Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm Jason Kelly and I'm
Speaker 1: Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: Over the next couple of hours, we're going to bring
Speaker 1: you news of the week, insights from the magazine and more,
Speaker 1: and really highlights from our interviews throughout the week on
Speaker 1: our daily radio show. And again, Jason, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of crises of all sorts this week, COVID nineteen, education,
Speaker 1: inequality and racism, and running and leading businesses against that
Speaker 1: backdrop we covered all this week Week nineteen working from home. Unbelievable,
Speaker 1: it has been that long and while we see sort
Speaker 1: of maybe a little light at the end of the tunnel,
Speaker 1: feels pretty distant at the moment. And one of the conversations, Carol,
Speaker 1: we certainly got a lot out of was the conversation
Speaker 1: we had with Bishop t. D. Jake's back with us
Speaker 1: talking about those dual crises affecting the nation and his
Speaker 1: strategies for moving forward. Slighting was intensible, Germ coral was intensible,
Speaker 1: inclusive to be intensible. Plus the virus of course, front
Speaker 1: and Center, we caught up with a new president of
Speaker 1: the American Medical Association, Dr Susan Bailey. Talked about so much,
Speaker 1: including the state of a vaccine development. But first, let's
Speaker 1: talk about this week's cover story. It's a great when
Speaker 1: corporate activism with a cherry on top. We're talking about
Speaker 1: Ben and Jerry's. It's incredibly compelling, incredibly timely. This is
Speaker 1: a moment in many ways, Carol that Ben and Jerry's
Speaker 1: was built for. Jordan Holman, Bloomberg News retail reporter, joined
Speaker 1: us along with Joel Weber, the editor of the magazine.
Speaker 1: Within the last month UM, as Black Lives Matter started
Speaker 1: getting a ton of attention and the protests took off.
Speaker 1: You know, the first company that actually was out of
Speaker 1: the gate with a response and it literally just made
Speaker 1: all of us go WHOA. That was a really amazing
Speaker 1: move was Ben and Jerry's. And Ben and Jerry's, you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't the first time they've done this. It is
Speaker 1: actually really part of the company's d na UM, the
Speaker 1: corporate activism, the social justice This is just almost the
Speaker 1: lad chapter of it. And when we saw that, um,
Speaker 1: Jordan actually was like she was the one that said
Speaker 1: all that and I was like, Okay, why don't you
Speaker 1: turn around and write that story for us? And that
Speaker 1: was uh yeah, and that was we pulled in Thomas Buckley,
Speaker 1: who knows the Unilever sign of it, But that really
Speaker 1: became the expression of this. So Jordan's you know this,
Speaker 1: this company has been, you know, really known for this
Speaker 1: from from day one. I think the thing that you
Speaker 1: you were able to really kind of bring to bear
Speaker 1: in this is like so many other companies fail when
Speaker 1: they try and do this. What makes Spin and Jerry's
Speaker 1: stand out? Yeah, thenn and Jerry's their statement just really
Speaker 1: hit you know, they said dismantled white supremacy and what
Speaker 1: we were seeing with other statements because you know, black
Speaker 1: lives matter and we support the community. But what makes
Speaker 1: them sing now is that they have a dedicated team
Speaker 1: that thinks about these issues every single day. So when
Speaker 1: a tragic incident like the killing of George Floyd happened,
Speaker 1: it's not they don't have to scramble to get the
Speaker 1: resources or to think through the They've educated themselves, they've
Speaker 1: done the homework. They've connected with partners like Color Change
Speaker 1: and inp to get the wording right well and what's
Speaker 1: fascinating to Jordan's is it is in such contrast to
Speaker 1: so many other franchises, institutions, and companies that really fumbled it.
Speaker 1: Absolutely Yes, um, So Ben and Jerry's has for the
Speaker 1: past few years said we're going to focus on criminal
Speaker 1: justice reform. We want to understand how structural racism in
Speaker 1: the US works. And you don't always get that intensity
Speaker 1: from other corporations and honing in on that. And one
Speaker 1: thing that Thomas and I learned from reporting on this
Speaker 1: is that when they when Ben and Jerry's launches a campaign,
Speaker 1: there'll spend a year thinking about the topic, UM, thinking
Speaker 1: about criminal justice, how they can work with partners, how
Speaker 1: they can communicate that to customers who might not understand
Speaker 1: what structural racism is or the school to prison pipeline.
Speaker 1: And so that's why when a statement from them is released,
Speaker 1: it really hits and resonates with people. Well, what's interesting,
Speaker 1: Jordan is, you know, we had a Bishop T. D.
Speaker 1: Jakes on our show yesterday and one of the things
Speaker 1: that he said that I really took away and I
Speaker 1: think Carol did too, was this notion of exactly what
Speaker 1: you're talking about, this intentionality, and he basically said he
Speaker 1: was like, look and he was being a hundred percent sirius.
Speaker 1: He said slavery was intentional, Jim Crow was intentional. Diversity
Speaker 1: and inclusion have to be intentional as well. But it's
Speaker 1: not always easy, I think, to do that. And yet
Speaker 1: it is. And I that's I'm joking a little bit
Speaker 1: when I say this. It's baked in in many ways.
Speaker 1: I mean it's there on the package, it's there in
Speaker 1: the company. And that goes back to the founders, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Ben and jerryus has been around since the late
Speaker 1: seventies and Ben Cohen and Jared greenfelt the founders they've
Speaker 1: always spoken up on issues that they think matter. And
Speaker 1: what's changed, UM is that you know, it's be come
Speaker 1: more structured this team. So when they want to speak
Speaker 1: out on if it's climate change or if it's a
Speaker 1: structural racism like we're talking about, or whatever issue, they're
Speaker 1: being very intentional about what they want to say and
Speaker 1: how they say it. And Um. For this story, we
Speaker 1: talked to the executive director of Color Change for Sean Robinson,
Speaker 1: who speaks to corporations all of the time, but he said,
Speaker 1: what's been and Jerry's apart is that they actually put
Speaker 1: that energy the time, and he even joked, you know,
Speaker 1: the flavor behind Black Lives Matter and the things that
Speaker 1: they care about. Jordan's another element that I want to
Speaker 1: bring in here is how you know Ben and Jerry's
Speaker 1: owned by Uni Leaver. Now Uni Leaver this massive portfolio
Speaker 1: of companies um and not always as as sort of
Speaker 1: woke as Ben and Jerry's is, right, Like, this is
Speaker 1: also the company that does Uncle Ben's rice and jo
Speaker 1: has skin whitening brands in Asia that it's also trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what it's going to do what as
Speaker 1: Unilever as a company learned from you know, having Ben
Speaker 1: and Jerry's as part of sort of its portfolio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this goes back to Jason's earlier point about the founders.
Speaker 1: So when Ben and Jerry's was being acquired by Unilever,
Speaker 1: the founders really fought for that independence over the social mission,
Speaker 1: that element that even though they're going to be owned
Speaker 1: by this conglomerate, they're going to still have this independent
Speaker 1: board to push the issues that they care about. And
Speaker 1: that's Bloomberg News Retail Report Jordan Holman and Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week editor Joel Webber talking about the cover story. Carol,
Speaker 1: it's a good one. Well, it's a good one. It's
Speaker 1: also an incredibly deep dive into Ben and Jerry's history,
Speaker 1: how it fits into the massive company that is Unilever.
Speaker 1: And in keeping with that, we go from one massive
Speaker 1: company to another, because coming up next a behemoth in
Speaker 1: the Brandon packaged food business, how it is pivoting during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. We'll hear from Mondale's chairman and CEO, Dirk
Speaker 1: Bandi Putt. It's the latest edition of Business Week Talks.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. And today we're
Speaker 1: bringing you some of the most important, we hope in
Speaker 1: formative conversations we had on our daily Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: radio show this week. And Carol, we've been in this
Speaker 1: for a while now, that's right, Jason, and keeping with that,
Speaker 1: so to have so many different companies, of course, trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how to make their way through the pandemic.
