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'War College' of the Small Is Good Business Revolution

Iowa Creative Economy Unconference Trip Report

Wow! Event a Mega-Success... A Creative Good Time Had By All

Article pages:  [ Peters Says You're Only As Cool As The Company You Keep... ] [ The Unconference Was Unreal! ] [ Sohodojo Reflection: Iowa Gets It And Sets The Pace ] [ Printer-friendly version of full article ]

Related pages:  [ Creative Class In The Small Unworkshop Presentation (PDF format) ] [ Read Our Unconference Workshop Press Release ]

Bottom line, Iowa gets it. From Governor Tom Vilsack and Lt. Governor Sally Pederson on down, the good folks in Iowa's state government understand the shift in the tides that are shaping the landscape of the Creative Network Economy. Faced with the dramatic challenges of Heartland depopulation, struggling local economies and no new 'get rich quick bubble' in sight, Iowa has come to terms with the new realities of the network economy and creative class dynamics. They are putting their money where their creative minds are taking them.

We cited DCA Director Anita Walker's challenging statement at the top of this article. Take a moment to read "Imagine Iowa 2010: A Cultural Vision, A New Strategy for the New Ecomony". Then take a few more moments and dig into the extensive study, The Creative Economy in Iowa, commissioned the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

Chew on this information for a while and then ask yourself, "Does my state get it like they do in Iowa?" Are we doing as much as we can to understand and foster a quality of life for our state's citizens that will catalyze the creative among us? Do we have the political will to let go of the old ways of thinking so we can redirect our focus to the path leading to the new Creative Network Economy?

Some states are in the race with Iowa. Too many don't even know the game's afoot. Too many states are still trying to fill their war chests with incentives and barely legal kickback funds to grease corporate welfare programs. Too many of our states would rather woo a senior executive of a multi-national corporation that might relocate an office to their state rather than sit down and listen to the ideas and challenges of their local small businesses and growing numbers of contingency workers.

To those states still living in the past, to those hoping that they can buy their way out of their current economic slump, wake up. It's time to think differently and boldly, to recognize the dynamics of the creative class that are shaping our network economy. Failing to do so, your only future will be to eat Iowa's dust!

Best Regards,
--Timlynn Babitsky and Jim Salmons--
Founders and Research Directors
Sohodojo - 'War College' of the Small Is Good Business Revolution
Director and Entrepreneur/Futurist In Residence
NARFI - North American Rural Futures Institute

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Dig Deeper

The creative economy is a network economy. If you want to know more about these important ideas and you want to supplement your reading of Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class, we recommend the following:

• Barabási, Albert-László. Linked - The New Science of Networks, Perseus Publishing (Cambridge, MA), 2002.
• Castells, Manuel. The Rise of the Network Society, Volume 1 of The Information Age, Blackwell Publishers (Oxford and Malden, MA), 1996.
• Capra, Fritjof. The Hidden Connections - Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainability, Doubleday Random House (New York, NY), 2002.

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