Cultural Creatives Global population estimate: 6% – A boom worth waiting for-

A couple of months ago, I asked Paul to help a woman who was curious whether we had compiled “a world map of Cultural Creatives”. Of course, I knew we hadn’t but I was curious how Paul how he would answer her question by talking the existing data from our U.S. studies and those which he’d facilitated in Europe and Japan, and extrapolate how that would play out in creating a global map of Cultural Creatives (CCs).

I know that it can get pretty lonely out there for Cultural Creatives, especially those people who are in leadership roles in companies and industries not quite green and sustainable. Well, just know there isn’t a company or industry that ‘s completely sustainable but many are getting better all the time.  If you’re feeling like you’re talking your values into a void, well, run this formulation through your head.

Here’s Paul’s “back of the envelope” rumination:

“There isn’t a world map of Cultural Creatives, but here’s how to think about the world population of Cultural Creatives:

Surveys have been done in Western Europe, US and Japan in the last 4 years. The numbers are pretty consistent everywhere, in the range of 33-37% average about 35%, and this is a typical error band for surveys. As of last year, the US was 33%.

We have impressionistic reports from a large number of world cities everywhere that say when people start getting information about what’s going on around the planet, then a large minority take up CCs values. They get that information from media, books, internet, friends. But in developing countries the proportion of the population systematically exposed to such information is only in the 10-25% range.

So, here’s a quick back of the envelope calculation: Let’s say it’s 1/3 of them who take up those values. In about 80% of the population of planet Earth, about 5% are likely to be CCs, and they are concentrated in their own 100 world cities. In 20% of the planet that’s the developed world, about 35% are likely to be CCs spread uniformly across their countries’ cities, for about 7% of the planetary population. So this suggests that no more than 6% of the planet are CCs. The least likely place they will be found is in rural areas with poor communications.”

6%.  So, put that number in your bonnet for a day or so and see what happens to your thinking about the business transformation we’re facing. It might feel a little more possible. Maybe.

Here’s a little Cultural Creatives In Leadership “renewal” practice: I think it’s best to keep working on your emerging awareness of CC values and how they fit creating a better industry, today and tomorrow; keep adopting a wisdom perspective which is simply “broader, deeper, higher, more inclusive”; keep sharpening your own story of development, both inner and outer;  speak more often and to more diverse audience of people in your surroundings. It sure beats talking louder to the same people.

Oh, and if you haven’t done it already – Get started on a serious meditation practice or contemplative practice of your choosing – to settle the mind and cultivate your spirit.  If you’re a leader during this era of transformative change, better get one quick!  I’ll get more into this in later blogs and in my interviews.

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