Sigh. Another one of my Canadian friends is taking off for the US of A in attempts to kickstart her NGO career — and this ain’t the first. I am happy for her, that she’s taking steps to improve her career after failure to get decent work here in Toronto, but the fact that it’s a trend among young, feisty, innovative types, I’m starting to understand that the bulk of Canadian companies don’t recognize the worth of some really talented people. As a result, we’re losing a lot of brainpower that would better serve us here on the international playing field. If we invested more, weren’t so risk averse, and stood up for the right people, hell, we’d be able to compete on a global level, and I truly think we could do some pretty impressive things.

In my limited experience with American or European clients, the thought process is infinitely different: they value talent in a way that doesn’t seem to be rewarded here, and believe me, not just financially (but I gotta say that certainly is a plus).

I’m speaking generally, of course, and I adore the USA and don’t fault my friends for taking this big step at all — it’s understandable — but something has to change in order to keep great people here, to not only enliven Canada’s economy/innovation industry, but prevent great minds from thinking they have to leave in order to become successful elsewhere. Why can’t we succeed on our own? Is it our education system? Is it our passiveness and insecurity? Please explain. [end rant]