Speaker 1: We caught up in another edition of Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: Talks with a company and a CEO that is just
Speaker 1: huge in the packaged food business. You're talking about brands
Speaker 1: like Oreos, Cadberry, Trident and Tang, many many more. We
Speaker 1: caught up at the Mondoles chairman and CEO Dirk vander
Speaker 1: Putt and talked about how they are seeing rising demand
Speaker 1: in general for our category. So what we see is
Speaker 1: that there is an increase in in home snacking UM
Speaker 1: and and there's a pronounced change of the consumer eating
Speaker 1: a lot more in their house, in their homes and
Speaker 1: so let's in restaurants less on the goal. And we
Speaker 1: see that effect on our on our business clearly. So
Speaker 1: they tend to eat more biscuits, they tend to eat
Speaker 1: more chocolate at home. But then a category like gum
Speaker 1: or candy, which is more on thego bout in convenience
Speaker 1: stores and so on, is is affected, and is UH
Speaker 1: is negative versus previous year. I have to say, as
Speaker 1: you've been talking, can I just say Jason and I
Speaker 1: have been nodding about the chocolate. I mean it's happening,
Speaker 1: including Oreos and our end and lots of chocolate. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1: The other big thing that you see is that, just
Speaker 1: like you were alluding, consumers want a little bit of normalcy.
Speaker 1: They want to feel good, safe, UM and and so
Speaker 1: they snack more, they go a little bit more to
Speaker 1: comfort food. M they also go back to the brands
Speaker 1: they know and love, and you've mentioned a few that
Speaker 1: we have. So we also see that effect that our
Speaker 1: our market share and our big brands are are growing
Speaker 1: quite a bit. Um. The the other one that I
Speaker 1: wanted to mention about the consumers is that they are
Speaker 1: being I won't call it driven online. I think what
Speaker 1: we will see as coming out of this is that
Speaker 1: this was really the moment that shopping showed the major
Speaker 1: shift from going to the store to buy more and
Speaker 1: more online. And we see for groceries, we see a
Speaker 1: lot of first times really starting to buy their groceries online.
Speaker 1: So those were some of the big big things we're
Speaker 1: seeing as it relates to the consumer. Um. So, when
Speaker 1: when you think about sort of how you have to
Speaker 1: respond to that, tell us about your supply chain. Have
Speaker 1: you had any interruptions there? Have you had to change
Speaker 1: anything to meet that customer demand but also to meet
Speaker 1: you know, any of the challenges about getting it to
Speaker 1: stores or getting it to people's homes. Yes, yes, Um
Speaker 1: would say at the moment, things are are better, certainly
Speaker 1: in the US and in Europe. There's still sometimes a
Speaker 1: little bit fragile in emerging markets, but overall, I would
Speaker 1: say we've never really had a major disruption. Sometimes a
Speaker 1: plant had to shut down for two or three days
Speaker 1: because our workers couldn't get to the plant, or we
Speaker 1: had to negotiate with the government that our our plant
Speaker 1: could continue to work in some countries. But overall, I
Speaker 1: would say we've been able to keep our supply chain
Speaker 1: going largely. We've seen slowdowns, um as we needed to
Speaker 1: sometimes uh take people out of the plant if there
Speaker 1: would be somebody that that got infected. Um. So it
Speaker 1: has been a challenge that is now better, but we
Speaker 1: are worried as we see, for instance, in the US,
Speaker 1: the rise of the cases, as as we see it
Speaker 1: in the different states happening. If we have a plan there,
Speaker 1: we will start to see more cases in our plants
Speaker 1: and that could have an effect on our supply chain. Obviously,
Speaker 1: So you went exactly where I wanted you to go,
Speaker 1: which is you know, with these increasing cases and maybe
Speaker 1: even the potential of a second wave, do you start
Speaker 1: stockpiling some ingredients in different places and different regions. How
Speaker 1: do you anticipate it? Now? Having gone through this for
Speaker 1: a few months. Yes, we we do UH prepare for
Speaker 1: stockpiling ingredients because our suppliers could go could have problems too.
Speaker 1: We we start to look for temporary workers or increase
Speaker 1: our workforce to make sure that we can keep our
Speaker 1: supply chain going and our salesforce going. We reinforce all
Speaker 1: the measures that we have in our plans and in
Speaker 1: our offices, but we also spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: with our people talking about how to behave outside of
Speaker 1: our facilities and how to make sure that that you
Speaker 1: stay safe and healthy. Um. And and as it relates
Speaker 1: to office workers, we are still recommending everybody to work
Speaker 1: as much from home as they possibly can. And remind
Speaker 1: us in terms of your workers, UM, how that has
Speaker 1: gone in terms of holding on the workers, keeping workers.
Speaker 1: What we're seeing, you know, I think we're at this
Speaker 1: very interesting time, um Dirk. Work companies as we head
Speaker 1: into another earning season are reassessing kind of what they
Speaker 1: need going forward, and of course it depends on demand
Speaker 1: going forward, and it depends on the global economy going forward.
Speaker 1: How do you see that? Yeah, we are lucky in
Speaker 1: a way that I would say overall our business is
Speaker 1: UH is doing pretty pretty much. Okay, that we have
Speaker 1: more variations around the world, and so it depends a
Speaker 1: little bit where you are. Our US business is doing
Speaker 1: very well at this stage, so we've been recruiting and
Speaker 1: adding workers to our business in the US. But for instance,
Speaker 1: Latin America at the moment our business is is is
Speaker 1: suffering a little bit, and there we have to be
Speaker 1: a lot more careful and and try to get by
Speaker 1: with the with the minimum amount of workers that we
Speaker 1: possibly can. So it's not a uniform picture around the world. Um,
Speaker 1: the US for US looks looks looks very good at
Speaker 1: this stage. Um we um. We also have to work
Speaker 1: quite a lot with our office workers. Um. Working from
Speaker 1: home gets to you after a while. It's it's it
Speaker 1: seems great, but sitting in front of screens eight hours
Speaker 1: a day, day in, day out, and and the blending
Speaker 1: of your personal life with your professional life, and potentially
Speaker 1: having small kids in the home and so on. We
Speaker 1: we have to make sure that we make make sure
Speaker 1: that there is also a social contact that people really
Speaker 1: disconnect uh, that that they do not spend more time
Speaker 1: than needed in front of their screens and so on
Speaker 1: and so on, and so then the the number of complaints,
Speaker 1: of of mental health goes goes up a little bit,
Speaker 1: so that there are consequences to working from home. We see.
Speaker 1: That's Mondaly's chairman and CEO, Dirk vander Put, And there's
Speaker 1: more of that interview online as well as in the magazine.
Speaker 1: And I got to say, Jason, the big headline from
Speaker 1: that company. You kept talking about it throughout the week
Speaker 1: is how Mondoles is cutting by the number of items
Speaker 1: that they sell their skews. As the CEO said, that's
Speaker 1: a pretty big move. It is a big move, and
Speaker 1: it really shows how, as you said just a few
Speaker 1: minutes ago, big companies are having to pivot there, having
Speaker 1: to adjust to different sorts of demand. And we also
Speaker 1: love talking about how people are using apparently oreos in cooking.
Speaker 1: I love that. Speaking of big moves, how about bringing
Speaker 1: venture capital into the twenty one century. I've been increasingly
Speaker 1: hopeful about the change in complexity that I've seen in
Speaker 1: some of the generations that are coming up behind me
Speaker 1: y Plex Capitals, low Tony is hopeful about the future
Speaker 1: of diversity and inclusion in the world of VC. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to that conversation. This is Woomberg, This is Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: We're bringing some of the most important and informative conversations
Speaker 1: we had on our daily radio show throughout the week.
Speaker 1: And Jason, we like to remind everyone that we're having
Speaker 1: these interviews in real time as the world continued to
Speaker 1: move and change around us well. And one of the
Speaker 1: things that we've zeroed in on Carol on this program
Speaker 1: throughout the weekend. On this show is diversity and inclusion,
Speaker 1: but really getting down to brass tacks what needs to
Speaker 1: happen across various industries. And low Tony over at Plexo Capital,
Speaker 1: He's got some ideas and he started with us talking
Speaker 1: about his own personal experience. I think it's a commonplace
Speaker 1: for someone like myself, black Mail. I grew up in Oakland, California,
Speaker 1: went to a historically black college in Hampton, came back
Speaker 1: to go to cal and I got used to being
Speaker 1: the only black person in the room. It's just common.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a common experience Rands, but many
Speaker 1: of us have. But I've been increasingly hopeful about the
Speaker 1: change in complexity that I've seen in some of the
Speaker 1: generations that are coming up behind me, and I believe
Speaker 1: that we're at a point where we've reached an inflection
Speaker 1: point where we've been able to shine a light and visibility,
Speaker 1: and I'm pragmatically optimistic about the prospect moving forward. And
Speaker 1: so there are a number of aspects. Is you know
Speaker 1: better than we do low in terms of the investing
Speaker 1: landscape to venture capital landscape, sort of where the money
Speaker 1: comes from, who invests it, and then where it goes.
