WEBVTT - Businessweek Extra - John Burke 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.520 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.040 Kelley and I'm Carol Master. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.880 Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast bringing you an in 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.920 depth interview you will not hear anywhere else. And this 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.520 is someone we both found fascinating plays into the fitness world. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.720 We're talking about John Burke. His father started the company 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:24.479 Trek Bicycles, and so we talked about the history of 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.080 the company, where they started and where they've come well, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.240 and it's a wide ranging conversation. What I liked about 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.320 it is certainly on brand for both of us, as 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.240 you say, we love this company. I think we both 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.840 have Trek Bicycles and we followed the company to some extent. 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.520 But it was an emotional interview and in some ways 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.320 talking about his father, but also talking about how you 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.960 run a company in this day and age, how you 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.199 hold onto your employees, how you treat your employees, and 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.960 even how you treat your customers. Check it out. Started 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.600 by his dad, Dick Burke and a partner some forty 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.319 years ago created their own brand of bikes. They did 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.400 it building them in a barn. The barn is still around, 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.520 so is the brand, so we want to bring in 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.160 um John Burke. He's president of the family owned in 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.080 Wisconsin based Trek Bicycles. UM, so nice to have you here. 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:11.440 Thank you so much for having me. It's great to 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.480 be here. All right. So take us back to the beginning, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:20.039 because this is, as Carol said, this is a family business. Candidly, 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.039 there aren't a lot of those around anymore, certainly that 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.760 have stayed in this way. But it's also employee owned. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.840 There's something special about this company. Tell us what it is. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.360 You know for sure, it's a family company. Um, the 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.280 family owns the business. There's an esop, the SAP owns 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.080 percent of it. But I think it's more than the ownership. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.800 It's the feeling. It's the feeling when you come to 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.200 Trek that it's a family and we make sure we 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.400 take care of everybody in the family and it's just 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.520 an amazing place. But how do you do that, Johnny? 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.520 In a day where I feel like so many companies 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.440 are focused on the bottom line and I know, I'm 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.160 guessing being family owned, it gives you some some leeway 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.520 to do that. You got to be profitable. I think 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.400 it starts with values. Um, you know it's my mother 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.200 and my father. Um, we're are My mother is still alive. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.919 They're amazing people and they really started out with to 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.720 who much has given, much is required, and you know, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.080 our family has been so fortunate. But you take a 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.680 look at everybody a track, and I always view all 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.880 those people as they're part of the family, and being 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.919 part of the family their high expectations. But it also 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.400 means that we're there to support everybody, that everybody gets 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.320 taken care of, and that we try and do some 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.720 amazing things together. And luckily, over forty forty plus years 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.360 we've done some pretty incredible things. And you've been there 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.560 for thirty plus years. He joined the nineteen eighty four. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.040 Was that a foregone conclusion that you were going to 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:46.919 go into the business or were you one of those 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:48.840 kids like, I'm not sure I'm gonna go work for 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:50.960 the old man. You know, I wasn't sure I was 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.000 going to do that. And then I worked a summer. 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.400 I was working in the warehouse, and when I got 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.240 done working in the warehouse, when I got all the 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.239 packages out, when the ups I came. It was Frank, 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.359 the UPS guy. He came at three thirty UM after 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.120 I got all the box, I'd run into the sales office. 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.520 I can get on the phone and I'd sell. And 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.640 I was pretty good at selling. And that summer the 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.760 bug bit me and I knew i'd go into the business. 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.120 There were no conversations Mom, Dad, I think I want 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.760 to go paint or be a lawyer or something like that. 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.839 You know, my father, My father had one simple really, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:26.520 so your your last name will get you in the 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.680 door and the rest is up to you. And my 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.480 last name got me in the door. And um, I 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:33.440 did pretty well. But it was also at a time. 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.240 You know, I started Trek in Ur and Trek was 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.840 doing great seventies six to eighty four, and almost the 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.640 minute I start, it just crashed. What happened? Oh, you know, 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.040 my father owned the company, but he didn't run the company, 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.160 and and the customers didn't really like the company, and 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.280 the company didn't really like the customers. And so I 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.920 was a sales rep. I was. I had like twelve 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.000 states and I drive around in my little Chevrolet Cavalier 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.920 and uh, it was the greatest education you could ever have. 