Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly and I'm Carol Master. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast where we bring you
Speaker 1: an in depth conversation and man, this was a great one.
Speaker 1: We were in Los Angeles at the Milk and Institute
Speaker 1: Global Conference. You never know who you're going to run
Speaker 1: into there, and we got a chance to sit down
Speaker 1: with none other than Laura Dern, actress, activist. She participated
Speaker 1: in a panel at Milking and it was all about mindfulness,
Speaker 1: but she got into whether it's meditation or mindfulness, kind
Speaker 1: of stopping in the moment, the impact it can have
Speaker 1: on your health. And it wasn't just kind of a
Speaker 1: soft feeley kind of panel. It was medical experts and
Speaker 1: looking into the science of this and the impact it
Speaker 1: can have on your health. So we got into that
Speaker 1: and we got into so much more, I have to say,
Speaker 1: and thankfully we got into a little bit of Big
Speaker 1: Little Lies that's coming up season two, and it's not
Speaker 1: just about the show. It's about what the show represents
Speaker 1: at a really critical time in here's Laura. First of all,
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. We thank you for
Speaker 1: having to this. You're participating in a panel was called
Speaker 1: stand in your Power the Mindful Way. Tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit of that. I do a lot of yoga,
Speaker 1: and I understand the importance of kind of taking a
Speaker 1: moment and being in the moment, So it tell us
Speaker 1: little bit about that. Well, it's interesting, you know, as
Speaker 1: an actor, I think, uh, there was a bit of
Speaker 1: labeling for a long time if an actress was talking
Speaker 1: about mindfulness or meditation in any way, UM, it was
Speaker 1: sort of this I don't know, alternative conversation. But this
Speaker 1: panel was based on neuroscience, and so to be part
Speaker 1: of a panel with neuroscientists and psychiatrists looking at the
Speaker 1: study of mind training for mental and physical health, UM,
Speaker 1: anti aging, for inflammation in the body, for cardiovascular health,
Speaker 1: that the studies are showing that to have a practice
Speaker 1: some form of mind awareness practice, whether in my case
Speaker 1: it's transcendental meditation for others mindfulness training, UM that we
Speaker 1: do each day, that the numbers are showing that nothing
Speaker 1: can impact our health in the same way. Well, what
Speaker 1: impact have you felt it on your health? When I
Speaker 1: am as uh regular as I like to be and
Speaker 1: really doing it as a daily practice, it's phenomenal. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've watched my stress level changed dramatically, and therefore everything
Speaker 1: as seemingly subtle as allergies to everything is dramatic as
Speaker 1: blood pressure, um shifts in the body and um, you know,
Speaker 1: we forget. And I think more and more of the
Speaker 1: medical profession is showing us how stress, anxiety, depression are
Speaker 1: impacting people. And as much as you know, pharmaceutical industry
Speaker 1: would love to say, well, here's the pill that can
Speaker 1: change all that, nothing is changing it like this kind
Speaker 1: of awareness training, And why do you think it's happening now, Laura?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's fair to say we live
Speaker 1: in a bit of an age of anxiety. That is
Speaker 1: empirically true, absolutely, But what has provoked this very meaningful response.
Speaker 1: It feels like from the world of science to really
Speaker 1: study this and put some numbers in, some data around it.
Speaker 1: I think looking at pandemic, you know, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that we are in a crisis that we've never
Speaker 1: seen before if we just look at the youth. I mean,
Speaker 1: we are in America, as I'm raising two teenagers, dealing
Speaker 1: with kids where the number the suicide rate is astronomical.
