I’ve been invited to participate in a forum on February 1 here in Indianapolis.  The title of the program is Workforce Development for a New Economy.  I’ll be speaking with Dr. Stephen Hundley, an Associate Professor of Leadership at IUPUI (and my co-author) as well as Teresa Linn Voors, Commisioner of Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development. Yup, some heavy hitters with me on that day…  My management experience has taught me that if you aren’t real brainy yourself, you should surround yourself with those that are.  I’ve made a career out of that!

Based on my background and experience at three world-class companies, I tend to look at the area of workforce development somewhat differently than most other folks.  But first, since I am a researcher, let’s talk some numbers.  In the past decade, the average non-farm payroll in Indiana has increased ½% a year.  In the past three years, these increases amount to only 25,000 – 30,000 people. We graduate about 45-50,000 kids a year from Indiana Colleges.  So, what is the problem?  We have nearly twice as many graduates to fill those new jobs.  We even have left-overs for current Indiana employees that quit jobs and move out of state.  We don’t have a brain drain problem in Indiana, we’re still growing enough brains locally and we even import a few from other states. 

Today’s workforce currently has and in some cases is in the process of acquiring the skills needed for our growing life science and hi-tech industries.  Through proper education, training and retraining we can assist in the move of workers into industries that need their skills, knowledge and experience.  I trust our 70 institutions of higher learning, along with local and state government and the assistance of leading businesses to forecast and address skill gaps in our future.  When it comes to Workforce Development for a New Economy, I believe what we have isn’t a brain drain problem, but a lost boss problem.