HERKIMER, N.Y. — John Zogby, of Zogby Analytics and founder of Zogby International, was the guest speaker Monday morning as the Herkimer County College Foundation hosted an Executive Breakfast at Herkimer County Community College in conjunction with the Community Foundation of Herkimer, Oneida and Eastern Madison Counties.

Zogby discussed his new book, First Globals.

“First Globals, provides an analysis of why Americans born between 1979 and 1994 are truly more globally aware and sensitive, how they want to make their workplace and planet a better place and how we begin to understand them and position them better to play out their destiny,” stated Zogby.

While discussing his book, Zogby highlighted the concept of the “creative class” discussed by author Richard Florida in The Rise of the Creative Class.

The book looks at the forces reshaping the economy and how to survive and prosper in uncertain times.

“The creative class describes a very broad but creative group of people made of 40 million strong. People in this class are not working with their hands, they are working in the fields of medical, business, technology, media, entertainment, arts and so on. These people are working in the knowledge economy and they are much more self-driven compared to other generations,” he said.

Through the Rise of the Creative Class, Zogby says, readers will learn the author’s thesis of how to grow the economy from the inside out rather from the outside in.

“In his book, Florida talks about what is known as clustering which refers to this creative class of people who are looking for the best location for economic growth and he puts our region clustered together with Toronto, Buffalo and Rochester, which are some of the biggest cities in the United States. As a smaller area in a clustered region, Florida does explain that one can live in these areas and find success, but in order to do so people must find what is best in their region, define it into the 21st century and mentally adapt the idea to work with an infrastructure that promotes the identity.”

Every region has a group of people within the community made up of a group of people from the creative class born between 1979 and 1994 known as millennial or first globals because they are the first generation that is globally conscious, Zogby explained.

“Sixty-six percent of adults from ages 18 to 24 have a passport and will travel the world and these people are very likely to not only consider themselves a citizen of the United States but a citizen of the world and what makes the reaction so different is due to 9/11 and other tragic events globally exposed. Unlike any other generation the first globals turn outward rather then inward and it’s because of this that they have a greater appreciation for people and culture throughout the world,” he said.