The Comeback (25 page)

But we have come a long way. Today, the average American home owns twenty-five consumer electronics products and spends some $1,500 on products and another $1,000 on services each year.

The average family now owns 2.77 television sets. Music is portable, and almost everyone has at least one MP3 player. Just about every family has a digital camera. The manual typewriter is a historic relic, and 75 percent of American homes have a computer. It is estimated that smartphone sales will surpass PC sales this year.

With competition between cable, telephone, fiber, and other services, 65 percent of Americans have broadband at home—and even
more have it at their office. This alone has encouraged new businesses and services. Think of all the great American companies that rely on computers and the Internet: Amazon, eBay, Google, Yahoo, and thousands of cool new services have been created thanks to this explosion in technology.

It has been a wonderful shift to digital. Digital is our destiny. It has been my privilege to play a role in digital television, to lead the charge promoting innovation, and to lead the international Consumer Electronics Show. The CES, held each January in Las Vegas, is the world’s coolest technology event and America’s largest event of any type. Over 2,500 companies introduce some 20,000 products at each show, and the event attracts everyone interested in the digital revolution.

But the shift to digital is just the beginning. What about the future? What about the next twenty years?

I am passionate about innovation because I believe it will create new opportunities and will solve many challenges we now face. But our digital destiny is not divinely set in stone. It depends on the government allowing the free market to find its way. It depends on rewarding innovation, not punishing successful businesses. It means the government must ensure free trade so innovative products and capital and investment can find their natural level. It means ignoring the pleas of old industries for protection. We didn’t protect the horse-and-buggy makers when the car came along. We didn’t protect travel agents with the advent of the Internet. And we shouldn’t protect any industry hurt by innovation that pleads its case for government intervention. The free market can hurt. Companies and even entire industries can topple. But that’s progress.

So to you, my unborn son, I say you are lucky to be joining this world at such an exciting time. It will be trying and joyful. It will be fast-paced. It will be different.

We are at the end of the beginning of the digital revolution, and it is almost all good. Our future is bright. Our nation is poised to
lead. You will be a torchbearer for this new world of opportunity, enlightenment, and prosperity. I wish you Godspeed and good luck, and I will be there as long as I can, as the old fogey who doesn’t understand the new technology.

Today, I might write a different letter. Although we remain in exciting times, the future doesn’t look as bright as it did on that day at Wayne State. America is in crisis. What is required is a commitment to innovation and growth. We can and must succeed. With popular and political resolve, we can reverse America’s decline. My goal is simple: Americans must become the world’s innovative engine once again; we cannot fail. Only then can I return to China and tell that Communist Chinese official that America is back.

A
BOOK
, I have learned, is not the same thing as a speech or column or a combination of both. It is an enterprise requiring an army. And while the initial writing is a solitary experience requiring often painful exercises in transforming ideas and vignettes into sensible prose and order, a final publishable product involves many people pushing in the same direction.

First, I thank my wife, Dr. Susan Malinowski, for her humor, brilliance, empathy, and love. She has always encouraged me, served as a sounding board, and found time for me despite being a mother, full-time doctor, entrepreneur, patent owner, innovator in surgical techniques, and writer. Her parents, Drs. Edward and Jolanta Malinowski, have never stopped making the world better by selflessly giving to others, and have generously given their time, allowing me to write this book.

I thank my parents, Jerome and Mildred Shapiro, for somehow instilling in me and my three brothers, Eric, Ken and Howie, the ability to think outside the box and the confidence to believe we can do things better. The gift of confidence is one of the most important a parent can bestow.

I thank my children, Steve and Doug, for keeping me humble, giving me joy, and each becoming fine adults. I thank and acknowledge their mother and my former wife, Jan Wolf, for doing so much to
raise them to be ethical and educated at the same time she supported my desire to further my career.

I thank the CEA Executive Board. Rarely are association boards so strategic on so many levels. Its focus with and concern about the long-term health of the U.S. economy gave me the voice to express the ideas in this book. Their willingness to entrust me and the CEA staff on the execution of many of these ideas has made CEA an effective agent for positive change. I am so grateful they encouraged me on this book and my other writings. Thank you to Gary Yacoubian, Randy Fry, Pat Lavelle, John Godfrey, Mark Luden, Denise Gibson, Ian Hendler, Jim Bazet, Brian Dunn, Stan Glasgow, Loyd Ivey, Jay McLellan, Peter Lesser, Peter Fannon, Noel Lee, Steve Caldero, Paul Sabbah, Grant Russell, and Mike Mohr.

I thank many of our former leaders who have taught me so much: Joe Clayton, who taught me about passion (and results: “once is a blip and twice is a trend”); Jerry Kalov, who molded me into an executive and told me he would stand by me when I failed (and I often did); Eddie Hartenstein, who demonstrated emotional intelligence (and literally picked me up in the rain when I needed a ride to emcee a dinner); John Shalam, whose sheer goodness is an inspiration; Kathy Gornik, who loves liberty; Bill Crutchfield, who often engaged me on politics and business and helped refine my thoughts; and Congressman Darrell Issa, who chaired our board, ran a business, owns patents, and is the model of what every American should contribute to the national debate.

