Lisa P. suggested I write a “year in review” piece for my final entry of 2009. I like to drive looking through the windshield rather than in the rearview mirror; historical pieces are difficult for me―I must stop and reflect, sift through my calendar, and reconstruct conversations and events.

My 2009 is captured by the t-shirt Dylan had made and gave me for Christmas. It reads:



He is gifted in capturing the world in a few words or frames of video. He captured my biggest growth in years – I opened up, for all to read, and in the process “exposed” myself. I did this 90 times this year; and to think Neil and Lisa P. had to really prod me to do this.

Were all 90 posts fantastic? Obviously not. Were some better than others? Most definitely. I have 4 favorites; but, I will keep my preferences to myself because our preferences likely differ.

What does 2010 hold for Prolifiq and me? Lots; however, I am not in a position to accurately predict everything. What I can say is this:

1) We are positioned for growth in the technology, entertainment & media, and Life Sciences markets.
2) We will seek institutional capital to fuel and propel this growth.
3) We will continue to expand our team.
4) We will formally establish our “thought leadership” in Life Sciences by developing a community, of which we will be a member, and to which we will freely contribute time, resources, content and intellectual property.
5) We will continue to embrace social media in all we do.
6) We will secure official recognition for the intellectual property we’ve created.
7) We will be stretched in our thinking about how to connect to other applications and how messaging can be used to enhance business processes.
8) We will humbly serve our customers.
9) We will grow as individuals and as a team.
10) We will continue to have fun.

There you have it.

As we close out this eventful and tumultuous decade, I hope you are able to remember the good better than the bad and that you see and find the promise the future always holds.

Taka Iguchi is a young man I’ve known for over 6 years; he attended the same school as my two boys. Taka is a “distant horizon” person similar to our friend Cole (see: “Cole and the distant horizon”).

Ever since I met him, Taka set his heart on attending the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) while in Grade School. His science fair projects involved: lift effect on an airplane wing, propulsion systems, and model building.  He took AP/Honors classes at Jesuit High School  – to prepare himself for the  USAFA. Taka had what is sometimes referred to as “target fixation”. There WAS no other option – he was going to attend the USAFA.

Last summer, Taka emailed my wife Adrienne, saying: “…I don’t know if your remember me; but, I could really use your help.” She had taught him interviewing skills in 8th grade; what Adrienne had taught Taka helped him be accepted at Jesuit, and he was hoping she would help him enter the USAFA. Adrienne was impressed that he was mature enough to recognize he needed help and savvy enough to seek someone who could help. They prepared for the Academy Liaison Officer (ALO) and Congressional Representative interviews by talking with as many USAFA alumnae, students and recruiters as they could, creating answers to approximately 40 different questions that could be asked, and role playing with a former ALO from our neighborhood.  They also reviewed his written essay responses for the application.

Before Thanksgiving, the Academy notified Taka of his EARLY acceptance into the class of 2014.  This is a huge honor, to be one of only 1,300 the Academy accepts from over 10,000 applicants. This is one of the best educations available in the world and is valued at $414,000 for four years. Taka, of course, has to complete the course and extracurricular work, and give the Air Force six years of active duty and seven years of reserve duty in exchange.

My wife is naturally very happy for Taka; she had tears in her eyes as she read his appointment letter. I am honored to know a young man of this caliber; and my boys are in awe at his accomplishments. This country is blessed to have citizens like him and I rest well knowing people like Taka lead our nation’s armed forces. Taka’s parents are, and should be, extremely proud of their son.

Taka has EARNED this appointment. He never once wavered in his determination. He worked very hard, taking AP/Honors classes, student teaching Math pupils, working at the local glider port, staying fit through soccer, and sacrificing a lot of typical teenage experiences, all to pursue his goal. And, he was self-aware, and humble, enough to ask for help in an area he recognized needed improvement. Imagine what we would accomplish if we all behaved like this?

Taka, CONGRATULATIONS! We thank you for your willingness to serve; and, we look forward to seeing you throw your hat in the air in the Spring of 2014.

Whenever I get in a car, I reach between the seats with the keys looking for the ignition. This is one of the habitual quirks I developed being a long-time Saab driver.

My love affair with Saab began in 1981; I watched a Vail police car, a Saab 900, plow through two feet of snow and motor up a hill without slipping or losing traction. I have been a Saab driver since 1986; I love Saabs for their combination of: safety, performance, and efficiency.

