Ivan Moss: Global talent pool to draw on - and all from this country

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Opinion

Perhaps you've heard the saying, the future of a nation is as bright as the students who graduate from its schools and universities.

In our case that's a bright future. For a start, that's because the numbers are good. Some 44 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 have attained at least tertiary level education - the seventh highest rate in the world according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

And the quality is great: New Zealand has the highest percentage of 15-year-olds in the world who rank as "high performing" on standardised tests - three times the OECD average and twice as many per capita as in the US, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.

On top of that, our education system is ranked 10th among OECD countries.

The shine on these statistics is often overshadowed by the fact that such large numbers of our best and brightest pack their bags and put their talent to work in other countries.

More than 750,000 Kiwis, or one in six of us, live overseas.

Within that group, we find that 24 per cent of all highly skilled New Zealanders work overseas - the highest proportion of any country in the OECD.

But we shouldn't really be surprised the ambitions of our best and brightest graduates lead so many of them overseas where they tend to punch above their weight in their chosen fields.

We should all take pride in the achievements of our expats and in an education system that has helped to nurture their success.

Most remain proud Kiwis and many return home to work - bringing a wealth of talent and experience with them. So rather than lamenting the loss of talent from our shores, the real challenge is: what are we doing to make the most of this global pool of talented Kiwis and how are we tapping into the skills and expertise they can provide to help our economy grow and develop?

Eight years ago Kea New Zealand was set up as a global network to help New Zealanders and local firms connect with the knowledge and contacts of Kiwis working overseas.

We have found that our expats can, and usually want to, make a distinct and powerful contribution to New Zealand from afar. Indeed, it's a unique competitive advantage for this country that, although we are relatively isolated, we've got a global community of talented Kiwis in many different fields and industries. This connection is also vital to ensuring that when expats return home, as so many eventually do, our own companies learn from their experiences working around the world.

This is particularly important right now, as the global recession has caused expats to return home in greater numbers.

Are we doing enough to leverage the benefits attached to the fact one in four highly skilled Kiwis is found overseas? When we're faced with challenges at work, how often do we look to Kiwi expats for ideas and creative insight to expand our horizons?

Do we just look to our contacts at home? Or do we seek out highly skilled Kiwis working overseas to glean insight from how global organisations such as Pepsi, Nike, Apple or Unilever have tackled similar challenges in other markets?

These are the sort of connections the Kea network is working to encourage all over the world. And they're the sorts of connections we are going to need to keep developing if we want to continue to see our best and brightest contribute to the growth, development and future prosperity of New Zealand, from wherever they are living.

Our greatest economic challenge right now is improving productivity - increasing how much everyone earns per hour worked. And the easiest and fastest way to do that is by learning how other companies in other countries are doing things better, faster and cheaper.

Overseas Kiwis can help us.

* Ivan Moss is CEO of Kea New Zealand - an online community of Kiwi expats and friends of New Zealand with more than 25,000 members in over 174 countries.