Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Him Jason Kelly, and I'm Carol Masser.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Jason,
Speaker 1: it's week twenty seven, still working mostly from home. Our
Speaker 1: show is perfect for a fall weekend. We've got a
Speaker 1: little football, a little beer, a little humor, a little
Speaker 1: political satire, and I gotta say we got a great lineup. Well,
Speaker 1: and it was a great week here at Bloomberg, a
Speaker 1: big week the Bloomberg Green Festival. We're going to hear
Speaker 1: part of your interview with inga Group president and CEO,
Speaker 1: Yesper Brodon, the business case for climate action. Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: got a trifectave mega ceo as you mentioned, I Kea.
Speaker 1: We've also got the CEO of Chipotle, and then we've
Speaker 1: got the co founder and owner of the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 1: All talked with us on our daily radio show about
Speaker 1: core values. Plus the results of our Business Week Best
Speaker 1: B School survey, not a ranking this year. But first
Speaker 1: the cover story all about Facebook. Yeah, and we gotta
Speaker 1: tell you there were some news this week on Facebook.
Speaker 1: The FTC said to be preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit
Speaker 1: against Facebook. They've been investigating the company for more than
Speaker 1: a year. It's really whether the social media giant has
Speaker 1: harmed competition. They could file a case by the end
Speaker 1: of the year. But as you said, the cover story,
Speaker 1: it's got a political take when it comes to Facebook.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News technology reporters Sarah Fryer joined us along with
Speaker 1: the editor of the magazine, Jill Weber. I think it's
Speaker 1: just a compilation of all the things that my colleague
Speaker 1: Kurt Wagner and I have been hearing over the past
Speaker 1: few months and years about how Facebook has increasingly been
Speaker 1: willing to look the other way when members of Trump's
Speaker 1: world break the rules on Facebook. And that's not any
Speaker 1: mistakes the company has. Um you know, the Trump administration
Speaker 1: has leverage over Facebook. They're facing a potential regulation and
Speaker 1: even worse, potential for Trumps to blow up and create
Speaker 1: another bad news cycle. But they are catering to that power,
Speaker 1: and employees are quite concerned about what that means, as
Speaker 1: we had into the November election. So, you know, I think, um,
Speaker 1: Sarah um, the there's a lot of stuff in here,
Speaker 1: and it makes me just think about everything that we've
Speaker 1: kind of observed um about politics and Facebook going back
Speaker 1: to basically ten, where obviously all the concerns were ended
Speaker 1: up being about sort of Russian interference and it's uh
Speaker 1: and its role on on on on manipulating the platform effectively. Um,
Speaker 1: and that is a concern um again, but it's actually
Speaker 1: it seems like the thrust of this might be in
Speaker 1: sort of the Facebook's response to that wasn't necessarily uh
Speaker 1: to to take on that stuff. Um, And they've done it,
Speaker 1: I think a pretty amazing job of at least recognizing
Speaker 1: the ability to spot some of that stuff. But there
Speaker 1: seems to have been sort of a right word drift
Speaker 1: at Facebook, and and that has been um, you know,
Speaker 1: that's obviously the center of the story. Can you talk
Speaker 1: more about where those concerns are rooted in? Right? So,
Speaker 1: after the Russian election, interference fromber Russia was was inserting
Speaker 1: itself into us of polarizing topics like immigration, like race,
Speaker 1: like like feminism. They were building groups on on Facebook
Speaker 1: using people pretending to be Americans who weren't. And what
Speaker 1: Facebook concluded from that is that it wasn't the things
Speaker 1: that the fake people were saying. The problem was just
Speaker 1: that they were fake people. So Facebook really does not
Speaker 1: care if people are trying to manipulate others on Facebook
Speaker 1: and spreading, um sometimes at Variancendiary fake news. They don't
Speaker 1: want to take it down. They only want to get
Speaker 1: get their enforcement into year if there are people behind it,
Speaker 1: if they're breaking other rules. And what that's done is
Speaker 1: it's created this environment where Trump can really test the
Speaker 1: limits of these policies. He's been spreading a lot of
Speaker 1: misinformation about how to vote, telling people things um about
Speaker 1: mail in voting, saying that that would lead to fraud.
Speaker 1: Of course it's not true. Um. He has been using
Speaker 1: Facebook essentially to uh so doubt in the potential results
Speaker 1: of the election. And Facebook has said, well, I know
Speaker 1: we said that we cared about voting misinformation, but we
Speaker 1: don't think that Trump is breaking our rules, and we
Speaker 1: don't want to take down anything from a politician. So simply,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to ask Sarah, is Mark Zuckerberg
Speaker 1: courting the president and and what's great about your stories?
Speaker 1: You did some really inside reporting talking to employees who
Speaker 1: have worked at the company and seen, you know, some
Speaker 1: of the policies that they have done, and and kind
Speaker 1: of what they've been focusing on, but is Zuckerberg courting
Speaker 1: the president? Well, he's not a Trump Republican. What he
Speaker 1: is is interested in power and dominance for Facebook, and
Speaker 1: that requires the support of people in power. And that's
Speaker 1: not just in the US. We've seen this in many
Speaker 1: countries throughout the world. Facebook always helped out the government
Speaker 1: in charge, caters to their concerns and in some cases,
Speaker 1: you know, give them face time with Zuckerberg, lets them
Speaker 1: break rules that they wouldn't let them break if they
Speaker 1: weren't powerful. And what employees are concerned about is that
Speaker 1: this is actually having this unbalanced effect on what face
Speaker 1: with users see and how they are informed about the election.
Speaker 1: One example that m that we learned for the story
Speaker 1: is that there were a lot of changes to the
Speaker 1: new speed after seen presidential elections to try to reduce
Speaker 1: the amount of incendiary and untrustworthy knews because that was
Speaker 1: one of the big problem. Well, Facebook tested the potential
Speaker 1: outcome of an algorithm change, and the policy team reviewed
Speaker 1: that and thought, well, this is this is hurting the
Speaker 1: traffic for conservative outlets too much, And that was Bloomberg
Speaker 1: News technology reporter Sarah Friar All Things Facebook is her
Speaker 1: beat and editor Joel Weber. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we had to the Bloomberg Green Festival. We
Speaker 1: go from social media to social consciousness. We get the
Speaker 1: business case for climate change from the head of Akia.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week. Well, a big week here at Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Green Festival, across the entire week, some amazing conversations,
Speaker 1: including yours with the Swedish company we all know, yeah,
Speaker 1: we certainly do. We're talking about yes Burgh Browed and
Speaker 1: he's the presidency of the inca group home to some
Speaker 1: three seventy four Akiat wars in thirty countries. I talked
Speaker 1: with him about the business case for climate change, which
Speaker 1: he definitely made. But we began with what life has
Speaker 1: been like amid COVID nineteen this year for us, like
Speaker 1: for everybody on this planet, we have been through a
Speaker 1: very special journey this year, and I must admit us
Speaker 1: I share with you too, to be traveling again. I
Speaker 1: felt a bit like the old movie Castaway when coming
Speaker 1: back to the office seeing people, um and enjoying that also,
Speaker 1: I must say at the same time, obviously, UM, we
Speaker 1: just like everybody else, have figured out new ways of leading.
Speaker 1: We have figured out that we we didn't have a
Speaker 1: map for this situation, but we had a very strong
Speaker 1: compass I think with the way we like to lead
Speaker 1: and our values that helped us. Actually I think take
Speaker 1: many good decisions. But it's been a ride. It's been
Speaker 1: a ride, no doubt about it. It's interesting that you
Speaker 1: say that, and we're going to get into kind of
Speaker 1: your sustainability strategy that is so much the IKEA and
Speaker 1: corporate culture here. But I do wonder having so many
Speaker 1: of those measures in place, are there any specific anecdotes
Speaker 1: that you can tell us that help you guys get
Speaker 1: through this crisis because of those green initiatives or sustainable initiatives. Well,
Speaker 1: you can say, I think the it's all enter tangled, right, people,
Speaker 1: plan at and business and you can't take out any
Speaker 1: of these from the equation. So what happened obviously to
Speaker 1: us was that we had periods of dramatic closures in
Speaker 1: our stores and we had to find ways to to
Speaker 1: both protect ourselves, are people, our customers, uh, and then
Speaker 1: on the other hand, we had to make sure that
Speaker 1: we could save the jobs for the future. And the
Speaker 1: way what actually happened in the end of the day
Speaker 1: was that we were speeding up everything around multi channel
Speaker 1: and online and we went from a good year to
Speaker 1: a record loss forecast to actually coming back on half
Speaker 1: of our estimate the profit in the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and that was thanks to I think entrepreneurship of getting
Speaker 1: things right quickly. Do you think we're through it? Do
Speaker 1: you are you guys getting ready for another wave? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I think at a certain moment we were.