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.080 And you know, I saw every all the wrong things 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.280 that we were doing. And I said, you know, if 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.360 I ever got in a position of power, I'd be 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.360 able to change those things. And you know, because the 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.440 company was small at that time, my father ended up 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.880 coming out. He replaced the management and I was twenty 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:22.800 four and all of sudden I was in charge of 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.200 sales and customer service and we can make changes and 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.080 we did really, really fast. My father loved customers. We 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.240 changed the culture of the company, and uh, it was 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.400 a good thing. What's the dynamic I always think about 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.359 with the family owned business and you bring in, you know, 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.720 the kids into the business, how are they perceive, especially 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.760 when you're younger and even though you grew up in it, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.920 and you've got employees who've been at the company for 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.520 a long time, what's that interaction like? Well, you know, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.240 my one of one of my nicknames, and I have 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.279 a number of them, was kid Burke, and uh, you 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:55.359 know I was. I was always just so proud of 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.920 my father, so really it never bothered me. I didn't 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.120 see the expectation as even though I'm sure they were 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.960 there there there was work to be done, and uh, 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.080 I always looked at it as as an honor that 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:08.920 I was, that I was his son. I never looked 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:10.320 at it as a burden. Did you feel like you 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.560 had to work harder though, Yeah, because you were his son. No, Well, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.680 because I was his son and because the family owned 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:18.480 the business, I had to you know, you had to 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.600 lead from the front. You had you had to get 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.719 the job done. And tell us about your relationship with 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.880 your father, because you wrote a book about it. I mean, 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.600 this was I mean it's something I actually looked at 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.039 the book a little bit. I'm definitely buying it. Sorry, dad, 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.200 I'm giving you the like a preview of your Christmas rest, 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.720 like I'm gonna buy this book from my dad. Uh, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.880 tell us about why you wrote the book, what it 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.480 was that inspired this relationship. You know, he was he 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.919 was an amazing person and uh, you know I spent 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.760 my you know, I spent my life with him. But 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.599 you know, he and I also built trek and it 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.840 was you know, he and I were really close and 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.400 uh we were the last two people in the room, 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.880 and you know it was, you know, a great highlight 0:05:59.920 --> 0:06:02.919 of my life. But he was super fit. You know, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.800 he ran five New York City marathons. He and I 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.720 ran Boston together three times. Um, he was super fit. 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.680 And when he was seventy three, he had a problem 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:14.720 with valven his heart, and he went in to get 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.440 it fixed, and he was one out of the hundred 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.920 who didn't come out. But at his seventieth birthday party, 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.840 he said, pulled out out of his suit, Jack, I'll 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.560 never forget. He pulls out these yellow legal pat He 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.520 had six pages. He wanted to give a speech to 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.919 his birthday party. Only the family was there, and you know, 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.440 he talked, and the one thing I always remember, he says, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.120 I have one last great thing to do. He goes, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.279 I'm not sure what it is, but I got one 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.160 last great thing in me. And he had done a 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.800 number in his life, but in the end, the last 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:46.560 great thing was the way he died. He was in 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.760 the hospital for eighty eight days. He taught amazing life 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.880 lessons throughout his life, but those last eighty eight days 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:57.479 were his best days. And so after he passed, I thought, 0:06:58.200 --> 0:06:59.640 I'm just going to write a book for my two 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.880 kids because I really want them to understand their grandfather. 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.880 And I got it finished at and a couple of 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.240 people read the read the proof, and they say, you 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.080 should turn this into a book. So I did. What 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.800 what did your kids say? About that book. Well, you know, 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.760 it's interesting because I had both of them after I 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.640 decided to make it a book. I had both of them, 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.120 you know, proof the book, and they came back with 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.640 a couple of suggestions. But I think they're as proud 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.920 of him as I am. And so how does his 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.480 sort of legacy pervade the company at this point? Because 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.800 obviously he was larger than life for you and and 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.000 obviously for the for the company. There aren't that many. Again, 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.080 as we've been talking about family owned companies, especially where 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.880 it's imprinted. You know, someone said to me recently, there 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:50.680 are a lot of family companies out there, but there 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.400 aren't that many like Sam Walton's. I mean this is 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.240 a an example of that in many ways that the 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:02.240 personality of the place reflects the founder. Yeah, I think. Um, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.760 you know, somebody told me before they before he died, 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.000 that his body would die, but his spirit would live on. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.520 And uh that is so true. And so you know, 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.400 I have a conversation with him a couple of times 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:20.200 a week, but his legacy at Trek is um do 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.360 the right thing, and for sure his legacies take care 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.480 of the customer. I mean, he was just he was 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.280 all about the customer. If you do the right thing 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.320 for the customer, if you run a really good business, 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.720 the rest will take care of itself. And he was 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.959 really strong on that. Is the next generation of your 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:41.359 family involved or how involved are they? Well? My daughter, Um, 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.160 she works at Track, she works in the marketing department. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.920 She's in charge of the women's advocates program right now. 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.000 Spent a year working at retail, so she's involved in 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.439 the business. Um, My mother is on the board at Trek, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.240 and my son he runs a marketing company in Milwaukee. 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.480 All right, So let's talk about the scope of the 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.360 company a little bit, because you know, from four to now, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.079 a lot of things have changed in the broader market clearly. Um, 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.160 when it comes to the broader fitness movement, you know 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.400 you were involved, I believe with Bush forty three to 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.680 President George W. Bush and in physical fitness. What have 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.240 you seen in the sort of mega trends that are 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:25.360 underneath all this that have helped propel Track forward. I 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.080 think there's I think there's a couple. If you just 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.280 take a look at cycling in general. Um, you've got 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.760 health issue, especially in this country. You've got an incredibly 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.240 high obesity rate, people not moving, you know, people looking 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.480 at screens. And that's one mega trend. The other mega 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.880 trend you have is congestion. And here we are in 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.040 New York and you know there's a lot of congestion 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.319 here in New York, but there's cities all around the 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.040 world who face this big issue of congestion. And the 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.440 third thing, which is going to end up being, you know, 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.360 the issue of the century here is just climate change. 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.120 And if you put all those three together, there there's one, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.560 uh simple solution that doesn't solve all those things, but 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.240 there's a simple, cheap, partial solution all those issues, and 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.199 it's the bicycle. And you know the bicycle. You know, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.959 if you go to a place like Copenhagen, UM, if 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.120 you measure a trip by going to work, going to school, um, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.720 going to a friend's house, of trips are taken by bike. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.200 In the United States, it's one point three. If you 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.200 go take a look at the health of those people, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.760 it's significantly better than ours. So I think, you know, 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:38.120 those three trends make the future of the bicycle look 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.720 really good. Talk to us little about working with cities 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.240 and municipalities to make it much more bike friendly, because 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.520 I think that's a big problem. It's a big problem, 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.800 and it's also a big opportunity because you know, if 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.959 you take a look at New York today, new York's 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.280 got a long ways to go. But if you took 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.320 a look at New York twenty years ago, it didn't exist. Um, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.960 New York has made a lot of progress. Um, there's 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.160 a long way to go. Every single city you go 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.640 to today, as opposed twenty years ago, most cities hadn't 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.200 done anything. If you take a look at them today, 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.120 a lot of cities have a decent foundation. There's a 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.440 lot of people who are looking to answers for congestion, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.680 for climate change, for health issues. So more and more 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.520 cities are getting interested and we're seeing I think if 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:25.680 you take a look at the last twenty years, there's 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:30.200 over thirty thousand bicycle projects that have been completed around 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.800 the United States. It's a it's a lot. There's a 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.160 lot more to be done, but we're moving in the 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.680 right direction and the foundation has been laid. How much 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.880 electrification of bicycles is going to really help in that Momentum, Okay, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.160 great question. Um. We own a bike sharing business and 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.439 one of the places that we have a bike sharing 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.600 installation is one of our hometowns, Madison, Wisconsin. So Madison, 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:01.080 Wisconsin has three fifty b cycles UM in play. We 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.000 just switched the entire system on June fifteenth from regular 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.480 bikes over to electric bikes. Ridership is up four x 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:15.000 four times if you ever go out to test ride 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:16.640 