Speaker 1: I know you've been working on all aspects of that.
Speaker 1: I do wonder if you could tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit more about what you're doing around the general partner level,
Speaker 1: because I think you are rightly very focused on that
Speaker 1: piece of making the investors, not exactly that, not just
Speaker 1: what Carol described, which is, you know, a bunch of
Speaker 1: rich white dudes making decisions about where the money goes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I was a partner at Google Ventures g V.
Speaker 1: One of the things we wanted to do was to
Speaker 1: get access to more deal flow. So we had this
Speaker 1: really interesting thesis that when we started to look at
Speaker 1: some of the smaller earlier firms that were investing at
Speaker 1: that initial check level, we saw much more diversity than
Speaker 1: at the larger firms, and so we came up with
Speaker 1: this thesis that wow, you know, the the indirect path
Speaker 1: that many black venture capitalists have, like myself, produces really
Speaker 1: interesting networks and provides a different lens to be able
Speaker 1: to evaluate opportunities and entrepreneurs that might not have the
Speaker 1: same understanding traditionally on sand Road. And so we decided
Speaker 1: to make investments into these venture funds to get access
Speaker 1: to their deal flow. And I took that one step
Speaker 1: further and created Plexo Capital and expanded to not only
Speaker 1: black gps, but other gps of color and female gps.
Speaker 1: And really it was an alpha strategy to identify inefficiency
Speaker 1: and information and identify opportunities that others were missing. And
Speaker 1: what I also noticed was that, well, you know, actually
Speaker 1: this has a much broader implication to the to the
Speaker 1: vertical ecosystems for black for black entrepreneurs, for people of
Speaker 1: color that are entrepreneurs, and female entrepreneurs, which is, if
Speaker 1: we can get capital into the hands of a diverse
Speaker 1: set of investors, the data tells us that their portfolios
Speaker 1: end up being diverse. So if they've got diverse portfolios,
Speaker 1: those diverse founders are going to hire diverse teams and
Speaker 1: if there's a successful exit that creates wealth generation for
Speaker 1: those employees, well, lo and behold, you have a diverse
Speaker 1: set of execs that are going to write angel checks,
Speaker 1: likely to diverse entrepreneurs. They'll have the financial stability and
Speaker 1: comfort maybe to take that risk and start their own company,
Speaker 1: or maybe some of them will even become venture capitalists themselves.
Speaker 1: But more importantly, it starts a wealth creation pattern. And
Speaker 1: then health is also transferred back successfully to those initial investors,
Speaker 1: and if they were divers, they go down the wealth
Speaker 1: creation and then capital is returned to the original limited
Speaker 1: partners for the investors into those venture funds. And once
Speaker 1: those limited partners see that positive signal of dollars coming back,
Speaker 1: they say, Wow, this is working, Let's deploy more capital.
Speaker 1: And so that creates this flywheel within that vertical ecosystem.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not dissimilar to how we see geographic
Speaker 1: ecosystems developed outside of Silicon Valley in places like Seattle,
Speaker 1: New York, and Austin. But in this case it's vertical
Speaker 1: around black entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, or other people of color.
Speaker 1: So I feel like our our model, even though at
Speaker 1: the outset the purpose was to deliver alpha and increase returns.
Speaker 1: It has this additional benefit of being able to help
Speaker 1: to accelerate these ecosystems on a vertical basis. And that's
Speaker 1: Plexo Capital founding managing partner low Tony Carroll. And this
Speaker 1: is a guy we're going to be going back to
Speaker 1: him for updates. I know it well. Listen, Jason. He
Speaker 1: was a partner at Comcast Ventures than g V which
Speaker 1: was formerly Google Ventures. I mean Alphabet was the anchor
Speaker 1: investor in his own investment firms. So this is someone
Speaker 1: who truly understands the VC world. And check out our
Speaker 1: podcast feed for more of that interview with low Tony.
Speaker 1: Bottom line, I like what he said, Jason about creating
Speaker 1: a flywheel to get more diversity in blacks in the
Speaker 1: world a VC well coming up next getting into college.
Speaker 1: It isn't just about good grades, teacher recommendations and great
Speaker 1: SAT scores. Jason. We know the Varsity Blue scandal revealed
Speaker 1: so much more. This is the book you have been
Speaker 1: waiting for to understand everything that went on Melissa Corn
Speaker 1: unacceptable privilege, deceit, and the making of the college admission scandal.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Well, today we're bringing you some
Speaker 1: of the most important and informative conversations we had on
Speaker 1: our daily radio show this week. And Carol, this is
Speaker 1: a story that even with everything going on in the world, Man,
Speaker 1: you want an update, you know, Jason, I can still
Speaker 1: remember when this news broke. We were sitting in our
Speaker 1: studio at seven thirty one Lexington March of last year
Speaker 1: and just watching it unfold in front of us. It
Speaker 1: became the largest college admission scam ever prosecuted by the
Speaker 1: Department of Justice. Melissa Corn of The Wall Street Journal
Speaker 1: is co author of Unacceptable Privilege, Deceit and the Making
Speaker 1: of the College Admission Scandal. We talked with her about
Speaker 1: the book. We were really blown away by so so
Speaker 1: many things. Honestly, the scope, the breath, the sophistication of
Speaker 1: this scheme that the mastermind, Rick Singer put together, but
Speaker 1: also what it says about our society and parents obsession
Speaker 1: with prestige and brand name schools. And it was often
Speaker 1: really the parents, more so than their teens, who were
Speaker 1: striving for these particular institutions, and they were the ones
Speaker 1: driving driving the whole process. So Melissa take us back,
Speaker 1: because this was something, as Carol just alluded to, that
Speaker 1: landed and all of us across the journalistic world, the
Speaker 1: parental world, especially Carol and I both have juniors in
Speaker 1: high school, so we pay very close attention to all
Speaker 1: of these things, as many do. Remind us what operation
Speaker 1: Varsity Blues laid bare. Yes, So in March of twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: which does seem like forever ago harkens back to a
Speaker 1: simpler time, UH showed that there was this college admissions counselor,
Speaker 1: Rick Singer who had managed to find and exploit a
Speaker 1: few real weaknesses in the selective college admissions process, both
Speaker 1: in terms of standardized tests where he had paid off
Speaker 1: test site administrators and a proctor UH to fudge and cheat,
Speaker 1: fudge scores and cheat and improve the results for a
Speaker 1: number of clients. UH. He also found weaknesses in athletic
Speaker 1: recruiting and these special flocks that are given to recruited
Speaker 1: athletes in the admissions process, and he arranged to bribe
Speaker 1: a number of college coaches and UH others who flag
Speaker 1: individuals as recruited athletes even when they didn't play a sport.
Speaker 1: And there was nobody checked. That was one of the
Speaker 1: big things that was really made clear there was that
Speaker 1: nobody was checking them a half. Nobody was testing, you know,
Speaker 1: auditing these applications in any way, because nobody ever thought
Speaker 1: that a coach would choose somebody who wasn't going to
Speaker 1: actually help the team. But if the price tag was
Speaker 1: high enough, clearly they did. It's amazing, Melissa, because I
Speaker 1: think you know, we've all understood I think safe to
Speaker 1: say that there's understandings that there are legacies and families
Speaker 1: that have been at schools and you know, you donations.
Speaker 1: You know that things happened, but this was just on
Speaker 1: a whole other level, right. So we have a whole
Speaker 1: chapter in the book called the Gray Area, which gets
Speaker 1: at the legacies of donations, those v I P lists
Speaker 1: of applicants, and I think everybody knows that that goes on.