Speaker 1: We worked quite early on forecasting different scenarios and the
Speaker 1: period that we have just entered we called the new normal.
Speaker 1: And I think it's a bit of a deceptive term
Speaker 1: in a way, because the way we see it is
Speaker 1: that for at least a year to come, we need
Speaker 1: to be very agile, very prepared for outbreaks. I think
Speaker 1: the term second wave could be misunderstood. So we like
Speaker 1: to plan for outbreaks and how to deal with that
Speaker 1: in the best possible way, both for jobs, for business,
Speaker 1: uh and for everything we do in society and contribute to.
Speaker 1: And obviously it's clear for all of us that you
Speaker 1: know one year later again it's still going to be learning.
Speaker 1: There will be things that we will be um you know,
Speaker 1: doing differently, and that will be a lot of I
Speaker 1: think amazing things that we can carry with us from
Speaker 1: this period as well, hopefully including the way we realize
Speaker 1: the importance of investment in sustainability and the opportunity of
Speaker 1: doing that right. Well, let's get to that, because despite
Speaker 1: this being a crazy year, a tumultuous year, you guys
Speaker 1: are on track to achieve and exceed a goal to
Speaker 1: produce as much energy from renewable sources as you consume.
Speaker 1: By you have made massive investments about two and a
Speaker 1: half billion euro in wind and solar power. You've set
Speaker 1: a goal to be climate positive, meaning you're going to
Speaker 1: reduce more gas emissions than you admit you are in
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to electric a hundred percent
Speaker 1: electric a hundred percent at the time, ahead of targets,
Speaker 1: when it comes to deliveries and Shanghai by e vs
Speaker 1: um you're doing that in Amsterdam, l A, New York, Paris.
Speaker 1: And here's something a goal for everyone who's listening. By
Speaker 1: you guys have set your ambition is to inspire and
Speaker 1: enable one billion people to live a better everyday life
Speaker 1: within the limits of the planet. It's really heavy stuff
Speaker 1: and it's impactful stuff. How tough has this been to do?
Speaker 1: And what has been the business case for climate change
Speaker 1: where you are? If you look at the i q
Speaker 1: S history, you can say we started out with the
Speaker 1: founder that was a very thrifty person, very smart around resources,
Speaker 1: and I think that's part of our stories. So part
Speaker 1: of this you know that sustainability and being being smart
Speaker 1: about people and planet is part of our legacy. My
Speaker 1: own story started back in nine the company when I
Speaker 1: joined in Asia Pacific. At the time when we invested
Speaker 1: in I think what is still today an amazing code
Speaker 1: of conduct when it comes to production. Those days we
Speaker 1: had some discussions about can we afford it will drive
Speaker 1: costs to do the right thing with working hours, salaries, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And in the end of the day it turned out
Speaker 1: to be brilliant for business. We have the most efficient partners,
Speaker 1: happy coworkers along etcetera. So I think we already then
Speaker 1: we we saw some myths that were we needed to bust.
Speaker 1: And the same goes for for the climate. The ghost
Speaker 1: that we have committed to where we we do not
Speaker 1: have all the answers yet, so we still have some
Speaker 1: gaps to be filled to coming years. But we are
Speaker 1: convinced that this is good business for three reasons, or
Speaker 1: you can say for two reasons. One is that I
Speaker 1: coworkers and our customers expect us to take the lead,
Speaker 1: so it would be I would say dangerous to not
Speaker 1: take that lead from from your revenue side. But secularly,
Speaker 1: the business model we are building is the new low
Speaker 1: cost so sustainability shows in case by case to be
Speaker 1: there the way we will provide low price furniture in
Speaker 1: the future. You say, you know a couple of things.
Speaker 1: You said it was brilliant for the company, So I'm
Speaker 1: wondering if you can put some numbers on that in
Speaker 1: terms of the business case for doing all of this.
Speaker 1: But I also wonder you said myths to bust because
Speaker 1: I can only imagine some of the internal you know discussions. Yes,
Speaker 1: for that, you folks had it said no, we can't
Speaker 1: do that. I know it's good for the environment, but
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna cost too much or we can't
Speaker 1: recreate our supply Chaine. So give me a little bit
Speaker 1: of that that feel. But absolutely I think the best
Speaker 1: number I can give you is that last year, we're
Speaker 1: very happy and proud that we were able to grow
Speaker 1: with some six percent plus, which is a good at
Speaker 1: decent packing a year, and at the same time we
Speaker 1: reduced our absolute corbon footprint across the whole scope one,
Speaker 1: two and three with more than four percent, so it
Speaker 1: was possible to show healthy growth and at the same
Speaker 1: time decarbonize if you like. Obviously, we are very humble
Speaker 1: and respectful to the future to continue that journey with
Speaker 1: the plan. But that was the I think, the first
Speaker 1: year of proof for us. But then you can say
Speaker 1: to the myths. I think there are three myths that
Speaker 1: I see over and over again. One is that purpose
Speaker 1: and profit don't go hand in hand, which I think
Speaker 1: and we think is the opposite. And there is a
Speaker 1: very strong if that sustainability should come at the premium,
Speaker 1: which I think is very dangerous because then this is
Speaker 1: a US movement that needs to involve everybody on this planet,
Speaker 1: so therefore it should be rather seeen as the new
Speaker 1: low cost. And finally, there are a lot of myths
Speaker 1: around that consumption is all bad, and there is bad consumption,
Speaker 1: but there is also sustainable consumption, and that's president and
Speaker 1: CEO of the Inky Group. Yes, b broad and great conversation, Carl,
Speaker 1: thank you well, you're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Still
Speaker 1: to come, another company were sustainabilities at the core of
Speaker 1: its business. We check in with the CEO of Chippotle.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. In this week's magazine,
Speaker 1: another edition of Business Week Talks, we caught up with
Speaker 1: the CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill. We're talking about Brian Nicol,
Speaker 1: and we talked with him about the tightness in the
Speaker 1: labor market that he's seeing and how restaurants are faring
Speaker 1: during the pandemic. We're not seeing um an issue with
Speaker 1: applicant flow, you know, We're continue to see great access
Speaker 1: to great talent um And you know, I think one
Speaker 1: of the things why people are really drawn to Full
Speaker 1: is we have a tremendous growth story. So it's always
Speaker 1: fun to be a part of a company that when
Speaker 1: you think about I'm joining today and this company, could
Speaker 1: you know, triple in revenue over the next decade, you know,
Speaker 1: double store a count, you know, go from twenty seven
Speaker 1: hundred restaurants to five six thousand restaurants. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they're really excited about all the growth right our our
Speaker 1: thing about our digital business. We we went from you know,
Speaker 1: a couple hundred million dollars to this year will be
Speaker 1: about like two point four billion dollars worth of digital business.
Speaker 1: And people love to be a part of companies that
Speaker 1: have growth. And then what really attracts them here is
Speaker 1: they feel like it's very much aligned with their personal values.
Speaker 1: So they love the growth, they love the values, and
Speaker 1: they're excited to be a part of what our future is.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I keep telling our team, let's
Speaker 1: just make sure we're hiring the best possible people, but
Speaker 1: let's also make sure we're hiring the best possible people
Speaker 1: that really believe in our purpose and our values. And
Speaker 1: that's where I think we really strike gold. Why do
Speaker 1: you think Chipotle has been so successful boosting sales in
Speaker 1: its digital delivery and delivery business. You guys have just
Speaker 1: done really well. As you talked about some of the
Speaker 1: numbers and some of the growth, it's pretty impressive. Why
Speaker 1: do you think it's worked so well? You know, I
Speaker 1: think we have been very focused on keeping the digital
Speaker 1: execution really simple and mirroring the same experience you get
Speaker 1: when you come into our restaurants. So you know, we've
Speaker 1: tried very hard to give you a digital experience that
Speaker 1: frankly is almost identical too as if you were in
Speaker 1: our restaurant moving down the line picking out, you know,
Speaker 1: how you want to make your bowl or burrito. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've stayed very committed to keeping it simple.
