a successful society. These values are different from those of the worker and middle classes. “Individualism, multitude, tolerance and meritocracy are the most important values for creative people today,” Money isn’t the sole motivator, but “challenges, responsibility and flexibility and … acknowledgement from our peers”.

Hadley-Kamptz writes that IT companies made a mistake to “think that it was the stock options or other economic benefits” that attracted people. Instead, it is the corporate culture and their desire to express their creativity that drives the creative class. Corporate culture, she continues, must be changed to attract creative people. “You can’t force somebody to be creative,” you must “bring out the creativity in people”.

This made me think of when a colleague, a consultant from another firm, asked me what was so great about Oops and asked me whether we had any stock options. It also reminded me of when a friend of mine said I ought to try to convince Kjell (my “boss”) that I ought to become a part owner of the company. Neither of those things appeal to me. What I find so precious about my company is its culture.

Every now and then you get job offers and each time I try to find out what could be able to attract me to another company. It isn’t the money, that’s for sure – it is something that cannot be expressed, except in very fuzzy value words such as “freedom”, “creativity”, “fun”, “challenging” etc. So I guess I’m a true member of the creative class.