Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend edition of Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week. Week forty working from home Still for many,
Speaker 1: it was a week with another reality check, as virus cases,
Speaker 1: hospitalizations and deaths rows to record levels in some places,
Speaker 1: and as vaccine distribution began and then hit some snags.
Speaker 1: Progress overall, but with a lot of work to be
Speaker 1: done when it comes to both COVID nineteen and our economy.
Speaker 1: This was all on our mind with our conversations this week,
Speaker 1: including one with Dr Stephen Corwin, President CEO of New
Speaker 1: York Presbyterian Hospital, who was at the center of New
Speaker 1: York's coronavirus crisis last spring. He provided some perspective on
Speaker 1: today's cases. We'll also hear from the Carlisle Group David
Speaker 1: Rubinstein on his conversations with Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bader, Ginsburg,
Speaker 1: Oprah and more. It's all in his book How to Lead. Also,
Speaker 1: speaking of books, how about the best business books of
Speaker 1: Here's a hint, they're not all business books. We start, though,
Speaker 1: with this week's cover story about the urban exodus. That's
Speaker 1: happening as a result of working from home, and how
Speaker 1: the pandemic migration could reshape the American economy. For more,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quicktake anchor Tim Stanovic and I talked with Noah
Speaker 1: bu Hire, finance reporter at Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week editor Jill Weber. We've been watching this trend um
Speaker 1: just evolved throughout the pandemic, and and it started with people,
Speaker 1: you know, basically the urban exodus, people leaving cities and
Speaker 1: going to the suburbs or or the country. And then
Speaker 1: instead of renting some of those places, people started buying
Speaker 1: and and then you know, the employers started to catch
Speaker 1: up with with it eventually, and that's really kind of
Speaker 1: the new element. And I think the one that that
Speaker 1: really distinguishes Noah's story has been, you know, the shift
Speaker 1: was at first it was just the real estate implications,
Speaker 1: but now it's about the pay implications. And Noah's reporting
Speaker 1: actually centers on a store, on a company, Red Fend,
Speaker 1: the real estate company, and they actually almost become the
Speaker 1: vehicle for the story. So no tell us about this
Speaker 1: trend and what we've learned through Red Sin. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: I think you really, you really captured it. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is uh, this is a trend in HR policy
Speaker 1: right now. We've we've we've had this massive experiment in
Speaker 1: working from home, and I think a lot of companies
Speaker 1: have found that it works for people. Um. It's not perfect.
Speaker 1: There are for sure some drawbacks. UM, but as as
Speaker 1: we've gone through the months, companies, I think, responding to
Speaker 1: what they're hearing from their workforces, have realized that they
Speaker 1: can allow for a much greater uh amount of remote
Speaker 1: work um when the pandemic is finally over. And that's
Speaker 1: forced them to really reckon with uh policies and how
Speaker 1: how you how you actually make this work in a
Speaker 1: way that's that's fairer and reasonable for your business. And um,
Speaker 1: really it's just opened up a giant can of worms because, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the cost of labor and the cost of
Speaker 1: living just vary so radically across the US that, um,
Speaker 1: you could create situations where you know, if someone moved
Speaker 1: from the Bay Area to Phoenix or Atlanta, they um,
Speaker 1: and they carried their salary with them, they just um,
Speaker 1: you create a situation where um, you were paying way
Speaker 1: above market essentially. Okay, So the red fin thing that's
Speaker 1: so interesting though, is that once people sort of moved out, uh,
Speaker 1: and the company had to grapple with us. And they
Speaker 1: were actually proactive I think and having a plan basically, um.
Speaker 1: And they basically realized that in order to implement this,
Speaker 1: they needed to have some version of like a localized
Speaker 1: pay policy. Right. So so tell us about how they
Speaker 1: actually went about implementing that. Yeah, so on some levels,
Speaker 1: like companies have been doing this for years, right, it's
Speaker 1: just um uh, like they thought about, well, if we
Speaker 1: open a new office in a new city, what do
Speaker 1: we pay people. What's interesting is that that red Fin
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of other companies you know,
Speaker 1: had to do this on a mass scale. So what
Speaker 1: Redfin did is they got a bunch of data on
Speaker 1: cost of labor and cost of living. Um. Their their
Speaker 1: real estate company. They're in the home brokerage business, so
Speaker 1: they're they're pretty attuned to this stuff. And I have
Speaker 1: a lot of in house data, but they got external
Speaker 1: data as well, um to try and craft a policy
Speaker 1: of what's fair and and and you know, the data
Speaker 1: informed their decisions, but there were a lot of judgment
Speaker 1: calls at the end of the day, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're still tweaking and trying to make sure, um, you know,
Speaker 1: their policy works for their people and that they can
Speaker 1: continue to recruit and retain the best people because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that's that's really what this
Speaker 1: is about for for companies is you know, there's even
Speaker 1: with unemployment where it is today, there for certain kinds
Speaker 1: of jobs, they're still and insatiable appetite um and demand
Speaker 1: for people and um, you know, as companies compete for talent,
Speaker 1: they want to make sure they're paying the right amount
Speaker 1: in the markets where those people want to be. No,
Speaker 1: there's there's something you explore in the piece, the economic
Speaker 1: implications of this. The idea that people are leaving higher
Speaker 1: cost areas moving to areas than aren't is expensive. And
Speaker 1: with that, of course, if they're leaving a city or
Speaker 1: a state, with them goes tax base, with them, goes
Speaker 1: spending in that local economy. What are the long term
Speaker 1: implications of this migration? Well, I don't think we know,
Speaker 1: ye is the short and short non answer, but um,
Speaker 1: it certainly doesn't seem like it's going to be helpful
Speaker 1: for high cost places like New York and San Francisco
Speaker 1: as they you know, as the whole country tries to
Speaker 1: uh dig itself out of of of the economic implications
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. I mean, it's not helpful when you
Speaker 1: have high earners leave your city, but at the same by,
Speaker 1: you know, at the same time, like, we just don't
Speaker 1: know that at this point how extensive this is going
Speaker 1: to be. And and there are some real benefits to
Speaker 1: um living in being near where the action is, where
Speaker 1: there are other people in your industry, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: that could be a draw for people to come back
Speaker 1: to some of these high cost places. And that was
Speaker 1: our cover story this week in the magazine that was
Speaker 1: No Blue Higher Finance reporter at Bloomberg News along with
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business. We get to Joe Weber joining Bloomberg Cricket
Speaker 1: Take anchor Tim Stenovik and me working from home Man,
Speaker 1: that is something we have talked so much about this
Speaker 1: year because of the pandemic. And coming up in the
Speaker 1: next hour, keep in mind we're going to hear more
Speaker 1: about working from home. It's impact on our lives and
Speaker 1: our brains. Microsoft is keeping track of that. First up
Speaker 1: though straight ahead, we're seeing a significant increase in COVID cases.
Speaker 1: Another very tough week for the nation. Because of the virus.
Speaker 1: The CEO of New York Presbyterian, home to New York's
Speaker 1: first confirmed COVID case last spring, share some perspective on today.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Garrol
Speaker 1: Mazer from Bloomberg Radio. This week was another tough one
Speaker 1: in the battle against the coronavirus. We saw the first
Speaker 1: hiccups in the distribution of a COVID nineteen vaccine in
Speaker 1: the US. The headlines were equally difficult globally. With that
Speaker 1: in mind, Bloomberg Quick Takes, Tim Stanovic and I caught
Speaker 1: up with Dr Stephen Corwin, president CEO of New York
Speaker 1: Presbyterian Hospital, who The New York Times called in the spring,
Speaker 1: the CEO at the center of New York's coronavirus crisis.
Speaker 1: The first confirmed case in the New York area was
Speaker 1: in one of New York Presbyterians hospitals last spring. Dr
Speaker 1: Corwyn began, though, with what today looks like, we're seeing
Speaker 1: a significant increase in COVID cases. Word about of what
Speaker 1: our peak was in in the April time frame, and
Speaker 1: we expected quickly to go to the thirty range by
Speaker 1: Christmas time, if not a little bit after, so we're
Speaker 1: seeing a significant uptick. The good news is uh at
Speaker 1: people are less sick with the virus as we see it.
Speaker 1: During April, we had a mortality rate in the hospital
Speaker 1: of about extraordinary. Now it's down to about five, which
Speaker 1: is still horrific, especially if it's your loved one, but
Speaker 1: but much less than than April. So I would say
Speaker 1: we've got a rough four to six weeks ahead of us. Uh.
Speaker 1: But um, I think that we'll get through it, especially
Speaker 1: as we start vaccinating people quick follow. Um. Do you
Speaker 1: anticipate that we're going to get back to those levels
Speaker 1: in terms of hospitalizations um and cases um where we
Speaker 1: are there, but in terms of hospitalizations that we saw
Speaker 1: back in the spring, we hope not. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: we're clearly mindful of that. Our modeling would show that
Speaker 1: we would peak in the in the middle of January
Speaker 1: unless we have a really terrible Christmas season in terms
Speaker 1: of people traveling and avoiding, social distancing and man sking.
Speaker 1: We still haven't seen the full peak of of what
Speaker 1: happened in Thanksgiving, so that that really is a variable
Speaker 1: that that that relates to this directly. So uh, certainly
Speaker 1: no one wants to go back to where the city
Speaker 1: was in April, and we certainly don't. And so again
Speaker 1: until we get mass vaccination, masking, social distancing, washing your hands,
Speaker 1: all the things you keep hearing about become really critical.
Speaker 1: And I empathize with our elected officials in terms of
Speaker 1: how much of a lockdown do you need to have
Speaker 1: versus not? I think a lot of it depends on
Speaker 1: how much virus is circulating. Dr Corwin. Why is the
Speaker 1: mortality rate gone down so much? Is it because of
Speaker 1: what we've learned, what you've learned since March, since April?