Speaker 1: You know, over and over again what I hear people
Speaker 1: say is, wow, I love your app. It's so easy
Speaker 1: to use, and then it's so easy to actually get
Speaker 1: the food when it's time to pick it up. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, just the aspect of keeping it very simple,
Speaker 1: really convenient. And then you know, this has always been
Speaker 1: at the core ruptable. They were really fast and we're
Speaker 1: tremendous value. So we've just given people another access mode
Speaker 1: to get great culinary, great ingredients done exactly how they
Speaker 1: want it, and uh, you know, at a tremendous value.
Speaker 1: So it's it's working out really well because if you
Speaker 1: want to order ahead, grab it and go, if you
Speaker 1: need it delivered, we can deliver it. If you want
Speaker 1: to run in, move down the line and have that
Speaker 1: eye to eye, you know, contact, so you get the
Speaker 1: brito exactly the way you want it. Um, we have
Speaker 1: all these avenues available for you, and but at the
Speaker 1: core of it is great ingredients, great culinary and then
Speaker 1: you end up with just delicious burritos and bowls. So
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, we are
Speaker 1: still a restaurant company that is committed to changing food culture. Hey, bron,
Speaker 1: you know back in March you did say to me
Speaker 1: that you thought digital could be about of your business
Speaker 1: and be a multibillion dollar business over the next three
Speaker 1: to five years. That still feel about real and likely
Speaker 1: or even more perhaps Well, well, yeah, you know, and
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately Carol, that was before it became eight
Speaker 1: of our business. Um for a time there. But you
Speaker 1: know you probably saw on our most recent earnings report
Speaker 1: we're in that forty range and uh, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: that will continue to fluctuate as the dining rooms reopen.
Speaker 1: But I definitely think our digital business is going to
Speaker 1: stay around as our dining room business comes back, So
Speaker 1: it'll stay among that level you think. I think there's
Speaker 1: a real possibility that's where it could stick. Yeah, So listen,
Speaker 1: one thing I got to ask you Brian is and
Speaker 1: I know, um all the CEO as we talked to,
Speaker 1: they don't have a ton of visibility at this point. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I do wonder what metrics do you look at? Is
Speaker 1: it consumer data points? Is it you know, the app,
Speaker 1: the digital what are you looking at to get an
Speaker 1: idea of how healthy the consumer is? Um? And maybe
Speaker 1: what the rest of looks like at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're exactly right, Carol, there's a lot of uncertainty. I'm
Speaker 1: sure if you talk to a lot of my peers
Speaker 1: that we could rattle off the list of all the
Speaker 1: uncertainties in front of us. What we've decided to really
Speaker 1: stay focused on is Okay, what can what are the
Speaker 1: things we can control? And the things we can control
Speaker 1: is making sure that we have a really safe environment
Speaker 1: for employees to work in, a safe environment that our
Speaker 1: customers believe in and trust. UM. We know if we
Speaker 1: do those two things, uh, we continue to get people's
Speaker 1: trust and then ultimately their business around their meal occasions.
Speaker 1: And so we continue to really monitor how we as
Speaker 1: a brand are doing on the things that we can control.
Speaker 1: You know, are we doing a good job of communicating
Speaker 1: the safety or we're doing a good job of communicating
Speaker 1: why you can feel great about these ingredients, why you
Speaker 1: can feel great about getting that grido or bowl from
Speaker 1: Chipotle UM. And then obviously we're paying attention to a
Speaker 1: lot of the macros to understand the health of the
Speaker 1: consumer um And you know, obviously, depending on where you
Speaker 1: are in the country, we're seeing a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: But you know, for the most part, customers and consumers
Speaker 1: are still wanting to order food out. And that's Chipotle
Speaker 1: CEO Brian Nichol. You can hear more of that conversation
Speaker 1: on our podcast feed. It's our latest business week talks.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Up next. He co
Speaker 1: created an S and P five hundred company that is
Speaker 1: a well known brand. He owns an NFL team, and
Speaker 1: he has some thoughts on running a good company. Talking
Speaker 1: about Arthur Blanks sploiler alert, This is Bloomberg. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. So one of our favorite interviews, no doubt
Speaker 1: about it, of the week was Arthur Blank Man Jason,
Speaker 1: he were so many different hats, of course, co founder
Speaker 1: of Home Depot, owner of the Atlanta Falcons of MLSS,
Speaker 1: Atlanta United, PGA, Tour Superstores, Paradise Valley Ranches. Man. This
Speaker 1: is a very very busy guy. He is, indeed, and
Speaker 1: really he has emerged and I have watched this pretty
Speaker 1: up close over the last years. Carol obviously going from
Speaker 1: being a very successful businessman, one of the best known
Speaker 1: companies in the country, one that we look at as
Speaker 1: really an economic indicator in many ways, to being a
Speaker 1: true community leader because being a sports team owner it's
Speaker 1: not a sidelight anymore. It is more than a full
Speaker 1: time job. And listen, and I'm biased here. Atlanta is
Speaker 1: an incredibly important city. So much has gone on of late.
Speaker 1: It is the cradle of the civil rights movement. He
Speaker 1: was good friends with the late John Lewis and his
Speaker 1: new book Good Company. I think it's not a coincidence
Speaker 1: that it echoes John Lewis's Good Trouble. But we of
Speaker 1: course had to start. Of course, we have to start
Speaker 1: talking about football because football is back, the NFL. It
Speaker 1: got kicked off this past weekend. We have made all
Speaker 1: of our decisions um based on what scientists of telling us,
Speaker 1: what medicals telling us, what the CDC style in US etcetera.
Speaker 1: And we've stayed out of the you know, the the
Speaker 1: the opinion business. Um. You know, there's nobody in the NFL,
Speaker 1: certainly at the league office or in any clubs that
Speaker 1: know better than you know all of these the experts
Speaker 1: that are on our staffs and consultants and advisory positions
Speaker 1: that we worked with. So they've given us great council
Speaker 1: and we followed it, um, and we've asked all of
Speaker 1: our players to follow it, and they've done a great
Speaker 1: job in doing that. What are you most worried about
Speaker 1: as the next couple of weeks unfold here? Arthur, Well,
Speaker 1: I think the dangerous you just follow the course of
Speaker 1: the question you guys have is that you know, now
Speaker 1: we're beginning to travel, and I think that you know,
Speaker 1: the risk goes up when we, you know, we travel,
Speaker 1: although you know, we all exclude juice, you know, chotted planes,
Speaker 1: private planes, things of that nature. So and again they've
Speaker 1: been very careful with all the protocols and who's in
Speaker 1: the team, hotels, who's not in a team hotels, etcetera.
Speaker 1: But once you start to travel, you know, we know
Speaker 1: that personally, but we also know it as organizations. In
Speaker 1: this case, professional football teams that that will be the
Speaker 1: case as well. So you know, I think we'll be
Speaker 1: in good in good stead, there's always your risk, uh.
Speaker 1: And given the highly contagious nature of this disease, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, if you have a breakout, you have a
Speaker 1: breakout with some of that in baseball and in some
Speaker 1: other sports as well. So we u we haven't seen
Speaker 1: that yet in the NFL. And hopefully we start our season,
Speaker 1: will be able to complete our season and play your
Speaker 1: Super Bowl in Tampa Bay in February. That would be
Speaker 1: so wonderful. And you know what's um really refreshing is
Speaker 1: it's it's you know, you when you don't like somebody
Speaker 1: to tell us, and when there's tough situations, you tell us.
Speaker 1: And it's also very relevant to today in terms of inequalities, injustices, racism. Um,
Speaker 1: it's all here. You deal with it. Well, I think
Speaker 1: I think that's very true. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting is that, Um, we started the book about
Speaker 1: four years ago, so that was before the pandemic, before
Speaker 1: the crunch from an economic standpoint, before the social unrest
Speaker 1: and everything else. That our country is all the polization
Speaker 1: that we're that we're seeing today and feeling today in
Speaker 1: our country. So but it's very appropriate for for these
Speaker 1: for these times because essentially what the what the book
Speaker 1: is really suggesting is that the six course set of
Speaker 1: values that we've built HD with a home depot with
Speaker 1: and still forty forty two years later, as they're still
Speaker 1: driving the company's incredible success, that we've been able to
Speaker 1: translate to a football team of soccer team, guest ranches, PGA, business, etcetera,
Speaker 1: and uh and get the same kind of financial performance,
Speaker 1: but also yet on an equally weighted uh dumbbell if
Speaker 1: you will, or or you know, wait, if you will
Speaker 1: associate driven purpose businesses, So our associates, our communities, people
Speaker 1: were serving guest fans, customers, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: You know, they feel like, um, there's UH, We're making
Speaker 1: the right decision for the right reasons, based on a
Speaker 1: based on a pillar set of values. Now, the applications
Speaker 1: may change from time to time because the environment changes
Speaker 1: and the context changes, but those those core values are
Speaker 1: really the same and UH they make decision making a
Speaker 1: lot simpler, and they bring us to the right place.
