Guest blog by Rita Gaurin, LEG ’25
Over the past ten weeks, I’ve immersed myself in understanding one of New Mexico’s most pressing challenges: the persistent out-migration of our educated workforce and the struggle to diversify our economy beyond extractive industries. This journey has fundamentally shifted how I think about economic development, moving me from viewing problems through a single lens to understanding the intricate web of factors that either enable or constrain regional growth.
At the start of this journey, we were told “your group is your gift” and those words proved profoundly true. Working alongside teammates from China, Morocco and Nigeria revealed that while our contexts differed, the fundamental challenges of regional economic growth connected us all. This cross-continental collaboration reinforced that solutions to local problems can arise from examining how others navigate similar complexities in vastly different settings.
My first major insight came from recognizing that New Mexico’s growth challenges aren’t simple problems with straightforward solutions. The state faces “complicated and complex problems” with issues involving multiple stakeholders, evolving circumstances, and interconnected systems.
New Mexico’s per capita income has consistently lagged the national average, and economic growth has remained slow and inconsistent for decades. As of 2024, the state’s per capita personal income ranked as the fourth lowest of all 50 states, at 87.3% of the US level. This isn’t just about numbers; it represents real families struggling to build prosperous lives in their communities.
The PDIA Approach vs. Traditional Methods
One of my most transformative learnings came from understanding Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) as an alternative to the Solution and Leader Driven Change (SLDC) model. The PDIA method resonated deeply because it requires continuous learning, rapid experimentation, and the ability to pivot when strategies don’t work. It’s messy, iterative, and fundamentally more honest than pretending we have all the answers upfront. Living in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, I find myself embracing the “enchantment of the unknown” through PDIA.
The Binding Constraint Framework
Learning to identify binding constraints transformed how I analyze policy options. Rather than pursuing a scattered “laundry list” of reforms, effective strategy requires pinpointing the single most restrictive factor holding back growth—then relentlessly focusing resources there.
For New Mexico, I’ve come to believe the binding constraints include:
- Limited know-how and workforce development due to an insufficiently diversified economy
- Weak partnerships between universities and local employment needs
- Quality of life factors including inadequate urban amenities and limited social infrastructure
- Negative perception fueled by narratives suggesting better opportunities exist elsewhere
Reframing the Problem
Initially, I viewed the challenge simply as “graduates leaving the state.” Through the course, I evolved to see it as “retaining talent through economic diversification” and recognizing that we can’t just convince people to stay; we must create compelling reasons for them to remain.
The data tells a sobering story. Since 2010, nearly 19,000 educated professionals have left New Mexico—a devastating loss for a small-population state. The economic impact extends far beyond individual departures. Each leaving graduate represents lost tax revenue, missed entrepreneurial ventures, and fewer role models for the next generation. This know-how drain creates a “self-perpetuating cycle”: fewer skilled workers mean fewer companies locate here, which means even fewer opportunities, accelerating further outmigration.
From Problems to Entry Points
Using the fishbone diagram, the course taught me to think about “entry points”—where to begin engaging the system to create momentum. Additionally, the practice of repeatedly asking “why” will be a valuable tool in my problem analysis. Each answer digs deeper, uncovering the real root cause rather than stopping at the symptoms. I identified five accessible entry points:
- Fostering university-industry partnerships through existing infrastructure like Los Alamos National Lab
- Development projects in downtown areas to enhance community vibrancy
- Implementing targeted initiatives like speaker series and success story campaigns
- Developing tax incentives for companies hiring and retaining recent graduates
- Establishing regional talent retention task forces with cross-sector stakeholders
These entry points share a common thread: they can be initiated without extensive legislative hurdles and generate visible momentum while building coalition support for larger structural changes.
Building Information-Intensive Organizations
One powerful insight involved rethinking how government organizes around talent retention. Rather than housing initiatives within siloed institutions, there is tremendous value in creating collaborative teams with representatives from education, business, and government sectors. This team would have authority to allocate resources based on evidence identifying effective graduate retention strategies.
Implementing a dashboard to monitor outcomes—graduate migration patterns, employer demands, intervention effectiveness—would provide the continuous feedback loop essential for adaptive strategy. This moves us from guessing to knowing, from ideology to evidence.
The Iterative Strategy Approach
The course emphasized an action-learning framework that I’ve found extremely valuable. Rather than developing perfect five-year plans destined for shelves, the iterative approach involves:
- Rapid learning through small experiments that test assumptions
- Fostering new interactions between previously disconnected stakeholders
- Collaborative problem-solving that surfaces local knowledge
- Quick pivots when strategies aren’t working
- Uncovering hidden opportunities through continuous discovery
The iterative method’s greatest strength is that it minimizes risks while maximizing learning. Quick feedback enables course corrections before significant resources are wasted. It creates early buy-in from stakeholders who feel ownership over solutions they’ve helped create. However, we need to be prepared for potential challenges, as some stakeholders may resist uncertainty and favor more predictable outcomes. The iterative approach could be viewed as a failure if there isn’t a strong political commitment to experimentation. If progress isn’t maintained, initiatives risk losing their momentum and support.
An important concept learned was the notion of the “sense of us.” The collective identity and shared purpose that binds a community or region together. Without a strong sense of us regions may struggle to coordinate, build trust among stakeholders and sustain the collaborative efforts needed for a long-term development. As Professor Haussman pointed out, the term “us” carries a profound beauty, with its meaning often understood implicitly among those engaged in the conversation. The individuals involved inherently grasp who is included in that collective “us”. The concept is like a vital ingredient in a recipe; without it, the intended flavor cannot be achieved.
For New Mexico, this insight hit home. Perhaps the brain drain isn’t about better job opportunities elsewhere, perhaps it reflects a missing “sense of us” an imagined community, where educated workers don’t see themselves as part of New Mexico’s future story. Building prosperity requires cultivating this essential ingredient where diverse communities, industries and individuals see their fates as interconnected and the state’s success as their own.
This course has convinced me that reversing New Mexico’s brain drain and achieving economic diversification requires moving beyond traditional approaches. We need:
- Evidence-based iteration rather than ideological commitment to predetermined plans
- Cross-sector collaboration that brings education, business, and government into genuine partnership
- Determining the binding constraint rather than scattered initiatives
- Continuous learning that embraces experimentation and honest assessment of what works
The path forward isn’t about finding the “one solution” but about building adaptive capacity—creating systems that can learn, adjust, and continuously improve. It’s about fostering an environment where young professionals see New Mexico not as a place to settled for, but as a place offering vibrant arts, safe neighborhoods, competitive salaries, diverse career paths, and communities worth staying for.
New Mexico has a unique opportunity to achieve both economic diversification and workforce retention simultaneously through a “grey to green” energy transition. With significant solar, wind, geothermal potential, and copper mining the state can leverage existing energy infrastructure and expertise while evolving towards clean energy. Going from grey to green addresses core challenges: it diversifies the state’s economy beyond extractive industries, creates competitive careers that give young professionals a reason to stay, and builds on capabilities that the state already has.
New Mexico is the “Land of Enchantment.” My hope is that through strategic, iterative, collaborative economic development, we can help the current and next generations discover economic opportunities they haven’t yet imagined right here in our own backyard. Opportunities that not only match but surpass those available in other states, making the choice to stay in New Mexico not just feasible, but truly enchanting!
This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Leading Economic Growth Executive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. 63 Participants successfully completed this 10-week online course in December 2025. These are their learning journey stories.