I have driven a Saab at 75 mph in 6 inches of snow, on two inches of ice, and navigated Pittsburgh’s Parkway East at 115 mph. I never once lost control of the vehicle. My ’86 900 Turbo averaged 39 MPG at 75 and I drove it for 300,000 miles with no major mechanical problems (engine, transmission, etc.). Dieter, the owner of the Saab dealership, wanted to buy the car from me because it performed so well.

Saab brought to the automotive world key technical innovations from its aviation roots – turbo charging and a very low C_dA(coefficient of drag), meaning highly efficient aerodynamics. The weight distribution (approximately 50/50) coupled with front-wheel drive meant the car was ideally suited for winter driving, a legacy of the car’s Scandinavian roots. The cars were known as “The most intelligent cars ever built”.

Being they were designed for winter weather, the cars – and more importantly the Brand – were by definition niche-oriented. So in a surprise move in 2000, GM purchased all of the outstanding stock of Saab. The intention was to beef-up the brand and make the car a more mass appeal product. However, under GM’s leadership Saab sales plummeted to just some 40,000 units annually.

On Friday, GM announced it will close Saab in an “orderly” shutdown. This is a travesty for those of us who understand and appreciate the value of Saab’s technology and design expertise. In an effort to mass-market the vehicles, GM forced Saab away from its roots and subsequently diluted the brand.

Many products are niche products and should remain that way. Attempts to create mass appeal can dilute a brand. Staying “true” to THE BRAND is the only sure way to protect the brand and its value.

When I “retire” my 2004 Saab 93 (projected for 2018), I will surely miss these cars and lament the death of a once truly great brand.

This past Tuesday (2 years later than projected) Boeing's 787 flew its maiden flight. This is monumentally significant: for Boeing; for America; and for the world's travelers.

Boeing is America's largest exporter (as measured in dollar terms). When Boeing does well, it helps America's trade balance and creates jobs throughout the supply chain.

Prior to the 787, Boeing was losing ground to Europe's Airbus. Boeing last introduced a completely new aircraft, the 777, some 15 years ago. Airbus posted several years of new aircraft orders that exceeded Boeing's.

Boeing "bet the farm" on the 787. This plane introduces the concept of a composite (carbon fiber) fuselage, whole new manufacturing techniques, and a truly global supply chain that dwarfs anything ever attempted. Boeing's ambitions were astounding; and, the market responded by awarding Boeing an order book of 840 aircraft prior to the first flight.

This is not the first time Boeing has done this. When Boeing set out to create the 747 they bet the company. At the time, three domestic manufacturers competed -- Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. The 747 ushered in widely available hub and spoke trans-continental air travel for the masses, and the deliveries of the 747 dovetailed with unprecedented global economic expansion.  And, Boeing won the prize; Boeing is America's only standing commercial airplane manufacturer.

The 787 was designed on the premise that air travel has changed -- the hub and spoke system is a relic and travelers will want city pair connections (Shanghai-St. Louis; Mumbai-Dubai; Osaka-Seattle; etc).. Airbus disagrees having introduced the A380 Super-Jumbo, capable of carrying up to 800 passengers.

The global market for airliners promises decades of growth with some estimates of 30 year demand in the 15,000 aircraft range. Whole continents of people have never flown and represent potential passengers. There will be new classes of aircraft (regional jets, air taxis, potentially hypersonic craft). The promise of these new aircraft, coupled with radical advances in communications technology, hold the promise of decades of global economic expansion.

While it is easy to be giddy about the technology, it is important to recognize that air travel (just like telecommunications) is a commodity. How many people really care what aircraft they fly in? Travelers care about schedules and cost. The rest is just marketing and customer service. The most successful carriers are the discount airlines.

Both Boeing and Airbus have made multi-billion dollar company bets to build products that are part of their customers' commodity business models; in fact, the planes enable the business models.

How many of us have the confidence to do the same with our companies on behalf of our customers?

I often write about the power of words (see: “Seven Words” and “Poets, Priests and Politicians”. When words help us create mental images, they are very powerful.

Almost simultaneously, two influential people in my life – Dylan and David Childers (CEO of Prolifiq partner EthicsPoint), introduced me to word cloud application Wordle. This is one very cool application that allows you to create a word cloud from any text document.

Dylan uses Wordle to visualize the key points his term papers impart; my friend David uses it to compare the sentiments of his annual business plans. I have Neil and Lisa use it to scrub our website content to see what messages we convey.