Speaker 1: And as my mother would tell me for many many years,
Speaker 1: do the right things for the right reasons to live
Speaker 1: with the consequences. The book really talks about a lot
Speaker 1: of that, and frankly, our younger populations today are really
Speaker 1: demanding that. Um, they want a life and not only
Speaker 1: purpose for themselves, but you know, how do I serve humanity? Um?
Speaker 1: They're seeing that across the board. Example of that is
Speaker 1: UH the program which started Yale University by Dr Lori
Speaker 1: santos Son. Kids were demanding, like, you know, I'm not happy.
Speaker 1: I have all these things in life, but I don't
Speaker 1: feel comfortable. I don't feel as fulfilled as I should feel.
Speaker 1: Started out with thirty students are now a quarter of
Speaker 1: the student body at Yale University. Two or five years
Speaker 1: old takes that class on a voluntary basis. Had similar
Speaker 1: similar applications across the country. But our young people today
Speaker 1: are are demanding more out of you know what, just
Speaker 1: just the bottom line. I want to see a bottom
Speaker 1: line of life as well. And I think these values
Speaker 1: that we described and stories and thoughts and sharings and
Speaker 1: practical applications always that young people can feel this is
Speaker 1: purpose as well. I'm serving not just myself and my family,
Speaker 1: but serving humanity and serving my neighbors. If you will,
Speaker 1: what and and Arthur, it's interesting to hear you put
Speaker 1: it in that framework, especially talking to you from Atlanta,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, the cradle of the civil rights movement,
Speaker 1: where young people have driven the conversation. They're driving it now.
Speaker 1: And there was a young man who ultimately became a
Speaker 1: friend of yours, who was evoked either intentionally or unintentionally.
Speaker 1: I think, and you can talk about it. When I
Speaker 1: hear good Company, I think of good Trouble, and I
Speaker 1: think of John Lewis h And I know he was
Speaker 1: a friend of yours and and and and sort of
Speaker 1: a partner in many ways. What have you learned in
Speaker 1: Atlanta and what have you learned of late about where
Speaker 1: we are right now in those conversation around the quality
Speaker 1: you know, I I appreciate the question, and if Congressman
Speaker 1: Lewis with us, he would appreciate the question. So when
Speaker 1: we were in the proceeds of this book all go
Speaker 1: to the National Civil Human Rights Museum, which is based
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, and that was part when we hosted the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl in two thousand and seventeen. We we actually
Speaker 1: we use that facility and all of the owners of
Speaker 1: management from the NFL players went through that facility, but
Speaker 1: on my left and on my right. Congressman Lewis was
Speaker 1: on my right, and Ambassador Young was on my left.
Speaker 1: About a month before John Lewis passed, um, we had
Speaker 1: a long conversation he did with our socialists and with myself,
Speaker 1: and he said to me, you know we've made you know,
Speaker 1: since the fifties and sixties, we have made a lot
Speaker 1: of progress. Is where it needs to be? The answer
Speaker 1: was no, we need to have a greater sense of urgency,
Speaker 1: but we need to acknowledge at least the progress that
Speaker 1: we've made. We need to have a greater sense of
Speaker 1: urgency dealing with these issues today. But I have great
Speaker 1: hope at the American population, American civilization will respond and
Speaker 1: respond in a positive way. Separately, about a week later,
Speaker 1: I spoke to Andy Young said exactly the same thing
Speaker 1: to me, exactly the same worries. These are both disciples
Speaker 1: of Dr King who you know who walked with him
Speaker 1: and spend time with them, etcetera. So you know where
Speaker 1: I am. I I feel like these uh, these calls
Speaker 1: to our sensibilities and and to balance in our lives
Speaker 1: into and to these things that we're protesting about I
Speaker 1: think a very real and I and I I support him,
Speaker 1: I salute him. I don't support and salute any any
Speaker 1: sort of any sort of violence, any sort of chaos
Speaker 1: that that we see. And you know, the last book
Speaker 1: that Dr King wrote, which was never published, is published
Speaker 1: when he was alive, as published you have, he passed
Speaker 1: away by Coretta, his wife, was dealing with community or chaos.
Speaker 1: And that's where our country is today all these years later,
Speaker 1: community of chaos. And I think the answer, you know,
Speaker 1: for us, for me is really commune and finding the
Speaker 1: way to you know, to bring things together in a
Speaker 1: more purposeful way, in a more collaborative way, crossing aisles
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be. And the book in a sense,
Speaker 1: it deals with that deals with values that don't have
Speaker 1: to do with you know, red and blue. It has
Speaker 1: to do with you know, doing the right things for
Speaker 1: the right reasons by every human being that we're connected to,
Speaker 1: who were serving the big case guest fans and customers
Speaker 1: with our associates, and being sensitive to the communities that
Speaker 1: we live in. Well, go ahead, no, please, are one
Speaker 1: getting one quick example post the book? Um, we've we
Speaker 1: operate these guest ranches in Montana. Two of them. One
Speaker 1: has opened to the public, owners opened up to use
Speaker 1: it for nonprofit work and um, you know, a variety
Speaker 1: of conferences, et cetera. And uh be closing both of
Speaker 1: the summer they're both were The one has been operating
Speaker 1: for over one hundred years, the first time it's ever
Speaker 1: been closed. And we did it. I mean, we knew
Speaker 1: that seventy of our associates come from out of state.
Speaker 1: We knew that a hard percent of our guests come
Speaker 1: from out of state. We knew that these communities that
Speaker 1: are nearby, these so called gateway communities that go into
Speaker 1: Yellowstone Park, Um, we're could be affected. And so you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't it was a sad decision, but it was
Speaker 1: an easy decision based on these values we talked about
Speaker 1: in the book. And of course that's Arthur Blanco, founder,
Speaker 1: home depot owner of the Atlanta falcons Man. This guy
Speaker 1: is so interesting and I gotta say his book, Jason
Speaker 1: good company, but I love about it. It is so relevant.
Speaker 1: He deals with all of those topics in terms of
Speaker 1: inequalities and racism that we're dealing with today. Well, and
Speaker 1: we both got a chance to read the book and
Speaker 1: let's be honest, You and I get a lot of
Speaker 1: books said to us, we have to do a lot
Speaker 1: of these interviews. His is quite captivating, in part because
Speaker 1: it's so candid. I also had a chance to catch
Speaker 1: up with him for our Business of Sports podcast a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago when the book launched, and I
Speaker 1: will tell you he is incredibly thoughtful. He is very
Speaker 1: real in a way that you might not expect for
Speaker 1: someone who has been this successful. He owns his mistakes
Speaker 1: and he also knows that what he's doing in business,
Speaker 1: especially as a sports owner, it is complicated. He is
Speaker 1: a steward. He is someone who has to care about
Speaker 1: the community, and he has to care about his city
Speaker 1: in a very very holistic way. Yeah, and man, what
Speaker 1: do he had to say about this time right now?
Speaker 1: Just such a difficult one one that I think, you know,
Speaker 1: as we all know, we're kind of saying, one of
Speaker 1: the most difficult times that we've ever lived through. So
Speaker 1: great to check in with him. And that wraps up
Speaker 1: the first hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm Carol
Speaker 1: Masser Morehead. In our next hour, including a continuation of
Speaker 1: that conversation we had with Arthur Blank. We pivot a
Speaker 1: bit to go deeper into the issues of racial injustice
Speaker 1: across the country. We check in with the US Chief
Speaker 1: Operating Officer for Edelman, a woman who also leads their
Speaker 1: Washington d C. Office, talking about Lisa Ross, and then
Speaker 1: Jason on a ladder note, We've got a little B school,
Speaker 1: a little beer, and a bunch of humor. That's all ahead.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. And I'm Jason Kelly.
Speaker 1: Plenty ahead for you in this hour of the weekend
Speaker 1: edition of Bloomberg Business Week. That's right, Jason, We've got
Speaker 1: a surprise from B School students, the fight for racial
Speaker 1: justice with Edelman's U s CE and head of its
Speaker 1: DC operations. And then the joint venture that links up
Speaker 1: two family owned beer dynasties. This was a fascinating conversation.
