America Needs Talent

Indy Chamber News Archives

President and CEO of Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation has released a new book, America Needs Talent, spotlighting the gaps in our nation’s talent pool and unveiling a bold plan for ushering in a new era of innovation and success. 

In America Needs Talent,  Jamie Merisotis, who sits on the Indy Chamber’s Executive Committee, makes the case for dramatically expanding talent – the knowledge, skills and competencies individuals need to thrive in the workforce and in life – and says our nation risks missing out on $7 trillion annually if we don’t answer the call for talent. 

“Today, close to two million jobs remain unfilled because we don’t have employees with the talent to fill them,” Merisotis said. “We’ve answered the call for talent before, and we can do it again. If we don’t, we face deficits of prosperity and opportunity, we risk losing our global standing as a leader – both economically and culturally – and we are on track to leaving a less-influential and less-prosperous country to our children and grandchildren.”

In America Needs Talent, Merisotis shares five ideas for ushering in a new era of innovation and success by arming our nation with significantly more thinkers, makers and risk takers:

• Redesigning our higher education system so that it measures students’ progress based on their learning outcomes, rather than time spent in the classroom;
• Unleashing the significant resources of private capital markets to pioneer bold solutions for addressing the talent gap, and ensuring all companies take up the cause of building a more talented workforce;
• Creating a U.S. Department of Talent to channel the best aspects of disparate federal agencies towards the critical cause of growing our human capital pool;
• Developing a new immigration model for the U.S. built around attracting the talent employers need and equipping immigrants already here with the skills and knowledge for success; and
• Cultivating cities as hubs of talent to create places that entice and embrace newcomers while educating the homegrown workforce. 

To learn more about the book, including how to order a copy, visit americaneedstalent.com.