“King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who knows that oil is not his country’s future. That’s why he’s spending $12.5 billion to found a graduate research university, which he’ll endow with $10 billion - as big an endowment on day one as MIT has built in 142 years. The point of this project is to attract the best researchers in science and technology.”

The King is making an incredibly smart move which will flip the global talent market entirely on end by creating a destination, Saudi Arabia, for top science and technology talent to flourish. This is just one example of how the competition for creating and attracting top talent is being propelled into another stratosphere and begs companies to shed traditional talent strategies and embrace a new and more progressive labor market.

“Why isn’t the United States more serious about the key competitive advantage of the Info Age, education? How to make human capital more valuable is no mystery, yet the world’s richest country still has nowhere near the world’s best education system. That means trouble that will only get worse. ” (full article)

End game, if you’re waiting for a King, or government, to bail you out of your talent woes you’re wrong. This bold and new market will require companies to lead collaborative efforts with local government and educators to create and attract top talent.

The question remains, will this provide continued rhetoric or execution on vital action items?

- original post -