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(More customer reviews)After picking up David Heenan's latest book, Flight Capital, I couldn't help thinking of a comment by Walter Wriston, former president and chairman of Citicorp, and one of the most innovative financiers of our time. In his book, The Twilight of Sovereignty, Wriston opined that in an era where information flows freely, "capital will always go where it is welcome and stay where it is well-treated." By capital, he meant not only money but human capital.
With these words the late Mr. Wriston (who was actually Heenan's former boss and mentor) summarizes with eerie prescience Flight Capital's premise-- the United States can no longer count on attracting human capital from around the world as its birthright.
Heenan, former University of Hawaii School of Business Dean, Citicorp executive and currently trustee for the Estate of James Campbell in Hawaii, explains that after generations of importing the best brainpower to our shores, foreign-born, US educated technocrats are going back to the countries of their origin. When our nation's best brains walk, they take with them intellectual capital, skills and an entrepreneurial edge that only an immigrant can muster.
As America's human capital diminishes, so does this country's technological preeminence and with it, our economic supremacy. This trend, says the author, will soon lead to a day or reckoning if we don't do something to stem the tide.
Flight Capital chronicles the personal accounts of a numerous professionals who have left this country for the lands of their birth. Country by county he cites a litany of sterling entrepreneurs and technology wizards that find the grass is greener back home. We read about people such as China born, New Jersey educated Wu Ying who returned to his homeland to launch his own company that now generates over $2 billion a year in revenues producing mobile phones.
So where exactly did we go wrong? Why are the Wu Yings of this world leaving the land of milk and honey?
To begin with, as Walter Wriston might say, human capital that once flowed freely into the USA is staying where it is better treated. As up and coming nations such as India, China, Ireland, Singapore and Israel develop their own Silicon Valleys and offer a better standard of living, it's only natural that homeboys and homegirls come back to the fold.
The post 9/11 environment in this country has also contributed to the brain drain. Hassles over H1B visas, angst over outsourcing and a sometimes nativist, anti-immigrant backlash have all conspired to shut the door on highly qualified foreigners. The giant sucking sound created by their departure unfortunately leaves our country bereft of engineers, physicists, chemists, mathematicians and other scientists-the very core of our technological infrastructure. To make matters worse, the U.S. is simply not producing enough of these individuals to take the places of the foreign born talent.
Although the author says, "Flight Capital is intended to sound a loud wake-up call to a nation often blinded by hubris", he claims it's not a forecast of certain doom. Corrective actions are possible and he offers twelve specific points that can ameliorate the brain drain.
For those concerned about America's ongoing brain drain, this is a must read.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest
The best and brightest in America are returning to their homelands in record numbers-and with them is going U.S. technological and economic preeminence. In Flight Capital, we explore this exodus through the personal stories of dozens of successful, foreign-born professionals who are leaving America for opportunities in their native lands. Drawing on their experiences, Heenan analyzes the economic, cultural, and political factors that are driving this flight, as well as the initiatives that countries are using to attract top talent.
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