Speaker 1: Is it because the hospital is not strained in the
Speaker 1: same way as it because of therapeutics? Um? I think
Speaker 1: first the answer to your question is I really don't know.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I do think that we
Speaker 1: serve We know how to take care of the patients better.
Speaker 1: Um ramdzevie steroids. They may not be game changers, but
Speaker 1: but we know how to use these drugs. UM with
Speaker 1: the masking and social distancing, are people getting less of
Speaker 1: a viral load when they get sick. We've certainly seen
Speaker 1: a shift to a younger demographic who tends to be
Speaker 1: less sick with the virus um and to your point.
Speaker 1: Any system over that gets overwhelmed, it becomes more difficult
Speaker 1: to save lives. So the ability to not get the
Speaker 1: hospital overwhelmed I think plays into it as well. So
Speaker 1: all of the above, but it's gonna take us a
Speaker 1: while to swear it through. This virus becoming less virulent,
Speaker 1: we don't see that, but that's that's gonna take time
Speaker 1: for us to figure out. One thing that you just
Speaker 1: said really struck me. People wearing masks that you get
Speaker 1: less of a viral load. I haven't heard that before.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? Well, remember, UH, you know, UH
Speaker 1: masks aren't totally affect active, but it helps to it
Speaker 1: helps to filter out particles, and so we use the
Speaker 1: N ninety five masks when we're caring for patients UH,
Speaker 1: and that clearly prevents UH inhalation of the virus particles.
Speaker 1: So wearing a surgical mask not only protects UH the
Speaker 1: person that you would be breathing on, but also helps
Speaker 1: to protect you. And if you get less of a
Speaker 1: viral load, you may have a milder milder infection that
Speaker 1: if somebody gave you a full viral load, which is
Speaker 1: clearly what we saw in the beginning of the pandemic. Hey,
Speaker 1: what do you make Dr Corrin? A new mutation of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen turned up and I guess more than a
Speaker 1: thousand infected patients in the UK and was being blamed
Speaker 1: for more rapid spread of the contagion. Does that make
Speaker 1: you a little nervous? It does? I mean I think
Speaker 1: that this We know that the virus has many, many mutations.
Speaker 1: I mean this is not the first one. Uh. When
Speaker 1: people went on holiday this summer, they came back with
Speaker 1: a variation from Spain which appeared to be more virulent
Speaker 1: and cause wider spread. So this is not surprising. Viruses,
Speaker 1: like anything else, mutate over time. The fortunate aspect for
Speaker 1: US VISA via the vaccine is the spike protein is
Speaker 1: the key in terms of inducing immunogenicity, and so knowing
Speaker 1: the spike protein UM and and developing the mRNA towards
Speaker 1: the spike protein. I think we're in pretty good shape
Speaker 1: regardless of the variations now in terms of making sure
Speaker 1: that that the vaccination will be very effective, right, because
Speaker 1: that's what I've heard, that the current vaccines um still
Speaker 1: will work on these mutations. Is that correct? That's correct
Speaker 1: as far as I know, Yes, that's correct, and I
Speaker 1: think that because the spike protein has not changed, so
Speaker 1: it's not as it's the mutation profile is not what
Speaker 1: we see in influenza uh. And I think that that's encouraging.
Speaker 1: And we're very bullish on the m RNA platform and
Speaker 1: the vaccine. So Dr corn I want to ask you
Speaker 1: when you're interview at the time, when you were interviewing
Speaker 1: The Times back in May, you noted that our assumptions
Speaker 1: around pandemic preparations were flawed. Are there assumptions we are
Speaker 1: making right now about this wave of the COVID breakout,
Speaker 1: this other wave, another wave, and about the distribution of
Speaker 1: the vaccine and the impact that will have. Might some
Speaker 1: of those assumptions be flawed as well? We grossly underestimated
Speaker 1: pre pandemic the amount of protective equipment equipment we would need.
Speaker 1: For personnel protective equipment. We have over ninety days of
Speaker 1: supply for every major category of that. We had issues
Speaker 1: in terms of do we have an A ventilators? We
Speaker 1: clearly don't have that issue. Now we know how to
Speaker 1: create extra I see you beds, and we know how
Speaker 1: to create staffing models that that protect our patients. So
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, we're much better off. Where I think
Speaker 1: that we can make a mistake as a country is
Speaker 1: to assume that the vaccines here, we can let down
Speaker 1: our guard. Let's go back to business as usual. It's
Speaker 1: going to take a while for us to get to
Speaker 1: hurt immunity, and so we've got to do two things simultaneously,
Speaker 1: be really stringent about the guidelines and and separating ourselves
Speaker 1: from each other as tough as that maybe um, and
Speaker 1: let people get vaccinated and educate the population on the vaccine.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of the population is skeptical of
Speaker 1: the vaccine. Are populations of color who've been experimented upon
Speaker 1: in the past, their skeptical of the vaccine. So we've
Speaker 1: really got to educate the population as to the safety
Speaker 1: and the efficacy of the vaccine. That skepticism is what
Speaker 1: worries some about our ability to reach her immunity when
Speaker 1: it comes to the virus. That was Dr Stephen Corwin,
Speaker 1: Presidency of New York Presbyterian Hospital, joining Bloomberg Quick Take
Speaker 1: anchor Tim Stanovic and me. You're listening to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week coming up. The pandemic didn't come with a playbook,
Speaker 1: and yet leaders this year drew on many great books
Speaker 1: to find their way. That's next in our Pursuits guide
Speaker 1: to the Best business books. This is Bloomberg. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Mazer from Bloomberg Radio. This
Speaker 1: week was another tough one in the battle against the coronavirus.
Speaker 1: We saw the first hiccups in the distribution of a
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen vaccine in the US. The headlines were equally
Speaker 1: difficult globally. With that in mind, Bloomberg Quick Takes, Tim
Speaker 1: Stanovic and I caught up with Dr Stephen Corwin, president
Speaker 1: CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital, who The New York
Speaker 1: Times called in the spring the CEO at the center
Speaker 1: of New York's coronavirus crisis. The first confirmed case in
Speaker 1: the New York area was in one of New York
Speaker 1: Presbyterians hospitals last spring. Dr Corwyn began though with what
Speaker 1: today looks like we're seeing a significant increase in COVID cases.
Speaker 1: Worried about of what our peak was in in the
Speaker 1: April time frame, and we expected quickly to go to
Speaker 1: the thirty range by Christmas time, if not a little
Speaker 1: bit after. So we're seeing a significant uptick The good
Speaker 1: news is that people are less sick with the virus
Speaker 1: as we see it. During April, we had a mortality
Speaker 1: rate in the hospital of about extraordinary. Now it's down
Speaker 1: to about five, which is still horrific, especially if it's
Speaker 1: your loved one, but but much less than than April.
Speaker 1: So I would say we've got a rough four to
Speaker 1: six weeks ahead of us. Uh. But UM, I think
Speaker 1: that we'll get through it, especially as we start vaccinating
Speaker 1: people quick follow. Um. Do you anticipate that we're going
Speaker 1: to get back to those levels in terms of hospitalizations
Speaker 1: um and cases um what we are there, but in
Speaker 1: terms of hospitalizations that we saw back in the spring,
Speaker 1: we hope not. Um. You know, we're clearly mindful of that.
Speaker 1: Our modeling would show that we would peak in the
Speaker 1: in the middle of January unless we have a really
Speaker 1: terrible Christmas season in terms of people traveling and avoiding,
Speaker 1: social distancing and masking, we still haven't seen the full
Speaker 1: peak of of what happened and Thanksgiving, so that that
Speaker 1: really is a variable that that that relates to this directly.
Speaker 1: So UM, certainly no one wants to go back to
Speaker 1: where the city was in April, and we certainly don't.
Speaker 1: And so again, until we get mass vaccination, masking, social distancing,
Speaker 1: washing your hands, all the things you keep hearing about
Speaker 1: become really critical. And I empathize with our elected officials
Speaker 1: in terms of how much of a lockdown do you
Speaker 1: need to have versus not? I think a lot of
Speaker 1: it depends on how much virus is circulating. Dr Corwin.
Speaker 1: Why is the mortality rate gone down so much? Is
Speaker 1: it because of what we've learned, what you've learned since March,
Speaker 1: since April? Is it because the hospital is not strained
Speaker 1: in the same way as it because of therapeutics? Um?
Speaker 1: I think first the answer to your question is, I
Speaker 1: really don't know. To be honest with you, I do
Speaker 1: think that we certainly know how to take care of
Speaker 1: the patients better, um remdzevie, steroids. They may not be
Speaker 1: game changers, but but we know how to use these drugs.
Speaker 1: UM with the masking and social distancing, are people getting
Speaker 1: less of a viral load when they get sick. We've
Speaker 1: certainly seen a shift to a younger demographic who tends
Speaker 1: to be less sick with the virus. UM And to
Speaker 1: your point, any system over that gets overwhelmed, it becomes
Speaker 1: more difficult to save lives. So the ability to not
Speaker 1: get the hospital overwhelmed I think plays into it as well.
Speaker 1: So all of the above, but it's gonna take us
Speaker 1: a while to swear through this virus becoming less virulent.
Speaker 1: We don't see that, but that's that's gonna take time
Speaker 1: for us to figure out. One thing that you just
Speaker 1: said really struck me. People wearing masks that you get
Speaker 1: less of a viral load. I haven't heard that before.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? Well, remember, you know, UH masks
Speaker 1: aren't totally effective, but it helps to It helps to
Speaker 1: filter out particles, and so we use the N ninety
Speaker 1: five masks when we're caring for patients UH, and that
Speaker 1: clearly prevents UH inhalation of the virus particles. So wearing
Speaker 1: a surgical mask not only protects UH the person that
Speaker 1: you would be breathing on, but also helps to protect you.
