Rust Describes Two Different But Urgent Risks To American Business And Nation’s Future

Normal, Ill. (March 26, 2008) -- In an address at Illinois State University's Business Week, Edward B. Rust Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of State Farm®, warned of two very different yet serious risks to American business and, subsequently, to the nation and its future.

Business Week, an annual event sponsored by ISU's College of Business, brings corporate and industry leaders to campus to speak on important issues, trends and developments.

One risk identified by Rust in his keynote address is American businesses' increased reliance on the Internet and its vulnerability to serious disruption by natural catastrophes, coding errors or attacks by terrorists or other adversaries.

Rust, who in his role as co-chair of the Business Roundtable helped lead a national study of the issue, said a widespread and sustained Internet interruption could impact everything from power grids and payment systems to document storage and consumer confidence. 

"We've migrated from secure intranet systems to the public Internet," Rust said. "New, unfamiliar and perhaps unknown vulnerabilities connect and run through the supply chain."

He said the BRT study found a lack of clarity in how the private sector and government would interact to overcome a major disruption, that business has a misplaced expectation of government's role.

He said even those businesses with continuity and recovery plans frequently ignore their dependence on the Internet.

"The very best fallback measures, finance procedures, plans to communicate with employees, with customers and the media may be worthless if they depend on the Internet to execute them," he said.

He urged government to give business an early warning about significant, credible threats to the Internet.

Rust also discussed how America is entering an era where more people are leaving the workforce than joining it, and many of those entering the workforce are inadequately prepared to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

"And that puts us at great risk," he said. "If we don't reverse the trend, it will undermine this country's long-term economic well-being. It will threaten the standard of living we want for ourselves and those who follow us. It could even lead to social unrest if we tolerate any more barriers to equal and complete participation across America's economy and society."

He said the economy, the nature of jobs and the knowledge and skills those jobs require are all changing fast. Meanwhile, he said, a smaller percentage of young people joining the U.S. workforce have a high school diploma and many of those entering college aren't well-prepared. This, he said, is happening at the same time developing nations have discovered "what we've long known but unfortunately lost sight of:  that education and knowledge drive the economy and standards of living."

"Students need to prepare themselves for the dramatically different future that is straight ahead," Rust said. "We in business must stand ready to work with educators at all levels so graduates are prepared to lead us into a future that will be filled with powerful, constructive changes, many driven by technology."

He complimented ISU's leadership and faculty for what they've done to advance the university and its College of Business.

"I particularly commend you for how you're using industry advisory boards, relationships with employers and for your enlarged global outlook," he said.

"The eroding workforce issue is a creeping reality," Rust said. "The increasing Internet reliance and vulnerability is a risk that could hit yet this afternoon. But both must be addressed if we are to maintain our nation’s leadership and our standard of living."