I had the great privilege and pleasure of having breakfast last week with the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Karen Mills.  The breakfast was for a board on which I serve, the national advisory board to the SBA for the SBDC program.  This was our first meeting with Administrator Mills to hear her thoughts and learn more about her plans for the agency and her expectations for our board.  The current SBA situation actually reminds me of Babson’s situation over the past few years, or at least I think I see some parallels.  First, both in the world of government and the world of business academia, people finally are realizing the leading edge importance of entrepreneurship and small business.  This is the world in which we live - some of it driven by economics and some by lifestyle choice, and most by some combination of the two.   (After all, take a look at the GEM data on opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship around the world).  Second, both the government and academic arenas are recognizing the constraints of silos.  This has certainly been Babson’s song for some time, but the increasing emphasis in our federal government on collaboration and coordination - all learning from each other - is quite exciting.  Can it really work?  All digits crossed on this end.

Submitted by: Patti Greene, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College