Speaker 1: Cases of clinical depression is like nothing we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: And I was talking to my daughter who's fourteen, about
Speaker 1: it the other day and asked her, as I was
Speaker 1: trying to seemingly understand it, she said, Mom, we're afraid
Speaker 1: to go to school because we might get shot. What
Speaker 1: do you mean? People don't understand why we're scared, depressed
Speaker 1: and anxious, And and they see the news in real
Speaker 1: time before they have a parent or a teacher advising
Speaker 1: them on how to consider the news story. It's on
Speaker 1: their phone in front of them and their eleven right,
Speaker 1: and they're seeing footage, um that is unbearable footage. So
Speaker 1: you know, I think that it is from that place
Speaker 1: that we're all trying deeply to understand what to do
Speaker 1: for our youth, but also therefore for ourselves. How do
Speaker 1: we deal with this level of stress. And that's not
Speaker 1: just stress in the workplace, it's not just within our
Speaker 1: own homes. It's the way the world is currently. I
Speaker 1: got to ask you, you know, I feel like social
Speaker 1: media to some extent, seven news cycles to some extent
Speaker 1: have really exacerbated the situation that, you know, something happens
Speaker 1: and it's NonStop in front of us. Is that part
Speaker 1: of the problem. I think it is and I and
Speaker 1: I really do think in terms of the panel, why
Speaker 1: talking about the practice of you know, really bringing your
Speaker 1: attention back to the moment, to be in the moment
Speaker 1: is so essential for all of us to learn that practice,
Speaker 1: to develop that muscle that we it's in our psyche
Speaker 1: all day long, every day, whether it's literally the news
Speaker 1: cycle or our own thinking, to be able to not
Speaker 1: try to escape from it or pretend it doesn't exist,
Speaker 1: but to actually allow all the thoughts and also know
Speaker 1: how to bring your attention back to this moment. How
Speaker 1: do we make something though, like meditation or yoga. I've
Speaker 1: been doing yoga for twenty years and have developed this
Speaker 1: as part of my practice. But how do you get
Speaker 1: kind of your traditional you know, caring systems and infrastructure,
Speaker 1: the health care system that doesn't always embrace whether it's acupuncture,
Speaker 1: alternative modes that can really have a huge impact on
Speaker 1: your health. How do we get that to be much
Speaker 1: more mainstream and affordable mainstream it's easy for all of us. Questions, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean accessibility, if you know, if people want, if
Speaker 1: executives and CEOs want their corporation to work at the
Speaker 1: highest level let's just talk about money. They should be
Speaker 1: investing in these practices for their staff. And you know,
Speaker 1: we've seen numbers of success and we've seen you know,
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson will tell you all about it. He believes
Speaker 1: it brought the Lakers to success. And many companies will
Speaker 1: talk about this success, which is you know, that's where
Speaker 1: it starts. And in terms of the medical profession, U
Speaker 1: c l A is such a beacon for me recently,
Speaker 1: uh you know, watching how with family members they're interested
Speaker 1: in building a team and mindfulness and yoga, acupuncture, alternative
Speaker 1: modalities are part of the process of a health care
Speaker 1: system in their mind, and that's that's where leadership is well.
Speaker 1: And it also feels like we're at a moment and
Speaker 1: you've alluded to this where we're asking big questions about
Speaker 1: the role of technology, the role of social media, and
Speaker 1: all of those things you mentioned. Your a parent of teenagers,
Speaker 1: the three of us apparent all the time, and I
Speaker 1: think we both, Carol and I both have very similar
Speaker 1: conversations to one you described with your fourteen year old.
Speaker 1: And I do wonder are we doing enough as a
Speaker 1: society in terms of calling the companies to account, calling
Speaker 1: the government to account to regulate or think differently about
Speaker 1: media and technology and social media specifically. Of course, not
Speaker 1: thirteen to seventeen year olds were on tender until people
Speaker 1: who wanted to affect change demanded that we look at that.
Speaker 1: So we're really seeing how it's the wild West, and
Speaker 1: we know the benefits and the incredible advancements because of technology,
Speaker 1: and and we're all addicts, um. And the apps are
Speaker 1: built in in a way with algorithms in order to
Speaker 1: addict us. So like let's call it what it is.