Speaker 1: So many families, so much beer. Plus we probably should
Speaker 1: all be grounded without TV for least a month. Author
Speaker 1: and political center is p J. O'Rourke, longtime fan, first
Speaker 1: time color I'm talking about myself here. He's got a
Speaker 1: new book, A Cry from the Far Middle. First, though,
Speaker 1: we caught up this week with Dr miriam A. Lovy.
Speaker 1: She is the dean of the Sheller College of Business
Speaker 1: at Georgia Tech. She's also a professor of Information Technology Management.
Speaker 1: We talked with her about what getting back to school
Speaker 1: is like on her campus. Most of our classes that
Speaker 1: are draw being taught in a hybrid mode, which means
Speaker 1: it's a combination shot off online and in person classes,
Speaker 1: where in person classes are really smaller to be able
Speaker 1: to keep everyone safe and be able to have a
Speaker 1: social distancing in a classroom environment. And that was Maria Malave,
Speaker 1: Deana the Sheller College of Business at Georgia Tech, and
Speaker 1: Jason Will. We normally released an annual ranking of business
Speaker 1: schools around this time this year, and in this environment, well,
Speaker 1: we just couldn't because of the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So instead we asked a bunch of questions and the
Speaker 1: results definitely surprised our team. We got the details from
Speaker 1: Caleb Solomon, our pal. He is senior editor over at
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News. He's responsible for the magazine's coverage of the
Speaker 1: world's best business schools and it's well respected annual rankings.
Speaker 1: You didn't think the ranking made since this year that
Speaker 1: the pandemic overwhelmed everything and overwhelmed schools in different ways
Speaker 1: at different times. So we focused on what the story was,
Speaker 1: which was this dramatic shift to online learning. And so
Speaker 1: we instead of thinking, we surveyed NBA students to try
Speaker 1: to get some basic answers to really important questions that
Speaker 1: we all have and unfortunately still all have, because you know,
Speaker 1: so much of higher education is still either fully or
Speaker 1: partially online right now. So we wanted to know what
Speaker 1: works with online teaching, what doesn't, what should continue even
Speaker 1: after the pandemic, what needs to stop immediately, and you know,
Speaker 1: we came up with some surprising results, So tell us
Speaker 1: about that. And the online learning piece, especially, I think
Speaker 1: is of as you point out, is a huge interest
Speaker 1: to to all of us, but especially for people who
Speaker 1: are paying tens of thousands, in some cases a couple
Speaker 1: of hundred thousand dollars to go to business school. Exactly
Speaker 1: that I mean, And we focused a lot on the
Speaker 1: tuition and costs, and so rather than just asking, you know,
Speaker 1: is it was it worth? Was it worth the price?
Speaker 1: That you want to everything to stay online or to
Speaker 1: be fully in its physical classes. We tried to be
Speaker 1: a little more subtle, and what we found is that
Speaker 1: over half of the students we surveyed would be willing
Speaker 1: to take a portion of their courses online in exchange
Speaker 1: for tuition cuts. And so the big book the most
Speaker 1: the biggest thing we came up was cut intuition would
Speaker 1: satisfy over half of the students we surveyed. If you
Speaker 1: know the rest of those courses were online. That's significant,
Speaker 1: it is. It was really surprising, and there were more so.
Speaker 1: The willingness to accept online courses, especially where the tuition
Speaker 1: cut was was the most profound thing we came across.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, don't get me wrong, there
Speaker 1: was no single response to this survey. A good chunk
Speaker 1: forty something percent said I don't want any online classes
Speaker 1: at all. It's horrible, it's it's it's it's cheating me
Speaker 1: to do it that way. It's interesting because I think
Speaker 1: about business schools, and that's from the programs I know about.
Speaker 1: I worked at Columbia for a long time, but we've
Speaker 1: also been visiting them, you know, with you uh and
Speaker 1: doing a lot of remote coverage for TV and radio
Speaker 1: and talking to professor's students deaned you know, and really
Speaker 1: prominent alumni. But the whole idea is it's you've got
Speaker 1: people from all over the world together in classrooms working
Speaker 1: on projects. I mean, that's that collaborative effort um that
Speaker 1: back and forth face to face is such a big
Speaker 1: part of it. The experience it is next came up
Speaker 1: a lot that sort of you know what we call
Speaker 1: the networking opportunities that you just lose a lot when
Speaker 1: you're not doing a face to face when there which
Speaker 1: fellow students or alumni or employers. The flip side of
Speaker 1: it is, you know, we're we're all struggling and dealing work,
Speaker 1: many of us working at home. Probably some of us
Speaker 1: will continue to work at home regardless. So we are
Speaker 1: working in a digital space. We are working in teams
Speaker 1: on zoom, and so having a business school you have
Speaker 1: to figure out how to do that well that we
Speaker 1: know where things could happen for a career. And so
Speaker 1: Caleb going through all of this and knowing the intricacies
Speaker 1: of the education, knowing as many people as you do
Speaker 1: when you're in constant contact with folks at all levels,
Speaker 1: right up to the to the deans, what was your takeaway?
Speaker 1: I mean, what what is what has changed and maybe
Speaker 1: more importantly, what is lasting for business schools as we
Speaker 1: work our way through this pandemic. In your estimation, I
Speaker 1: think elements of what everybody is going through will definitely
Speaker 1: stay with us. So, for instance, again a surprise to
Speaker 1: us recorded classes, which sounds a little bit like the
Speaker 1: dullest thing you can imagine to have to sit through.
Speaker 1: For certain people and for certain uses, they were really popular.
Speaker 1: Basic things like you you were sick, you had a
Speaker 1: job interview. But even more importantly a lot of the
Speaker 1: students told us they like recorded classes to get away,
Speaker 1: get get the sort of the basics, you know, stuff
Speaker 1: you had to know out of the way, and then
Speaker 1: you could actually use the classroom itself to have important
Speaker 1: discussions and conversations. Um, that's rich, that's rich, right. Think
Speaker 1: about that, right, It's like your basic stuff you just
Speaker 1: you kind of go through a tutorial to some extent
Speaker 1: right online, and then you come to class and everybody's
Speaker 1: kind of armed for you know, smarter and a higher
Speaker 1: level discussion. That's pretty cool. It is cool, and so
Speaker 1: and then also think about some of it you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're familiar to some of the harder, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the more technically oriented courses finance accounting. Let's
Speaker 1: say it's an hour and a half of a class,
Speaker 1: but you know you need to understand the first twenty
Speaker 1: minutes to get to the next twenty to the next twenty.
Speaker 1: If you're struggling with the first twenty, you can watch
Speaker 1: it again and again until you get it. Likewise, if
Speaker 1: you already know that, you can breeze through it and
Speaker 1: the rest of the course will be done with it faster,
Speaker 1: at your own pace. And that had that had a
Speaker 1: lot of appeal, And it's hard to think why wouldn't
Speaker 1: that stay? And that was Caleb Solomon, Senior editor at
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News. He's responsible for the great coverage in the
Speaker 1: magazine all about the world's best business schools. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up, we dig into the
Speaker 1: fight for racial justice in America. This is Bloomberg. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. Well, Carol tomins themes through just about
Speaker 1: every one of our daily Bloomberg Business Week shows. Understandably
Speaker 1: they're about these dual pandemics, the virus and the quest
Speaker 1: for racial justice. And on this Jason, we caught up
Speaker 1: with Lisa Ross at the public relations giant Edelman, where
Speaker 1: she is US chief operating Officer. She also leads Edelman's Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. Office. She's president there. She also held several
Speaker 1: roles in the Clinton administration in the Labor Department, and
Speaker 1: she was a member of the inaugural team of the
Speaker 1: White House Office of Women's Initiatives and Outrage. It's a
Speaker 1: great voice to check in with media fuels racism. Sixty
Speaker 1: two of all of those polls said that in covering
Speaker 1: the demonstrations against racial injustice, the news media has focused
Speaker 1: on rioting at the expense of peaceful protests. So I
Speaker 1: think that's something that people have felt, um, something that's
Speaker 1: been alluded to, but um, this research indicates that that
Speaker 1: is actually true. UM. The second one that UM there
Speaker 1: was there's a little bit of a sense, which is
Speaker 1: problematic that some people have to see it to believe it.
