Episode 12: Richard Florida - Author, Thought-Leader & Researcher

Apr 22, 2019

After the last two episodes interviewing two individuals I’d never met but respected from a distance (Beth Comstock & Jeff Sutherland), this week is a little different. I sit down with Dr. Richard Florida — someone who has shaped my career very significantly and I’ve known for over 17 years.

 

Richard is one of the world’s leading urbanist. He’s a researcher and professor. He has written multiple best-selling books. He wrote the forward to my book “The Science of Growth” but our connection goes back to when he was a professor and I was a research fellow at Carnegie Mellon.

 

Richard thinks deeply and while his area of expertise is often looked at as focusing simply on location and how cities shape culture, life and work. I believe his research has wide-reaching implications around a bunch of topics. Including how corporations should look at innovation.

 

Our conversation was after a multi-hour brunch at a local restaurant in Miami Beach. I jump around some trying to hit some of the highlights from things we’d already discussed, plus make sure to cover a few points on his research that I think corporate executives should spend more time thinking about. Hope you enjoy this week’s episode of Agile Giants!

 

Show Links:

• The Rise of the Creative Class
• The New Urban Crisis
• The Breakthrough Illusion
• City Lab: America’s Tech Hubs Still Dominate, But Some Smaller Cities Are Rising