It’s drawing close to the end of 2007, and it’s tempting to review our accomplishments from the last year, and our expectations for the new year. Some of the things that I think went well were that the Foundation for Enterprise Development sponsored the book on SAIC, titled The SAIC Solution. And although we have still not sold as many copies as I would wish, I am pleased with the result. I would like to thank the many people who gave the book favorable reviews and thank all those who bought copies and came to the book signings. I once thought this might be the only book I would do about my SAIC experience, but we have been discussing another book on a different topic that may be of great interest to readers of this blog. We’re formulating plans now, and I will announce them as we move forward. Over and above supporting the book, FED has posted other successes, including its work with DARPA and its support of professors and students conducting research on entrepreneurship and employee ownership. As some of you might know, Mary Ann and I have a close association with UCSD. I worked to support the building of their new business school. They were interested in the part of the FED which was doing overseas consulting which we had separated and named the Beyster Institute. That transfer of mission has gone well and grown. The contracts with the State Department covering work in Russia and the Middle East are going well and we have managed to stay out of harm’s way. UCSD is now one of the few universities that has formal training in employee ownership, and this is helping to stimulate interest at other universities. Further activities I was able to handle without overly straining myself included attending the America’s Cup event in Valencia, plus traveling to the many book signing events in McLean, Norfolk, and Las Vegas, and several in San Diego, including SAIC, Warwick’s, UCSD, USD, and San Diego State University. I also participated in several panel discussions with Gene Ray and Tom Dillon and Tom Darcy based on the ideas in The SAIC Solution. These were stimulating, and I believe the audiences enjoyed them. All these activities are not effortless for this 83-year-old guy, but I’m persistent.

For the coming year, I agree with all the pundits that this world is going to be a different one. It might be more violent, as indicated by the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Bhutto in Pakistan . It’s not clear who did it, or how they will be punished — hopefully through the United Nations. Without even reading the papers, my guess is al-Qaeda had something to do with it, since they’re always suspect. We can be sure it will be a little bit greener world again next year, since so many people are on the bandwagon now and the advantages of paying attention to the green economy are beginning to become apparent. In defense contracting, my friends tell me DoD budgets will be tight this year, and many programs that companies like SAIC and others count on will be slowed down or canceled. Just a thought. Large investments in biotech should begin to produce dramatic results. In the energy business, most people in this country now realize that we can no longer count on outsiders to provide so much of our fuel, so we must rely on our own natural resources, including further developing alternative fuels such as ethanol.

I don’t know all that the New Year will bring for me — aside from the Horatio Alger award event in April in Washington , it will all be a surprise. I want to thank those of you who have taken the time to comment on my blog. I realize that there are many more readers than there are responders, so I feel that this is a way of staying in touch with those who are interested in what I am doing. Happy New Year. — Bob