WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend-October 23, 2020 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:06.040 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.680 I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.280 Business Week. It's week thirty two, working mostly from home, 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.040 COVID nineteen cases rising again in Europe and the US. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.440 The u S presidential election just a little more than 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:21.440 a week away. Some stops and starts to the financial 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.439 markets as investors awaited for another stimulus package. This week, 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:27.960 Bloomberg's Paul Sweeney and I cut up with a group 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.800 of disruptors and those trying to take disruption and make 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.839 the world a better, more equitable place, and that included 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.400 the new president of George Mason University, Dr Gregory Washington. 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.480 We've been able to figure out different ways to basically 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.960 invent a new normal. Plus you might say she's a 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.479 disruptor as well. Often referred to as the woman who 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.800 built Beijing. My conversation with Shenjong, co founder and CEO 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.680 of Saho China and how China is back to work 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.520 post pandemic. Speaking of disruptors, we begin with the cover 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.640 story in the magazine this week. It's Robin Hood, the 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.319 online brokerage that is one of the COVID Economy's breakout successes. 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.960 The question is can it be more than an addictive 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.119 trading app dominated by millennials. Bloombergs Paul Sweeney, and I 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:14.280 talked with Bloomberg News investing reporter Annie Massa, a Blueberg 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.240 Business Week editor Jill Weber. One of the stories of 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.640 the pandemic is just how day trading became the thing 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.880 that has been captivating people on their phones for months now, 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.840 and it's made people be doing things that are sometimes 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.279 a little bit crazier than what they would have probably 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.400 otherwise been doing, simply because there's nothing else going on 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.240 that looks like an entertainment in the same way. And 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.720 so it basically almost become robin Hood especially has almost 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.720 become sort of part of this like financial entertainment ecosystem 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.960 during the pandemic. And so we've been watching it um 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.560 along the way, and any Masa has been breaking a 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.160 ton of news, and we wanted to kind of put 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.000 it all together and just say, like, look, this is 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:01.200 a robin and is now officially a pandemic path time um. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.000 But the question becomes where do they go from here? 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.880 I think, what's the plane? How do you take something 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:11.120 that you know, they popularize free training, trading, fractional shares 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.600 of ownership now, but where do you go from from there? 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.880 And Anny, what did you find out as you tried 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.280 to ask that question. Yeah, that was a major question 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.680 we were trying to figure out because robin hood has 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:27.760 proved so amazing at just getting people onto its platform 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:31.440 like it spread like wildfire um, signing up three million 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.120 users in the first four months of the year alone, 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.120 and so we were kind of asking, um, what's the 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.680 next act for robin hood. And when you look at 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.080 it the way that they're pitching themselves to be investors, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.200 they say, Okay, we get these first time traders in 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.760 the door, and then the next step for us is 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.800 to have them grow with us into all kinds of 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.480 other products that robin hood doesn't offer yet, but things 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.640 like one day they'll want us for mortgage lending or 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.480 car and rental insurance or life insurance. Even so, they 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.200 have much bigger, much bigger vision for what they want 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.680 all these customers to do on their platform. That's not 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.720 just trading, but the catches um. If you're going to 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.640 offer things like insurance and you know, retirement accounts to people, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.040 you really need their trust and that's a place where 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.280 they struggled. So and he talked to us about the 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:26.400 typical robin Hood um trader or account user. What's the profile. 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.600 I think that there is kind of a stock image 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.680 in everyone's mind of typical robin Hood trader. I mean 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.440 of their assets under management do come from millennial users. 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.320 So it's absolutely a millennial product. But gen Z is 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.960 in the mix as well. And I think, um, you know, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.320 the typical image that you might get in your head 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.880 of a Robin Hoide user is maybe a coge age 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.240 or um, you know, kind of twenty something uh trader, 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.720 a lot of men. But it's that's not the only profile. 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:00.560 We We spoke to all kinds of bell who used 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.040 this up um, including people who don't use it just 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.120 for gay trading, UM who are trying to invest a 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.720 little bit more long term. And so it varies that 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.560 that millennial group is core for them. And Annie, Um, 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:18.080 you mentioned some struggles. Let's talk about sort of the 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:22.440 the pieces of the puzzle that robin Hood users have encountered. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.320 And you know, some of them have become frustrated about 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.719 what what are some of those main greats? Absolutely well, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:34.560 one of the more recent issues was around two thousand 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:39.280 accounts um were compromised in UM, which they found in 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.440 an internal review, and that's UM newsually broke a couple 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.640 of weeks ago. And the main frustration I think around 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.160 this issue and others that have come up with Robin 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:51.800 hood over this year, they don't have a customer service 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:56.320 phone number and a frustration. What it's like you just 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.400 stopped right there. It's like, what, yeah, that's right, so 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.279 and I mean it's really like it's very Silicon Valley actually, 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.440 like a lot of companies that use all the time, 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.000 a lot of tech companies don't have a real customer 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.880 service number. But this isn't like this isn't like Uber, 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:14.719 you know, I didn't get my car. It's like I 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.320 have a question about my investments exactly. And like if 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.280 you're worried that your account was hacked or if there's 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.159 an outage, like they had a major day long outage 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.000 way at the beginning of UM you know, right before 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.599 the pandemic lockdown started on March second, that lasted all day. 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.280 So if you're sitting there with your phone, like no, 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.400 either the app is totally down or I'm seeing you know, 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.440 funds disappear from that account because I'm worried it was hacked, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.719 like there's no one to call, and that those tweaks 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.000 people out. So it's this question of, like, can we 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.000 move into a world where people are okay with that 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.080 one thing. Robin Hood was really an early mover into 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:58.080 free commission trading, and at the time I think it 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.440 was kind of a wacky idea and out as the 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.000 industry standard. I mean, around this time last year, Charles 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.479 Schwab moved to zero commissions and all of the other 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.839 major brokerages did the same, and now you know, zero 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.320 commission trading is the industry standard. So I mean, that's 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:17.600 one way they offer fractional shares. That's something which is 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.200 the ability to buy just a piece of a stalk 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.560 instead of the right thing. That's Bloomberg News investing reporter 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.360 Annie Massa and Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel Webber. Check 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.640 out that full story and more stories in this week's 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.000 issue that's on news stands now on the Bloomberg and 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.840 online at Bloomberg dot com. And as you heard, robin 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.000 Hood disrupting the online brokerage space with more customers than 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.560 some of the established players. Later on We're gonna check 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.839 in with one of the first disruptors in the financial world. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.279 We're talking about the financial platform Wealth Front. Coming up next, though, 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.599 Robin Hood, you just heard surging amid COVID nineteen. We 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.560 know cases are also on the rise again, but kids 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.320 as super spreaders. Our next guest says, not so much. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.400 We'll hear from the CEO of Surgical Solutions. That's next. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:05.600 This is Bloomberg is Bloomberg Business Week with Gerrol Mazer 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.200 from Bloomberg Radio. This week, some tough headlines on the 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.360 virus as a second wave continue to make its way 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.760 around the globe, with the U s, Indian, Brazil accounting 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.760 for more than half of all COVID nineteen cases. Well. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.280 A voice that we've reached out to several times throughout 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.120 the pandemic is Alissa Wrap. She's CEO of the healthcare 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.800 solutions company, Surgical Solutions. They provide equipment, people, strategies or 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.280 capital to the healthcare community. She also teaches at Stanford's 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.280 Graduate School of Business in Chicago's Booth Business School. Bloomberg's 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.160 Paul Sweeney and I caught up with a Lissa Wrap, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.000 who reminded us about the difficulties of COVID nineteen. It 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.440 continues to be a complicated COVID landscape. On the one hand, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.440 we know the diagnoses are up in fifties, six thousand, 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.280 Inia day and thirty one states they're reporting more cases 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.320 than the previous week. And yet there's an overwhelming amount 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:57.760 of intelligence now that COVID nineteen transmissions from children, and 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.720 maybe the children are not to blame. So I think 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.640 it's it's a tough tough to navigate, So a lista 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.080 on that front. You know, the children here, you know, 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.600 the New York City schools or you know, obviously the 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.920 largest school district in the country opening pretty well so far. 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:17.400 Does that suggest that maybe children are not super spreaders, 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.280 which was a risk as we reopened schools. Great question, Paul. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.320 So you know, there was an interesting article on this 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.080 in The Atlantic just about ten days ago that schools 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.520 aren't the super spreaders um from an economist at Brown University, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.160 Emily Oster. And I'm certainly not seeing that they're the 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.480 super spreaders where we are in suburban Chicago, and if 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.360 children are in math and socially distant between that between 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.880 that economist view and the American Academy Pediatrics literally also 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.280 printed an article that's at COVID nineteen the child does 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.959 not to blame, and the nice Landic study talked about 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.840 how children don't give it to teachers. I am not 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.080 an epidemiologist, I said at once, I'll say it again, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.200 but to me, the data is compelling that children don't 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.720 seem to be super spreaders. And I'm really glad the 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:05.280 reopening has been less um vial and pun intended than 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.600 than people anticipated. Right. We actually had Emily on and 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.600 we did a great story in Blueberg Business Week about 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.760 her and just kind of her background and her thinking. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.400 But we also had her on to talk about her 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.280 work and her research. Yeah, it's interesting. I just did 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.400 a big discussion with a bunch of global real estate leaders, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.880 and you know, there was a consensus, especially when it 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.520 comes to colleges and universities, a feeling of we've got 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.080 to get those students back. I think, you know, the 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:34.040 concern among colleges and universities has been the older professors 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.480 and their exposure. Yeah, and I teaches you you may 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.240 know at Stanford University and University of Chicago, and they've 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.600 been very conservative about zooming. Only for the fall out 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.760 of not concern for potentially me or my age peer group, 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.640 but older professors. And I think that's actually gone better 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.000 than expected from a student learning perspective, at least at 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.559 the graduate level. But I think we do, of course 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.640 have to be most concerned about our most vulnerable population, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.800 and that includes age and other comorbidities or risk factors, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:03.640 and that those are the folks who will likely get 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.719 the vaccine first, as they should. But the question now 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.920 becomes how do we learn to live with it until 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.679 the vaccine is truly widespread by the middle of next year. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.160 And I'm a little bit hopeful in spite of the numbers. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.320 I sided in the beginning that if children aren't the 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.880 super spreaders, and we can at least get kids back 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.920 to school with masks socially distant and safe wave, even 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.480 if it's hybrid learning. Like my my two daughters who 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.800 are under ten, both enjoy than at least civilization and 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:29.800 society as we know it can start to unlock a 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.640 little bit. Hey, listen, you're you know your company you 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.480 have over to un employees are really on the front 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.160 lines of this. In the healthcare system. One of the 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.640 concerns or questions I guess people have is okay, we 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.320 were we, being the U S healthcare system, was you know, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.640 fairly well blindsided by this back in March of last year. 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.480 What have we learned from a healthcare facility perspective? Are 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.439 we in better shape for a potential second wave? I 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.400 talked to our major hospitals. We have forty across the 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.840 country in nine states, and they are better prepared operationally 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:03.920 in terms of PPE and supplies and protocols um. But 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.959 a lot of hospital administrators think about COVID right now 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.720 as a second job. It literally doubles their workloads. So 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.800 I think the bigger risk is not operational prepperedness, but 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:19.040 but burnout amongst frontline providers as well as the administrators, 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.800 because this has taken a major toll on our on 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:24.760 our people. Hey, I want to go back to if 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.200 I may just to listen to education for a moment. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.079 I do wonder if there had been some consensus, some 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.640 you know, overarching guidance from government. I'm not looking to 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.000 get political here, but you know, some rules from the 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.720 government about here's here's some plans and ways to to 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.360 reopen education on a national scale, so that we didn't 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.400 have all these hybrid approaches. Would that been better and 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:52.640 maybe helped get education open up and running sooner and 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.000 more and safely. It may have, But I heard Dr 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.520 Fauci speak to the Economical to Chicago about six weeks 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.360 ago in his response to that question, and was I 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.960 thought the best I've heard, which is we should Our 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.880 federal response should be one of localization. So it doesn't 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.760 matter what states you're in. It should matter what locality 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.760 you're in and what the cases are. Are they on 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:13.840 the rise if you're in a If you're in a 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.400 state where it's on the rise, but your locality is 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.800 no cases of COVID like some of our hospitals in 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.920 Rule Kentucky, then you should be back open. Your kids 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.160 should be in school and masks the social distance thing, 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.120 no matter what the state situation is. Although I don't 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.360 know if Kentucky is a rising state today. But what 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:32.120 I think his answer is the best one. If the 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.280 federal policy had been its hyperlocal decision making on this, 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:41.559 perhaps we would have had more nimble responses. Perhaps, So listen, 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.760 I guess you know, as it relates to these schools 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.920 and so on. I mean, it seems like the virtual 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.840 is working. That's what I've a high school student with 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.560 a kind of a hybrid approach that seems to be 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.760 one of the more successful ones. I