I thank CEA executive Jason Oxman, who heard my dream of writing a book, encouraged me, and helped me take what I thought was a near-final draft and push it much further to make it a real book. I also thank many on his team, such as Laurie Ann Phillips and Megan Pollock, who read early drafts and gave comments. I am grateful to our policy head Michael Petricone for giving me his guidance and trying to save me from unfairly dishing dirt.
I appreciate our Research Center and market research staff for gathering the facts and data that underlies the book. I thank our tech team, headed by Brian Markwalter, for focusing on moving the industry forward and getting the technical issues that support innovation right. I thank our show team, headed by Karen Chupka, for producing the world’s most glorious event, the International CES, and making sure our industry gets the world’s attention. I thank our CFO, Glenda MacMullin, for running our operations, and lawyer John Kelly for helping guide us in a reasonable and fair way of publishing the book. I also thank the entire CEA staff for always plugging for me, our members, and the innovation industry. Their enthusiasm, hard work, and love for innovation make me look forward to coming to work every day.

I thank my assistant, Jana Sievers, for always going the extra yard, never complaining about my handwriting, and delivering new drafts while also managing scores of other projects. A special call out to the first person who worked with me on the book, our intern, Karie Palmer, who helped me edit early drafts and coordinated my travel during a difficult time.

I also thank various people for their reviews and comments: David Leibowitz, Bob Schwartz, Julie Kearney, and Veronica O’Connell. I appreciate the patient care of Katie Hallen and Tom Galvin and their colleagues at the 463 Group for their ideas and edits to earlier speeches and columns, and their work on the Innovation Movement, which helped inspire this book.

I acknowledge Dick Wiley, John Taylor, Joe Flaherty, Mark Richer (another MacArthur grad), Robert Graves, David Donovan, Peter Fannon, and Bryan Burns for their unwavering commitment to HDTV.

I thank all my colleagues who head other technology groups, including CCIA, CTIA, ITI, JEDEC, NVTC, SIA, SIIA, TIA, TechAmerica,
TechNet, and the Technology CEO Council. Each contributes to moving innovation forward.

I especially appreciate the work of my editor, Blake D. Dvorak. His sheer competence allowed me to accept the many changes, edits, and cuts to syntax, sentences, and even ideas I loved and thought were perfect. He improved this book in ways I couldn’t imagine and has been the first in a while to have the unique combination of courage, confidence, and charisma to cow me into accepting edits. I also acknowledge the Pinkston Group, especially Christian Pinkston and David Fouse, for helping the book idea come to fruition.

I thank Beaufort books for working with me on this book on many levels: the flexibility you showed and the patience and willingness to take risks reflect well on our theme of innovation. Any mistakes are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the publisher or the Consumer Electronics Association.

I want to thank the lawyers at Squire Sanders, who tore up my early writing and taught me how to write. I appreciate my background in law from Georgetown University Law School and my economics training from Binghamton University. A special shout out to my experience at MacArthur High School; seeing the early Richard Viguerie’s conservative rants on the walls taught me that freedom of expression is a gift not to be wasted. My decade-plus of 4-H also inspired me to be ethical and contribute to society.

I also acknowledge Grover Norquist for his principled leadership, and Ed Meese and Dr. Alan Merten for teaching me so much through their leadership when I served on the George Mason University Board. I thank Gigi Sohn and the Public Knowledge team, CATO, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and Third Way, who all inspired portions of the thinking in this book.

I also want to acknowledge Mark Penn and his wife Nancy Jacobsen. Nancy began the No Labels movement, composed of real
Americans focused on policy for the nation rather than politics by party line. She, along with the No Labels group of thinkers, have bolstered my view that our nation is in trouble and neither party is providing solutions.

I acknowledge some great business leaders who have inspired me: Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon not only received CEA’s highest award and leads a phenomenal company, he was also the first corporation head to stand up in 2010 and declare that our government is hurting business and job creation. John Chambers of Cisco, Craig Barrett and Paul Ottellini of Intel, Alan Mulally of Ford, Brian Roberts of Comcast, the Hubbards of Hubbard Broadcasting, Bill Gates and Steve Balmer of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and every top leader of Best Buy have all had a big vision that transcended the typical corporate focus on the next quarter. They are strategic, innovation-focused, and passionate about the future of our country.

I also have to recognize a few political leaders whose integrity gives me hope. Former Congressman Rick Boucher raises the average IQ of every room he enters and approached legislation with a bias towards innovation, a willingness to engage in details, and an open mind. Congressman Gregory Meeks is willing to fight the standard anti–free trade message of his party. Congressman Joe Barton stands up for the rule of law and process and facts. Fred Upton, Cliff Stearns, Marsha Blackburn, and Lee Terry each are principled Congressmen who focus on facts and favor the free market and entrepreneurship. Congressman Paul Ryan has singularly raised the big uncomfortable issues. Senator Tom Coburn insists on good legislation in the Senate and uses his power to force it. Senator Mark Warner understands innovation, and Governors Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Chris Christie, and Mitch Daniels inspire me, show promise, can make tough choices, and are willing to deviate from their party line. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks outside the box and would also be a wonderful presidential candidate. Every
one of these Americans does what’s right, and political contributions have no impact on their views.

Finally, I thank the American people. Together we share this moment in time, and together we will succeed or fail. I hope this book inspires you to join the cause of innovation and embrace it as our gift to the next generation.

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