Speaker 1: And if you get less of a viral load, you
Speaker 1: may have a milder, milder infection that if somebody gave
Speaker 1: you a full viral load, which is clearly what we
Speaker 1: saw in the beginning of the pandemic. Hey, what do
Speaker 1: you make Dr Corrin a new mutation of COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: turned up and I guess more than a thousand infected
Speaker 1: patients in the UK and was being blamed for more
Speaker 1: rapid spread of the contagion. Does that make you a
Speaker 1: little nervous? It does? I mean I think that this
Speaker 1: We know that the virus has many, many mutations. I
Speaker 1: mean this is not the first one. Uh. When people
Speaker 1: went on holiday this summer, they came back with a
Speaker 1: variation from Spain which appeared to be more virulent and
Speaker 1: caused wider spread. So this is not surprising. Viruses, like
Speaker 1: anything else, mutate over time. The fortunate aspect for US
Speaker 1: VISA via the vaccine is the spike protein is the
Speaker 1: key in terms of inducing immunogenicity, and so knowing the
Speaker 1: spike protein UM and and developing the mRNA towards the
Speaker 1: spike protein, I think we're in pretty good shape regardless
Speaker 1: of the variations now in terms of making sure that
Speaker 1: that the vaccination will be very effective, right, because that's
Speaker 1: what I've heard that the current vaccines um still will
Speaker 1: work on these mutations. Is that correct? That's correct as
Speaker 1: far as I know, Yes, that's correct. And I think
Speaker 1: that because the spike protein has not changed, So it's
Speaker 1: not as it's the mutation profile is not what we
Speaker 1: see in influenza uh. And I think that that's encouraging,
Speaker 1: and we're very bullish on the m RNA platform and
Speaker 1: the vaccine. So Dr corn, I want to ask you
Speaker 1: when you're interviewing the Time. When you were interviewing The
Speaker 1: Times back in May, you noted that our assumptions around
Speaker 1: pandemic preparations were flawed. Are there assumptions we are making
Speaker 1: right now about this wave of the COVID breakout, this
Speaker 1: other wave, another wave, and about the distribution of the
Speaker 1: vaccine and the impact that will have. Might some of
Speaker 1: those assumptions be flawed as well? We grossly underestimated pre
Speaker 1: pandemic the amount of protective equipment equipment we would need
Speaker 1: for personnel protective equipment. We have over ninety days of
Speaker 1: supply for every major category of that. We had issues
Speaker 1: in terms of do we have an ventilators? We clearly
Speaker 1: don't have that issue. Now we know how to create
Speaker 1: extra I see you beds, and we know how to
Speaker 1: create staffing models that that protect our patients. So from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, we're much better off where I think that
Speaker 1: we can make a mistake as a country is to
Speaker 1: assume that the vaccines here, we can let down our
Speaker 1: guard and let's go back to business as usual. It's
Speaker 1: going to take a while for us to get to
Speaker 1: hurt immunity, and so we've got to do two things simultaneously.
Speaker 1: Be really stringent about the guidelines and separating ourselves from
Speaker 1: each other as tough as that maybe um, and let
Speaker 1: people get vaccinated and educate the population on the vaccine.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of the population is skeptical of
Speaker 1: the vaccine. Are populations of color who've been experimented upon
Speaker 1: in the past, their skeptical of the vaccine. So we've
Speaker 1: really got to educate the population as to the safety
Speaker 1: and the efficacy of the vaccine. That skepticism is what
Speaker 1: worries some about our ability to reach her immunity when
Speaker 1: it comes to the virus. That was Dr Stephen Corwin,
Speaker 1: Presidency of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Joining Bloomberg Quicktake anchor
Speaker 1: Tim Stanovic, m me, you're listening to Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: coming up. The pandemic didn't come with a playbook, and
Speaker 1: yet leaders this year drew on many great books to
Speaker 1: find their way. That's next in our Pursuits guide to
Speaker 1: the best business books of This is Bloomberg. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Mazer from Bloomberg Radio. In
Speaker 1: our next half hour, we're going to double down on books,
Speaker 1: hearing from the Carlisle Groups, David Rubinstein on his new book,
Speaker 1: and talking to everyone from Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos
Speaker 1: to Oprah and Yo Yo Ma. In keeping with that,
Speaker 1: Business Week's Pursuits team put together list of the best
Speaker 1: business books this year, and what they ultimately found is
Speaker 1: that some of the best weren't technically business books nor
Speaker 1: published this year, which just makes this list even that
Speaker 1: more interesting. Bloomberg Pursuits Deputy editor James Gaddy was behind
Speaker 1: it all and he began with how putting it together
Speaker 1: involves tapping all corners of our Bloomberg team. And we
Speaker 1: have the luxury, honestly, of having people all over the
Speaker 1: world who have contact and resources to talk to some
Speaker 1: of the thought business leaders all over the world. And
Speaker 1: so we reach out to our reporters and bureaus and
Speaker 1: Europe and Asia, obviously here in New York and h
Speaker 1: they come back with the list. We had fifty two
Speaker 1: this year actually, and as you mentioned. Uh. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of them were business books as you normally think
Speaker 1: about it, or even from this year. You know, one
Speaker 1: of the books that came up with the Great Influenza
Speaker 1: from way back Ancient History two four written by John Barry,
Speaker 1: but of course very relevant today in history of pandemics.
Speaker 1: I have to say I bought that book this year,
Speaker 1: and partly I think it was also came up on
Speaker 1: Bill Gates list of like the five books you have
Speaker 1: to read, and that was one of them too, so
Speaker 1: uh and several people actual he for he's been a
Speaker 1: guest on our show, the managing director of a travago
Speaker 1: that came up on his list. Yeah. You know. One
Speaker 1: of the interesting things was the common thread that kind
Speaker 1: of ran through these selections were people trying to find
Speaker 1: historical analogies to this, you know, to this various prices
Speaker 1: going on today. And you know, you had people like
Speaker 1: Jonathan Gray, president chief operating officer for Blackstone Group, and uh,
Speaker 1: into the ninety blitz, the Splendid and the Vial, which
Speaker 1: you know he described as uh, you know, looking at
Speaker 1: Winston Churchill and how he retained this relentless optimism in
Speaker 1: the face of such insurmountable odds allot it a powerful
Speaker 1: lesson for today's challenges. So that was interesting. You know,
Speaker 1: we had Roger Ferguson, also President and CEO of t
Speaker 1: I A A who looked to a biography of James A.
Speaker 1: Baker the third called the man who ran Washington. And
Speaker 1: you know, he said, it's not a timecare not too
Speaker 1: long ago, but you know you can still see these
Speaker 1: sort of hyper parers and politics, the feeds of those
Speaker 1: things being planted during this period. You had, let's see,
Speaker 1: it's interesting right to see where leaders go, right, I
Speaker 1: mean at times of crisis, Like it's not just like okay,
Speaker 1: let me get the leadership one oh one book, especially
Speaker 1: in a year write James that where people said, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, there is no playbook on this. So it
Speaker 1: is fascinating to see where they went. Yeah, we reached
Speaker 1: out to America goes in the gallaries who art Galaris
Speaker 1: and uh. He went back and looked at Hollywood. Uh
Speaker 1: and uh a history of this year that came out
Speaker 1: called a big goodbye goodbye and called Chinatown in the
Speaker 1: last year as of Hollywood. And he said, you know,
Speaker 1: people who work in the business of art like he
Speaker 1: does Uh, Robert Evans producers that movie. Uh, he found
Speaker 1: new meaning in this quote that he had, which was
Speaker 1: always to just bet on talent. And so some you know,
Speaker 1: you have people going back to these uh time periods,
Speaker 1: which uh. And then one other example was Sam Cobb's
Speaker 1: CEO Tipping Point Community. He went to a piece of
Speaker 1: historical fiction called The Cold Millions by Jeff Walters, which
Speaker 1: was very popular books this year. Uh. And it goes
Speaker 1: and looks at the early twentieth century, a little known
Speaker 1: free speech battle between union organizers and the leaders in
Speaker 1: Washington State. So yeah, they're they're kind of you know,
Speaker 1: the time periods were very different, The protagonists in these
Speaker 1: books are very very different, and it just kind of
Speaker 1: shows how people are looking for what we found was
Speaker 1: at least analogous moment. I love like someone like Danielle Blue.
Speaker 1: I mean, this has been just a devastating year for
Speaker 1: anyone in the restaurant industry. And the book that he's
Speaker 1: reading Dirt Adventures in Leon as a chef in training
Speaker 1: father and Sleeth looking for the secret of French cooking.
Speaker 1: But it's just funny to see where, you know, like
Speaker 1: people go Yeah, right, that was really interesting when he said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a real guts for Bill Buford to
Speaker 1: go in there and do that, and he knows from
Speaker 1: first experience. Yeah exactly, I bet right. Yeah. Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: we did have a few uh, you know, typical sort
Speaker 1: of business books which you know we should call out because, um,
Speaker 1: you know, in the year that everyone bench watched Netflix.
Speaker 1: You know, Mark Randolph, the uh, one of the founders
Speaker 1: of Netflix, wrote a book called that Will Never Work.
Speaker 1: The Birth of Netflix from the Amazing Life of an Idea. Well,
Speaker 1: whoever said that was obviously wrong. Thing that I guess
Speaker 1: shouldn't surprise me. Um, I guess, Uh, this was more
Speaker 1: about me, I guess. But there were a lot of
Speaker 1: female empowerment books that came up that uh, really interesting.
Speaker 1: Untamed Glennon Doyle's No More was also a bestseller this year.
Speaker 1: I was mentioned by I Believe for different People and
Speaker 1: one of our people, Mary Max from A Little Spargo
Speaker 1: called it an authentic and empowering kick in the tail.
