As I noted in an earlier post, last Thursday I gave the keynote address at the ESOP Association Conference in Las Vegas . More than 1,000 people were present. I talked about the subject Beyond the ESOP, using SAIC as an example. After my talk, I was asked a number of questions. Someone asked if I would be interested in starting another business now. I said I wouldn’t be interested myself, but I would be willing to help others who would build such an employee-owned company.
I was also asked my opinion about the legal difficulties that have been caused for small businesses in the United States as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley. I told those present that my feeling was that Sarbanes-Oxley was a result of a few companies that perpetrated fraud on a massive scale, and not by the vast majority of American companies which our normal legal system can easily handle. This brought a round of applause.