Speaker 1: This is kind of at the far end of the
Speaker 1: spectrum and obviously a little bit too far in illegal territory,
Speaker 1: but it really does highlight some of the existing inequities
Speaker 1: in the system, and I think it is a good
Speaker 1: reminder that even those people who aren't doing things like that,
Speaker 1: or even people who aren't legacies or donating hundreds of
Speaker 1: thousands or millions of dollars. Many of them have an
Speaker 1: edge too. If you're hiring a private s a T
Speaker 1: tutor or essay coach, or sending your kid to a
Speaker 1: regional club soccer team that costs ten thousand dollars a year,
Speaker 1: those are not experiences that every student has. So, Melissa,
Speaker 1: one of the amazing things about this book, because this
Speaker 1: is of course the scandal that has been written about
Speaker 1: and talked about, is you and your co author got
Speaker 1: some amazing access. You've got to people that basically no
Speaker 1: one else has gotten to tell us about. That. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were really fortunate in being able to speak to
Speaker 1: lot of the principal players in this whole story. And
Speaker 1: I think the part of it was we made clear
Speaker 1: that they were going to be in the book whether
Speaker 1: they wanted to or not, and they could help make
Speaker 1: sure that it was accurate or try to hide from it,
Speaker 1: and a lot decided it was better to engage. So,
Speaker 1: you know, we we can't say who exactly we spoke with,
Speaker 1: and we make really clear that don't assume that just
Speaker 1: because there's a scene from one person's point of view
Speaker 1: that that was the person that we got the information from,
Speaker 1: of course, as we protect our sources, but we really
Speaker 1: did try to get inside their heads and explain a
Speaker 1: little bit about why they engaged with Singer, why Singer
Speaker 1: was the way he was, why the prosecutors took the
Speaker 1: approach they did, um because I think there's nobody is
Speaker 1: It's really hard for any individual to be painted, you know,
Speaker 1: black and white, good guy, bad guy here because even
Speaker 1: the parents who committed felonies ultimately work in some twisted
Speaker 1: way trying to help their kids. And that's relatable. What
Speaker 1: I read a little excerpt I think it was in
Speaker 1: people um online, and you talk about one Devin Sloan
Speaker 1: who asked his son to pose for photos in the
Speaker 1: family pool wearing full water polo gear and didn't really
Speaker 1: give him a reason why, and the sun did it
Speaker 1: even though he didn't play the sport like. It's just
Speaker 1: amazing kind of some of the steps that parents went
Speaker 1: to and kept their kids in the dark. It really was.
Speaker 1: And I think you know with that uh excerpt and
Speaker 1: that the anecdote was the son Matteo, he was really
Speaker 1: thoughtful about the whole thing and afterwards and said, you know,
Speaker 1: I was really mad at my dad. But then I
Speaker 1: kind of felt bad for him that he thought that
Speaker 1: he needed to do this to make me successful. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, this is a teen who would have been
Speaker 1: just fine on his own, and he would have landed
Speaker 1: at a perfectly good school. Um without that extra, all
Speaker 1: the extra bells and whistles and costumes and poking and
Speaker 1: things like that. His dad was sentenced to four months
Speaker 1: in prison, but he got to stay at the school. Correct, Right,
Speaker 1: He's one of the students who was not kicked out.
Speaker 1: Every university, every college did it, did their reviews a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. Um, some expelled or rescinded the admission
Speaker 1: offers for students, others allowed the student to continue. It
Speaker 1: really was case by case at a lot of these places. Well,
Speaker 1: let's to tell us more about the parents in this case,
Speaker 1: and we're speaking with most of Korn, reporter at the
Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal and co author of the new book Unacceptable,
Speaker 1: Privileged Deceit and the Making of the College admissions Scandal.
Speaker 1: Tell us about the parents, because what you just said,
Speaker 1: I think resonated throughout this story. Uh that in many cases,
Speaker 1: at least, this is I think how I read it
Speaker 1: for the parents. This was as much about them as
Speaker 1: it was about their kids. Absolutely, and we talked a
Speaker 1: lot about that culture that was really prevalent in some
Speaker 1: of these pockets of southern California and the Bay Area
Speaker 1: and New York and that you're kids are a reflection
Speaker 1: of you. So if your kids are succeeding by certain
Speaker 1: kind of determined, predetermined measures, you as a parent are
Speaker 1: there for succeeding. And it's beyond you know, are they
Speaker 1: walking and talking when they're supposed to? If are they
Speaker 1: getting into this particular school, because this particular school is
Speaker 1: one that you can boast about at a cocktail party. Well,
Speaker 1: that school that's perfectly good, but perhaps not as well known.
Speaker 1: You know, nobody wants to hear hear about that over orders.
Speaker 1: So these parents really did get very caught up in
Speaker 1: that and in the sense that my kid needs to
Speaker 1: succeed because it's a way of showing that I am
Speaker 1: doing a good job as a parent. So what's happened
Speaker 1: as a result of this? And I wonder in terms
Speaker 1: of admissions. I mean, I feel like I have to
Speaker 1: say I do remember when it broke in our Jason
Speaker 1: and Imno New York studio and we're just like you know,
Speaker 1: and especially because there are a lot of names beyond
Speaker 1: the celebrity names that we knew UM, whether in the
Speaker 1: financial community. But I do wonder if, like all colleges
Speaker 1: kind of went and it was like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: like LETTU, you know, a deep dive to find out
Speaker 1: our process and make sure we're doing it the right way.
Speaker 1: Like what's what's happened as a result of it. What's
Speaker 1: maybe gotten better at colleges and universities when it comes
Speaker 1: to the admissions process, if anything. Yeah, early on last
Speaker 1: spring and summer, there were these hints that there was
Speaker 1: going to be change, and these moments of reflection and
Speaker 1: introspection and okay, yeah, maybe we should audit our application
Speaker 1: or if somebody gets in as a recruited athlete, let's
Speaker 1: make sure they actually joined the team. And you know,
Speaker 1: a number of schools came out and said they would
Speaker 1: do that. California UM actually passed some legislation at the
Speaker 1: state level that schools needed to be more transparent about
Speaker 1: things like legacy admissions. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: there wasn't dramatic change. It's not like schools are saying
Speaker 1: no to donations that happened to come from families that
Speaker 1: are um, you know, a couple of years off from college,
Speaker 1: and I don't see that stopping. The story of Larry
Speaker 1: Laughlin and her husbands Muggia Newly and their two daughters
Speaker 1: are helps illustrate just kind of how the athletic recruiting
Speaker 1: scheme worked very well. UM. The two girls at various
Speaker 1: points posed on an ERG in their home gym, and
Speaker 1: the photos were sent to Rick Singer's team and they
Speaker 1: ended up not being used in the final application. The
Speaker 1: one of his UM deputies used a different different pictures,
Speaker 1: but it just showed how easy it was and how
Speaker 1: kind of murky. Some of the discussions were about exactly
Speaker 1: what was happening here, So we we get into it
Speaker 1: in the book of what their defense was. You know
Speaker 1: what they say Singer told them was actually going on.
Speaker 1: And no, it's totally fine. You're giving financial support to
Speaker 1: the to the crew team. It's fine that they don't play,
Speaker 1: that they're you know that they're not rollers or cox Swin's.
Speaker 1: This happens all the time, totally closer versus Yes, I
Speaker 1: am fully aware I am making a bribe so that
Speaker 1: my kids can get into school. Pretending to be an
Speaker 1: athlete and being an athlete. That's our conversation with the
Speaker 1: co author of Unacceptable Privilege, Deceit and the Making of
Speaker 1: the college admission scandal, Melissa Corne. She's a reporter at
Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal. Jason, this is a story that, man,
Speaker 1: we've been talking about so much over the last year,
Speaker 1: year and a half. As soon as I knew this
Speaker 1: book existed, I wanted to read it and I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to Melissa corn So I'm excited we got
Speaker 1: a chance to do that. This is a scandal that
Speaker 1: will have repercussions for years to come, and especially when
Speaker 1: you synthesize it, Carol, with everything that's going on in
Speaker 1: higher education, owing to the pandemic, owing to questions about
Speaker 1: inequality and racial justice, it is timely to say the least. Well.
Speaker 1: That wraps up the first hour of the weekend. Additional
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and
Speaker 1: I'm Carol Master. Planning coming up in our next hour,
Speaker 1: including where we stand on vaccine research. We'll hear from
Speaker 1: American Medical Association President Dr Susan Bailey, plus a true
Speaker 1: voice of reason back with us Bishop TV. Jay c
Speaker 1: joined us from Dallas, talking about the dual crises facing
Speaker 1: this name. There's a health crisis, there's a racial justice crisis.
