Mobility among young leaders aspiring to a career with purpose needs to be encouraged and facilitated regardless of their background and location. Failing to do so is both a double standard and risks depriving the world of brilliant leadership opportunities in solving the biggest global challenges.
Over the past few years, as part of the debate on localization in global development, I have advocated why we need to invest in talent regardless of location, as well as give access to international or remote work and study experience to create leadership pathways. We know from evidence that this kind of experience creates a net benefit. Studies from across 30 countries found a positive impact on individual financial success and promotions, and 64% of employers consider international experience important for their recruitment.
Yet in many cases, when listening to development professionals in the United States and Europe, and reviewing localization approaches, there were two kinds of camps: The first group, including leaders from the World Bank and other development institutions I have talked to, argues that when given international growth opportunities, people will stay in a high-income country anyway and will not go back home to solve local challenges. This is the familiar “brain drain” argument. The other group and its localization approach favor a radical shift of resources and power to the local level through local organizations.