Speaker 1: So we did this research the first time in June
Speaker 1: and UH overwhelming numbers said that UH that Americans believe
Speaker 1: that systemic racism exists. An overwhelming number says that business
Speaker 1: and brands have a responsibility to take a stand and
Speaker 1: to do something. Now, we went back into the field,
Speaker 1: So that was June. We went back into the field
Speaker 1: in early August. Did it found a little bit of
Speaker 1: a dip quite frankly between the murder of George Floyd
Speaker 1: and early August. And then when Jacob Blake was shot,
Speaker 1: we went back into the field and it went up.
Speaker 1: And so interesting that and particularly it went up in
Speaker 1: two categories, Republicans and UH people fifty five and older.
Speaker 1: And so after the shooting of Jacob Blake, there was
Speaker 1: a definitely an increase in the number of people who
Speaker 1: support protests UH and the people who definitely seemed to
Speaker 1: believe that, yes, UH, systemic racism does exist. But interesting
Speaker 1: that we saw a dip when we didn't see um,
Speaker 1: some of the incidences um third um. And this is this,
Speaker 1: this is the space where I live. Super high expectations
Speaker 1: for business, but low marks on business response to date.
Speaker 1: So you know, you saw when this first happened, everyone
Speaker 1: was making their statement, everybody was releasing their data. Black
Speaker 1: Lives Matter, I stand against racism, and so forth and
Speaker 1: so on, and it was all attributed to the CEO,
Speaker 1: so definitely since all summer long. Appreciate the conversation, but
Speaker 1: what have you actually done? That is like, what have
Speaker 1: you actually done? Lisa? I want to jump in. And
Speaker 1: we've we've been lucky enough to have Richard to Richard
Speaker 1: Dentalman join us several times to talk about this barometer.
Speaker 1: Uh and as it's you know how it has been
Speaker 1: certainly through the pandemic. Talk to me. You guys are
Speaker 1: at the nexus of talking to so many different CEOs.
Speaker 1: You have those high level, you know, conversations. I do
Speaker 1: wonder you know, everyone's saying it's going to be different
Speaker 1: this time around, But I you know, I'd be a
Speaker 1: really wealthy lady if I got a nickel for every
Speaker 1: time I heard that. You know, there are high expectations
Speaker 1: right of this is to do the right thing and
Speaker 1: not just talk about Okay, we're gonna do you know,
Speaker 1: a focus group, and we're gonna do this, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna do that, but rather really make some change to
Speaker 1: make sure that they have a diverse workforce, that they
Speaker 1: have diverse suppliers, and their supply change. I mean, these
Speaker 1: are the things that move the needle. So are you
Speaker 1: having those high level conversations and do you have those
Speaker 1: high hopes that things actually do change? Carol, your your
Speaker 1: thought on and everything that you noted that, um uh,
Speaker 1: saying something is one thing, Doing something is dramatically different,
Speaker 1: and the respondent overwhelmingly agree. So yeah, my I believe
Speaker 1: that things will change because the CEOs that we are
Speaker 1: talking to are intimately concerned and involved about these issues.
Speaker 1: But to be frank, for many of them, this is
Speaker 1: unchartered territory. Um. You know, when we first started advising that,
Speaker 1: many ceo s were like, I want to say something,
Speaker 1: but um, my health isn't in order, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: to what, no one's houses in order. That's why we're
Speaker 1: having the problems that we are having. But you still
Speaker 1: have to speak out. But you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: this for for CEO is a lot of this for
Speaker 1: us is um these are lived experiences for many people,
Speaker 1: and for many CEOs who are overwhelmingly white, male, uh,
Speaker 1: mainstream Christians uh straight uh, the list experience that other
Speaker 1: people seem to have does not affect them, and so
Speaker 1: in many ways they are trying to catch up culturally
Speaker 1: with what's happening in the rest of the world. Now
Speaker 1: is the intent they're Absolutely, it's their heart in the
Speaker 1: right place. Absolutely, But um, many of them are catching
Speaker 1: up and they're learning about things, which I think is
Speaker 1: impeding some of the progress that we're making. What do
Speaker 1: you mean they're learning? I mean where have they been
Speaker 1: under a rock the last you know, ten years? So
Speaker 1: I have to be careful in my response to this question.
Speaker 1: But yeah, right, I mean absolutely, it is. It is in.
Speaker 1: It is increasingly frustrating to me when uh, people say
Speaker 1: I didn't know, and I have to say, how didn't
Speaker 1: you know? How why why didn't you know? And how
Speaker 1: didn't you know? But um, we are focused on the future,
Speaker 1: and we are focused. But the reason they don't know
Speaker 1: is because in many ways it's not their lived experience.
Speaker 1: I had a CEO say to me who was truly,
Speaker 1: truly Carol and Jason like really tried to understand what
Speaker 1: he could do, and he was like, I just don't
Speaker 1: want you to want what's missing. There's a gap. And
Speaker 1: I said, all of you are very comfortable, some of
Speaker 1: you more so than others putting up your statement that
Speaker 1: says black lives matter on your company website, But will
Speaker 1: you put a black Lives Matter sign on your doorstep
Speaker 1: on your front lawn, you know. So that's different. So
Speaker 1: you gotta live that, and you have to feel that,
Speaker 1: and you have to speak it so that what you
Speaker 1: do at home is not different from what you do
Speaker 1: at work. And I think that's the gap that many
Speaker 1: of them are experiencing. And so Lisa only got unfortunate
Speaker 1: out minute left. We were going to catch up with
Speaker 1: you very soon in the future. I help, what advice
Speaker 1: do you give them? What should they do? What should
Speaker 1: they read? What should they watch? What sort of conversations
Speaker 1: should they be having to take it to the next level.
Speaker 1: So I've got I've got a six point playbook. And
Speaker 1: then I've got my own personal guidelines. One. Uh use
Speaker 1: your influence. You have it, uh to advocate and educate.
Speaker 1: That's expected of you. Uh. Three, listen to folks who
Speaker 1: know uh those are advocacy groups and many people within
Speaker 1: your own organizations for uh get your own house in order. Uh.
Speaker 1: Five knows that there are consequences um if you don't.
Speaker 1: So those are actually five playbook, right. So Lisa's personal
Speaker 1: guidelines are don't expect to thank you. As my mother said,
Speaker 1: you don't get credit for doing the right thing. They
Speaker 1: don't expect to thank you. This is what you should
Speaker 1: have been and you've got a chance to do now. Three. Um,
Speaker 1: you can't boil the ocean in your actions, which you
Speaker 1: do have to do something. You can't eliminate four hundred
Speaker 1: years of systhetic racism in a summer. Um and three
Speaker 1: proceed with big skin and a pure heart. For some
Speaker 1: whatever you do is not going to be enough those
Speaker 1: for others, it's going to be too much. That's Lisa
Speaker 1: Ross at the public relations joint Edelman. She is US
Speaker 1: chief operating officer and also leads Edelman's Washington, d C. Office.
Speaker 1: She's president there. Well, obviously, Carol, this is a topic,
Speaker 1: as we mentioned, that we were talking about all the
Speaker 1: time and from all different angles with people from all
Speaker 1: walks of life. So great to catch up with someone
Speaker 1: who is clearly right in the middle of so many
Speaker 1: of these important discussions from both the public and a
Speaker 1: private sector perspective. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week coming up,
Speaker 1: We're going to switch gears a bit. We've got a
Speaker 1: little bit of beer, a little bit of humor. Jason,
Speaker 1: I think it sounds just about right for the weekend.
Speaker 1: Absolutely fall is upon us. This is what This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. All right, so Carol, this week we have
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about beer. Yes, please, yang
Speaker 1: Ling and Molson Corps. They got together forming a partnership.
