Cultural Creatives in Leadership

Hello, my name is Dixon T. de Leña. I am a Founding Partner and the Chief Executive Officer of Integral Partnerships LLC, a management consulting firm I founded with Paul H. Ray in 1999. Welcome to what I intend to be a truly inspiring and useful blog to all Cultural Creatives in Leadership roles. It’ll be inspiring because it’s made up by stories of people like you, many of you are out-front in business pressing for real change. It’ll be useful because I hope to feature discussions and interviews of how others CCILs (my acronym for CCs in business leadership roles) continue to develop themselves and their unique presence of leadership. This might be helpful to those Cultural Creatives who are “waiting for an opening to act” in your companies. Whether you are expressing and acting on your values or just patiently waiting for the right moment, while continuing to develop your knowledge, wisdom and courage, it’s ok. This blog will be an authentic inquiry about what it means to be a Cultural Creatives in a leadership role and I can’t imagine that all of the stories and interviews will be positive but I promise there is wisdom in each story. I believe this commitment is what will make this a useful touchstone for all of us.

If you don’t know much about the original Cultural Creatives research, and what’s all the hooplah is about, then a short history is helpful.

In 1996, Paul H. Ray’s seminal “The Integral Culture Survey – A Study of the Emergence of Transformational Values in America” he first coined the label Cultural Creatives to describe an emerging new subculture of American adults living transformational values and expressing their deeply held values in the way they live their lives, built their homes, develop their communities, ran their businesses, voted, purchased goods and services, and much more you can read here. In 2000, Paul updated his research with a paper titled “The New Political Compass” wherein he described a New Political North, made up by primarily by Cultural Creatives, had arrived on the political scene and making their presence known across the political spectrum capable of making big change.

In 2001, Paul Ray and co-author Sherry Anderson wrote the book “The Cultural Creatives: 50 Million People Changing the World”. Last year, the original research was updated for the first time in 12 years. The results were staggering in the sense that they indicate a huge leap in the growing demand for positive change in how business is run, how the environment is cared for, and how government is managed. This new study, “The Potential for a New, Emerging Culture in the U.S. – Report on the 2008 American Values Survey” indicates that Cultural Creatives now represent 37% of American adults, up from 24% in 1996. Moreover, they are ready to act, not just talk.

During the same 12 year, we watched the growth of the Lifestyles of Health And Sustainability Industry Association (LOHAS), and the incredible growth in the business sectors of socially responsible investing, clean and green technology, sustainable lifestyles, organics, alternative medicine, and all things associated with Cultural Creatives values. The LOHAS industry projects nearly $500 billion annually in global sales.

This has been an incredible story so far, and the number of stories of behind-the-scenes-deal making, relationship building, visioning, entrepreneurship and leadership has not been covered nearly well enough in my opinion. Most of the growth in green and sustainable industries has not been led entirely by “true blue” Cultural Creatives. Some might not even know the term Cultural Creatives although they value the vision of a sustainable system of trade that preserves the health of the environment and enhances the health and well-being of all peoples. For them, it just makes good business sense. About 10% of the US adult population is now “In Transition” to being Cultural Creatives (called Transitionals) – largely under the threat of the growing climate crisis – accepting values they once rejected, yet still clinging to Traditional values. We know that if we do nothing, the circumstances of our planet will push the percentage of Cultural Creatives higher each year simply because our collective situation is untenable and we’re forced to act. Business leaders know all too well that when we wait until we’re forced to act is the same time we’ve used up most of our options. It is safe to say this rule applies to climate change. But imagine for a moment if we’re able to accelerate the growth of Cultural Creatives to be the majority among business leaders, conventional and green alike. It would really is in our best interest.

We know so little of how this process of our global transformation will happen. We only know that it needs to happen because the philosophy of unlimited growth is unsustainable. There is proof of this everywhere, and, the scientific debate is over. So, this is where you’ll hear and see interviews and stories of other Cultural Creatives in Leadership, some famous and not in the limelight. And, you’ll catch me asking the big questions like, what’s courage to them, what’s motivating them, how are they developing themselves and how this affects their leadership presence, and lastly, what do they see as emerging for us now and in the future. Please join me, listen, make comments, ask questions and I’ll do my best to tell your unfolding story of being A Cultural Creative in Leadership.

© 2009 Dixon T. de Leña, Integral Partnerships LLC. Cultural Creatives is a trademark of Dr. Paul H. Ray. Cultural Creatives in Leadership is a trademark of Integral Partnerships LLC. All rights reserved