Speaker 1: He is dealing with them both. I gotta say I
Speaker 1: was NonStop taking notes on everything he had to say.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Hello, I'm Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and I'm Jason Kelly. Plenty ahead for you in
Speaker 1: this hour of the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Carol,
Speaker 1: We're gonna take you around the world in some ways,
Speaker 1: or at least across a number of industries, how they
Speaker 1: are dealing with all these crises facing us. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: feel like there's a little bit of a theme in
Speaker 1: the next sixty minutes about leadership in times of crises,
Speaker 1: And in keeping with that, we checked in again with
Speaker 1: Joel Peterson, the former chairman of the board at Jet Blue.
Speaker 1: Why he says there's a need for more entrepreneurial leadership.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Also, President Clayton Rose of Bowden College
Speaker 1: talking about canceling fall sports, but also just getting students
Speaker 1: back on campus, the implications for learning and the implications
Speaker 1: for higher education overall, Carol and speak you have implications?
Speaker 1: What about racism? Jason a voice that you were like,
Speaker 1: we got to talk to Bishop td. Jake's stopped by
Speaker 1: again to talk with us. His perspective so thoughtful, so deep,
Speaker 1: so understanding. It's a wonderful interview exactly, and especially given
Speaker 1: where he is. He's in Texas where the virus is
Speaker 1: raging and they are facing so many big questions. But first,
Speaker 1: the coronavirus pandemic. It's infecting more than fifteen million people,
Speaker 1: killed more than six thousand people worldwide since late January
Speaker 1: when it was first reported. Man, it seems like a
Speaker 1: long time ago. Well. Dr Susan Bailey, she is the
Speaker 1: president of the American Medical Association, newly inaugurated. She joined
Speaker 1: us to talk about where we stand in the fight
Speaker 1: against COVID nineteen five. From being very hot in Texas, UM,
Speaker 1: the coronavirus is a very hot as well. UM. Texas
Speaker 1: is one of the many hot spots in the country
Speaker 1: for the virus and UM many of our hospitals UM
Speaker 1: are full UM. And although we are seeing some little
Speaker 1: trends that we may be seeing a downward slide in
Speaker 1: cases which I think is because of the mask mandates
Speaker 1: are governor introduced earlier in the month. Well, let's talk
Speaker 1: about that, Dr Bailey, as a physician and as someone
Speaker 1: who you and your colleagues have been tracking this so closely.
Speaker 1: I feel like some local and state and even federal
Speaker 1: leaders are getting religion maybe a little belatedly on on
Speaker 1: the mask wearing. What effect will that have? I mean,
Speaker 1: is this the sort of thing that could really, as
Speaker 1: they say, sort of arrest this and really changed the trajectory.
Speaker 1: Now that it does feel like we're all getting on
Speaker 1: board with this, UM, wearing a mask should not be
Speaker 1: a political statement. You know that being said leadership, UH
Speaker 1: and UM symbolism is very important in society and UM.
Speaker 1: The American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association of American
Speaker 1: Nurses Association recently released a statement that we are all
Speaker 1: in agreement that everyone needs to take the simple steps
Speaker 1: that we know will stop the spread of the virus
Speaker 1: by wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing and washing hands. UM.
Speaker 1: We agree with the CDC that everybody in the country
Speaker 1: ought to be wearing a mask. I have to say,
Speaker 1: any of the experiences and interactions I've had, you know,
Speaker 1: with the medical community certainly as certainly the New York
Speaker 1: metro has started to open up and reopen up, you know, UM,
Speaker 1: hospitals and medical centers for kind of routine procedures. You know, doctors.
Speaker 1: Everybody's in masks like there's it's just the way of life,
Speaker 1: and they understand that that's just the way it has
Speaker 1: to be to keep everybody safe. Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: important to remember that back to business doesn't mean business
Speaker 1: as usual. I believe that we're going to have to
Speaker 1: observe our mask wearing, physical distancing, and hand washing for
Speaker 1: the uh indefinite future. UM. We now have good scientific
Speaker 1: evidence to show that mask wearing does decrease the transmission
Speaker 1: of the virus. It protects the wearer, it protects the
Speaker 1: people that are near the wearer, and UM some have
Speaker 1: tried to make a controversy or a conspiracy out of
Speaker 1: changing recommendations over time. You know, nothing could be further
Speaker 1: from the truth. And the beginning of the pandemic, we
Speaker 1: did not realize how much asymptomatic spread there was out there,
Speaker 1: and we didn't think that wearing a mask would make
Speaker 1: much difference, and we wanted to make sure that there
Speaker 1: were masks available for healthcare personnel that we're really getting heavy,
Speaker 1: heavy exposure to the virus now that we know that
Speaker 1: the virus is practically everywhere. UM, we do think that
Speaker 1: masks for everyone are appropriate, even the cloth mask UM
Speaker 1: and encourage everybody to wear them. So Dr Bailey talked
Speaker 1: to us about, well, we'll talk about vaccines in a
Speaker 1: little while, but I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: treatments because I feel like that's one of the things
Speaker 1: we've been talking a little bit more about this week,
Speaker 1: Carol and I have on this program is sort of
Speaker 1: what's out there right now to treat this disease, because
Speaker 1: we know that a vaccine is months away. Best case. Uh,
Speaker 1: what are you seeing in terms of treatments that are
Speaker 1: working well? Unfortunately, the treatment side of the equation is
Speaker 1: still very very sparse. UM. Everyone has likely heard of
Speaker 1: rim dissevere UM anti viral medication, but that's being reserved
Speaker 1: for patients in the hospital who are extremely ill. UM.
Speaker 1: It may work a little bit better earlier in the illness,
Speaker 1: but UM, that's going to be limited by the amount
Speaker 1: of medication that's available. UM. There's been some reports out
Speaker 1: of Great Britain that adding a steroid um for severely
Speaker 1: ill patients can be very helpful. But other than that,
Speaker 1: the only treatment that we have really is prevention. Uh.
Speaker 1: There are a number of drugs and the pipeline monoclonal
Speaker 1: antibodies and other therapeutics that we hope will um, you know,
Speaker 1: be able to be used to treat COVID nineteen at
Speaker 1: earlier stages, but those are all um still in the
Speaker 1: planning phase right now. And that's President of the American
Speaker 1: Medical Association Susan Bailey. Good to catch up with her Carol,
Speaker 1: new to the job inaugurated remotely as everyone is working
Speaker 1: from home or certainly not together uh these days, and
Speaker 1: talk about a big job. Yeah. And what's interesting, Jason,
Speaker 1: and what's struck with me is how she reminded us
Speaker 1: that we now know that the virus is everywhere and
Speaker 1: that the only real treatment we have right now is prevention.
Speaker 1: So I thought that really was very telling about kind
Speaker 1: of our world. She also gave us another line for
Speaker 1: upcoming T shirt collection. Back to business doesn't mean business
Speaker 1: as usual, And I feel like that slogan applies to
Speaker 1: to so many leaders of companies trying to figure their
Speaker 1: way back through the pandemic. Former Jet Blue chairman of
Speaker 1: the board Jill Peterson has advice on that as well.
Speaker 1: He says, be entrepreneurial. Absolutely, opportunities abound even in crisis.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol
Speaker 1: Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you
Speaker 1: some of the most important and informative conversations, thoughtful conversations
Speaker 1: that we had in our daily radio show throughout the week.
Speaker 1: A lot of it Jason often deals of course, with
Speaker 1: the dual crisis when it comes to the virus and
Speaker 1: also inequalities in our society. A lot of it also
Speaker 1: related back to leadership that we need at this time. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I feel like we are looking to leaders more and more.
Speaker 1: We're looking for more information from them. So who better
Speaker 1: to talk to than former Jet Blue chairman Joel Peterson.
Speaker 1: Not only has he run some big companies, served on
Speaker 1: a number of boards, he's also an early stage investor,
Speaker 1: and so he gave us a peek into his portfolio
Speaker 1: how his different companies are dealing with it, but also
Speaker 1: as a leadership expert, how he is giving advice around entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1: A lot of leaders are doing really well. We have
Speaker 1: a portfolio about fifty companies and they're adapting to it.
Speaker 1: They're reconsidering what is their covenant with their customers, what
Speaker 1: are the hard things that they haven't done that they
Speaker 1: need to do, and what ways can they build their
Speaker 1: business in this time? There are opportunities that are coming
Speaker 1: to the four. People are learning new ways of doing business.
Speaker 1: And I think we're actually recovering quite nicely from the
Speaker 1: COVID crisis. And so what's what are the learnings that stick, Joel, Like,
Speaker 1: what are the things that you know, we've sort of
Speaker 1: learned in these remote working environments, in this zoom world
Speaker 1: and the distance world that you know, you feel like
Speaker 1: culturally or even in a day to day setting, are
Speaker 1: going to remain well. I think we were probably won't
Speaker 1: be taking trips across the country for a one hour
Speaker 1: meeting and more. I think we found that there are
Speaker 1: a lot of things we can do on Zoom or
Speaker 1: other of these kinds of programs that are actually quite effective.
Speaker 1: So I think I think the travel and hospitality industries
Speaker 1: will come back, but they'll come back relatively slowly. Um.
Speaker 1: I think we're finding that we missed people I taught
Speaker 1: of course at Stanford in the spring, and Uh, I
Speaker 1: used to come out of class on a high. I
Speaker 1: would I would love me with my students. It was fun.
Speaker 1: I would come out this time through a screen and
Speaker 1: come away saying, how much longer people? I have to
Speaker 1: do that again? You know? So? So I think we
Speaker 1: really understand that we need to be around people. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think we are getting a little bit of a
Speaker 1: warped sense of kind of our lives that we are
Speaker 1: living it so much. The things that we criticize our
Speaker 1: kids for doing, being so much in front of a screen.
Speaker 1: We we have to to kind of keep things going.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to your portfolio fifty companies.
Speaker 1: Talk to us a little bit about them, the types
Speaker 1: of companies, and you said that they're doing well. I
Speaker 1: am just curious about, as a result of what we
Speaker 1: are going through in the pandemic, are there some in
Speaker 1: your portfolio that you're are like, this is going to
Speaker 1: be a turning point for them, Uh, in terms of
Speaker 1: maybe demand going forward. Well, you may have heard of
Speaker 1: the company Franklin Covey. I've been on the board there
Speaker 1: for about twenty nine years. It's a training company and
Speaker 1: they thought for a while that they were going to
Speaker 1: really have trouble because they do a lot of online
Speaker 1: or not online, but direct in person training, and they've
Speaker 1: since converted it over to all online and they're getting
Speaker 1: higher net promoter scores. They provided a bunch of free
Speaker 1: materials to schools that they work with and families. You know,
Speaker 1: people are teaching their kids at home now need materials,
Speaker 1: so they just provided it free to them. So they're
Speaker 1: figuring out new ways to connect with customers. We've got
Speaker 1: another one that's a robotics packaging company, you know, and
Speaker 1: and with fulfillment what it is, UH, you're finding that
Speaker 1: they're being used a lot. They actually build packages around
Speaker 1: the products so there's no air, there's no seal, there,
Speaker 1: there's no peanuts. They really create these very efficient so
Speaker 1: it's called smart packaging for a green planet. And so
Speaker 1: they've they've done well, So it really depends each one
Speaker 1: is different. Another one called Kota Paxi UH has basically
Speaker 1: given a lot of money to help people through this
Speaker 1: COVID thing through sales of their product. So interesting. Well,
Speaker 1: and I have to tell you, Jason, you know, All
Speaker 1: Birds is in their portfolio. Jason and I are both
Speaker 1: fans um birds literally right now. And I have to say,
Speaker 1: you go to you know I remember, yeah, you go
Speaker 1: to their store in New York, and I mean it
Speaker 1: was constantly packed with people buying not just one pair,
Speaker 1: but usually multiple multiple pairs. How do you decide what
Speaker 1: you're going to invest in? You know, I'm pretty old fashioned.
Speaker 1: I'm probably the opposite of Warren Buffett. He always talks
Speaker 1: about the business plan beats out the people. I invest
Speaker 1: in people I find great entrepreneurs, and I backed them
Speaker 1: and help them great businesses. So to me, I and
Speaker 1: that's why our portfolio had in all of these different
Speaker 1: kinds of things. That was the first investor in Bonobos.
Speaker 1: You may have heard about business um, and it's because
Speaker 1: there was a couple of students of mine that I loved,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I just figured out how to
Speaker 1: how to help them get business bill and what is
Speaker 1: the UM? And and do people you mentioned a couple
Speaker 1: of former students, like, how do people find you? I
Speaker 1: mean I assume you're you were sought after anyways the job,
Speaker 1: but but how do people get to you? Well? Uh,
Speaker 1: so we're about a billion dollar series of funds. Were
Speaker 1: insult Lake. We're on the Internet. I know I have
Speaker 1: a big network because I've done business on the coast
Speaker 1: for a long time. So and then I always tell
Speaker 1: people I've done a lot of favors for people over
Speaker 1: the years, never expecting anything back, and every once in
Speaker 1: a while I get surprised. So that's a source of deals. So, Joel,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about leadership in the midst of
Speaker 1: this world we are living in. We got to chat
Speaker 1: with you a little bit about that when we were
Speaker 1: talking earlier in this year about your new book, Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Speaker 1: But this is a real test, I would imagine, and
Speaker 1: I know you talked to CEOs all across the world.
Speaker 1: If you can generalize what makes for a good leader
Speaker 1: in this topsy turvy world. Well, it's actually, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought for a while list notion of putting out
Speaker 1: a book on entrepreneurial leadership was the worst possible timing
Speaker 1: during this COVID thing, But I actually think that coming
Speaker 1: out of it, we need entrepreneurial leaders. These are people
Speaker 1: who really innovate, They create durable change. They're not merely residers.
Speaker 1: They're not myriad administrators, managers, politicians, you know the kinds
Speaker 1: of leaders that you sometimes get in organizations. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be our lead an organization out of this
Speaker 1: mess without having kind of an entrepreneurial mindset. That's Jeff Blue,
Speaker 1: former chairman of the Bard Joe Peterson. Check out the
Speaker 1: full conversation on our podcast feed. Check out his book too,
Speaker 1: That's Out Entrepreneurial Leadership The Art of Launching new ventures,
Speaker 1: inspiring others and running stuff. Great conversation, Jason. We talked
Speaker 1: to him a little bit too about the airline industry
Speaker 1: and how he said, you know, flying across country for
Speaker 1: one hour business being not likely to happen anytime soon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're certainly hearing that more and more business travel is
Speaker 1: going to be fundamentally changed and may never get back
Speaker 1: to the level it is. I'll tell you something else
Speaker 1: that's going to change in the short term, mid term,
Speaker 1: and maybe the long term. Higher education. Carol and we
Speaker 1: put a lot of questions and got some good answers
Speaker 1: from Voting College president Clayton Rose. He talked to out
Speaker 1: the school's plans for the fall and what it may
Speaker 1: mean for the future. Yeah, exactly. This is Bloomberg. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. Well, today we're bringing some of the
Speaker 1: most important and informative conversations we had on our daily
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week radio show this week. Another busy week, Carol, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I gotta say we love checking in with colleges
Speaker 1: and universities because what we're finding is there's no one
Speaker 1: size fits all when it comes to reopening plans for
Speaker 1: the fall semester. Boden's College president Clayton Rose joined us
Speaker 1: along with Bloomberg News Higher Education finance reporter Janet Lauren
Speaker 1: to talk about Boon's return to campus. Two overarching goals
Speaker 1: that we were um working on and it really drove
Speaker 1: us in the decision making. We're first and foremost the
Speaker 1: health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and the
Speaker 1: neighbors that we have in Brunswick. And then second and
Speaker 1: very much connected to this, was delivering for our students
Speaker 1: wherever they were going to be in the world, an excellent,
Speaker 1: boteing education in the fall. So those are the two
Speaker 1: north stars that we anchored ourselves too, and the decisions
Speaker 1: that we took on the shape of the fall and
Speaker 1: how we were going to go about UM UH UM
Speaker 1: coming back in one form or another. We're really driven
Speaker 1: by those two things. We're returning to campus about of
Speaker 1: our students, the first year class plus several groups of
Speaker 1: students UH around the first year class UM UH and
Speaker 1: then the rest of our students will be off campus.
Speaker 1: Virtually all of our classes will be done online. And
Speaker 1: that UM gets to the second piece, this excellent education
Speaker 1: piece that I've talked about. UH. We are made an
Speaker 1: affirmative decision that the best way to deliver an excellent
Speaker 1: bote and education was to have all of our faculty,
Speaker 1: all the staff they work with, and frankly, all of
Speaker 1: our students focused on a single method of delivery, which
Speaker 1: was in an online version, rather than doing some in person,
Speaker 1: some in some kind of a hybrid, and some online.
Speaker 1: But to have everybody focused in a single direction and
Speaker 1: to put all of our resources and attention on that
Speaker 1: single direction. And so far in the work that we've
Speaker 1: been doing, we're very optimistic about being able to deliver
Speaker 1: on that second goal while also protecting the health and
Speaker 1: safety of everyone. So, can you tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about what being on camp it's going to look
Speaker 1: like for you know, mostly the freshman lots of testing,
Speaker 1: lots of masks, not a lot of social interaction, paint
Speaker 1: a picture for us. M Uh, well, absolutely true, and
Speaker 1: I it um goes about saying that this year on
Speaker 1: our campus and every other campus will be very different
Speaker 1: from uh what has historically been UH fall at college
Speaker 1: and for first year students what you know they've been
Speaker 1: thinking about and getting geared up for for several years now.
Speaker 1: UM not in the US. I think the uh, the
Speaker 1: experience for our first years and for the others on
Speaker 1: campus will be both important for them and I'll come
Speaker 1: back to that in a second, and also UM fun
Speaker 1: and interesting and engaging in the age of COVID nineteen Uh.
Speaker 1: First of all, we'll have UM a whole set of
Speaker 1: safety protocols and you alluded to several of them. Uh. UM.
Speaker 1: Face masks will be required in all indoor spaces, and
Speaker 1: then depending on the group's outdoors, UH, there'll be self monitoring,
Speaker 1: good hygiene practices, and social distancing. The classrooms will be
Speaker 1: that we're we are going to use, and we'll have
Speaker 1: a handful of classes for the first year students that
Speaker 1: will be taught in person will be designed with safety
Speaker 1: in mind. Our dining has been completely re engineered to
Speaker 1: allow us to again manage it in a safe way.
Speaker 1: All students on campus will have a single room and
Speaker 1: there'll be a very low density of folks that will
Speaker 1: be sharing bathrooms with very particular hygiene and cleaning practices. Uh. So,
Speaker 1: very different kind of of of sense of the place.
Speaker 1: But UH we'll be engaging in all kinds of ways
Speaker 1: to build community, to engage in activities, to have students
Speaker 1: do a number of the things that they normally do
Speaker 1: on campus, sometimes in lower density groups and sometimes in
Speaker 1: different ways. UM. Uh we will, as you said, I
Speaker 1: have a very rigorous testing regiment. UM. We will be
Speaker 1: testing everybody on campus two times a week UM and
Speaker 1: have a whole protocol established for that. We're working with
Speaker 1: the Broad Institute in Boston, which is in Cambridge, which
Speaker 1: has UH developed a fantastic testing program for colleges and
Speaker 1: universities on the UM in New England and in UH
Speaker 1: in in the in the lower part of New England.
Speaker 1: So UM President Rose you Hay talked about doing testing
Speaker 1: twice a week. Can you give us a sense of
Speaker 1: how much that costs and what kind of a burden
Speaker 1: that add to UM to your budget for the year
Speaker 1: that you weren't expecting in Europe. Well, the the UH
Speaker 1: the total cost of he often safety program, which which
Speaker 1: testing is a significant part but not the only part,
Speaker 1: is going to be considerable for Boden and for for
Speaker 1: every other school. The cost of the tests itself, um
Speaker 1: are about thirty dollars per test. That's one of the
Speaker 1: things that the Broad Institute has been able to provide
Speaker 1: the colleges and universities. It's a very high quality test,
Speaker 1: very accurate, and that's boding College President Clayton Rose joining
Speaker 1: us along with Higher Ed Finance reporter Janet Lauren from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg and Carol. One of the things I've been thinking
Speaker 1: a lot about is there are very few people more
Speaker 1: on the front lines when it comes to making big
Speaker 1: decisions than college presidents. We hear that over and over again.
Speaker 1: We get a chance to talk to a lot of them.
Speaker 1: At the same time, when you think about the front
Speaker 1: lines of everything that's going on right now, pastors, they
Speaker 1: are dealing with this very personal and very meaningful level.
Speaker 1: And Jason, we're talking about TD Jake's and he talked
Speaker 1: with us about really how to change the course of
Speaker 1: our history when it comes to racism. One of the takeaways,
Speaker 1: you know, people just having the courage to talk to
Speaker 1: others that are different than all of us. A really
Speaker 1: meaningful conversation that's coming up. This is Bloomberg. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio, and today we're bringing you some of the
Speaker 1: most important and informative conversations we had across the week
Speaker 1: on our daily Bloomberg Business Week radio show. Carol and
Speaker 1: I have to say it's a great way to wrap
Speaker 1: up our weekend show. We've been really looking forward to
Speaker 1: talking to T. D. Jake's. I mean, as the nation, Jason,
Speaker 1: as you know, deals with so many different crises, health disparities,
Speaker 1: the pandemic, inequality, fighting racism. Someone who is a true
Speaker 1: voice on all of this is Bishop T. D. Jake's.
Speaker 1: He's chairman of the T. D. Jake's Foundation, pastor of
Speaker 1: the Potter's House. He's an author and entrepreneur, he's an educator,
Speaker 1: and he caught up with us to talk about where
Speaker 1: we stand, ways to move forward, and coping with loss.
Speaker 1: I can put it this way. In the last two
Speaker 1: and a half weeks, I haven't had a go by
Speaker 1: that I haven't gotten called it something done. Uh So,
Speaker 1: being a pastor you can get a front low seat
Speaker 1: at at at the final services. And uh so it
Speaker 1: is disastrous right now. The numbers are really high. The
Speaker 1: death rates are escalating. Again, black and brown communities are
Speaker 1: disproportionate hit and so that trauma from that hit is
Speaker 1: very strongly a m clergy because there are people that
Speaker 1: we know or related to people that we know. And
Speaker 1: I literally haven't had a day go by that I
Speaker 1: haven't gotten a phone call like that, and so I
Speaker 1: don't I mean, this is a tough question to answer,
Speaker 1: I know, but what do you say to people that,
Speaker 1: Bishop James, I mean, you're having these conversations every day.
Speaker 1: It is what is your message to to them, especially
Speaker 1: given exactly what you said that disproportionality here, that this
Speaker 1: is affecting uh you know, black and brown people at
Speaker 1: a much much higher rate that that is just inarguable
Speaker 1: at this moment, I think that we cannot rely on
Speaker 1: our elected officials to make the determinations for our health
Speaker 1: and well being, given that we're disproportionately affective. We have
Speaker 1: to be disproportionately careful. And I've been telling people just
Speaker 1: too distance them sales. Uh, to use common sense to
Speaker 1: avoid close gatherings and celebrations. We have a tendency to
Speaker 1: think that if we know people well, they ought to
Speaker 1: be safe to be around. But that's not true right now,
Speaker 1: and it's a new normal, and it's requiring a discipline
Speaker 1: that we're not used to, but it's necessary in order
Speaker 1: to keep our well being up. And then I've had
Speaker 1: several people that have contracted and recovered, so you know,
Speaker 1: on the good side of it, we are seeing some
Speaker 1: recoveries and some success stories. But I think there's a
Speaker 1: great deal of apprehension in facers right now as it
Speaker 1: relates to the broadness and of the far reaching effect
Speaker 1: of this particular pandemic. I do wonder to how you
Speaker 1: see it, Bishop Jake's, especially since you know Jason and
Speaker 1: I talk. You know, we're in eighteen nineteen weeks of lockdown.
Speaker 1: Essentially for the most part, we have been at home
Speaker 1: almost exclusively, um as our offices have yet to really
Speaker 1: reopen here in New York City. Uh, it's a slow
Speaker 1: move back. But I do wonder are you a little
Speaker 1: angry that, you know, if there was a lot that
Speaker 1: we've learned through what happened with the virus on the
Speaker 1: East coast, that we could not or should should have
Speaker 1: been smarter as a nation, especially when we know, as
Speaker 1: you said, those communities that are disproportionately affected. You know
Speaker 1: that we could have been smarter in slowing the impact,
Speaker 1: reducing the impact that we're now seeing play out in
Speaker 1: Texas and other areas, certainly there in the South and
Speaker 1: out in the West. I have survived a lot of catastrophes.
