America Needs Talent: Attracting, Educating & Deploying the 21st-Century Workforce

With falling wages and rising inequality, persistent unemployment, failing schools, and broken cities, have America’s best days come and gone?

In America Needs Talent, Jamie Merisotis, a globally recognized leader in philanthropy, higher education, and public policy, explains why talent is needed to usher in a new era of innovation and success, and why deliberate choices must be made by government, the private sector, education, and individuals to grow talent in America.

What if you paid for education based on what you actually learned, instead of the time you spent in class? What if your visa application was processed as if you were an asset to our nation’s growing talent pool, instead of by Homeland Security? Merisotis proposes bold ideas to successfully deploy the world’s most talented people—from rethinking higher education to transforming immigration laws, revitalizing urban hubs, and encouraging private sector innovation.

In this updated and expanded second edition, Merisotis explains how the educational and political developments of 2015–2016 have only increased our need for talent, and how state initiatives and global competition can bring us closer to our goals. The outlook may be gloomy now, but it doesn’t need to be. The second American Century can happen—by developing and deploying the next thinkers, makers, and risk takers who will power America’s knowledge economy in the 21st century.

Jamie Merisotis is a globally recognized leader in philanthropy, higher education, and public policy. Since 2008, he has served as president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the U.S. and a driving force for increasing Americans’ success in higher education. He previously served as co-founder and president of the nonpartisan Institute for Higher Education Policy, and as executive director of a bipartisan national commission on college affordability. A highly regarded analyst and innovator, Merisotis is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the leadership council of The Aspen Institute’s Franklin Project on national service. He is frequently sought after as a media commentator and contributor. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, National Journal, Washington Monthly, Huffington Post, Politico, and other publications. Merisotis commits his time and energies as trustee for a diverse array of organizations around the world, including his alma mater, Bates College in Maine. He lives with his wife, Colleen O’Brien, and their children, Benjamin and Elizabeth, in Indianapolis.