According to Ed Gordon, four major economic/cultural forces have combined to produce the forthcoming talent showdown: 1) a globalized economy, 2) massive boomer retirements, 3) generational differences in job culture and expectations regarding work-life balance, 4) and a breakdown in the global labor-market-prep system that has not kept pace with 21st-century skill needs and employment aspirations. Winning the Global Talent Showdown explains how the clash of these four forces has triggered a seemingly contradictory situation in which there are significant numbers of workers seeking employment (or even dropping out of the job market) while many employers report difficulties in filling open positions.

As an alternative to our current, broken system, Winning the Global Talent Showdown offers an empowering alternative: collaborative, grassroots reconstruction of the pipeline. Gordon’s book is packed with inspiring examples of how business and community activists at the local level are now engaged in reinventing their local labor-market economies. Companies, educational institutions, unions, government workforce agencies, parent groups, and other community activists are modeling the way collaboratively putting their money, ideas, and time into building new employment systems that better fill the jobs of a tech-driven, 21st century economy. Drawing on his 30 years of activity on the economic development and jobs front, Gordon’s book features interviews with dozens of experts on the future of jobs and the world economy, and it shares the personal stories of business owners, workers, parents, and students who all are struggling with the rapidly changing international job and career environment. These stories from the firing line show how leaders can and must merge local economic development and workforce development by reinventing the education-to-employment system.