Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. The previous “sense check” was ENTRY #500.

BEGIN #504: This entry is a bit unusual.  Recently Ed Roberts, a professor from days at MIT, died. Ed taught a class in “Systems Dynamics.” 

For those not familiar with systems dynamics, the concept seems remarkably simple and obvious, almost naïve.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Once you begin applying the approach to other than the most simple problems, you begin to realize how powerful the idea is. 

I confess not fully appreciating what Ed taught until after leaving MIT and being faced with solving a host of complex problems.  Using systems dynamics allowed me to help guide development and introduction of a number of high-profile ideas and products. 

My thanks to Ed and others who helped develop, refine and teach systems dynamics.  The balance of the entry is an excerpt of a note from the Sloan School at MIT about Ed.     

Subject: Remembering Professor Ed Roberts

Dear MIT Sloan Community Members,

We write with great sadness to share that Edward Roberts, longtime faculty member of the MIT Sloan School, passed away yesterday. Our thoughts are with his wife, Nancy, and his children, Valerie and her husband, Mark Friedman, Mitchell and his wife, Jill, and Andrea and her husband, Marc Foster. We are also thinking about Ed and Nancy’s nine grandchildren, as well as Ed’s extended family and many friends.

In the sixth grade, Ed wrote a paper about his intention to attend MIT and become a civil engineer and build bridges. In high school, he shifted focus – though he still planned to attend MIT, he hoped to be an electrical engineer and get involved with a mysterious new technology, the computer. Ed received his SB and SM in Electrical Engineering, his SM in Management, and his PhD in Economics from MIT. He was a member of MIT Sloan’s faculty for over sixty years serving as the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology and a Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management.

A long-time expert on entrepreneurial endeavors, Ed wrote the two “bookends” on high-tech business creation and growth. His latest, Celebrating Entrepreneurs: How MIT Nurtured Pioneering Entrepreneurs Who Built Great Companies (Amazon, 2020), describes the history of MIT’s transformation into an entrepreneurial juggernaut, led by Ed over a 50+ years period. Ed’s much earlier Entrepreneurs in High-Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 1991), was the first book on entrepreneurship based entirely on extensive research studies of hundreds of entrepreneurs and their firms. Over the course of his tenure at MIT, Ed became known as the father of entrepreneurship here, ultimately founding and chairing MIT’s entrepreneurship center, now known as the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. He also chaired the MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program. Most recently, he co-created the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation Certificate program. As important as his research and academic leadership at MIT, Ed supported thousands of MIT and Sloan student entrepreneurs.

Ed was not only a prolific member of MIT’s faculty but also an entrepreneur himself. He served as a co-founder, board member, and angel investor in many high-tech startups. Among many others, he co-founded Medical Information Technology, Inc., a leading producer of healthcare information systems, Sohu.com, Inc., China’s first Internet firm, and Zero Stage Capital Equity Funds, a group of venture capital funds investing in early-stage technology-based firms.

Ed will always be remembered at MIT Sloan as a campus pillar. He could be found walking the halls, visiting faculty, staff, students, and alumni at the school, and sharing with them parts of the history of MIT Sloan. He remained connected to generations of MIT entrepreneurs, offering advice and guidance as companies were launched. Those of us who knew Ed count ourselves lucky to have had his counsel and will miss him dearly.

With both sadness and deep appreciation for all that Ed brought to our MIT Sloan community…END ENTRY #504

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