From Dan Pink's (contributing editor at Wired Magazine, author of the best-selling book, Free Agent Nation) 2004 commencement address at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida:

" ... A few years ago, a man named Robert Lutz took over a top job at General Motors. Now, Bob Lutz is in many ways a typical auto executive. He's a white-haired, white man in his 70s -- a former Marine. But when a reporter asked him how his approach would differ from that of his predecessors, here's what he said:

'It's more right brain. I see us being in the art business. Art, entertainment and mobile sculpture, which, coincidentally, also happens to provide transportation.'

Let those words settle in for a moment. The art business. General Motors -- General Motors! -- says it's in the art business.

... With applications climbing and ever more arts grads occupying key corporate positions, the rules have changed: the MFA is the new MBA. In a world of breathtaking material abundance, in which General Motors is in the art business, in which what used to be good jobs are going overseas or being done by computers, in which people are yearning for beauty, uplift, and meaning, an arts degree is the most valuable degree a person can have."

Read the whole thing in PDF format here.

(After looking at the new 2005-2006 lineup, GM might actually have their act together. Saturn SKY and Pontiac Solstice are two great examples.)