The whole brain drain thing is an interesting topic, and keeping your best and brightest home certainly is worthy of all the discussion.
However, there is something to be said for leaving your comfort zone.
I speak from first-hand experience. I grew up in the KC area and went to college in Springfield, Mo. My first job? It was in New Jersey. My second was in Pittsburgh.
Talk about culture shock. But I’ll tell you something: I never learned more than I did after I was out on my own, away from my parents, all my friends and everything that was familiar.
Along the way, I came to the realization that the Midwest is where I belonged. That’s how I landed in Wichita, a place I’d never been before I flew here for an interview.
But guess what? I’ve been here 12 years now and don’t plan on leaving. No, we don’t have beaches or mountains. But we do have cheap houses, good pay, lots of jobs, neat restaurants, decent shopping, plenty of golf courses and on and on.
To me, getting people to consider Wichita is the hard part. Getting newcomers to stay once they’re here? That’s easy.