Speaker 1: So that which that should just be blur cover. I'm
Speaker 1: definitely all in when it comes to female empowerment and
Speaker 1: books on that subject, just saying well, it was great
Speaker 1: to catch up with Bloomberg Pursuits Deputy editor James Gaddy.
Speaker 1: Check out that list on the best books business books
Speaker 1: of It's online in the magazine and on the Bloomberg Terminal.
Speaker 1: From the best business books of some of the best
Speaker 1: known names in the world on how to lead. It's
Speaker 1: all in a book by the Carlisle Groups David Rubinstein.
Speaker 1: He's coming up next. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: and this is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Gerrol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. Safe to say, we didn't
Speaker 1: have a playbook on how to get through the global pandemic,
Speaker 1: and now we just made thanks to a book out
Speaker 1: by David Rubinstein. He's the co founder and co executive
Speaker 1: chairman of the private equity firm the Carlisle Group. David
Speaker 1: is also host of peer to peer conversations on Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Radio and Bloomberg TV. His new book, it's entitled How
Speaker 1: to Lead. Wisdom from the World's greatest CEOs, founders and
Speaker 1: game Changers. He talked about the book and more with
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes, Tim Stenevik and me. We started though
Speaker 1: with how his interest in leadership, how it all began
Speaker 1: and I was little. I was always interested in learning
Speaker 1: how other people became prominent and famous, and I used
Speaker 1: to read about him, and I guess I couldn't stop
Speaker 1: asking people questions. So my mother would say, you know,
Speaker 1: be polite, don't ask people so many questions. But I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to resist. So dozens of leaders you spoke
Speaker 1: to for this Dr Anthony Fauci, Oprah, Jeff Bezos, Marilyn Howson, um.
Speaker 1: Is there a common thread that runs through all of
Speaker 1: their journeys that you took away from the conversations. Sure,
Speaker 1: all of them came from I would say middle class,
Speaker 1: lower middle class or blue collar families. None of them
Speaker 1: were really extremely wealthy. They work their way up. They
Speaker 1: came from a situation where they typically had some failures
Speaker 1: earlier in their career. They all tended to have a vision,
Speaker 1: They were very persistent, they knew they wanted to get
Speaker 1: something done, They were willing to share the credit with people,
Speaker 1: highly honest and a lot of integrity, and they rose
Speaker 1: up in case in situations where there's a lot of crisis.
Speaker 1: You could say the word's great leaders overcome crises, And
Speaker 1: many of them overcame crisis and really show their leadership
Speaker 1: skills during those crisis. So, David, I wonder, if you're
Speaker 1: not a leader as a kid, or as a teenager
Speaker 1: or at college, does that necessarily mean you won't be
Speaker 1: a leader later in life? I mean, do you do
Speaker 1: you have to start showing some trades basically early on.
Speaker 1: I wondered if that was also a commonality between some
Speaker 1: of the folks you've talked to. Most of them were
Speaker 1: not leaders when they were very young. In fact, if
Speaker 1: you take a look at the last let's say a
Speaker 1: dozen presidents the United States, maybe only Bill Clinton would
Speaker 1: be somebody who would have been said, as a young person,
Speaker 1: this person could be President United States. And the same
Speaker 1: as true in other areas. I certainly was not a
Speaker 1: great leader when I was younger, and many people were
Speaker 1: not famous when they were young for being Rhodes scholars
Speaker 1: or Supreme Court clerks or Heisman Trophy winners. People who
Speaker 1: become great leaders later in life basically have a tortoise
Speaker 1: and hair approach. They've worked their way up, they learned
Speaker 1: some skills, and ultimately luck helps them get get forward.
Speaker 1: But if you think of your thank your own high
Speaker 1: school class, whoever the seat that the senior leader was
Speaker 1: the student body president. What happened to that person? You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you know you don't know because they didn't become famous.
Speaker 1: I often thought the people in my high school class
Speaker 1: were going to be conquering the world, and then I've
Speaker 1: never heard it from some of them. Again, Yeah, mine
Speaker 1: is a pulmonologist in California. He's doing well. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: doing okay, he's busy during the COVID pandemic. But um, David,
Speaker 1: it struck me that you said that this common theme
Speaker 1: is that people came from this middle class background. I'm wondering.
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about this idea of a k
Speaker 1: shape recovery. The middle class has gotten smaller in the
Speaker 1: United States. Do you think it's still possible for people
Speaker 1: to work their way up? The American dream? I think
Speaker 1: still lives on. But there's no doubt there's an underclass
Speaker 1: in our country now that, for racial or other reasons,
Speaker 1: has fallen further and further behind. And I think COVID
Speaker 1: is going to bring them even further and further behind,
Speaker 1: because if you don't have technology in the in the
Speaker 1: COVID era, you're just you're just not able to really survive.
Speaker 1: So think about all the families that don't have high
Speaker 1: speed internet at home, or cancer ford to have child
Speaker 1: care for their children, or can't afford to sound the
Speaker 1: schools right now. So that's a sad situation. So I
Speaker 1: do think that the American dream is becoming more elusive
Speaker 1: for many, many people in this country. But there are,
Speaker 1: obviously are people who still believe in the American dream
Speaker 1: and come from reasonable backgrounds and can work their way up.
Speaker 1: And obviously some people from the worst backgrounds can work
Speaker 1: their way up, but the odds are harder and harder. Well,
Speaker 1: when you look at the kind of bigger picture, David,
Speaker 1: in terms of our economy in the future of it,
Speaker 1: and you watch what's going on in other nations like China,
Speaker 1: who's definitely on a mission to certainly develop some more
Speaker 1: sophisticated industries and certainly develop their domestic economy. Do we
Speaker 1: need to figure out some new policies and what might
Speaker 1: those policies be so that the American dream is not
Speaker 1: more elusive and that it is available to more and
Speaker 1: more Americans, especially at the lower socioeconomic scale. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt that our creative activity in this country is the
Speaker 1: envy of the world. Silicon Valley and all the kind
Speaker 1: of technologies that have been developed there are the envy
Speaker 1: of the world. But we don't have a population base
Speaker 1: that China does, and it's China becomes more and more capitalistic.
Speaker 1: I think it's actually gonna by pay us us in size.
Speaker 1: In terms of economy, the United States will probably be
Speaker 1: in our lifetime the second largest economy world, not the largest.
Speaker 1: But you can still rise up and have a very
Speaker 1: great life in the second largest economy in the world.
Speaker 1: But we should recognize that China will be a competitor
Speaker 1: increasingly in the in the economic world, and it's going
Speaker 1: to be difficult for some of us to accept that fact,
Speaker 1: but it's a reality. If we had one new policy
Speaker 1: that the incoming Biden administration would put into fact, let's
Speaker 1: say in their first year, that would help some of
Speaker 1: those Americans that have been left behind. What would you
Speaker 1: what do you think it should be? No member of
Speaker 1: Congress can get their pay unless we pass bipartisan legislation.
Speaker 1: UH that addresses some of the problems. Obviously that's tongue
Speaker 1: in cheque, but clearly I actually like it. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna put it here here, But anyway, go ahead, so
Speaker 1: I think obviously that the country doesn't work as well
Speaker 1: as we would like it to work. And we haven't
Speaker 1: seen bipartisan legislation for a long long time, and we
Speaker 1: have apparel's appauling, and every time the budget is about
Speaker 1: to expire. So we have to do a better job.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether the new president can do that
Speaker 1: or not, but clearly the system isn't working as well
Speaker 1: as the founding fathers intended, that's for sure. I hope
Speaker 1: this interviewed Joe Biden when he uh takes officers. Before
Speaker 1: he takes office, I'd like to talk to him. I've
Speaker 1: known him for a long time, but I have never
Speaker 1: interviewed him, so I'm looking forward to that. David, if
Speaker 1: if you'll indulge us, I'd love to go through some
Speaker 1: of the names on your list, because it is quite
Speaker 1: a lineup, m and just kind of what comes to
Speaker 1: mind in terms of their leadership and just talking to them.
Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos what Jeff is a person who started relatively
Speaker 1: late when you think about it, the companies, not that
Speaker 1: he started, but he's now built it into the company
Speaker 1: which is now one of the best known companies in
Speaker 1: the world. And he's become the richest person in the world.
Speaker 1: But he still has a great deal of humility, I
Speaker 1: would say, and a pretty good sense of humor. And
Speaker 1: I think the interview was one of the most interesting
Speaker 1: ones in the book. Think about it. Many many times
Speaker 1: the richest person in the world over the past half
Speaker 1: century have been people have been relatively reclusive. Howard Hughes,
Speaker 1: nobody really knew him. J Paul Getty, nobody really knew him.
Speaker 1: Bill Gates and and Jeff Bezos both are pretty accessible,
Speaker 1: and you can get ahold of him. You can see him,
Speaker 1: you can talk to him. It's not not quite what
Speaker 1: it used to be. And I love in your book
Speaker 1: that when you talk about Jeff Bezos that you had
Speaker 1: an opportunity is it right to have a one percent
Speaker 1: equity stake in the company and you passed? Well, we
Speaker 1: actually had opportunity of about us on that we did get.