Speaker 1: I was deeply involved with Katrina and a lot of things.
Speaker 1: It's hard in real time speed to to really aim
Speaker 1: at at who the fault and word of place anger. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm a little angry. So exactly where all the place
Speaker 1: of anger, I think is another issue. We would have
Speaker 1: loved have had stronger national leadership on this issue, and
Speaker 1: even on the state wide level. I think we could
Speaker 1: have opened up a lot slower than we did. Uh.
Speaker 1: But but I couldn't control that. And so in a
Speaker 1: situation where we can't control the outcomes of the political
Speaker 1: terrain that we're tracing right now, we have to be
Speaker 1: the CEO of us and make the kinds of the
Speaker 1: seasons that are strong and wise for yourself, even as
Speaker 1: it relates to children going back to school. You your
Speaker 1: parents are going to have to step in and make
Speaker 1: five of the seasons, because right now there's so many
Speaker 1: mixed messages, nobody knows exactly what to do. So Bishop
Speaker 1: Jake's I'm so glad we're getting to talk to you,
Speaker 1: and and it's overdue, in part because you were one
Speaker 1: of the first folks I thought of, you know, as
Speaker 1: we started to go through these last couple of months,
Speaker 1: and when we saw what happened in Minneapolis, and and
Speaker 1: we saw what that triggered nationally, you were one of
Speaker 1: the voices that that I want to hear from around
Speaker 1: all this because I want to understand how you view
Speaker 1: what has happened since the killing of George Floyd, the
Speaker 1: reaction within your community and also the reaction in the
Speaker 1: broader community across America. You talked to so many people,
Speaker 1: you know, both in your congregation, but also national leaders,
Speaker 1: corporate leaders as well, and I wonder what you make
Speaker 1: of this time we're living in. Uh, it's like reliving
Speaker 1: a nightmare from the sixties. Being my best all the
Speaker 1: sixties that I saw this too, and so uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's the movie I don't want to see again.
Speaker 1: But it's happening in real time and speed. The good
Speaker 1: side of it is more and more people of that
Speaker 1: are not of color are taking up this issue, and
Speaker 1: that's a very hardening, encouraging thing to see. UH. There
Speaker 1: has been some progress made. I call them cosmetic changes
Speaker 1: in terms of statues being removed. I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: violently so, but legally so. And I'm also hardened by
Speaker 1: the fact that there have been uh CEO incorporations who
Speaker 1: have worked hard to correct some of the situations that existed.
Speaker 1: UH as it relates to the Confederate flag and and
Speaker 1: and and Jebama served and things like that. But those
Speaker 1: are all cosmetic changes. Are nice, they're important, but they're
Speaker 1: cosmetic changes. The cancer that we still have still exists. UH.
Speaker 1: And I think that we have to work very hard,
Speaker 1: UH to to resolve some of the issues in the
Speaker 1: criminal justice system. We have to work very hard to
Speaker 1: get a national database set up for police officers who
Speaker 1: have had problem problems and other precincts so that we
Speaker 1: don't make the mistake of the Catholic Church and moved
Speaker 1: them from precinct to precincts like they moved them from
Speaker 1: Paris to Parish. If we listen in history, we would
Speaker 1: learn quickly that we have to do things differently than
Speaker 1: what we've done before. Uh. And I think that there's
Speaker 1: a lot to be done in terms of the way
Speaker 1: the laws are as it relates to immunity right now
Speaker 1: from police officers, and how we correct that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: That's a deeper cancer issue that needs to be corrected.
Speaker 1: You have to look at our communities as well, at
Speaker 1: job opportunities and training and retraining people to create opportunities. Well,
Speaker 1: that is something Jason and I've had a lot of
Speaker 1: conversations around Bishop Jake's about that. Ultimately, these inequalities they
Speaker 1: start really early on for individuals. It's a poverty issue,
Speaker 1: you know, and that we've got to figure out how
Speaker 1: to change that in our system so that everyone truly
Speaker 1: has the same access to opportunity. And that means, you know,
Speaker 1: from the minute you're born, and so how do we
Speaker 1: how do we really change that. We keep talking about
Speaker 1: better education, Well, we've spent a lot of money on education,
Speaker 1: yet here we are, so how do we really tackle
Speaker 1: that that problem that starts from in many cases from
Speaker 1: the minute somebody's born, and it depends on where you're born,
Speaker 1: in the color of your skin. We we've spent a
Speaker 1: lot of money on education, and we've made some inroads
Speaker 1: in terms of education, but we've got people that are
Speaker 1: educated flipping Hamburgers right now. We've got to create opportunities
Speaker 1: and we've got to hold our corporations accountable to diversity
Speaker 1: and inclusion on every level, not just entry level positions.
Speaker 1: We need people in high ranking positions that are as
Speaker 1: diverse as our country is. We need that in our government,
Speaker 1: We need that everywhere so that when we sit down
Speaker 1: at the table to make decisions and the people who
Speaker 1: are making decisions look like the people who are going
Speaker 1: to have to live with those decisions. And that's just
Speaker 1: a wise way of leadership and government and going forward.
Speaker 1: I think we also have to look at how our
Speaker 1: cities are constructed, because they were not constructed in a
Speaker 1: way to provide commerce and too. Uh. Certain areas and
Speaker 1: certain sectors are designed in such a way. The highway
Speaker 1: is constructed in such a way that it does it
Speaker 1: creaks down into those that it's been proven statistically, the
Speaker 1: low income housing group together does not work. And yet
Speaker 1: we continue down that path rather than mixed income, housing,
Speaker 1: and I think some of it is in the economic conshoe.
Speaker 1: Some of it is an education issue. But you can
Speaker 1: be educated and you can be wealthy and you can
Speaker 1: still be shot down by uh police brutality. So it's
Speaker 1: not all education and it's not all economics. It's it's
Speaker 1: really a total reform of our system. And I think
Speaker 1: it's starting to happen. Uh, it just needs to continue
Speaker 1: to happen. And I'm worried that the conversation gets sad
Speaker 1: tracked by the vigilantes who take the message into their
Speaker 1: own hands and misrepresent the heart of what we're trying
Speaker 1: to do in our country. They have to be intentional
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, slavery was intentional, Jim Crow was intentional.
Speaker 1: Inclusion has to be intentional. It has to be intentional,
Speaker 1: and it has to be comprehensive. And uh, it's not
Speaker 1: just gonna happen organically. We have to be intentional and
Speaker 1: go out and recruit and recognize that our companies do
Speaker 1: not reflect our country. And they have to be very
Speaker 1: very intentional about that. And I think where they are
Speaker 1: having difficulties working together to find people, they have to
Speaker 1: work with other organizations. That's Bishop TV Jake's and you
Speaker 1: can check out that full conversation on our podcast feed. Jason,
Speaker 1: this is a voice who has seen so much, and
Speaker 1: I feel like we come away with such a deeper
Speaker 1: understanding kind of the problems that we're facing right now
Speaker 1: and maybe how to get out of it well. And
Speaker 1: I feel like every time we talk to me sort
Speaker 1: of twist the prism a little bit and basically helps
Speaker 1: us look at things slightly differently. And that advice that
Speaker 1: you mentioned a few minutes ago really stuck with me
Speaker 1: of you've got to spend some time talking to people
Speaker 1: who aren't like you, and I feel like all of
Speaker 1: us are being reminded of that all the time, whether
Speaker 1: it's talking with people, whether it's even watching or reading
Speaker 1: things that you might not normally watch, just to try
Speaker 1: and understand people a little bit more. Well. 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 mass Or. Be sure to tune into Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week Radio Live Monday through Friday starting at two
Speaker 1: pm Wall Street Time, And if you can't catch us live,
Speaker 1: get our daily Bloomberg Business Week Podcast wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and there you can hear the full conversation,
Speaker 1: some of which you heard on this show, but some
Speaker 1: of which you didn't. Were on the air for four
Speaker 1: hours every day talking to all sorts of people. You
Speaker 1: can hear the full conversation with former Jet Blue chairman
Speaker 1: Joel Peterson, the full conversation with Bishop tv Jakes, and
Speaker 1: many more. Some great things to listen to over the weekend.
Speaker 1: You can also watch the show live on YouTube. Just
Speaker 1: search for Bloomberg Global News. We'll be back right here
Speaker 1: next week at the same time. This is Bloomberg