WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend-July 25, 2020 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.480 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:08.360 Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm Jason Kelly and I'm 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.400 Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.000 Over the next couple of hours, we're going to bring 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.239 you news of the week, insights from the magazine and more, 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.400 and really highlights from our interviews throughout the week on 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.040 our daily radio show. And again, Jason, you know, kind 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.439 of crises of all sorts this week, COVID nineteen, education, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.440 inequality and racism, and running and leading businesses against that 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:33.199 backdrop we covered all this week Week nineteen working from home. Unbelievable, 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:35.960 it has been that long and while we see sort 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.280 of maybe a little light at the end of the tunnel, 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.080 feels pretty distant at the moment. And one of the conversations, Carol, 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:44.519 we certainly got a lot out of was the conversation 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.519 we had with Bishop t. D. Jake's back with us 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.280 talking about those dual crises affecting the nation and his 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:55.240 strategies for moving forward. Slighting was intensible, Germ coral was intensible, 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.000 inclusive to be intensible. Plus the virus of course, front 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.680 and Center, we caught up with a new president of 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.600 the American Medical Association, Dr Susan Bailey. Talked about so much, 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.000 including the state of a vaccine development. But first, let's 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.280 talk about this week's cover story. It's a great when 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.520 corporate activism with a cherry on top. We're talking about 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.480 Ben and Jerry's. It's incredibly compelling, incredibly timely. This is 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.560 a moment in many ways, Carol that Ben and Jerry's 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.280 was built for. Jordan Holman, Bloomberg News retail reporter, joined 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.080 us along with Joel Weber, the editor of the magazine. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:34.240 Within the last month UM, as Black Lives Matter started 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.319 getting a ton of attention and the protests took off. 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.120 You know, the first company that actually was out of 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.559 the gate with a response and it literally just made 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.880 all of us go WHOA. That was a really amazing 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.640 move was Ben and Jerry's. And Ben and Jerry's, you know, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.960 it wasn't the first time they've done this. It is 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.600 actually really part of the company's d na UM, the 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.680 corporate activism, the social justice This is just almost the 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.360 lad chapter of it. And when we saw that, um, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.000 Jordan actually was like she was the one that said 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.560 all that and I was like, Okay, why don't you 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.160 turn around and write that story for us? And that 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.560 was uh yeah, and that was we pulled in Thomas Buckley, 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.880 who knows the Unilever sign of it, But that really 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.760 became the expression of this. So Jordan's you know this, 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:21.760 this company has been, you know, really known for this 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.440 from from day one. I think the thing that you 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.720 you were able to really kind of bring to bear 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.919 in this is like so many other companies fail when 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.720 they try and do this. What makes Spin and Jerry's 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:38.480 stand out? Yeah, thenn and Jerry's their statement just really 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.000 hit you know, they said dismantled white supremacy and what 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.040 we were seeing with other statements because you know, black 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.240 lives matter and we support the community. But what makes 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.400 them sing now is that they have a dedicated team 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.080 that thinks about these issues every single day. So when 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.040 a tragic incident like the killing of George Floyd happened, 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.320 it's not they don't have to scramble to get the 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.839 resources or to think through the They've educated themselves, they've 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.360 done the homework. They've connected with partners like Color Change 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.720 and inp to get the wording right well and what's 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.160 fascinating to Jordan's is it is in such contrast to 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:18.000 so many other franchises, institutions, and companies that really fumbled it. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.840 Absolutely Yes, um, So Ben and Jerry's has for the 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.360 past few years said we're going to focus on criminal 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.919 justice reform. We want to understand how structural racism in 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:33.200 the US works. And you don't always get that intensity 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.720 from other corporations and honing in on that. And one 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.440 thing that Thomas and I learned from reporting on this 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.200 is that when they when Ben and Jerry's launches a campaign, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.960 there'll spend a year thinking about the topic, UM, thinking 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.000 about criminal justice, how they can work with partners, how 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.840 they can communicate that to customers who might not understand 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.440 what structural racism is or the school to prison pipeline. 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:02.240 And so that's why when a statement from them is released, 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.080 it really hits and resonates with people. Well, what's interesting, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.080 Jordan is, you know, we had a Bishop T. D. 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.000 Jakes on our show yesterday and one of the things 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.080 that he said that I really took away and I 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.880 think Carol did too, was this notion of exactly what 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.560 you're talking about, this intentionality, and he basically said he 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.560 was like, look and he was being a hundred percent sirius. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.280 He said slavery was intentional, Jim Crow was intentional. Diversity 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.280 and inclusion have to be intentional as well. But it's 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.200 not always easy, I think, to do that. And yet 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.200 it is. And I that's I'm joking a little bit 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.760 when I say this. It's baked in in many ways. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.240 I mean it's there on the package, it's there in 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:47.160 the company. And that goes back to the founders, right. Yeah, 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.320 So Ben and jerryus has been around since the late 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.960 seventies and Ben Cohen and Jared greenfelt the founders they've 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.600 always spoken up on issues that they think matter. And 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.160 what's changed, UM is that you know, it's be come 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.880 more structured this team. So when they want to speak 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.440 out on if it's climate change or if it's a 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.520 structural racism like we're talking about, or whatever issue, they're 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.839 being very intentional about what they want to say and 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.359 how they say it. And Um. For this story, we 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.839 talked to the executive director of Color Change for Sean Robinson, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.520 who speaks to corporations all of the time, but he said, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.240 what's been and Jerry's apart is that they actually put 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.599 that energy the time, and he even joked, you know, 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.719 the flavor behind Black Lives Matter and the things that 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:35.200 they care about. Jordan's another element that I want to 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.800 bring in here is how you know Ben and Jerry's 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:44.080 owned by Uni Leaver. Now Uni Leaver this massive portfolio 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:49.400 of companies um and not always as as sort of 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.360 woke as Ben and Jerry's is, right, Like, this is 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.960 also the company that does Uncle Ben's rice and jo 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.279 has skin whitening brands in Asia that it's also trying 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.320 to figure out what it's going to do what as 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.800 Unilever as a company learned from you know, having Ben 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:09.799 and Jerry's as part of sort of its portfolio. Yeah, 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.280 this goes back to Jason's earlier point about the founders. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.200 So when Ben and Jerry's was being acquired by Unilever, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.400 the founders really fought for that independence over the social mission, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.039 that element that even though they're going to be owned 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.520 by this conglomerate, they're going to still have this independent 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.000 board to push the issues that they care about. And 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.279 that's Bloomberg News Retail Report Jordan Holman and Bloomberg Business 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.400 Week editor Joel Webber talking about the cover story. Carol, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:35.960 it's a good one. Well, it's a good one. It's 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.599 also an incredibly deep dive into Ben and Jerry's history, 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.080 how it fits into the massive company that is Unilever. 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.400 And in keeping with that, we go from one massive 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.159 company to another, because coming up next a behemoth in 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.120 the Brandon packaged food business, how it is pivoting during 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.760 the pandemic. We'll hear from Mondale's chairman and CEO, Dirk 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.839 Bandi Putt. It's the latest edition of Business Week Talks. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:03.440 This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.120 Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. And today we're 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.599 bringing you some of the most important, we hope in 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.720 formative conversations we had on our daily Bloomberg Business Week 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.520 radio show this week. And Carol, we've been in this 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.360 for a while now, that's right, Jason, and keeping with that, 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.880 so to have so many different companies, of course, trying 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.360 to figure out how to make their way through the pandemic. 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:26.000 We caught up in another edition of Bloomberg Business Week 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.920 Talks with a company and a CEO that is just 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.200 huge in the packaged food business. You're talking about brands 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.800 like Oreos, Cadberry, Trident and Tang, many many more. We 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.280 caught up at the Mondoles chairman and CEO Dirk vander 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.280 Putt and talked about how they are seeing rising demand 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.480 in general for our category. So what we see is 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:50.760 that there is an increase in in home snacking UM 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:56.600 and and there's a pronounced change of the consumer eating 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.400 a lot more in their house, in their homes and 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.160 so let's in restaurants less on the goal. And we 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.040 see that effect on our on our business clearly. So 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:07.880 they tend to eat more biscuits, they tend to eat 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.080 more chocolate at home. But then a category like gum 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.840 or candy, which is more on thego bout in convenience 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.840 stores and so on, is is affected, and is UH 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.920 is negative versus previous year. I have to say, as 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:25.800 you've been talking, can I just say Jason and I 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:30.480 have been nodding about the chocolate. I mean it's happening, 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.000 including Oreos and our end and lots of chocolate. Yes. Yes. 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.280 The other big thing that you see is that, just 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.800 like you were alluding, consumers want a little bit of normalcy. 