Speaker 1: And so we systematically, I mean, we have to find
Speaker 1: our our own training for ourselves and for our children
Speaker 1: on you know, the consideration of screen time, the consideration
Speaker 1: of what we want to take in, UM. How to
Speaker 1: be considerate consumers in the information we take in and
Speaker 1: that our kids have access to. And it's you know,
Speaker 1: as a parent, you know you're failing because it's coming
Speaker 1: too fast. UM. And so now that it's here, the
Speaker 1: hope is because the panel to digress back to it
Speaker 1: wasn't just about mindfulness per se, but also about empathy, right,
Speaker 1: is how to look at as we grow businesses, as
Speaker 1: we raise children, how to be aware with empathy, how
Speaker 1: we want to sell our product, how we want to
Speaker 1: raise our children, how we want to impact the world,
Speaker 1: and if we want to do it with understanding, even selfishly,
Speaker 1: if we want to do it to get the consumer
Speaker 1: to buy more. The consumer wants to feel seen and
Speaker 1: be heard. Our children want the same. We want the same.
Speaker 1: So I keep saying, I mean here meeting businessmen were like, oh,
Speaker 1: I hear you. A gentleman came up to me doing
Speaker 1: work to promote more women and like diversity and business
Speaker 1: and I said, yeah, you like making money, right, So
Speaker 1: your consumer wants to be seen and heard. You better
Speaker 1: have your boardroom be a diverse boardroom because you need
Speaker 1: the voices for representation, so you sell more. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about that. But that that leads to something else
Speaker 1: we definitely wanted to get into, which is um this
Speaker 1: this coda thon you're working with Booking Holdings a company.
Speaker 1: Uh we know, well, on that that tell us what
Speaker 1: inspired you to take that specific path, because obviously, as
Speaker 1: Carol said in the introduction, you're an activist. This is
Speaker 1: broadly a very important issue to you. Why this Well,
Speaker 1: I was very excited as we're all looking for people
Speaker 1: in leadership positions to inspire us and pave the way.
Speaker 1: I was super excited to learn about Gillian Tan's, the
Speaker 1: CEO of Booking dot Com, because I loved when I
Speaker 1: looked at the numbers, because now I'm an actor in
Speaker 1: the film and television industry and a producer, and I'm
Speaker 1: looking to other industries to teach how we're going to
Speaker 1: find both gender and diversity parody and businesses. And I
Speaker 1: learned that she yes, they proudly announced they've reached over
Speaker 1: fifty gender parody and Booking dot Com in terms of
Speaker 1: their workforce. But she also chose to announce and we're
Speaker 1: only at in tech of women. Why are these numbers
Speaker 1: what they are. We want to grow those numbers. Not
Speaker 1: only are we gonna do that, We're going to create
Speaker 1: this code of thon preceding college to take teens STEM
Speaker 1: focused teens predominantly and and and within that group of
Speaker 1: girls that I met in the last few days, they
Speaker 1: also are artists and designers and entrepreneurs and and activists
Speaker 1: and really invest them in their experience of coding and
Speaker 1: what coding can offer. And they're so lit up and
Speaker 1: they're so excited. And then from that place, also Booking
Speaker 1: dot Com announced this beautiful grant and scholarship for universities
Speaker 1: for young women in coding. And I was just so
Speaker 1: excited that somebody stood up and said, this number may
Speaker 1: look great, but you know what, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do in these other areas, so let's also
Speaker 1: invest in it. And and I'm seeing this as a
Speaker 1: board member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Speaker 1: We can say we need the numbers to change, but
Speaker 1: where is the investment in finding young women who want
Speaker 1: to be cinematographers and camera loaders, not just going well,
Speaker 1: we'd love to hire more women, but they don't have
Speaker 1: the skill set. There aren't enough numbers of people. Well,
Speaker 1: go teach those numbers. Change pipeline, create the pipeline. Except
