Dialogue: Kiwis who work overseas are not lost to the nation

IAN TAYLOR* says the brains of expatriate New Zealanders are at the end of a portal, not down the drain.

Much of the debate, to give it a grown-up title, about talent, training, brains, skills, jobs and our human wealth has oscillated between two poles: blame and despair. Lately, it seems that if a New Zealander pulls finger, it is only to point it.

We all realise, at some level, that our increasingly familiar reaction to any adversity has become dangerously addictive. Triple A credit ratings would be nice, but what we could really use is a AAA attitude - some courage to change what we can change, accept what we cannot, and a little wisdom to recognise the difference.

For a start, here are some things that there is no point bemoaning: we live in a global economy; national borders are largely irrelevant to the flow of information and capital; now, as ever, many New Zealanders want to experience life in other places; now, more than ever, many of us have the opportunity to work in other places.

We cannot change these facts. What we can change are some of our assumptions and some of our responses. Much of the nattering about brain-drain has been predicated on the assertion that New Zealand suffers if it loses New Zealanders. Lurking behind that claim is a judgment that does seem, at the very least, to be questionable: New Zealanders are only of value to their country if they are in it.

These assumptions hardly encourage positive conclusions or engender much optimism. They posit a problem with ultimately only a few solutions - physical repatriation, preventive detention or genetic deprogramming of the OE impulse. Seriously, it is a bit late in the day to establish another penal colony in the Antipodes.

In our situation it is more helpful, and more hopeful, to substitute new-economy perspectives for old-economy assumptions.

Looked at this way, New Zealand doesn't lose people; what we do is contribute to the global pool of talent. This pool has many tributaries and, as commentators have pointed out, they don't just flow one way. Many New Zealanders leaving now will be back. When they return, they will bring back skills, knowledge and perspectives that will enrich this society.

Although this is true, it is not immediately reassuring. We cannot sit around waiting for something to turn up. We shouldn't be asking expatriate New Zealanders when they will return or what it will take to get them back. There are too many answers - or not enough. A smarter, more realistic question is how can they contribute to this place when they don't live here.

Part of my company's business is keeping in touch with talented, skilled New Zealanders overseas. I have always found that expatriates are seldom ex-patriots - New Zealanders are never more conscious of their identity than when they are out of New Zealand. Across the world, then, there are reservoirs of goodwill towards this country. As a nation, we need to tap into them.

The good news is that the new economy, the global economy that is often perceived as a threat, makes it possible to establish communities that transcend distance.

What we as businesses, as a nation, should be doing is connecting with and profiting from our global networks. We now have the technological ability to strengthen their links with New Zealand and with each other.

At a basic level, this is a matter of maintaining contact with New Zealanders overseas and giving them reasons to feel positive about this country. At another level, it is making informal use of their knowledge and insights.

Individuals, families and companies here do these things all the time. What we have to do is move up a level. We can't press-gang New Zealanders in the alleys of the City of London or in bars off Wall St or in labs in Silicon Valley, but we do have to find ways to repatriate their knowledge and ideas for this country's benefit.

This is an urgent challenge. This country needs access to its human wealth, no matter where its creators are located.

What we, and partners including Government agencies, want to do is to formalise and give some shape to our expatriate communities of talent. We are creating a website to network New Zealand networks. We want a place where New Zealanders working in business overseas can contribute their opinions, ideas, knowledge and contacts.

That's what we will get. What we want to give to our overseas countrymen and women is an assurance that they are still of enormous value to their country. They are not lost; they are only a click away.

This sort of initiative seems to be a positive response to new economic realities. New Zealanders are going to go into the world; that won't change. Let's stop lamenting that, and start exploring its benefits.

* Ian Taylor is the managing director of Sheffield Ltd, a personnel consultancy.

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