Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt had a lot riding on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre's last attempted touchdown drive.
If Favre had scored and the Vikings were in tonight's Super Bowl, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty could not be in downtown Raleigh on Monday morning to speak to the Emerging Issues Forum.
But Favre's pass was intercepted by the New Orleans Saints, and Minnesota's loss is Raleigh's gain.
Pawlenty, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, will kick off a two-day conference at the Raleigh Convention Center about creativity - in government, business and schools.
Creativity is one of those hard-to-define subjects that soon drift into talk of left brain/right brain characteristics and highfalutin references to "the cognitive age" and "the conceptual age."
But everybody knows that the old jobs of priming tobacco and manning textile looms are gone, and the new jobs are much more likely to require hard thinking than back-breaking work.
So 1,000 leaders will gather at the sold-out conference to listen to such speakers as author Daniel Pink; U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan; Bill Strickland of Manchester Craftsmen's Guild; Eric Liu, founder of Creativity Matters; and Mark Dean, IBM's vice president for technical strategy.
Hunt, who founded the Emerging Issues Forum 25 years ago, said thinking creatively is part of the innovation that North Carolina will need as it recovers from the economic recession.
"If we are going to have good jobs," Hunt said, "we have to learn how to think for a living. We have to be creative in our thinking and in our work."
Creative workers include a broad array of people all over the state. They tend to be scientists, technologists, health professionals, artists, managers and analysts. They compose 5.5 percent of North Carolina's work force, according to a survey by the forum, which is connected to N.C. State University.
There are some very good reasons why creative jobs are desirable. They pay well. Creative workers in North Carolina tend to make more - on average $59,200 compared to the average of $36,697 for all workers, according to the forum. Creative jobs grow faster in good times and decline slower in bad times.
Some areas, including Philadelphia, Massachusetts and Silicon Valley, have set up programs designed to attract creative workers.
Among other things, the forum will explore how to foster the exchange of ideas, encourage creative thinking in the schools (including arts education), and find ways to turn creative ideas into businesses. How can North Carolina help create the next Apple?
Ideas being discussed include holding innovation expos and developing local culture districts.
"I want us to literally start teaching creativity," Hunt said.
Get the biggest news in your email or cellphone as it's happening. Sign up for breaking news alerts.