Speaker 1: We did get one told that at the I p oh,
Speaker 1: so we thought it was going nowhere. That was our
Speaker 1: biggest mistake. It happens, it could be worse. What about
Speaker 1: when it comes to someone like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Speaker 1: who we lost earlier this year. Yeah, she was a
Speaker 1: person who weighed about a hundred pounds when I interviewed
Speaker 1: at the Street Y in New York. Ninety of those
Speaker 1: pounds were her brain. Incredibly smart person, but it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to interview in this sense. Um, when you asked
Speaker 1: somebody a question interview, you expect an answer within a
Speaker 1: second or so, but she would pause for twenty seconds
Speaker 1: or so. When you say, oh, she having a senior moment,
Speaker 1: did she not hear me? Was an offensive question, but
Speaker 1: she was actually thinking about what she wanted to say
Speaker 1: and then would say it in paragraph form. So she
Speaker 1: was very, very good. Well, and what about someone like
Speaker 1: Oprah Winfrey, which is just I think for all of
Speaker 1: us would just I think be so nervous sitting down
Speaker 1: with her. But what was that like? Well, it's hard
Speaker 1: to interview the greatest interview of them all, perhaps, but
Speaker 1: I've known her a little bit and uh so it
Speaker 1: wasn't quite the first time I'd met her, so it
Speaker 1: was it was okay, and uh, it went well, but
Speaker 1: you know, she didn't really need an interviewer. I mean,
Speaker 1: she's uh, she was giving a master class and how
Speaker 1: to be interviewed and how to interview. So I was
Speaker 1: just mostly sitting there watching. But what do you want
Speaker 1: to know as a leader like this, this is all
Speaker 1: about leadership And what was it that just kind of
Speaker 1: stood with you about her? Well, she is somebody that
Speaker 1: came from very, very poor background, and now that she's
Speaker 1: become very famous and wealthy, she's trying to give back.
Speaker 1: She's involved in philanthropy. But she her greatest skill set,
Speaker 1: she would say, is not being an interviewer, but being
Speaker 1: a listener. And she has empathy with the people she interviews,
Speaker 1: and that's what she says is her strength. What about
Speaker 1: yo Yo Ma, Well, Yo Yo is somebody I've come
Speaker 1: to know pretty well through the Kennedy Center, and he's
Speaker 1: a person that you know chess. He's the best known
Speaker 1: and the best cellis in the world. But that's not
Speaker 1: what he cares about. At this point in his career.
Speaker 1: He is about sixty five years old. He cares about
Speaker 1: other things. He wants to perpetuate the idea that the
Speaker 1: arts make people better, better people that are humans, and
Speaker 1: so he's really interested in in in cutting people to
Speaker 1: learn more about the arts, not just listening to him play.
Speaker 1: So he spends at least half his life now trying
Speaker 1: to get people to become more familiar with the arts
Speaker 1: and appreciate the arts, all kinds of arts. And so
Speaker 1: he's an infectious personality. And he's on the change a
Speaker 1: little bit because he's a person that doesn't like to
Speaker 1: shake hands. He likes to hug people, and in the
Speaker 1: in the COVID area, it's harder to hug people, so
Speaker 1: you probably have to change his technique there. I have
Speaker 1: to say, one of the things I like about the
Speaker 1: holiday season, David, is the Kennedy Center honors um. I
Speaker 1: still talk about led Zeppelin and Hard doing Stairway to Heaven.
Speaker 1: There's like nothing like it. But I do look forward
Speaker 1: to it, and I think about the importance of arts
Speaker 1: and culture in our community, and I do wonder about
Speaker 1: the hit that it is all taking because of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: everything being shut down. You know, what are your hopes
Speaker 1: and expectations when we get on the other side of this. Well,
Speaker 1: the performing arts world has been decimated, and I would
Speaker 1: say probably ten of performing arts arenas or the state
Speaker 1: or or venues are not going to probably reopen again. Well, David,
Speaker 1: and what do you think the role of the federal
Speaker 1: government has to be in terms of you know, we
Speaker 1: can go through a list, whether it's cultural institutions, UM,
Speaker 1: arts and entertainment. I look at the restaurant community, which
Speaker 1: I think is part of the fabric and culture of
Speaker 1: our you know, major cities and our society, and they
Speaker 1: are also getting decimated. What's the responsibility of the federal
Speaker 1: government where it feels like that has really been forgotten. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I suppose you work in a food truck. Suppose you
Speaker 1: work in a restaurant. Uh, you know, you're probably not
Speaker 1: going to be uh employed that readily right now. And
Speaker 1: it's a tough situation. Many of these people are not
Speaker 1: people can readily go get another job so so easily.
Speaker 1: So it's very tough. I hope the most important thing
Speaker 1: we do in the next week or so has passed
Speaker 1: some legislation that will actually help with the economy and
Speaker 1: help these people that need it the most. And we
Speaker 1: know there are a lot of people out there struggling. David,
Speaker 1: by the way, worked as a lawyer in the Senate
Speaker 1: and in the White House during the Carter administration. That
Speaker 1: was David Rubinstein, co founder, co executive chair of the
Speaker 1: Carlisle Group, host ap peer to peer conversations on Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Radio and TV. Check out his book How to Lead.
Speaker 1: He was talking with Bloomberg Quick Take anchor Tim Stenovik
Speaker 1: and me. That wraps up the first hour of the
Speaker 1: weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. From Bloomberg Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Carol Masser. More ahead in our next hour, including the
Speaker 1: stats on our virtual working from home world, plus paving
Speaker 1: the way to a more sustainable and regenerative future of fashion,
Speaker 1: and he played with the Rolling Stones, the Almond Brothers
Speaker 1: and Eric Clapton and more. Find out why he's the
Speaker 1: subject of a new documentary called The tree Man. That's
Speaker 1: all coming up. I'm Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Carol Masser. Coming up in our second hour of
Speaker 1: the weekend edition of Bloomberg Business Week. All the crazy
Speaker 1: statistics on how much we are working from home, the
Speaker 1: folks over at Microsoft three six, They've got a ton
Speaker 1: of data on what we are all doing. Plus making
Speaker 1: mushrooms into high end fashion. That's the goal of Michael Works.
Speaker 1: We check in with one of the co founders and
Speaker 1: the tree Man, the musician who toured with the Rolling Stones,
Speaker 1: the Almond Brothers, Eric Clapton and more, and who's now
Speaker 1: down on the farm. We kick off this hour with
Speaker 1: the story in the magazine about how, in this world
Speaker 1: of COVID and perhaps more virus and germs to come,
Speaker 1: that if you want to make a building healthier, stop
Speaker 1: sanitizing everything. It's a great story from Projects and Investigations
Speaker 1: reporter Carolina Winter, who joined me and Bloomberg Quicktake anchor
Speaker 1: Tim Stenovic along with Bloomberg Business We Get It or
Speaker 1: Joe Weber, who kicked it off reminding us of our
Speaker 1: sanitizing craze that's also been covered in the magazine. I
Speaker 1: love this story, and it's been uh one that I
Speaker 1: was just really looking forward to publishing, in part because,
Speaker 1: as you know, Carol, we've had a great Lysol story
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and it was, you know,
Speaker 1: the theme of that story was like you sanitize everything,
Speaker 1: but lights all over everything. It's so effective at killing COVID.
Speaker 1: And this is like the powder point, I think, which
Speaker 1: is look like when we when we do sanitize things,
Speaker 1: we annihilate everything. And yeah, sure that gets out of COVID,
Speaker 1: But but how much do we really understand about the
Speaker 1: really small stuff. And that's where Caroline's reporting comes in
Speaker 1: because there's actually this little mini movement that's that says
Speaker 1: we're actually doing a lot of harm. And I think
Speaker 1: this makes it really it's especially relevant right now in
Speaker 1: New York as a snowstorm starts coming down, uh, that
Speaker 1: we're all going to be trapped indoors for the next
Speaker 1: couple of months. And it's all about indoor environment. So
Speaker 1: so Carolyn take us into the world of science and
Speaker 1: what we don't know about what's going on inside of
Speaker 1: buildings right now. Yeah. Sure, well, so we're we're actually
Speaker 1: trapped inside a lot of the times. Just to show
Speaker 1: that in the West, um, humans spend indoors Americans, and
Speaker 1: about that in inside buildings and cars, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of research showing that are disconnect from the outdoor
Speaker 1: world is linked to a huge range of really serious
Speaker 1: chronic diseases and UM. And of course now we know
Speaker 1: that stars also spreads much more easily indoors, and so
Speaker 1: a lot of experts are asking, you know, what, how
Speaker 1: do you make the indoors healthier? And UM, the understandable,
Speaker 1: understandable tactic has been to just you know, which whip
Speaker 1: about the bleach and just bleach bomb everything. You know,
Speaker 1: install air sanitizers, get your antimicrobial coatings. And the people
Speaker 1: I spoke with, they said, um, you know this, this
Speaker 1: it makes it makes a lot of sense just from
Speaker 1: a just you know, we've what we've long wanted to
Speaker 1: just annihilate any all pathogens. Um, but this may have
Speaker 1: really serious consequences for our long term health and may
Speaker 1: also not be helping very much against stars by the way. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know, Carolyn, I think what's kind of interesting too
Speaker 1: is this whole idea of these indoor microbes. Um. I
Speaker 1: just find it fascinating. And you talk about the microbiome
Speaker 1: of the built environment, and I love this. I wrote
Speaker 1: on the story when I was taking notes you which
Speaker 1: encompasses trillions of microbes, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's so much stuff off in these closed spaces that
Speaker 1: we live in and consider a haven a safe haven,
Speaker 1: and they're not necessarily Yeah, no, it's true. There are
Speaker 1: trillions and trillions of these. There's studies showing that they're
Speaker 1: actually an equal concentration of viruses as as bacteria in
Speaker 1: indoor air and what we have to realize is that
Speaker 1: there's no way we'll ever get rid of all of
Speaker 1: this stuff. So no matter how clean you make it,
Speaker 1: I mean, the the International Space Stations is filled with microbes,
Speaker 1: even though they disinfect everything that goes inside of it.
Speaker 1: And so what we're doing potentially by cleaning like crazy,
Speaker 1: is wiping out some of the good bacteria that we
Speaker 1: actually really need to be healthy and perhaps even creating
Speaker 1: um more space for pathogens, including antibiotic resistance bacteria potentially,
Speaker 1: which would be a you know, disaster. Let's actually dwell
Speaker 1: on that for a second, because there is actually this
Speaker 1: ongoing study that you reference that that I think the
Speaker 1: thrust of it is, like, what if the idea is
Speaker 1: like there's actually benign bacteria that could be all over
Speaker 1: everything and that actually helps keep the bad stuff at
Speaker 1: bay just by taking up space. Can you talk more
Speaker 1: about that research? Yeah? Yeah, this is a really just amazing,
Speaker 1: amazingly interesting scientists um Jack Gilbert and he's doing he's
Speaker 1: doing a study right now in an undisclosed hospital in California.
