Foreword by Dr. Arthur Laffer
While Khaled was writing his book Survivability, he never told me he was writing about our great debates and engagements while he was my student at the University of Southern California (USC) +40 years ago.
Back then, Khaled distinguished himself in the manner he critically and constructively argued and debated. Only after Survivability was published did I discover that he wrote a tribute to me as a special mentor who contributed to his life’s successes and impacted his way of thinking forever. This gives me a great sense of gratification and accomplishment as a teacher.
The fact that, over many decades, Khaled contributed to the global internet infrastructure becoming the Multilingual Internet it is today — and having created the term Geo-Poli-Cyber™ in 2012 to distinguish financially motivated cyber-attacks from devastating and/or destructive political, ideological, extremist and geopolitical ones in damage impact — is testament to his vision. However, having created strategies and solutions to mitigate such risks and threats that today remain unmitigated speaks volumes about his mind and creativity, and especially his perseverance.
His argument that national leaders and top business decision makers who seek competitive advantages today and into the 21st century need to make the strategic mindset shift from security (cyber and non-cyber) to survivability is worthy of a serious consideration.
Consistent with Khaled’s truest self, what he did in my class +40 years ago is exactly what he is doing today for the world — particularly with his book Survivability. I would not be opposed to working with him to find a way to factor his “Social/Societal Responsibility” into Supply Side Economics to deliver a sounder and more robust Capitalism model for the 21st century. After all, and to quote Khaled’s own words, “agility in adaptability is critical to effective and competitive survivability”.
Recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 for his contribution to Capitalism in the 21st century | Laffer Curve Creator | Often referred to as “Father of Supply-Side Economics”
While Khaled was writing his book Survivability, he never told me he was writing about our great debates and engagements while he was my student at the University of Southern California (USC) +40 years ago.