After university, I decided to spend a year abroad – something every student should do before they enter the workforce and inherit the conventional view of possibilities. I headed for Japan, fascinated with how this country had emerged post-WWII as a technological and economic giant. I got lucky and was asked to teach at an elementary school just south of Osaka, and this is what I learned:

Every student in Japan is taught at the elementary school age that they live on an island and that the only way to prosper is to produce goods and services for export and trade. That foundational understanding drives their whole curriculum and policy environment, and results in an entire country that is globally oriented.

Pause. Think about that for a minute. Think about the global awareness, alertness, competitiveness and connectedness that would result from multiple generations becoming globally engaged. What if:

Every student in Alberta is taught at the elementary school age that they live in a land-locked province and that the only way to prosper is to produce goods and services for export and trade. That foundational understanding would then drive the entire curriculum and policy environment, and result in an entire province that is globally oriented and competitive.

This is emerging as my new mission, core to our economic strategy, that would result in a totally new mindset, and that would be an organizing mechanism for driving wealth and prosperity for generations to come.

And that is what we need, a new mindset. For far too many years we have been far too complacent – thinking, building, trading, spending and squabbling within our provincial borders. We have developed a regional mindset, far too reliant on government, and far too disconnected from high-growth markets around the world.

The only sustainable diversification strategy is the diversification of revenue by geographic market – becoming global players – being engaged in emerging markets like China, India, Africa and Brazil that will dominate global growth in the next 20 years, as well as across higher-growth markets in North America.

Our economic future must be global – outside of Alberta. And we need to turn our attention to shaping our international competitiveness by educating our kids properly, building and maintaining economic infrastructure, investing in research and product development, pursuing international trade and investment relationships, and aligning multi-level government resources to connect our businesses to opportunities in international markets.

Japan had the plan, the commitment and the urgency.

We need to do the same.