think hybrid with 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.400 with some in person and some virtual learning does to 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.880 me also, Paul, seemed like the more successful approach if, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.280 of course, you can flex to pure virtual if there's 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.040 an exposure and if the world is very different comes 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.360 spring and there's a vaccine that's why widely distributed, then 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.439 people could be back. But I am grateful we're back 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.880 hybrid as well. In elementary school. I think the biggest risk, 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.440 because we know, is our college campuses or graduate schools 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.480 where adult young adults are are in concentrated settings and 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:25.480 maybe not taking as many precautions, and that where we 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.760 see a spread. So we'll see you know, Listen, you 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.720 did mention you are teaching. Are you teaching classes right now? 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.880 I'm just curious if you are and how that's going. Yeah, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.280 thanks so much, Carol. I did teach this spring in 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:37.959 the beginning of the pandemic, and I just finished a 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.480 course at Stamford Business School via zoom, of course, and 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.319 it's going well. It's just a different art form when 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.400 you're when you're a professor at a graduate level with 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.679 forty to sixty people in the room, you read the 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.000 room and their body language, as well as probing them 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.680 with the Socratic method. All that can be done via zoom. 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.319 It's just slightly different and it has taken practice, but 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.320 it's gone well. Thank you for asking. So what's you 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.720 know you think about? I have to children in college. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.840 Thankfully it's their last year tuition wise. Um, but they 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.720 both said, yeah, it's not ideal, but we're kind of 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:11.920 getting through it. Um. The only thing, you know, labs 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.520 are a little bit of an issue, but other than that, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:15.920 you know, they were doing a lot of other stuff 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.000 kind of remotely anyway as to get through the later 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.680 years of college. M I think it also depends on 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.800 the nature of the student him or herself. Right, if 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:25.640 this is a self starter, who is going to do 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.720 the work? And still it gets to be in an 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.160 environment with peers, hopefully in a safe environment with peers, 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.040 social distancing and masks wherever possible. I think that it 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.880 can be still really successful. That's a lesser Raps thee 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.120 of the health care solutions company Surgical Solutions, finding ways 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.520 to stay connected with her students despite the pandemic. Check 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.920 out that full interview at Bloomberg dot Com or wherever 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.600 you get your podcast. All right, you're listening to Bloomberg 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.080 Business Week. We talk a lot about the dual crises 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.360 of the pandemic and racism. Our next guest says his 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.280 crisis list includes a third item. We'll check in with 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.840 the new president of George Mason University. This is Bloomberg. 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:09.720 This is Bloomberg Business Week with GARYL. Masser from Bloomberg Radio. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.200 Common themes through many of our interviews on our daily 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.440 radio show understandably continue to be about the two crises 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.280 facing our country, talking about the virus and racial injustice. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.640 For some though, that list is even longer. Take Dr 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.480 Gregory Washington. He became president at George Mason University in July. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.920 Dr Washington spent some time with Bloomberg News Higher Education 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.800 finance reporter Janet Lauren, Paul Sweeney, and me and shared 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.160 what it was like stepping into his job at a really, 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.720 really tough time. We were actually dealing with three crises 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:45.000 and so uh pandemic in our crisis and racial inequity, 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.560 but also we're dealing with a budget crisis because many 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:54.200 states were struggling to support their state universities. And so 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.640 we had a hundred and twenty four million dollar budget 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.720 gap that I had to manage as well. So uh, 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.400 suffice it suffice to say, to take care of the 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:09.560 racial inequity problem required money which I didn't have, right, So, uh, 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:14.040 you know, we tackle the problem as I tackle most 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:17.120 problems as an engineer, right, and in a methodical kind 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:20.680 of way. Right. You you eat an allstand one by 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.760 at a time, and uh, and and you tackle it 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.560 by bringing groups of people together to help you solve 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.000 the problem. And so we establish a task force on 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.960 Racial Inequity and begin and started that task force working 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.600 towards coming up with solutions that we're going to help 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.920 the campus and UH as are makes stud of pandemic. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:46.600 We've put together a separate Safer Return to Campus task 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.600 force that's focused on that and and we've had tremendous 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.560 results in both and and and that is propelling the 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:59.080 institution for at this particular point in time. So, Janet, 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.040 you know Ductor Washington talking about the precarious finances which 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.600 we're hearing across so many different industries, and that includes 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.439 higher education. What's your reporting been generally about what some 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.280 of these big colleges, universities, how they're trying to piece 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.000 it all together. From an economic perspective, Well, it's a 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.400 tough time, partly because revenue isn't what schools are used 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:26.280 to seeing about this time. Uh. Fewer enrollments means less money. Uh, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:30.520 Fewer students on campus means fewer students are paying for 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:35.240 UM storms there there, fewer students are paying for dining services. UM. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.720 They've all had to many of them have had to 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.639 offer refunds for housing when students left in March. UM. 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.160 Now George Mason is bucking the trend a little bit 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.440 in enrollment. We just had some numbers from the National 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.080 Clearinghouse data source which we talked about a decline of 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.000 fourteen percent for freshman enrollment and overall enrollments were down. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.240 But your enrollments were about two percents this year with 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.200 record enrollment. UM. And you talk a little bit about 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.720 how you accomplish that and where those numbers come from, Well, 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:11.159 they primarily come from in state students. And uh, you know, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:16.560 we are the beneficiaries of a region, being at a 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.199 part of the region of the country where uh, the 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:25.160 population is still growing, and that helped us but because 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.600 we actually brought students back to campus, and we did 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:34.159 so in an aggressive way, students didn't uh you know, 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.159 feel the need not to come back. Right there was 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:39.800 if if you could, if you could take all of 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.800 your classes online, or if you were gonna hit be 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.720 hit with exorbitant fees and costs in terms of going 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.320 to school, people started to ask the question, maybe I 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:53.119 should take a gap year, maybe I should take some 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:57.440 time off and not come back. Well, we made it advantageous, 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.320 and we made it uh year to our students that 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.880 we were going to provide an environment for them that 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:10.640 was maybe not quite what they had uh two years ago, 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.640 but something really really close. So we worked really really hard, 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.159 but providing all sorts of ways for students to congregate 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:22.399 safely and for them to enjoy fast food through our 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:26.360 mobile robotic food delivery services from and so we put 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.919 a lot of different uh you know, students can go 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.520 to movies together, they go to we have this large 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.400 drive in movies where students actually can do that together. Uh. 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.240 And and we did lots of virtual kinds of engagements 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.680 with students. We have Tiffany Haddish on campus and other 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.280 kinds of things. So so we've been able to figure 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:49.440 out different ways to basically invent a new normal, which 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.199 is what I think institutions are gonna have to do 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.399 because they're gonna be dealing with the virus in about 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.720 forty five seconds. I mean, how much does this set 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:02.840 you back? This the virus financially well, Love, the reality 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.080 of the situation is it sets inspectremendously. Um, We're we're 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:12.280 talking about a average student twelve thousand dollars per head 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.240 for room and board. And if you and we got 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.480 sixty eight hundred slots, so you just do the mask, 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.400 that's seventy eight million dollars loss and we don't bring 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:25.560 students back to campus and the numbers just go up 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.560 from there. It's a reminder that for all of us, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.920 this has a deep economic cost as well. That's Dr 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.840 Gregory Washington, president at George Mason University with Bloomberg News 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.000 Higher Education finance reporter Janet Lauren. That full conversation, by 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.640 the way, check it out on our podcast feed still 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.560 to come. She has often dubbed the woman who built Beijing. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.520 How China's major cities are getting back to work with 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.639 the CEO and co founder of Soho China. You're listening 0:20:51.680 --> 0:21:00.879 to Bloomberg Business Week, and this is Bloomberg. Is Bloomberg 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.000 Business Week with GARYL. Masser from Bloomberg Radio. This week, 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:07.399 the Milk and Global Conference wrapped up virtually and this 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.920 year's event included a panel that I moderated and talked 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.840 about on our daily radio show, is entitled real Estate 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.639 in the Eye of the Storm that included commercial and 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.679 residential real estate leaders from around the world. One of 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.240 them was Shin Jong. She's co founder and ce of 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.800 Soho China Limited. And while many of us in the 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.280 US are still working from home, as we watched COVID 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.280 cases creep up again, life in China, well, it looks 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.600 a lot like it did pre pandemic. People are back 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.040 to work, a lot of people wear a mask, but largely, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.760 you know, life has gone back to normal. Uh. In 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.360 the earlier time that the first two quarters of this year, 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:50.920 we were checking uh you know where we installed um 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:56.280 infra camera infra thermal to just check uh temperature, body 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.680 temperature every every person come into the building. We don't 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:04.360 even do that anymore because China now has almost zero virus, 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.159 so that's not required anymore. Uh. And you can just 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:10.840 see that. Uh. You know, working life has definitely gone 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.240