an electric bike, if you're at a bike shop and 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:17.920 you go in and you want to test ride an 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.320 electric bike, you will come back and out of a 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.280 hundred people, you will see a hundred smiles. I have 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.520 to tell you I've tried it and loved it on 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.840 the West Coast. It was so much fun. I was thinking, 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:33.040 I'm not gonna like this. It's amazing and it allows 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:38.040 ordinary people to do extraordinary things. You can ride in 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.360 e bike wherever you want. We were in the French 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.360 Alps this summer at Tour de France, and we were 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.720 with a couple of friends, um and you know, we 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.400 had one person wasn't a strong cyclist, and she rode 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.720 with us every day. She went up Alp Duez, she 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:57.400 went up the biggest climbs and she absolutely loved it. Yeah, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.400 it's amazing. So let's talk about one of the other 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.120 mega trends. And Carol and I have spent a lot 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:06.280 of time on our shows and in our respective journalism 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.040 thinking about this, which is the wellness and the health 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.720 piece there that you talked about. We seem to amid 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.920 all of the talk of the OBC right and things 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.880 like that, there at least is a part of society, 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.679 a part of the culture that is really embracing this 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.200 idea of a much more holistically healthy lifestyle. How do 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:30.480 you take advantage of that as a company and be 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.200 a part of it? Okay, Well, I think we're not 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.000 only a part of it, I think we're a leader 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.840 in it. And it all happened at trek I think 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:43.280 it was maybe twelve years ago, and three things happened 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.640 in the space of two months. We had a truck 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.559 driver have a massive heart attack um driving across Iowa 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.400 and it ended his career. He survived, but it was 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.360 a huge bill and it ended his career, and he 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.440 loved working at trek Um. We had a woman in 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.360 our international department who had we had come out with 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.520 a health program. She lost twenty pounds, great shape. Her 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.560 husband not so much worked at a different company in 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.240 his late forties, he had a stroke totally shook up 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.760 her entire life. And then we had a warehouse manager, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.600 Craig Omlin, one of our best UH workers. He managed 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.880 one of the warehouses. UM. He was a big guy. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.840 He was really tall and really wide and UH. He 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.360 died in his forties and the death certificate was on 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:33.240 my desk and cause of death was obesity. I had 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.520 the HR guy come into my office and I said, 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.440 I've had it. We're done. I go, I want a 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.280 new health program. We're gonna put this thing together and 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.720 we're gonna introduce it in less than a month. And 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.840 in less than a month, I stood in the Ahri 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.000 m at Trek and I said to everybody, we're changing 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.680 the way we look at health. These are the four 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:56.880 things we're doing, and we're gonna make sure that you're healthy. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:02.000 And that was it. Chang ange um It said everybody 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.920 at Trek has to get a health risk assessment every year. 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.960 We used to make it optional and we get the 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.120 people zero percent Body Fat Club at Trek would all 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.280 rush in there and get there get their health risk 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.320 assessment done. We said everybody has to do it, and 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.440 not only you, but your family because if you're on 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.160 our health insurance, your families on the insurance program. Um, 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.440 we did that. We turned the cafe into a healthy 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:31.320 cafe for people who were not healthy. We got them 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.800 UH coaches for a year. We said we're gonna help 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:39.560 you get healthy. Um. We eliminated smoking from anywhere near Trek. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:45.320 We did everything we could and the impact of it unbelievable. So, well, 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.760 you're taking a look at health healthcare costs tracks. Healthcare 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.720 costs over the last five years have gone down. Wow, okay, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.600 so okay, we keep we have a score for our 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.480 health because we have all the health risk assessments are 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.680 scores on up. Every year. Trek has become a healthier 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:07.240 workplace every single year. You take a look at this country. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:12.240 We pay almost of g d P as health and 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:17.040 we have the worst results in the industrialized world. The 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.200 most unhealthy people are in America. And we have a 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.720 government that spends all of its time talking about how 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.560 we can spend more money on health, and we never 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.240 talk about how our citizens can become more healthy. Well, 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.880 I think about how often we have that conversation. I mean, Jason, 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.760 I both embrace this world big time. You know, what 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:37.920 is it going to take to change kind of our 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:39.920 approach when it comes to taking care of ourself, this 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.080 whole idea of wellness and taking care of yourself so 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.160 that it doesn't become a problem. And I do wonder 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.720 incentives usually get people to where you need them to be. Yeah, well, 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:50.800 I think you know if you just one is we 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.160 have a twenty two trillion dollar death set um. Number 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.080 two is we're spending twice as much money as any 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.360 other country on health and something has to change in 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.119 that equation. To me, it needs to be leadership from 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.440 the government because this can't keep going on. But John, 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.480 do you penalize employees if they don't do well or 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.840 they don't sign up for How does it work? The 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.560 way it works is that we have a program and 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.920 based on your health risk assessment, if you score really 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.399 well on your health risk assessment, you pay less for 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.600 your health insurance. Okay, So that's what I wondered, because 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.600 you really need to incent but we also take a 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.879 leadership role and we say we're going to help you 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.560 get healthy. We don't leave people out on on an island. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.720 We come a big hug and we say here we go, 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.919 and it's it's part of the culture at track and 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.639 people go, well, you're just a bunch of people who 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.960 ride bikes. Carrot and stick. We have a carrot and 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.240 a stick, but there's also a culture. And I think 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.280 that's what we need in this country, is we need 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.119 a culture of health. Well, speaking of cultures, and we 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.119 talk about this a lot too, about the importance of 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.119 diversity and equality and you are in town, you're getting 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.880 the inaugural Champion for Equality Award at this year's Women 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:05.080 Sports Foundation gala. Talked about equality at Trek. Yeah, yeah, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.960 I think, UM, you know, equalities uh an important issue 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.760 at Trek and when you take a look at it, 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:15.320 we're involved in a sport UM. We're also just involved 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.280 in running a business, and we want to make sure 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.080 that we provide opportunities for everyone, regardless of color, regardless 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.639 of gender. We want to put the best team on 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.760 the field and we're really serious about that. When you 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.720 take a look at sport UM. We're sponsoring a women's 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:36.959 cycling team sponsor UM and somebody came back from one 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:38.919 of the races and they walk into my office and 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.080 we're having an executive meeting and they're like, do you 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.639 know what's going on with the women's team we're sponsoring. 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.280 And I'm like no, and he's like, well, they don't 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.320 get paid very much. They show up for the race 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.360 the day before because the team can't afford to get 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.280 him there earlier. They're only given one bike. They stay 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:03.520 in allows your place, and I'm just like, I was embarrassed. 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:06.439 I just sat in there and I was embarrassed. So 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.639 we took a different approach to men's cycling where we 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.200 actually bought a team, and I just said, we're gonna 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.000 buy a team, and so we went out there and 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.080 we you know, we totally changed the paradigm in that sport, 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:19.840 and we said we're going to buy a team, and 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.480 we're going to treat the men and the women the 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.760 same way. And so more broadly in sport, we spent 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:27.679 a lot of time Caroline I did over the summer, 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.560 obviously rooting for talking about the US women's national team 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:36.399 in soccer. It felt like a moment. Then there have 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.119 been a few sports that have started to figure out, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.640 tennis being one. Are we at a moment where this 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.240 is starting to change or is this something where there's 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.440 a danger of sort of falling back when it comes 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.840 to equal compensation. You know, just the very basic sort 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.480 of equal pay and equal opportunity across sport, you know, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.399 and I can only talk for the sport that that 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.040 we're in, and you know, the sport of cycling is 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.760 really an old man's sport. It's controlled that way, and 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.240 so um. You know, when you take a look at 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.080 the prize money men's compared to women's, when you take 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:16.520 a look at TV, men's compared to women, it's not 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.400 it's it's embarrassing. It still is embarrassing. We're taking our 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.600 the portion that we control and we're saying, hey, we're 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:26.680 going to make sure they're on an equal level here 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:28.880 and we're going to be an example for everybody else. 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.359 We host a World Cup in Waterloo, a World Club 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.160 Cup cycle cross race, and it's it's equal price money. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.760 First cycling event ever to have equal price money. We 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.840 make a big deal out of it, and all of 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.080 a sudden, other races are changing. People are seeing what 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.280 we're doing in professional and people are making changes. Well, 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:49.520 I have to think this is got to be at 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.520