Speaker 1: These are two family businesses ultimately, and this is all
Speaker 1: about getting Yngling two more and more people. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: caught up and talked about the joint venture with Gavin Hattersley,
Speaker 1: President CEO Molson Corps, and Wendy Yingling. She's the chief
Speaker 1: administration officer at DG. Yingling and Son. She's also sixth
Speaker 1: generation as you can tell, of the Yengling family. What
Speaker 1: clearly stood out for both of us, I think, was
Speaker 1: the fact that these are family owned brands a business
Speaker 1: for the first time in the case of the Ynglings
Speaker 1: being passed from father two daughters. We're a family company,
Speaker 1: were family owned and operated. You know, we're so fortunate
Speaker 1: to be in our sixth generation and so the family
Speaker 1: component of this was very attractive to us. To be
Speaker 1: able to partner with other legacy brewing families like Cores
Speaker 1: and Molson, and we just feel like our cultures are
Speaker 1: very similar. There's a shared commitment to quality and tradition
Speaker 1: amongst the two ju brerees. So we just feel like
Speaker 1: it's a natural fit for Yengling And so, Wendy, just
Speaker 1: one more question for you. You've mentioned several times the
Speaker 1: family aspect it. I'm sort of fascinated because we don't
Speaker 1: talk to candidly a lot of family businesses, and certainly
Speaker 1: not a lot of family businesses that have been around
Speaker 1: for almost a couple of centuries. What is it about
Speaker 1: this business that is so conducive, the beer business to
Speaker 1: being a family business. Yeah, we're very lucky. So my
Speaker 1: great great great grandfather started the business back in eighteen nine,
Speaker 1: and it's gone from generation to generation, passing from father
Speaker 1: to son. And you know, my sisters and I are
Speaker 1: very fortunate. There's four girls that are part of the
Speaker 1: sixth generation and it will be the first time the
Speaker 1: business is transferring from father to daughters rather than father
Speaker 1: to son. And I don't know, there's something about the
Speaker 1: beer business. It definitely brings strong family ties and we're
Speaker 1: so happy to be a part of it. Well, and
Speaker 1: I do think about you know, I know in the
Speaker 1: press release it's you know, three storied brewing families three
Speaker 1: and they're you know, collective eighteen generations. You know, a
Speaker 1: families that you know have been brewing beer. Um. You know, Gavin,
Speaker 1: what is it about that background too, that maybe you know,
Speaker 1: differentiate yourself from some of the other folks that are
Speaker 1: out there on the market. Well, it's really three businesses
Speaker 1: that have still got families involved with them. So, you know,
Speaker 1: as Wendy staid, the England side, and then you've got
Speaker 1: the Quiz family and the Molson family are still involved
Speaker 1: in in our business. And you know, such a commitment
Speaker 1: to quality and and and great people that I think
Speaker 1: the as I said, I think the chemistry just worked
Speaker 1: really well between us, and I'm really excited about it. Um.
Speaker 1: Let me put it out to both of you, and
Speaker 1: Wendy you maybe you take it first. I am curious,
Speaker 1: you know the impact of the virus. We've been talking
Speaker 1: with so many CEOs and leaders um about the last
Speaker 1: six months, what it's meant for their teams, what it's
Speaker 1: meant for their business. Give me give me your thoughts
Speaker 1: on how that has been and kind of where we
Speaker 1: are right now, especially when you look at the marketplace
Speaker 1: in the outlook. Yeah, we've definitely seen an impact on
Speaker 1: where people are buying and consuming their beer. Our on
Speaker 1: premise has been hit hard and it's been tough with
Speaker 1: all the bars and restaurants shutting down, but you'll see
Speaker 1: more people shopping in the off premise and stocking up
Speaker 1: and pantry loading. And as a result of it, we've
Speaker 1: seen staple brands, tried and true companies like Youngling really
Speaker 1: resurged during this, and we've seen tremendous improvement in some
Speaker 1: of our peripheral brands like Light Lagger and Black and Tans.
Speaker 1: So we've fared pretty well in all this. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: it's been tough on everybody across all industries, primarily for us,
Speaker 1: it's the on premise bar business. Gavin, I would imagine
Speaker 1: similar for you, but from a brand perspective, have you
Speaker 1: seen anything surprising or different in terms of what's been
Speaker 1: more or less popular than you might have anticipated. Yes,
Speaker 1: we've experienced the same thing as as Wendy just referred
Speaker 1: to as as well. We saw initial strong pantry loading
Speaker 1: in March. It was it was a fourth of July
Speaker 1: week n back in March, and we've actually experienced three
Speaker 1: or four fourth of July weekend load ins over summer,
Speaker 1: so we've seen strong demand. We've also seen consumers go
Speaker 1: back to tried and trusted brands, and in our case
Speaker 1: those would be would be Miller Light and Queers Light
Speaker 1: and Blue Moon. So we've seen a similar struggle on
Speaker 1: in the in the on premise, but it's it's shown
Speaker 1: up in the in the off premise for us in
Speaker 1: those in those three brands. I guess what surprised me
Speaker 1: a little bit is we haven't seen a trade down
Speaker 1: in processions past we've seen a trade down to two
Speaker 1: cheaper beers and we haven't seen that. Actually, in fact,
Speaker 1: somewhat to the country, we've seen a trade up into
Speaker 1: into a both premium products. What do you think that is? Well,
Speaker 1: I think the stimulus package certainly helped. It certainly put
Speaker 1: more money into into folks's pockets. So I also think
Speaker 1: that you know it's your your dollar goes a little
Speaker 1: further in the off premise than than perhaps in the
Speaker 1: in the on premise. So it's it's probably a combination
Speaker 1: of those two factors and Wendy, any supply chain issues
Speaker 1: that you've run into owing to the pandemic in terms
Speaker 1: of either workers not being able to work or supply
Speaker 1: is not getting to where they need to get to. No,
Speaker 1: we haven't had any issues. Fortunately, we're very lucky. Our
Speaker 1: workforce is very loyal and committed. But fortunately we have
Speaker 1: a good relationship with our vendors and we've been able
Speaker 1: to keep our products in supply. And that's Wendy Yangling,
Speaker 1: chief administrative officer over at DG. Yangling and Son. It
Speaker 1: goes back generations and Gavin hatters Lee presidency of Molson Coors.
Speaker 1: He's not a Moulson or a Cors, but that's also
Speaker 1: a family business. Yeah. Absolutely, a lot of heritage from
Speaker 1: those two. Still look on the highlight. I think this
Speaker 1: is safe to say the highlight of Jason's week and
Speaker 1: the reason you're a journalist. Yeah, absolutely, pg r ROURK.
Speaker 1: He's coming up. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: So great way to wrap up our weekend. And I'm
Speaker 1: guessing many of you probably have read his columns or
Speaker 1: his many many books. We're talking about author and political
Speaker 1: satirist p J. O'verarke joining us. He's got a new
Speaker 1: book at Jason and you are a super fan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say just warning everybody here, I got a
Speaker 1: little fan boy on this guy because I've been reading
Speaker 1: him for decades. It was really cool to just hear
Speaker 1: his take on the world. It's refreshing and kndidly made
Speaker 1: me feel a little bit better about where we are
Speaker 1: as a country. Everybody is so angry, and anger is
Speaker 1: not the friend of the happy humorist, so it makes
Speaker 1: it really tough. It's not so much that I'm worried
Speaker 1: about offending people, It's just that I'm well, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: worried about people being in any kind of mood to receive,
Speaker 1: receive any kind of lightning up um about anything. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, that's such a good point, you know, PJ.
Speaker 1: Because people it's like, you know, I try to conversations
Speaker 1: with people and it gets so heated and angry so quickly.
Speaker 1: I'm like, lighten up. We're discussing things, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: have maybe a different opinion. I'm gonna have a different opinion,
Speaker 1: but let's let's discuss it is. We got the whole
Speaker 1: nation involved in that kind of fight that those of
Speaker 1: us have been married for a long time cannot help
Speaker 1: but be familiar with this kind of fight. It starts
Speaker 1: out over like whether we should slip cover the couch,
Speaker 1: and by the end of the fight it's like, uh,
Speaker 1: and not only that, I remember when you flirted with
Speaker 1: that girl at that party in nine and you leave
Speaker 1: wet towels all over the bed and your socks are
Speaker 1: all over the floor, and it's it's the kitchen sink.
Speaker 1: You know, we're throwing the kitchen sink at each other,
Speaker 1: and uh, we we we, we'd better stop that. The
Speaker 1: other thing for it is, I don't get what the
Speaker 1: causes really. I mean, in a way I do. Trump
Speaker 1: is shall we say that he's a somewhat divisive president?
Speaker 1: I could probably go that far. I get that. And
Speaker 1: then the pandemic has got everybody cooped inside, like seething
Speaker 1: with grievances, you know, and like letting their minds run
Speaker 1: on all the things that make them angry and stuff.
Speaker 1: But you know, really we're not facing a huge external
Speaker 1: threat at when we're you know, wars overseas were winding down.
Speaker 1: China is a worry, you know, but it's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just a worry. It's not you know, it's not
Speaker 1: an imminent threat. I don't think. Uh. The economy was
Speaker 1: perking along pretty well and shows some signs of being
Speaker 1: able to re perk um uh. And you know why
Speaker 1: are we so mad? So you take this on directly
Speaker 1: in your book. And the essay that I love the
Speaker 1: most is whose bright idea was it to make sure
Speaker 1: that every idiot in the world was in touch with
Speaker 1: every other idiot. Social Media, I have to think, is
Speaker 1: responsible for part of this. Right. Social media has got
Speaker 1: lots and lots to blame. You know, I grew up.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm old. You know, I'm seventy two years old.