Speaker 1: And the idea is really that if you sanitize everything
Speaker 1: and wipe off the microbes um and then somebody comes
Speaker 1: in and coughs, there's plenty of space, there's nothing there,
Speaker 1: so the virus or whatever, you know, whatever germs they
Speaker 1: have can potentially take up route there and thrive. But
Speaker 1: he he hypothesizes that if you take from this bacteria
Speaker 1: and um and and colonize that that same surface, then
Speaker 1: the person who comes in and coughs on the surface,
Speaker 1: there's there's not as much chance for it to take
Speaker 1: up residents because it will be out competed for resources
Speaker 1: by the stuff that's already there. And so um, the
Speaker 1: results there's there have been previous studies to that extent
Speaker 1: with really encouraging findings, and this one is a little
Speaker 1: bit more in depth. But but it's actually not that
Speaker 1: far fetched. There are already all sorts of cleaners that
Speaker 1: people are using that apply this probiotic concept. Um, the
Speaker 1: you're there spring bacteria, and the bacteria goes in and
Speaker 1: munches away dirt and stuff like that in in the
Speaker 1: cracks and crevices where you potentially couldn't even get too
Speaker 1: with cleaners. And so it's there's there's there's it's kind
Speaker 1: of a new frontier and and um and an exciting one. Okay,
Speaker 1: so put a bow on it. We only got a
Speaker 1: couple of seconds left, Like, what's the one thing that
Speaker 1: that I should be doing as somebody who's gonna be
Speaker 1: trapped inside for for months now? What should we be doing?
Speaker 1: Just got well, you just try and think about aligning
Speaker 1: your buildings with nature as much as you can. Open
Speaker 1: the windows when you can, even if it's cold outside.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely up for that. Love the outdoors. That's projects
Speaker 1: an investigations reporter caroly in a winter Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: editor Joel Weber joining me and Bloomberg Quicktake anchor Tim Stanovic,
Speaker 1: speaking of spending more time outdoors, Are you wondering how
Speaker 1: much time you are actually spending online indoors perhaps working,
Speaker 1: and what it's doing to you. We've got that. It's
Speaker 1: coming up next. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Garrol Masser
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. Last hour, we covered this week's cover story.
Speaker 1: It's about the urban exodus as a result of working
Speaker 1: from home and the impact that may have on the
Speaker 1: American economy. Well, as we watch the pandemic potentially impacting
Speaker 1: American migration. The virus we know affecting how we work,
Speaker 1: tracking how we are working from home. Is Jared Spitaro,
Speaker 1: his corporate vice president of Microsoft three sixty five, who
Speaker 1: came armed with tons of data a surge of COVID
Speaker 1: and that's changed the outside environment quite a bit. Um
Speaker 1: We have really tried, as I indicated them, to just
Speaker 1: be students of the moment and try and take in
Speaker 1: data from as many sources as we can and then
Speaker 1: piece together a mosaic a little bit of what's going
Speaker 1: on and where do we think it'll it'll go. Some
Speaker 1: of the numbers for me are really pretty astounding. I'll
Speaker 1: give you a couple thinking of one of our products
Speaker 1: called Microsoft Teams. This is a product that brings together,
Speaker 1: for instance, meetings and chat and team workspaces. Teams users
Speaker 1: have had more meetings and calls per week now than
Speaker 1: they did pre pandemic. In addition the work they span
Speaker 1: and teams. So that's the time between the first and
Speaker 1: the last active log in is up by over an
Speaker 1: hour in many countries in the world. In some countries
Speaker 1: like Australian Singapore, it's up by over two hours, and
Speaker 1: then that's even bleeding over into the weekends. Teams, chats
Speaker 1: on the weekend have spike, so none of that's really changed.
Speaker 1: I mean, those trend lines have stayed pretty consistent. They have. Um,
Speaker 1: we saw some countries starting to add back, as an example,
Speaker 1: Unity to Western Europe. There was this hope that we
Speaker 1: could kind of get back. But during the spikes that
Speaker 1: we have seen in both places here in the winter, UM,
Speaker 1: we've just continued to see people, you know, moving backwards
Speaker 1: kind of in their progression, deciding we need to stay
Speaker 1: remote for a while. So those trends just continue for us.
Speaker 1: I wonder and I don't know if you guys are
Speaker 1: measuring this, measuring this, so forgive me if I'm going
Speaker 1: to place that you guys aren't. But I wonder about
Speaker 1: productivity because there is such a debate about you know,
Speaker 1: people working from home, are they as productive? I mean
Speaker 1: I felt like I was really productive at home, and
Speaker 1: there were certain areas that I never were able to
Speaker 1: really make inroads on that I did at home and
Speaker 1: vice verse. So I just wonder what people are seeing.
Speaker 1: You know. There was a really good article in the
Speaker 1: Well Street Journal today that I picked up on and
Speaker 1: I thought one of the conclusions there is worth repeating
Speaker 1: maybe it says that the research essentially says, you know,
Speaker 1: productivity for a lot of people is up for all
Speaker 1: the reasons that you say, but it's coming at a cost.
Speaker 1: Again to data points that give us some sense. When
Speaker 1: we recently went out and around the world hold workers
Speaker 1: just across different countries, we found it over thirty percent
Speaker 1: of workers. And that was been a pool of six
Speaker 1: thousand people we ask so thirty percent of them said
Speaker 1: that the pandemic can increase their sense of burnout at work.
Speaker 1: Imagine that almost a third of people saying I feel
Speaker 1: more burned out. And then a third of remote workers
Speaker 1: say that the lack of separation between work and life
Speaker 1: so roughly about the same as negatively impacting what they
Speaker 1: would call their well being just overall. Well, and I wonder,
Speaker 1: you know, since you guys talk this stuff, how much
Speaker 1: of it do you think? It was interesting? I was
Speaker 1: just talking with Ken Swig Swig Equities, who is very
Speaker 1: involved in the commercial real estate market um in New
Speaker 1: York and elsewhere on the country, and just this whole
Speaker 1: concept of working from home. You know how much of
Speaker 1: it sticks ultimately going forward? And I'm just curious. Microsoft
Speaker 1: is a company right that has said, you guys want
Speaker 1: to work from home, you can continue doing that, you
Speaker 1: know after the pandemic. How much of some of the
Speaker 1: trends that we're seeing, uh, you know, after hours, weekend,
Speaker 1: how much of it do you think ultimately sticks? When
Speaker 1: we look at what people are learning during this pandemic,
Speaker 1: they are learning that in many instances, they can use
Speaker 1: digital connections to more easily, more conveniently connect with other
Speaker 1: people when they previously have relied on physically being present,
Speaker 1: you know, right with someone. And so then if we
Speaker 1: kind of translate that into what are they saying about
Speaker 1: work post pandemic, we found that umi, excuse me, two
Speaker 1: percent of managers expect to have more flexible work from
Speaker 1: home policies post pandemic. So over eight percent of managers saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: we expect that we will give people the option to
Speaker 1: work from home. Seventy one percent of employees want to
Speaker 1: continue to work from home at least part time, and
Speaker 1: part time in many ways. As we're seeing the data
Speaker 1: come in, is at least two days a week. So
Speaker 1: that's a pretty big change from pre pandemic. I think
Speaker 1: almost everyone felt like they needed to show up at work.
Speaker 1: If you imagine your workforce where just across the week,
Speaker 1: people who choose two of those days not to be there.
Speaker 1: We think even if just that sticks, it will dramatically
Speaker 1: change into dynamic of how people are getting their work
Speaker 1: done and when you guys are checking out, you know,
Speaker 1: when people you're doing your research and gathering the data.
Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about impise companies from all different
Speaker 1: types of industries. Correct, that's correct. Yeah, we go across
Speaker 1: all different types of industries and we try to be
Speaker 1: broad based. At one survey I decided the moment ago,
Speaker 1: for instance, with six thousand workers across the world, so
Speaker 1: across different nations, in all different industries. So we're not
Speaker 1: just looking at one We're trying to get a really
Speaker 1: nice broadly segment size so that we can make sure
Speaker 1: we see the trend well. And I wonder if you can,
Speaker 1: and you know, give me some insight into you know,
Speaker 1: with that promise of a vaccine here and on the
Speaker 1: horizon for for most workers, how quickly do you think
Speaker 1: we see employees kind of you know, get workers back
Speaker 1: in the office. Sure, we we think that it's going
Speaker 1: to take time for the vaccine to roll out, and
Speaker 1: so we'll see that kind of rollout over time. We
Speaker 1: love the fact that we're seeing the vaccine go to
Speaker 1: those that need it most, perhaps healthcare workers and others.
Speaker 1: So we think that you look at one and it
Speaker 1: won't be all of a sudden. We think that there
Speaker 1: will be a long time being in this hybrid state.
