Leonard Fuld

[Commentary] There's been a lot of noise in the past few years about the impending shortage of engineers and scientists in the US and its impacts on our future economic growth.

To conduct a thought experiment on this topic, we recently asked a dozen technology executives to grapple with a faux Wall Street Journal headline in the year 2020 that read: US Economy Is Choking! Lack of Skilled Workers, Drop in Government Funding Obstruct Growth.

The story beneath the headline painted a dark, recession-weary world in which business opportunities existed in abundance for tech companies working on the cloud, as well as for biotech and energy companies, but not nearly enough STEM workers to feed this potential growth. The executives were then asked this question: How will your company remain competitive if indeed there is a STEM talent shortage in the coming years?

Citing the fact that companies such as Google and countless others have established R&D centers offshore, some participants argued that Google will continue to move its R&D shops abroad. The group concluded that Google, faced with talent scarcity, will innovate its way to success – living with less talent and even thriving despite this shortage. This future-scape discussion taught these executives one very important lesson: Today's critical growth issue -- immigration reform, for example – may fade into the background as the truly creative, inventive companies find ways to overcome obstacles.

[Fuld is founder and CEO of Fuld & Company]