Speaker 1: that I think people are tired of hearing there is
Speaker 1: no pipeline and and looking for people to go actually
Speaker 1: create it, as you're saying, And that feels like we
Speaker 1: are at a slightly different moment in that regard in
Speaker 1: terms of the motion picture industry. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: there have been significant changes since me too and there
Speaker 1: heightened awareness our things really changing? I think it's fair
Speaker 1: to say, and I hope you guys will agree to
Speaker 1: that in all our industries. There has been a shift
Speaker 1: in awareness cultural awareness in our industries about harassment in
Speaker 1: the workplace and the abuse of power affecting women and
Speaker 1: men throughout all industries. So now using voice um is
Speaker 1: not the go to that a predator would focus on, right,
Speaker 1: because we've seen the effects of not just one voice,
Speaker 1: but if you're one voice, how many others will stand
Speaker 1: with you to try to make a difference. So that
Speaker 1: we've definitely seen in terms of the METO movement, in
Speaker 1: terms of gender parity, numbers are shifting. And in the
Speaker 1: words of my daughter, fourteen year old, she was like, Mom,
Speaker 1: I have no problem if shame is the way I
Speaker 1: get in the room. She's like, you know, if it's
Speaker 1: about somebody saying, oh god, we've got to get these
Speaker 1: numbers to look better in the areas of gender parity
Speaker 1: and diversity parody, that's how it's going to change, whether
Speaker 1: right exactly, Uh, and work your way up to be
Speaker 1: part of that pipeline, yes, and bring others along. And
Speaker 1: so representation is shifting, is their equality and pay parity.
Speaker 1: I think we have a long way to go. It's like, girl,
Speaker 1: I got you in the room. I'm not saying I'm
Speaker 1: going to pay you the same. You know, there's and
Speaker 1: can we talk about that for a second, because I
Speaker 1: think for people who you know traffic and business and
Speaker 1: economics every day, that feels like more than the pipeline.
Speaker 1: That's a solvable problem in the sense of pay the money.
Speaker 1: Just pay the money. Did it right? They looked at
Speaker 1: the numbers and so hard. I just said, make it equal.
Speaker 1: I know. I mean, it's it's been interesting as I've
Speaker 1: been learning more in the world of teaching and professors
Speaker 1: and tenure, and I mean, there's so much to do
Speaker 1: in so many industries. But you just cannot believe. I
Speaker 1: cannot believe I'm saying this. You know, people are like
Speaker 1: I've heard actress is at times got a half of
Speaker 1: what they're leading. Man got here. I was like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, you mean one one hundreds as a raid
Speaker 1: in a film of what the actor is being paid
Speaker 1: for many many years and I was raised by actors
Speaker 1: where I watched what my father's career was like at
Speaker 1: the same time as my mother, while they were both
Speaker 1: nominated for oscars, had very similar paths as brilliant artists.
Speaker 1: It just you know, and she was raising a kid
Speaker 1: and you can take a child on a movie at
Speaker 1: that time, just like women in the workforce and across
Speaker 1: all industries. No, it's very different now for us than
Speaker 1: it was for our mother's but her hard for many.
Speaker 1: I mean it's not better, but still far. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: just barely let's go season coming out speaking speaking, but
Speaker 1: it's so great that this project. I have a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old daughter and she loves that all the women
Speaker 1: involved in front of behind the scenes. This is such
Speaker 1: a really strong message. Well that's women on the screen
Speaker 1: and and you know, and and with our partner being HBO,
Speaker 1: really working to make sure we were reaching parody behind
Speaker 1: the camera as well. That was really important to us.
Speaker 1: And you know, first of all, for particularly myself, Nicole Kidman,
Speaker 1: and Reese Witherspoon, who all started acting when we were children.
