If there’s one thing the United States is known for, it’s that we’re not afraid of hard work. We’re determined and disciplined. But in other ways, as a country, we’ve lost some of the qualities of “great pivoters.” We’ve lost our grit. We’ve become too comfortable being comfortable. And we’ve also lost some of our long-term vision—the ability to see and act for the future.
We need a national strategy that focuses on what America does well: developing innovative new ideas and helping them grow into reality. That means promoting entrepreneurship, investing in infrastructure, encouraging highly skilled immigration, ensuring worker choice, focusing on math and science education, promoting competitive broadband, protecting free speech, and entering free trade agreements. Companies big and small need consistency to make business decisions, and our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle should support policies that advance American innovation and ingenuity.
In 1969, a young family pivoted—and emigrated from Poland to the United States to escape communism and seek a better life. Like many immigrants, they traded the comfort of their country, language, and community for a life of economic precarity and exceptionally hard work in the slums of Detroit. While both Jolanta and Edward held medical degrees and were practicing physicians back in Poland, those degrees meant little to the state medical board in Michigan. They needed to retake medical boards to re-qualify as doctors. Even before that, they needed to learn English. Eventually, both succeeded in establishing themselves, Jolanta as a dermatologist and Edward as a cardiologist. This couple is the classic immigrant success story. They also happen to be my wife’s parents, who risked everything to give her the opportunity for a better future than their own.
Like most children of struggling immigrants, my wife, Mal, did them proud. She studied hard and made good decisions. She excelled at school, graduating at the top of her class from a joint BS/MD program at the University of Michigan. She scored first in the country on ophthalmology exams and now supervises all the retina questions on the board exams. She cares deeply about preventing blindness and invented “slurry Kenalog,” a low-cost treatment for eye swelling commonly associated with diabetes. It is free for any eye doctor in the world to use.
While I certainly am biased and feel that she’s unique and special, Mal is part of a proud and longstanding tradition of immigrant invention and innovation. The United States is an immigrant nation, full of people with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. Immigrants are medical professionals, engineers, and lawyers. They work in our factories making products for domestic and export markets. They drive us and maintain our cars and homes. They plant, harvest, process, deliver, cook, and serve our food. They work their tails off, not only to survive but so their kids will have a better life. And we need them! Foreign-born workers make up 17% of the U.S. labor force, with even higher percentages in many labor-intensive industries.
Immigrants are mostly makers, not takers. They not only fill the jobs that Americans won’t do but also are disproportionately entrepreneurs and innovators. Immigrants have founded 55% of U.S. startups valued at $1 billion or more. If you include the children of immigrants, that number shoots up to 64%. They hold leadership or development roles in 80% of these unicorn companies.
The U.S. is wildly successful because our immigrants make us the most diverse nation on Earth. This diversity fuels American ingenuity, helping our nation lead the world in creativity and innovation. Our music, movies, pharmaceuticals, software, computer and internet-related companies, and biotech and healthcare science companies are global champions and drive our stock market and economy. That creativity is perhaps most obvious in emerging technology fields. Sixty-five percent of the top artificial intelligence (AI) companies in the U.S. were founded or co-founded by immigrants. The founders of OpenAI, best known for its generative AI breakout ChatGPT, include immigrants from South Africa, Canada, and Poland.
Immigration is also our competitive advantage. Very few people are lining up to immigrate to China or Russia and build new lives and new careers. America remains a beacon for the best, most ambitious, and hardest-working people from around the world, at least for now.
Unfortunately, we’re at risk of losing out. Immigration has become a third rail in American politics, with lawmakers unwilling to tackle the basic problems plaguing our immigration system. The system is broken for both illegal and legal immigration. Our cap for H-1B visas—the “working visa” for most high-skill foreign nationals in the United States—is far too low: Only 85,000 visas are available annually, and applications hit that cap soon after the system opens each year. The failures of our system are not lost on other countries. In 2023, Canada unveiled a new Tech Talent Strategy, offering work permits designed to attract high-skill immigrants in the United States who hold H-1B visas. That program reached its 10,000-applicant cap within two days. France has developed a visa expressly for tech innovators. Britain has increased its Exceptional Talent visas by 100%. The competition for top talent is stiff—and it will only grow more intense in the years to come.
While we must regain control of our borders, we should also push for immigration reforms that allow and encourage international graduates of American universities with STEM and other advanced degrees to remain in the United States. America has the world’s finest universities, which attract students from across the globe. When they finish, many of them want to stay here, build their businesses, and employ Americans. Those who share our national values should have a green card attached to each of their diplomas. Forcing brilliant students graduating from top American universities to go home (or to other, more immigration-friendly countries) to start their businesses is a colossal mistake.
From the book PIVOT OR DIE: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes by Gary Shapiro. Copyright © 2024 by Gary Shapiro. Published on October 8, 2024 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