I just analyzed one of my favorite blog posts, “Vitamin, Vicodin, Vaccine”. Here’s the result:

 

Stacy Crinks, CEO of the Content Bureau, recently gave me the book “Woe is I” and I am about half-way done reading. While I may be a “prolific” writer, it’s clear from the word cloud and the book I can still improve.

I don’t like that Prolifiq is the most prominent word and Life Sciences comes in second. The post was intended to convey that we HELP COMPANIES by INNOCULATING their employees from COMPLIANCE VIOLATIONS. The post is too “us” centric. Also, I’ve learned I’m too wordy (took me 228 words to say that).

Simple tools can make BIG ideas simpler. See what I’m saying?

I, like most people I suspect, use the days and weeks leading up to December 31 to reflect on the past year; take stock of my life; and to plan for the coming year. My wife and I start in mid-November with an annual review of our investment Portfolio, and conclude New Year’s week-end with a capital expenditure and cash-flow planning session in which we lay out all of our plans for the upcoming year and then budget to support the plan. Prolifiq goes through a similar process; one we are in the midst of right now.

One year ago, the market looked dismal. The financial markets were in freefall; capital and expense budgets were being slashed; and, optimism was in short supply. Prolifiq responded by: 1) freezing all hiring, 2) providing retention incentives to ensure that all employees felt secure in their jobs, 3) actively partnering with our customers to ensure we could meet their budgetary restrictions and 4) frugally managing our expenses.
The most important thing we decided was to invest through the recession to position for expansion once the recession ended – this was similar to accelerating through a corner (see: “I Am Lonely). Shortly after making the decision to expand into the Life Sciences sector, I stood atop Rockefeller Center in NYC. I was awestruck by the foresight and determination of John D. Rockefeller in building this iconic complex.

Rockefeller began construction after the market crashed in 1929 and continued unabated through the depths of the Great Depression. This was the largest private construction project in modern times, and now is arguably one of the most prestigious set of buildings in existence.

While Prolifiq’s undertaking is much more modest, Prolifiq’s Board and shareholders displayed extreme courage in supporting management’s conviction for the Life Sciences industry. We introduced Prolifiq for Life Sciences September 13, and the early results are in. We picked a winner; and, our Life Sciences team nailed the positioning. Now, it’s all about scaling.

Someday in the future, we will look back at 2009, we will remember Robert Burns and reminisce about “Auld Lang Syne” – long, long ago.

I met Debra Mumm-Hill, FIRST Pacific NW Regional Director, at a Portland Business Alliance awards dinner. FIRST is an organization dedicated to inspiring, nurturing, recognizing and celebrating skills in science, math and technology. To hear Debra tell it: “…we make it cool to be smart.”

Debra and her organization are “distant-horizon” people – they believe science, math and technology education is an issue of National Economic Security on par with the challenge we faced with the Cold War. They work at a grass-roots level to effect change. Their programs work one child at a time; and, Debra talks lovingly of her 10,000 children. They believe the seeds of innovation are sown at very early ages and with hands-on educational experiences.

Debra made the time to have lunch with my boys and me over the Thanksgiving Holiday and she shared her unbridled enthusiasm and encouragement with Ian and Dylan. They are at impressionable ages, receiving more influence from their peers and the media than they are from us; so, I want to expose them to outside observers to help guide their extracurricular choices.

I have seen the effects of this thinking first hand. As Board President for a very small private school, my Vice President and I realized we would NEVER be able to field a competitive sports team, so we decided instead to focus on fielding brain power. The school had a history of successful science fair competitions; we added the goal of a state-ranked competitive chess team and Lego Robotics team. After 3 years, both teams – drawing from a population of fewer than 60 students – became winners. The first of these students are entering college, and two students bear specific mention. One has been accepted at the United States Air Force academy; one is a 4.0+ honors student and she has her choice of the best veterinary medicine colleges in the US.

A recent article talks about the five secrets of innovation. A key finding is that innovation can be learned, and innovators observe and experiment, a lot, in direct hands-on ways.  Debra tells me Microsoft has identified the key indicator of technical success in their organization can be discovered with the question: “Are you a tinkerer or a hobbyist?” Tinkerers tend to be successful innovators.

FIRST is an organization whose mission should be celebrated, encouraged and supported. Our children’s future, and the future of our country’s ability to innovate, depends on it. Parents and students interested in learning how they can participate should visit: http://www.usfirst.org/whatsgoingon.aspx.