Speaker 1: So I grew up in like, you know, the fifties
Speaker 1: and sixties, and there was this wonderful idea that we
Speaker 1: would all get along better if we could just communicate,
Speaker 1: you know, if the generation gap could be closed with communication,
Speaker 1: if we could just talk to the Soviet Union, you know,
Speaker 1: if if if if races people from different races would
Speaker 1: just communicate with each other. And there was this big star,
Speaker 1: Malcolm mclowin, you know, who had the whole idea that
Speaker 1: that that television would create a global village. And we
Speaker 1: all thought, oh, this is just genius. This is just
Speaker 1: wonderful and it gives me excuse to sit around and
Speaker 1: watch TV. And what thing is is that we were
Speaker 1: we knew about Marshall mcloon, but we hadn't read him,
Speaker 1: because if you read him, Marshall McLellan, he was I
Speaker 1: found a radio interview with him actually, where a Canadian
Speaker 1: radio broadcaster says, I thought you said we're to have
Speaker 1: a global village, and there's almost like war and Hadrian
Speaker 1: rioting and stuff. You said we're gonna have a global village, goes.
Speaker 1: I said we were going to have a global village.
Speaker 1: I didn't say the villagers would like each other, right right. Um,
Speaker 1: there's one essay. It's the inaugural address. I'd like to
Speaker 1: hear the president, whoever it may be, deliver. Um. PJ.
Speaker 1: You do write a lot about politics, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's so much in here that I love, but there's
Speaker 1: also one that I'm just trying to find. I had
Speaker 1: the line highlighted just this reminder of the government is
Speaker 1: more than just one individual, even though that's who we elect.
Speaker 1: And you know, just tell us about kind of how
Speaker 1: you look at politics right now and what you kind
Speaker 1: of want to get across to Americans with your writings. Well, A,
Speaker 1: one of the things about the presidency is we've just
Speaker 1: allowed it to grow into some sort of cult. You know.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a shi Jing thing or or or
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin, where the President of the United States becomes
Speaker 1: like the sort of sacred king who is responsible for
Speaker 1: our well being of our entire country. And and of
Speaker 1: course if anything goes wrong, we we we take that
Speaker 1: sacred king and we sacrifice him. Um uh, actually what
Speaker 1: we We don't kill him the way the primitive societies do.
Speaker 1: We just give him a giant book contract for a
Speaker 1: really really boring book. But you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And the thing is that that's not how it works.
Speaker 1: If you read the Constitution, it's you get you get
Speaker 1: about five pages into the Constitution before the president is
Speaker 1: even mentioned. You know, you know, he's a chief executive.
Speaker 1: He's not the chairman of the board. We're the chairman
Speaker 1: of the board. He's he's just the chief executive. And
Speaker 1: he's supposed to make the laws that we make in Congress.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to make sure that they're put into force. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's the commander of chief during wartime, but it's Congress
Speaker 1: that has the power to uh, to declare war, not
Speaker 1: the president. They should remember that every now and when
Speaker 1: they're there when they're griping at the president for the
Speaker 1: wars that he said, they've got the power. And uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was never meant to be some sort of of
Speaker 1: of of weird kingship or or or our cult of
Speaker 1: personality for good or for real. You know, we're not
Speaker 1: supposed to worship the president and we're certain and we're
Speaker 1: not supposed to revile him. Um, he's he's he's just
Speaker 1: he's got a corner office. But you know he depends
Speaker 1: on us for for to do all the work. And
Speaker 1: yet p J. As I think about it, and and
Speaker 1: I am conscious of the fact that I and Carol
Speaker 1: make our living in the in the media, and you
Speaker 1: make your living, you know, in and around the media.
Speaker 1: And I listened to you and wait, wait, don't tell me.
Speaker 1: And I love those appearances. But you know, from mccluan
Speaker 1: to Facebook to Twitter, like the media broadly defined is certainly,
Speaker 1: if not complicit in all of that, or is complicit
Speaker 1: maybe and and and may be responsible for the way
Speaker 1: that this has been a little bit warped. We probably
Speaker 1: should all be grounded without TV for at least a month, right,
Speaker 1: and take away our phones. Right, I'll take my share
Speaker 1: of the blame here. I'm not I'm not not picking
Speaker 1: on you guys, but the um, um yeah, we we
Speaker 1: get obsessed with trivia and then you know, of course,
Speaker 1: there's always been that thing in the media where if
Speaker 1: it bleeds, it leads. Natural naturally we love a disaster.
Speaker 1: But then there's also this thing that has emerged more recently.
Speaker 1: If it sleaves, it leads, and um yeah, I I
Speaker 1: don't think that uh many members of the media could
Speaker 1: could could say of the media as a whole. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think we each try and do our own job
Speaker 1: as well as we can. But overall, the media gets
Speaker 1: is easily distracted. It's getting sort of Facebook brain, you
Speaker 1: know where it's so easily defend Twitter, Twitter brain worse
Speaker 1: than Facebook brain. Facebook at least has some pictures of grandchildren.
Speaker 1: Uh so it's the it's the last thing anybody said,
Speaker 1: it's the last thing anybody heard, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: end depth reporting is is is hard to find, and
Speaker 1: impartial reporting is hard to find. Um, journalists, I'm old
Speaker 1: enough to remember when journalists like really looked down on
Speaker 1: partisan politics, and the idea of a journalist having partisan
Speaker 1: politics would be really like the I don't even know
Speaker 1: what to compare it to exactly, would be like, uh,
Speaker 1: a journalist having like a favorite European soccer team. We
Speaker 1: have a few of those. Actually, yeah, well listen, one
Speaker 1: thing I want to ask you and you you know,
Speaker 1: you end up this new book, um that's out with
Speaker 1: a bunch of your essays, and you end with and
Speaker 1: I'm an optimist and I know j and is too
Speaker 1: what I like about you USA? And you say three
Speaker 1: things I like about America fast food, suburban sprawl, and
Speaker 1: traffic jams. Um. We haven't seen a lot of traffic
Speaker 1: jams because of the virus. Um suburban sprawl, though, we're
Speaker 1: thinking we might see a little bit more of because
Speaker 1: of the virus as people are running moving on in
Speaker 1: the gundry. Even if the country is only as far
Speaker 1: as love it town, you best get out of town. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's interesting and you write you do
Speaker 1: a pre preface if you will in your book, because
Speaker 1: you say you wrote these essays in and then happened.
Speaker 1: As we know, it's been a year of just one
Speaker 1: you know, explicative and one unbelievable story after another, and
Speaker 1: a lot of heartache, if you will. And I think
Speaker 1: we're all wondering what happens on the other side. You know,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts about this year? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: it rights itself, you know. I mean, people say, oh,
Speaker 1: America is so divided. America's never been this divided, and
Speaker 1: I go eighteen sixty one, I'm not sure America has
Speaker 1: ever been, having survived the sixties in the early seventies.
Speaker 1: America is a ship that's got a lot of keel
Speaker 1: to it. And that's author and political centrist P. J.
Speaker 1: Rourke joining us from New Hampshire his book A Cry
Speaker 1: from the Far Middle, Dispatches from a Divided Land. I
Speaker 1: gotta say I felt better after talking to him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do feel a little bit better too, And I
Speaker 1: love how he asked, you know, why are we all
Speaker 1: so angry right now? And then, of course, how can
Speaker 1: I forget his remark America is a ship that has
Speaker 1: a lot of keel to it. I love, love, love that.
Speaker 1: That's going on our T shirt list. And that wraps
Speaker 1: up the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Jason Kelly and
Speaker 1: I'm Carol Master. Be sure to check out our daily
Speaker 1: radio show Monday through Friday starting at two pm Well
Speaker 1: Street Time. And if you miss any of our big interviews,
Speaker 1: check out our podcast feed. You should be subscribing here
Speaker 1: all of our daily conversations and this show. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: be sure to check out our extra podcast. This week,
Speaker 1: we check in with Paul Rayther. He's KKR Senior advisory
Speaker 1: partner and he joined us to talk about opportunities for
Speaker 1: diverse students who otherwise probably wouldn't get them. And check
Speaker 1: out the latest edition of Bloomberg Business Week. It's on
Speaker 1: newsstands now. We'll be back next week at the same time.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg