Competing in a Global Age: New Skills for Our Nation’s Students

by Stephanie Bell-Rose, President, The Goldman Sachs Foundation, and Vishakha N. Desai, President, Asia Society

Students at the College of Staten Island (CSI) High School for International Studies study world history, languages and foreign affairs. The goal of the school is to provide a strong foundation for a career in an internationally oriented profession. The school is a member of Asia Society’s International Studies Schools Network. Photos courtesy of Eric O’Connell.

A converging set of powerful economic, technological, demographic and national security developments requires a citizenry and workforce that is internationally savvy, entrepreneurial and expert in foreign languages and cultures. But as a nation, our business leaders, training institutions and future workforce are woefully unprepared to meet the challenges of globalization.

Last spring, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that U.S. companies realized $315 billion in overseas profits in 2004, a figure that is up 78 percent over the decade and that far outpaces the growth of domestic profits by U.S. companies. Already, one in five U.S. manufacturing jobs is tied to exports. Growth trajectories in Asia are particularly striking. According to the Office of Trade and Industry Information at the U.S. Department of Commerce, total U.S. exports to Asia grew by 24 percent over the last five years – from $170 billion to $210 billion.

As Tom Friedman of The New York Times argues in his book, “The World is Flat,” all of the major economic trend lines are directed towards much greater interconnectivity in trade and innovation in nearly every significant business sector, especially in the knowledge and communications industries. Young people growing up today in China, India, Brazil and other developing countries have an unprecedented opportunity to learn entrepreneurial skills, produce wealth and solve business and social problems in the years ahead. However, our human development systems – in business organizations, K-12 education or universities – are not prepared to meet this enormous challenge.We must fashion a more creative and visionary educational response to globalization, starting now.

Carl Schramm, author of “The Entrepreneurial Imperative,” has pointed out that the American dream is not just for Americans anymore. Entrepreneurial capitalism is an important export and “engendering economic success” by well-prepared, globally savvy American entrepreneurs – in conjunction with other countries – is “by far the most certain way to support the emergence of democracy.”

A RAND Corporation survey of 16 global corporations found that compared to counterparts from other universities around the world, U.S. students are “strong technically” but shortchanged in cross-cultural experience and “linguistically deprived.” According to the Committee on Economic Development, a 2002 survey of large U.S. corporations found that nearly 30 percent of the companies believed they had failed to fully exploit their business opportunities due to insufficient personnel with international skills. Eighty percent expected their overall business to increase notably if they had more internationally competent employees on staff.

Responding to the challenge

Highly adaptable, entrepreneurial global corporations have begun to respond. According to Michael Eskew, CEO of United Parcel Service (which employs over 400,000 people worldwide), a new skill set that goes well beyond “the basics” and the growing emphasis on science, math and technology skills is now required of all employees. Several key attributes are overlooked in the debate over education and workforce policies and practices, including:

• Sensitivity to foreign cultures: Knowledge and understanding of other regions and cultures, as well as world history, geography and economic transactions, are essential to participate in global work teams.

• Language skills: Foreign language skills also are critical for international business success. More than one million U.S. students study French, a language spoken by 80 million people worldwide – but fewer than 40,000 study Chinese, a language spoken by 1.3 billion people. Today, there are more people in China learning to speak English than there are English speakers in the United States. By learning a second language, students acquire academic skills and insight into another culture – as well as a distinct competitive edge.

• Economic/entrepreneurial literacy: Well over half of our nation’s high school graduates and too many college graduates know little if anything about the role of international commerce and trade in shaping their futures. For example, Mr. Friedman’s analysis focuses on both the fostering of entrepreneurial businesses in developing countries such as India and China, and the rise of supply chain professions as the kind of highvalue work that comes from understanding international trade better. These are the types of jobs that young people and our national economy should value as we offset losses in other industries.

A lack of training in international skills

Despite the reality that these skills are necessary for our global economy, a CEO survey for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards competition found that much improvement is needed.Many CEOs believe they and their peers need to improve their performance on a broad range of international and entrepreneurial skills, including the ability to think globally (72 percent); flexibility in a changing world (63 percent); and the ability to develop appropriate strategies (60 percent).

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