Speaker 1: We never had another woman on the movie maybe one
Speaker 1: female crew member. When I started my makeup and hair
Speaker 1: people were men. Every every job was male, and maybe
Speaker 1: there was one other actress playing another small role in
Speaker 1: the film or something. So just have other women to
Speaker 1: talk to, it is quite nice, and I like talking
Speaker 1: to on a set with all of you. It's amazing,
Speaker 1: it's amazing it's just an extraordinary support system uh reinvention
Speaker 1: of a workplace environment for us as actors uh IN,
Speaker 1: including our bosses, are at times our fellow actors UM
Speaker 1: and it's really a community of collaborators looking out for
Speaker 1: each other far beyond just on set. And we care
Speaker 1: deeply about the stories we tell. We want many aspects
Speaker 1: of a woman's emotional life represented and the challenges that
Speaker 1: women walk through UM and I did love. After the
Speaker 1: first episode of the first season came out, there were
Speaker 1: a couple of reviews that were kind of what you
Speaker 1: dream of because it wash a bunch of privileged women
Speaker 1: are going through hard things who cares and to see
Speaker 1: the stigma of a lack of empathy because they can't
Speaker 1: understand how hard it is. Absolutely, and then when we
Speaker 1: go deeper, we're confronted with the fact that we are
Speaker 1: all universally going through so any similar traumas, dynamics and
Speaker 1: challenges UM in our personal lives, in the workplace environment,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. And it was interesting for me playing
Speaker 1: Ranada Kline because she's the person they all hated, because
Speaker 1: she's the boss, she's the CEO, she's got all the money,
Speaker 1: so why should you complain about her life, but also
Speaker 1: she doesn't have a sisterhood, partially because she was the
Speaker 1: one female in a boardroom of twelve or thirteen that
Speaker 1: got to be in that room and had to act
Speaker 1: within that world as one of the boys. And it's yeah,
Speaker 1: I learned so much about finance and the world of
Speaker 1: tech through playing this part, just talking to other women's
Speaker 1: ceo s, which was fantastic. And so what did you
Speaker 1: all take from that first season? Because the first thing,
Speaker 1: you never know how it's gonna go, as you say,
Speaker 1: you never know how it's going to be received. Then
Speaker 1: it's this runaway hit for women and met you know,
Speaker 1: everybody's just glued to this. So what do you take
Speaker 1: from the first season when it is this runaway hit
Speaker 1: that you apply to the second season because it's no
Speaker 1: longer like, oh, we'll see how this goes. Now everybody
Speaker 1: it's it's the sophomore effort, so people are tuning in
Speaker 1: even more closely. Well, a few things one with success,
Speaker 1: you look around and realize it's the zeitguys, So let's
Speaker 1: use this on a larger scale on a social justice level.
Speaker 1: Women want to see each other, want to find that bond,
Speaker 1: want to have these conversations. So we started all growing opportunity,
Speaker 1: certainly within storytelling, as producers started, all of us, every
Speaker 1: single actor on it is now producing content that it
Speaker 1: was more possible, I mean, and it opened the doors
Speaker 1: and was successful, and so that says to the buyer,
Speaker 1: this is great news. And then in addition, we got
Speaker 1: smart enough as a group to go when you're really
Speaker 1: lucky to be in this place and you get to
Speaker 1: do it again, you should ask Meryl Streeper join you
Speaker 1: if you could ask for the moon, to ask for
Speaker 1: Meryl Streep and then she'd say yes, the greatest gift
Speaker 1: in the world. We are looking forward to the second season,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for dropping by a standing time.
Speaker 1: Thank you for asking these questions. And in the world
Speaker 1: of business and finance, it's helping everyone. So I'm very
Speaker 1: excited to have these conversations. Well, we hope you'll come
Speaker 1: back in visit us as you continue on in all
Speaker 1: these efforts, and I know we'll be tuning in to
Speaker 1: Big Littalize for sure. Season two. Thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for a dirt you've been listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week Extra, be sure to tune into Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Radio Live Monday through Friday at gpm Wall Street Time.
Speaker 1: I'm Bloomberg Radio. I'm Carrol Massa, and I'm Jason Kelly.
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