Tuesday, 26 June 2007

openness and tolerance encourages creativity

A colleague sent me an email about innovation and creativity (I think originally from
Management Advantage Ltd) ..... I thought the following extract was really interesting

" .......Another researcher has focused on questions of diversity. Richard Florida (Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University) studied major US cities such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago. Using something he called the ‘gay concentration index’, Florida demonstrated a close correlation between tolerance and high-tech firms. This is not because gay people attract technology companies – but rather that a place where the gay community feels comfortable is also a place where a wide variety of people feel comfortable – and it is that tolerant, open atmosphere which encourages creativity.
In a nutshell: “Cities with thriving arts and cultural climates and openness to diversity of all sorts … enjoy higher rates of innovation and high-wage economic growth.”[3] Again, innovation derives from a context, not the clear blue sky. So, if we want to encourage innovation, we should foster cultural, economic and political diversity rather than trying to find a safe haven in a predictable, unchanging and, above all, homogenous, world."

and it made me wonder where we might find these "thriving arts and cultural climates and openess to diversity of all sorts" within our own organisations? might we find these innovation hotspots within other marginalised groups?

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