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:47.960 They want to feel good, safe, UM and and so 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.320 they snack more, they go a little bit more to 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.840 comfort food. M they also go back to the brands 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.760 they know and love, and you've mentioned a few that 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.360 we have. So we also see that effect that our 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.480 our market share and our big brands are are growing 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:09.120 quite a bit. Um. The the other one that I 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.520 wanted to mention about the consumers is that they are 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:16.400 being I won't call it driven online. I think what 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.720 we will see as coming out of this is that 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.080 this was really the moment that shopping showed the major 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.320 shift from going to the store to buy more and 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.480 more online. And we see for groceries, we see a 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.280 lot of first times really starting to buy their groceries online. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.040 So those were some of the big big things we're 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:40.480 seeing as it relates to the consumer. Um. So, when 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.880 when you think about sort of how you have to 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.680 respond to that, tell us about your supply chain. Have 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.760 you had any interruptions there? Have you had to change 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.720 anything to meet that customer demand but also to meet 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.160 you know, any of the challenges about getting it to 0:09:55.280 --> 0:10:00.000 stores or getting it to people's homes. Yes, yes, Um 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.240 would say at the moment, things are are better, certainly 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.480 in the US and in Europe. There's still sometimes a 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:11.600 little bit fragile in emerging markets, but overall, I would 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:15.199 say we've never really had a major disruption. Sometimes a 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.000 plant had to shut down for two or three days 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.680 because our workers couldn't get to the plant, or we 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.800 had to negotiate with the government that our our plant 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.040 could continue to work in some countries. But overall, I 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.320 would say we've been able to keep our supply chain 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:35.600 going largely. We've seen slowdowns, um as we needed to 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.240 sometimes uh take people out of the plant if there 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:44.440 would be somebody that that got infected. Um. So it 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:49.040 has been a challenge that is now better, but we 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.720 are worried as we see, for instance, in the US, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.720 the rise of the cases, as as we see it 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.560 in the different states happening. If we have a plan there, 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.880 we will start to see more cases in our plants 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.960 and that could have an effect on our supply chain. Obviously, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.520 So you went exactly where I wanted you to go, 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:08.240 which is you know, with these increasing cases and maybe 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.600 even the potential of a second wave, do you start 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.480 stockpiling some ingredients in different places and different regions. How 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.720 do you anticipate it? Now? Having gone through this for 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.040 a few months. Yes, we we do UH prepare for 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:26.680 stockpiling ingredients because our suppliers could go could have problems too. 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:31.280 We we start to look for temporary workers or increase 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.679 our workforce to make sure that we can keep our 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:38.040 supply chain going and our salesforce going. We reinforce all 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.120 the measures that we have in our plans and in 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.520 our offices, but we also spend a lot of time 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.600 with our people talking about how to behave outside of 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.440 our facilities and how to make sure that that you 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.520 stay safe and healthy. Um. And and as it relates 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.320 to office workers, we are still recommending everybody to work 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.559 as much from home as they possibly can. And remind 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.880 us in terms of your workers, UM, how that has 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.959 gone in terms of holding on the workers, keeping workers. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.080 What we're seeing, you know, I think we're at this 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.520 very interesting time, um Dirk. Work companies as we head 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.520 into another earning season are reassessing kind of what they 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.960 need going forward, and of course it depends on demand 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.920 going forward, and it depends on the global economy going forward. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.440 How do you see that? Yeah, we are lucky in 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.760 a way that I would say overall our business is 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.680 UH is doing pretty pretty much. Okay, that we have 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.839 more variations around the world, and so it depends a 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.800 little bit where you are. Our US business is doing 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.120 very well at this stage, so we've been recruiting and 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.360 adding workers to our business in the US. But for instance, 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.280 Latin America at the moment our business is is is 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.360 suffering a little bit, and there we have to be 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.400 a lot more careful and and try to get by 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.680 with the with the minimum amount of workers that we 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:07.520 possibly can. So it's not a uniform picture around the world. Um, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.000 the US for US looks looks looks very good at 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.560 this stage. Um we um. We also have to work 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.280 quite a lot with our office workers. Um. Working from 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.680 home gets to you after a while. It's it's it 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.520 seems great, but sitting in front of screens eight hours 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.040 a day, day in, day out, and and the blending 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.880 of your personal life with your professional life, and potentially 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.240 having small kids in the home and so on. We 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.439 we have to make sure that we make make sure 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.079 that there is also a social contact that people really 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:48.040 disconnect uh, that that they do not spend more time 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.400 than needed in front of their screens and so on 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.400 and so on, and so then the the number of complaints, 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.280 of of mental health goes goes up a little bit, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.000 so that there are consequences to working from home. We see. 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.360 That's Mondaly's chairman and CEO, Dirk vander Put, And there's 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.280 more of that interview online as well as in the magazine. 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.640 And I got to say, Jason, the big headline from 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.400 that company. You kept talking about it throughout the week 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.079 is how Mondoles is cutting by the number of items 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.000 that they sell their skews. As the CEO said, that's 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.280 a pretty big move. It is a big move, and 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.640 it really shows how, as you said just a few 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.360 minutes ago, big companies are having to pivot there, having 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.880 to adjust to different sorts of demand. And we also 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.720 love talking about how people are using apparently oreos in cooking. 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.480 I love that. Speaking of big moves, how about bringing 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.880 venture capital into the twenty one century. I've been increasingly 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.520 hopeful about the change in complexity that I've seen in 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.880 some of the generations that are coming up behind me 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.880 y Plex Capitals, low Tony is hopeful about the future 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.080 of diversity and inclusion in the world of VC. Looking 0:14:50.080 --> 0:15:02.320 forward to that conversation. This is Woomberg, This is Bloomberg 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.680 Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.479 We're bringing some of the most important and informative conversations 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.880 we had on our daily radio show throughout the week. 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.080 And Jason, we like to remind everyone that we're having 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.800 these interviews in real time as the world continued to 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.600 move and change around us well. And one of the 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.400 things that we've zeroed in on Carol on this program 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.119 throughout the weekend. On this show is diversity and inclusion, 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.360 but really getting down to brass tacks what needs to 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:35.000 happen across various industries. And low Tony over at Plexo Capital, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.040 He's got some ideas and he started with us talking 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.760 about his own personal experience. I think it's a commonplace 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:47.200 for someone like myself, black Mail. I grew up in Oakland, California, 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.760 went to a historically black college in Hampton, came back 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:54.120 to go to cal and I got used to being 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.440 the only black person in the room. It's just common. 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.600 So I think that's a common experience Rands, but many 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.520 of us have. But I've been increasingly hopeful about the 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.200 change in complexity that I've seen in some of the 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.920 generations that are coming up behind me, and I believe 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.920 that we're at a point where we've reached an inflection 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.920 point where we've been able to shine a light and visibility, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:22.960 and I'm pragmatically optimistic about the prospect moving forward. And 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.520 so there are a number of aspects. Is you know 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:30.040 better than we do low in terms of the investing 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.720 landscape to venture capital landscape, sort of where the money 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.440 comes from, who invests it, and then where it goes. 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:38.480 I know you've been working on all aspects of that. 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:40.960 I do wonder if you could tell us a little 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.200 bit more about what you're doing around the general partner level, 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.680 because I think you are rightly very focused on that 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.880 piece of making the investors, not exactly that, not just 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.600 what Carol described, which is, you know, a bunch of 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.160 rich white dudes making decisions about where the money goes. Yeah, 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.760 it's interesting. I was a partner at Google Ventures g V. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:05.560 One of the things we wanted to do was to 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.879 get access to more deal flow. So we had this 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.520 really interesting thesis that when we started to look at 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.560 some of the smaller earlier firms that were investing at 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.239 that initial check level, we saw much more diversity than 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.560 at the larger firms, and so we came up with 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.480 this thesis that wow, you know, the the indirect path 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:29.640 that many black venture capitalists have, like myself, produces really 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.080 interesting networks and provides a different lens to be able 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.040 to evaluate opportunities and entrepreneurs that might not have the 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:41.920 same understanding traditionally on sand Road. And so we decided 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.760 to make investments into these venture funds to get access 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.080 to their deal flow. And I took that one step 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.680 further and created Plexo Capital and expanded to not only 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.639 black gps, but other gps of color and female gps. 