In the New Economy, talent is oxygen. The very nature of creative economy work is defined as the constant pushing of boundaries to create new ideas, new processes and new combinations of the physical and intellectual. Anything that can be packaged, processed and replicated can ultimately be done cheaper over time through technology and outsourcing.
With that reality, the demand for talented employees or free-lance workers who can truly bring innovative ideas to the table is at a premium. This article from iMedia, an advertising industry web site, summarizes the situation faced by this industry and other creative industries in science, tech and research:
After all, we don't sell widgets. Our industry is about people -- skills and ideas --and we are heading into a supply crisis, if we're not in it already. There is a relatively small group of highly prized talent that is either playing a game of musical chairs -- skipping from company to company -- or granting their contracting services to the highest bidder.
The current state of West Virginia's talent crisis could lead us to throw up our arms in despair. We're 51st in the percentage of adults with a college degree, a leading indicator of "talent" in this era.
However, desperate circumstances can lead to great innovative thinking and willingness to take the necessary risks involved in breakthrough change. There are two fundamental ways to dramatically improve our talent "muscle" in West Virginia:
- Invite and incent a massive influx of outside talent, including immigrants with unique skills and education, free-lance professionals and artists who have the flexibility to live anywhere they want and would be attracted to our unique natural setting, and expatriate West Virginians who may want to come home.
- Grow more talent locally, beginning with how we train our children in schools and at home (Diana Long, Ed.D., posted some ideas on the GodbeyWorks site this week on this topic) all the way to opening the eyes of older citizens that they too have much to learn and offer in the New Economy.
Simple enough, right? Of course the challenge is in the how. Perhaps the bigger challenge is in the willingness to develop a less risk-averse culture that will allow our citizens and their representatives in state and local government to be willing to experiment or at least be earlier adopters of successful pilot efforts from other states. We must find a way to identify and champion visionaries and early adopters in our state to let others know that it is OK to take bold initiatives and fail. We must develop a willingness to spin up pilot projects, learn from them, and scale the ones that work at a much faster pace.
West Virginia has too much to offer to not find a way to succeed in the New Economy. But we must increase our oxygen flow and fill our mountains with vibrant, talented, innovative people willing to take risks and thrive in a creative world.
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