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In his 2008 book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell wrote that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” The meaning behind this, in theory, is simple. To be considered elite and truly experienced within a certain craft, you must practice it for ten thousand hours. For many looking to join the American workforce today, the chance to start working towards “the magic number of greatness” is out there, it’s just a matter of finding that opportunity. And as Chamber Foundation vice president Jason Tyszko recently wrote, those pathways to opportunity should be co-designed. 

We are in an economy that competes on talent. The business community succeeds or fails based on its ability to find and develop a consistent and reliable pipeline of high-quality talent. Thus the business community is very interested in what is taught in our nation’s postsecondary institutions. Rather than an intrusion on postsecondary education’s mission, it is a realization that what postsecondary education does and does not do has a real impact on the success of the business community and the competitiveness of the United States.

Atlanta’s economy is growing rapidly. In 2018, employers created 58,400 new jobs, and the workforce increased by 2.8 percent. Demand for new employees also jumped, with more than half a million job openings in the metro area – nearly 10 percent more than 2017. But despite this tremendous opportunity, like other growing areas, the Atlanta region is competing for talent at home and abroad to ensure economic prosperity and competitiveness in the years ahead.