Speaker 1: Our announcement has been that people won't have to come
Speaker 1: back to work, but we won't even be opened back
Speaker 1: to work until the summer, so July of one is
Speaker 1: what we've talked about this year. Hearing a lot of
Speaker 1: that too here on the East Coast. Jared. One of
Speaker 1: the stats when we did the panel together that stuck
Speaker 1: out for me is you guys, actually are there some
Speaker 1: research and I think you guys were involved in it
Speaker 1: or let it on brain waves and what happens when
Speaker 1: we're in a video meeting. Can you share some of
Speaker 1: that with our audience? You bet. I think all of
Speaker 1: us who have been involved in kind of these virtual
Speaker 1: meetings have selpt a sense of fatigue, and so we
Speaker 1: were pretty curious about that early on, wondering, you know,
Speaker 1: was it was it just made up or were we
Speaker 1: actually feeling something. So we went into the lab and
Speaker 1: actually put these sensors on people allowed them to both
Speaker 1: interact in person and interact in virtual meetings. What we
Speaker 1: found wasn't surprising if you were in online meetings, but
Speaker 1: there was science now behind it. It turns out that
Speaker 1: these online meetings really do tax our brain more. They
Speaker 1: make it more difficult for us to concentrate, They make
Speaker 1: it more difficult for us to stay in the meetings
Speaker 1: and be productive, So that was really interesting. From there,
Speaker 1: we decided that we there probably some innovation that was
Speaker 1: going to be necessary, and so we did create some
Speaker 1: kind of product features that were and to address that
Speaker 1: and teams. The things that we found that are making
Speaker 1: a big difference UM consists somewhat of technology and somewhat
Speaker 1: of just us learning new ways of doing things. So
Speaker 1: let me tell you one that was surprising to me.
Speaker 1: One of the pieces of research that we did that
Speaker 1: now has made its way into the product is the
Speaker 1: idea of a virtual commute. Awesome not to be able
Speaker 1: to not to have to jump into a car and
Speaker 1: or a subway and commute into work, But what we
Speaker 1: found was that people were having a really high hard
Speaker 1: time creating boundaries between their work and life, and so
Speaker 1: we've actually introduced a bot into the team's environment that
Speaker 1: allows people to kind of ramp up into their work day,
Speaker 1: have it just a little bit of a buffer, and
Speaker 1: then to ramp down out of the work day to
Speaker 1: really process what happened. Yeah, just a reminder of how
Speaker 1: our physical commutes to and from work we're really a
Speaker 1: necessary process of winding up and winding down our days,
Speaker 1: and now how it's being done virtually. That's jared's Pitaro,
Speaker 1: Corporate vice president of Microsoft three. The pandemic we know,
Speaker 1: we say it's so much impacting so much of our
Speaker 1: world in fluting an interest in sustainability. One company has
Speaker 1: taken that to heart and is creating a new material
Speaker 1: out of mushrooms to be used in high end fashion.
Speaker 1: That's coming up next. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: MS is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Garrol
Speaker 1: Mazer from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of this
Speaker 1: week's highlights on our daily radio show and podcast. And
Speaker 1: you might recall we recently had a conversation about sustainability
Speaker 1: with the head of Patagonia, Jenna Johnson. Sustainability and making
Speaker 1: clothes and products that they sell Overall, the global ethical
Speaker 1: fashion market size reached about six point thirty five billion
Speaker 1: last year and it's expected to grow to eight and
Speaker 1: a quarter billion in three Sophia Wang is co founder
Speaker 1: of Michael Work. She knows about that She is combining
Speaker 1: aren't science to create sustainable fashion materials. She tells us
Speaker 1: how they're doing it. What we are doing is developing
Speaker 1: advanced bio materials from a natural material called my celium.
Speaker 1: So matium refers to the fine networks of threads that
Speaker 1: form the vegetative part of the organism that most people
Speaker 1: are familiar with as a mushroom. So as a visual
Speaker 1: you can imagine the mushrooms you see above ground and
Speaker 1: my celium as the rooting structure that extends below ground.
Speaker 1: So we've developed a advanced materials platform called fine mycelium
Speaker 1: and it amplifies my soul's natural capacity to bind to
Speaker 1: itself and other materials, creating strong, interwoven three dimensional networks
Speaker 1: that enable strength and durability in our materials. And our
Speaker 1: first product is called Raci. It's a new class of
Speaker 1: biomaterial that is a sustainable option for fine leather that
Speaker 1: is non animal, non plastic, and we are introducing it
Speaker 1: via the luxury fashion and footwear market. And are you
Speaker 1: just is it just starting to go out to people
Speaker 1: who actually make products, because that's it. You're you're providing
Speaker 1: this material, right, and then it's up to the retail world,
Speaker 1: the fashion world, to then shape it into products. Correct. Correct, Yes,
Speaker 1: our partners are brands, and we've actually been sharing material
Speaker 1: with and working with them collaboratively for several years now,
Speaker 1: very closely. Um iterating on product prototypes will give me
Speaker 1: an idea. Are they brands that we all know about? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: they're really exciting household name brands, some of the most
Speaker 1: elite and respected brands in the world. And I am
Speaker 1: so excited to soon be able to share who they are,
Speaker 1: which we will be able to do in the coming months. Okay, interesting, So,
Speaker 1: so they've been have they actually been making products and
Speaker 1: selling products? Are just kind of experimenting with it, So
Speaker 1: they have been in the prototyping and testing phase and
Speaker 1: and so, um, we have not yet launched for sale,
Speaker 1: but that is coming soon. That's really fascinating. What's okay? So,
Speaker 1: one thing I wanted to ask you is, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes the sustainable process is taxing on the environment. And
Speaker 1: I do wonder about this. I've talked about this with
Speaker 1: folks who are involved in sustainable farming or hydroponic farming,
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of electricity involved, So that goes
Speaker 1: kind of counter to being good for the environment. The
Speaker 1: process itself. Is it taxing on the environment? Is it
Speaker 1: neutral or carbon neutral on the environment? What do we
Speaker 1: know about that? So we've been measuring UM the carbon
Speaker 1: impact of our product and process since actually two thousand
Speaker 1: and six UM that's when we first started doing preliminary
Speaker 1: l c A S lifecycle analyses on our product and process.
Speaker 1: And so what I can tell you is that you know,
Speaker 1: we're starting with my clium, which is one of the
Speaker 1: Earth's most powerful and abundant agents of regeneration and carbon sequestration. UM.
Speaker 1: My felium plays an important and symbiotic role in the
Speaker 1: health and regeneration of many of our ecosystems. Adding to that,
Speaker 1: my cilium grows on very widely available plants and wood
Speaker 1: based biomass, so you can think of that as by
Speaker 1: byproducts from other agricultural and lumber based industries. So we're
Speaker 1: starting with UM a process of the essentially recycling and
Speaker 1: adding value to existing plant biomass and bringing in a
Speaker 1: powerful carbon sequestering agent. And so you know, we just
Speaker 1: died another cycle of a lc A screening and we're
Speaker 1: really excited to be able to bring UM that data
Speaker 1: forward in the near future. Um. All the data that
Speaker 1: we have right now supports the potential impact that we
Speaker 1: have to bring a very beneficial, sustainable material to market.
Speaker 1: It sounds like, Um, Sophie, you guys have been obviously
Speaker 1: working on this for a long time, kind of perfecting it.
Speaker 1: You're working with brands who are testing out you know,
Speaker 1: making fashion if you will, and you know from from
Speaker 1: your from the product from Rachie. Am I saying it correctly, Racie,
Speaker 1: forgive me? And so no, but I just do wonder
Speaker 1: So how are you guys like funding this and supporting it? Did?
Speaker 1: Was it VC money? Was it Angel money? Were you bootstrapping? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: in the first few years it was bootstrapped, and then
Speaker 1: we got some seed money through a biotech accelerator based
Speaker 1: ser Francisco in d Bio, and we closed our Series
Speaker 1: A back in and we've just announced the closing of
Speaker 1: our Series by million in financing. Wow. So so okay,
Speaker 1: So I'm just thinking as consumers. When is it that
Speaker 1: we're all like talking about RACI or understanding like miss elium,
Speaker 1: like that platform. When will it become kind of you think,
Speaker 1: part of the norm. I mean, it's obviously your hopes
Speaker 1: and expectations for it, but I mean, realistically, when does
Speaker 1: it really start to have an impact. I think that
Speaker 1: I've already seen the impact, of course from my perspective
Speaker 1: being at the forefront of developing this, but in the
Speaker 1: you know, let's say seven to ten years i've been
Speaker 1: thinking about it, I've seen widespread growth and people knowing
Speaker 1: what my celium is, and also UM inspiring other companies
Speaker 1: to develop their own my celium based materials. So I
Speaker 1: think UM, with our launches, launches WHI are planned for
Speaker 1: the near future, we're going to make a huge impact
Speaker 1: and visibility of the material and the new technology. I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to hearing more on the partnerships and brands
Speaker 1: that they are working with to make that impact. That
Speaker 1: was Sophia Wayne, co founder of Michael Works. Up next
Speaker 1: mixing rock and roll legacy was sustainable tree farming. We'll
Speaker 1: hear from the musician who played with rock icons make
Speaker 1: Eric and Dwayne straight Ahead on Bloomberg Business Week. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. That's Chuck Leavel playing with Eric Clapton.
Speaker 1: And if you're looking for something to watch this weekend,
Speaker 1: how about a new documentary. It chronicles the musician singer
Speaker 1: songwriter Chuck Lavell, who has spent half a century going
Speaker 1: around the world with the Rolling Stones, touring with the
Speaker 1: Almond Brothers, Eric Clapton and more. Chuck is also an
Speaker 1: environmentalist and tree farmer, and his friends with the acclaimed director,
Speaker 1: filmmaker and photographer Alan Forrest, who directed this new documentary.
Speaker 1: That friendship to the making of The Tree Man. Alan
Speaker 1: and I had known each other for a number of
Speaker 1: years because he had asked me to play on a
Speaker 1: guitar player um session that he was managing and promoting,
Speaker 1: and so I went up to Ohao for the session.
Speaker 1: Everything went fine. Then there was this long gap where
Speaker 1: I didn't really talk to Alan, and we had this
Speaker 1: concept to do a documentary and we were in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas to do a show with the Rolling Stones, which
Speaker 1: unfortunately got canceled because Met got laryngitis and Allan happened,
Speaker 1: just happened to be in in um Las Vegas and
Speaker 1: out of the blue call me up. So we talked
Speaker 1: about it. He convinced me that he really, really wanted it.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that we got together and did this
Speaker 1: and we shot over three and a half years, and
Speaker 1: he just did a masterful job not only of shooting
Speaker 1: during all that time, but of weaving the stories together.