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:02.000 And really it was an alpha strategy to identify inefficiency 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.760 and information and identify opportunities that others were missing. And 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.960 what I also noticed was that, well, you know, actually 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.159 this has a much broader implication to the to the 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:17.840 vertical ecosystems for black for black entrepreneurs, for people of 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.600 color that are entrepreneurs, and female entrepreneurs, which is, if 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.119 we can get capital into the hands of a diverse 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.399 set of investors, the data tells us that their portfolios 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.840 end up being diverse. So if they've got diverse portfolios, 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:35.000 those diverse founders are going to hire diverse teams and 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.960 if there's a successful exit that creates wealth generation for 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.160 those employees, well, lo and behold, you have a diverse 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.600 set of execs that are going to write angel checks, 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:49.239 likely to diverse entrepreneurs. They'll have the financial stability and 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.480 comfort maybe to take that risk and start their own company, 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.440 or maybe some of them will even become venture capitalists themselves. 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.600 But more importantly, it starts a wealth creation pattern. And 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:04.280 then health is also transferred back successfully to those initial investors, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:06.440 and if they were divers, they go down the wealth 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.680 creation and then capital is returned to the original limited 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.200 partners for the investors into those venture funds. And once 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.680 those limited partners see that positive signal of dollars coming back, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.000 they say, Wow, this is working, Let's deploy more capital. 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:25.800 And so that creates this flywheel within that vertical ecosystem. 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.160 I mean, it's not dissimilar to how we see geographic 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:33.240 ecosystems developed outside of Silicon Valley in places like Seattle, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.240 New York, and Austin. But in this case it's vertical 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:41.280 around black entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, or other people of color. 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.119 So I feel like our our model, even though at 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:48.639 the outset the purpose was to deliver alpha and increase returns. 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.400 It has this additional benefit of being able to help 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.880 to accelerate these ecosystems on a vertical basis. And that's 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.440 Plexo Capital founding managing partner low Tony Carroll. And this 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:00.960 is a guy we're going to be going back to 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.080 him for updates. I know it well. Listen, Jason. He 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.400 was a partner at Comcast Ventures than g V which 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.080 was formerly Google Ventures. I mean Alphabet was the anchor 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.639 investor in his own investment firms. So this is someone 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.560 who truly understands the VC world. And check out our 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:16.840 podcast feed for more of that interview with low Tony. 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.040 Bottom line, I like what he said, Jason about creating 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.320 a flywheel to get more diversity in blacks in the 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:25.119 world a VC well coming up next getting into college. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.640 It isn't just about good grades, teacher recommendations and great 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.360 SAT scores. Jason. We know the Varsity Blue scandal revealed 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.080 so much more. This is the book you have been 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.920 waiting for to understand everything that went on Melissa Corn 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.399 unacceptable privilege, deceit, and the making of the college admission scandal. 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:47.280 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.520 Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Well, today we're bringing you some 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.000 of the most important and informative conversations we had on 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.639 our daily radio show this week. And Carol, this is 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:01.400 a story that even with everything going on in the world, Man, 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:03.880 you want an update, you know, Jason, I can still 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:05.840 remember when this news broke. We were sitting in our 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.240 studio at seven thirty one Lexington March of last year 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.680 and just watching it unfold in front of us. It 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.560 became the largest college admission scam ever prosecuted by the 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.520 Department of Justice. Melissa Corn of The Wall Street Journal 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.200 is co author of Unacceptable Privilege, Deceit and the Making 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.919 of the College Admission Scandal. We talked with her about 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:30.240 the book. We were really blown away by so so 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:35.959 many things. Honestly, the scope, the breath, the sophistication of 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.760 this scheme that the mastermind, Rick Singer put together, but 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:44.879 also what it says about our society and parents obsession 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.399 with prestige and brand name schools. And it was often 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.440 really the parents, more so than their teens, who were 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:56.320 striving for these particular institutions, and they were the ones 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:01.200 driving driving the whole process. So Melissa take us back, 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.120 because this was something, as Carol just alluded to, that 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:10.480 landed and all of us across the journalistic world, the 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:14.040 parental world, especially Carol and I both have juniors in 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.920 high school, so we pay very close attention to all 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:21.480 of these things, as many do. Remind us what operation 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:26.080 Varsity Blues laid bare. Yes, So in March of twenty nineteen, 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:28.520 which does seem like forever ago harkens back to a 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:35.760 simpler time, UH showed that there was this college admissions counselor, 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.119 Rick Singer who had managed to find and exploit a 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:43.600 few real weaknesses in the selective college admissions process, both 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:47.400 in terms of standardized tests where he had paid off 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:53.240 test site administrators and a proctor UH to fudge and cheat, 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.359 fudge scores and cheat and improve the results for a 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:00.560 number of clients. UH. He also found weaknesses in athletic 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.680 recruiting and these special flocks that are given to recruited 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.960