First, let me focus on the phenomenon of an ever-accelerating rate of change.

The notion of change, and all of you in the audience, sitting before me in a lecture setting - brings to mind one of my absolute favorite Princeton anecdotes. It captures the essence, of what I would want each of you to remember, about the pace, and the prevalence of change -

Here it goes:

Back when I was an undergraduate at Princeton, a heard a clever story about Einstein. It was something like this: Einstein was teaching a class at Princeton in Nuclear Physics. He announced details of an upcoming exam, which would be the same exam as the one he gave his students last year. After the class lecture ended, a young man approached Einstein. The young man seemed confused about the upcoming exam. He questioned why Einstein would intentionally give the exact same exam as he did last year. And why Einstein wasn't concerned that students wouldn't be tempted to simply contact students who had graduated last year, and who had taken the same exam to get the details. Basically, why wouldn't he expect people to simply "cheat"? Einstein's answer was provocative and unexpected. First, he simply confirmed that, "yes" the test would be the same as last year, however, the "answer" will be different.

A second force, is the powerful idea that changed the 20th Century business world, and will certainly be around, as a major force, in nourishing 21st Century business. It's that dynamic energy, we call "free enterprise."

I am not here to quibble about semantics. But to me, the uniquely American idea, that truly deserves praise, for our economic fortunes - is free enterprise.

Free enterprise has been, is, and will be, the mainstay of our economic success. And by free enterprise, I mean simply, our ability to operate the economic forces of the modern world - in relative freedom.

You'll note the important caveat I just made, in adding, "relative to freedom." The markets of the world, are not totally free today. Interference from governments, and other political forces, does get in the way. Some warranted, some not. 99% of the time, protectionism, is the best example of misguided interference, to free enterprise. I would argue, that protectionism, has never worked, never helped weak nations, or weak industries, get strong. And, it never will.

But a few forces, restraining absolute freedom, are good. Very much like freedom for individuals, (where "responsible freedom" is the only practical concept - at this stage of our human development) - free enterprise can only work in a world, where the rules of the game are clear, transparent, enforceable, and ensure a level playing field, for all legitimate contenders.