Speaker 1: So very very pleased. Well, let's talk about that, Alan,
Speaker 1: because you know right at the stop at the top,
Speaker 1: you know, there are the three storylines of Chuck's life,
Speaker 1: his musical life, his life as an environmentalist, but also
Speaker 1: you wove in his personal life and his love for
Speaker 1: his wife. How did you think about weaving those stories together?
Speaker 1: Because it's really cool. You go from kind of making
Speaker 1: bacon to talking about the Almond brothers. You go from
Speaker 1: talking rolling stones and seeing Mick, Keith and Ronnie and
Speaker 1: then talking about setting burns and forests. It's really wonderful
Speaker 1: how it's all woven together. Alan. Oh, thank you, Carol Um,
Speaker 1: thanks for having a song. Yeah, you know, I think
Speaker 1: Chuck's story I knew from the outside just when he
Speaker 1: was wanting to do this, and I really wanted to
Speaker 1: do it. You know, I knew he had a great
Speaker 1: story uh to tell, and it was just kind of
Speaker 1: it just needed to come out, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: this this opportunity I wanted to take and make this
Speaker 1: film as unique as as he is, you know. And
Speaker 1: he is a salt of the earth kind of guy. Uh.
Speaker 1: He never take more than what he he needs. Um,
Speaker 1: but he gives back way more uh than the common guy.
Speaker 1: You know, and not only musically, but also with his
Speaker 1: forest life. And also his marriage is kind of works
Speaker 1: the same way. I mean, it's it's a real testament
Speaker 1: to be in the rock and roll business and have
Speaker 1: a marriage at forty seven years uh, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But he also met her in a very
Speaker 1: unique way at Capricorn Records, so um, you know, Rose
Speaker 1: Lane worked there right when you walked in the doors,
Speaker 1: and he met her at such a young age and
Speaker 1: they they fall in love and they've been together ever since.
Speaker 1: As the movie says, you know, yeah, it actually you know,
Speaker 1: sets goals for all of us in a relationship. It's
Speaker 1: really it's really lovely, Chuck, I mean, what did you
Speaker 1: think about I mean three three and a half years,
Speaker 1: As you said, the process of it. What what was
Speaker 1: it that you hoped ultimately was shown as you worked
Speaker 1: with Alan on this. You know, my main motivation, Carol,
Speaker 1: was to wind up with a document for my family,
Speaker 1: for grandchildren, for future grandchildren, great grandchildren up the road,
Speaker 1: and not only of my life or you know, myself
Speaker 1: and my wife Rose Lane, but also for the times.
Speaker 1: You know, to to have a document of what the
Speaker 1: touring was like with the Stones at this particular point
Speaker 1: in time. Uh, talk about some of the things we
Speaker 1: did in the past with the Almond Brothers band and
Speaker 1: you know, some of the other musicians and artists that
Speaker 1: I've just been so privileged to work with. I imagine
Speaker 1: that there had to be some serious logistical issues during filming.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you travel the world recorded interviews
Speaker 1: with I think some eight people touring a lockdown? Well
Speaker 1: it's it was we we kind of finished right before
Speaker 1: Lockdown happened. But but you know, for for those three years, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, we went you know, Europe like seven eight
Speaker 1: times and back and forth, and you know, one day
Speaker 1: you're with Clapton, the next day you're with Gilmore. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was like living Chuck's life on warp speed going,
Speaker 1: you know, back with all the people he had played with,
Speaker 1: which which you were trying to bring that into the story,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's always a challenge when you're
Speaker 1: when you're traveling with three thousand pounds of gear on
Speaker 1: a smaller crew to try to save money because you know,
Speaker 1: we knew we were going to interview well, we could
Speaker 1: have potentially interviewed eighty people, um, and we really got
Speaker 1: them all, you know, So it just we had to
Speaker 1: kind of stretch the budget out to make it happen.
Speaker 1: But that that's kind of how we did it. So check.
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you because as we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: woven through the film, is your love of the environment? Uh?
Speaker 1: And you talk about it a lot. Where did that
Speaker 1: all come from it? And I know you talk about
Speaker 1: in the film when your wife inherited a farm. Um,
Speaker 1: but just talk to us a little bit about this
Speaker 1: and what you're hoping the message you're hoping to get
Speaker 1: out to people. Yes, well, it is definitely all my
Speaker 1: wife's fault because you guys always blame us, that's always
Speaker 1: what happens. But you know the fact is that Rose
Speaker 1: Lanes family has been connected to the land literally for
Speaker 1: generations as farmers tending cattle and livestock, attending forest land
Speaker 1: and road cropping. And you know, when we first got together,
Speaker 1: and as we pointed out earlier, it's been forty seven
Speaker 1: years now, uh, I began to get a field for
Speaker 1: the passion to love, the dedication of the land that
Speaker 1: this family had. And in nine she inherited some land
Speaker 1: from her grandmother, and it became our responsibility to carry
Speaker 1: on what I saw is a heritage of stewardship. And
Speaker 1: so I went on a little, you know journey, educational journey,
Speaker 1: going to library, checking out books on land use and
Speaker 1: so forth. And the short up it is that I
Speaker 1: had kind of an aha moment when I realized, well,
Speaker 1: where does that thing that has given me so much
Speaker 1: joy in such a great career come from? The piano?
Speaker 1: Of course, had comes largely from the resource of wood,
Speaker 1: and as does most other musical instruments, so I have
Speaker 1: personal connection. And I really wanted to study forestry and
Speaker 1: learn more about, you know, long term sustainable forestry. It's
Speaker 1: certainly something very near and dear tall of us. And
Speaker 1: I think this year of dealing with the pandemic, dealing
Speaker 1: with inequities but also you know, seeing the environment, um,
Speaker 1: you know, what happens when the economy shuts down and
Speaker 1: the skies are blue again and you can see mountain ranges.
Speaker 1: But also watching those terrible fires in California. I mean, Alan,
Speaker 1: I feel like in so many ways this film is
Speaker 1: just spot on. Yeah, you know, four years ago and
Speaker 1: we started it. We we didn't really know that the
Speaker 1: California fires were going to take off and be so
Speaker 1: much in the news in the last year. And I
Speaker 1: think some of those practices that Chuck talks about with
Speaker 1: firebreaks and some of that stuff, um, you know, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, you're hoping that environmentalists can take a um,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe step back and look at some of
Speaker 1: those practices and you know, you might have to give
Speaker 1: a little to keep a lot, you know sometimes. And
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of the message of of the film.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think if your listeners want to
Speaker 1: check it out, you know, they can. They can find
Speaker 1: it on v O D now, which would put them
Speaker 1: into like iTunes, Apple iTunes or Amazon and they can
Speaker 1: just search the tree Man. But I think ce and
Speaker 1: Chuck's story, um and watching what he brings to the
Speaker 1: table with the environment. Um, it's just a big piece
Speaker 1: of the movie that you don't really see coming. You know,
Speaker 1: you you know, he has this uh, just giant body
Speaker 1: of work that he's done, not only on um, you know,
Speaker 1: hits and helping other bands, but then these other, you know,
Speaker 1: humongous bands. He's been touring with them, playing with from
Speaker 1: the Almond Brothers to The Stones. It's just incredible because
Speaker 1: if if you had just one of those in your career,
Speaker 1: it would have been a monumental career. But he's done this.
Speaker 1: I'm in time again. A quick kind of word association
Speaker 1: with you, Chuck. If I can just briefly, if I
Speaker 1: say Rolling Stones, what comes to mind? Fun? I bet
Speaker 1: there are stories? Well, can I tell you? A colleague
Speaker 1: said to me that they once heard that Ronnie would
Speaker 1: start his day with four Guinnesses. Is that true? Oh no, listen,
Speaker 1: Ronnie has been clean and sober for a long time now,
Speaker 1: and he's got a wonderful wife, Sally, and they have
Speaker 1: to two beautiful twin daughters that are just adorable. And
Speaker 1: Ronnie has got it together. I mean, it's amazing. And
Speaker 1: don't forget he's probably the most popular contemporary visual artist
Speaker 1: in the in the world today. Yeah, that's act. That's
Speaker 1: actually a really good point as well. Um Allman Brothers.
Speaker 1: What comes to mind? Oh and southern rock, um, you know,
Speaker 1: paving the way for a new kind of music. Clapton,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, impatible, Uh, gentlewoman, Um, generous and awesome. Southern
Speaker 1: yellow Pine. Southern yellow Pine is everything to me. It's
Speaker 1: where I am. That's who I am, It's where I live.
Speaker 1: And Rose Lane Love, love and more love. He's a rocker,
Speaker 1: he's an environmentalist and as you can tell, a romantic musician.
Speaker 1: Chuck Leavell along with the director and filmmaker Alan Forst
Speaker 1: on their new documentary The tree Man. That complete conversation
Speaker 1: can be found on our podcast feed. And that wraps
Speaker 1: up the weekend edition to Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Carol Masser. Be
Speaker 1: sure to tune in daily to Bloomberg Business Week Monday
Speaker 1: through Friday starting at two pm Wall Street Time on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. You can also hear more of our Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week conversations download theb at Bloomberg dot com, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch
Speaker 1: us on YouTube. Just search Bloomberg Global News and be
Speaker 1: sure to check out our Bloomberg Business Week at Extra podcast.
Speaker 1: This week with Prince Emmanuel Philiberto di Savoya, who did
Speaker 1: the unthinkable opening his first brick and mortar restaurant in
Speaker 1: the l A neighborhood of Westwood, all during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week It's available on news stands, now, online,
Speaker 1: and of course on the Bloomberg. Have a safe weekend everyone,
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg