WEBVTT - Businessweek Extra - Ian Schrager 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.280 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Welcome to 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.640 the Bloomberg Business Week Extra podcast. I'm Jason Kelly and 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.440 I'm Carol Masster in New York. This week, not everyone 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.160 could get in still to help celebrate the opening of 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.479 the Time Square Edition hotel. The man behind it someone 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.120 closely identified with the hospitality industry. It is Ian Schreeger, 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.560 founder and chairman of the Ian Schraeger Company. Um. Also, 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.360 when you think of hotels, we think of you. Congratulations 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.160 this well, thank you. Tell us a little bit about 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:32.960 this new one, because I think everyone was saying Times 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:38.479 Square isn't that where tours go? Well, that's gonna change now. Uh. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.720 And I think it's a very special hotel, very sophisticated, 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:51.920 very simple, very refined, juctiposed against the boisterous, noisy, disorganized, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.200 a chaotic area down in in Times Square. And when 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:01.480 you can bind those two things together, it happens. Uh. 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.000 And Uh. In that hotel, by the way, we have 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.839 for five different restaurants done by a Michelin Star chef, 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:14.480 the first Michelin Star chef in Times Square ever. Uh. 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:19.080 It's the first luxury hotel in Times Square ever. And 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.560 it's the first time that we're going to be creating 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:31.600 a multi media visual uh popular culture entertainment of everything 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.160 possible and everything imaginable. Um, and you hope to bring 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.039 in a lot of New Yorkers. Right, It's totally gayed 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.120 to the New Yorkers, like every hotel we've ever done, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.840 because when people visit New York, they want to go 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.960 where they think people in the know of New York. Alright, 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:55.520 so give us an analog throughout your career to this hotel, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:57.720 because I think back, one of the things I thought 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.280 about when I saw this was the Hudson Hotel, which 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.080 is not too far from the from this new hotel, 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.760 and I wasn't living in New York at the time, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:07.960 but I did get the sense when I showed up 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.880 to stay there that there were actual New Yorkers hanging 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.120 out in that bar with the lit floor. So is 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.600 that something that we could sort of get our heads 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.440 around when we think about this, Well, sure, but every 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.760 hotel you know we do is uh, it cared for 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.480 the people who live in that city and are in 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.359 the know, because there's nothing more boring than a traditional 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:35.639 hotel bar or traditional hotel restaurant. People want to go 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.280 where they think cool people people in the no go. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.800 All right, So how did you figure that out? Not intellectually, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.320 but how do you write exactly? Like do you use 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.360 We talked so much about people using data? How do 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.200 you figure out what it is that New Yorkers want? 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.600 You know, I do everything instinctive. Uh, you know, I 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:01.000 do everything for myself. Uh that I personally like, I 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:05.440 see things maybe other people can see. Connect the dots, uh, 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.679 tells me what's going on? We're aheaded Uh what do 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.320 people reacting to? And I think any creative person, filmmakers 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:19.880 do films, they like, fashions on is, do close they like, etcetera, etcetera. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.040 So it's it's unusual in a very capital intensive industry 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.400 to jettison to data and well the kind of demographic 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.799 things that I think is they're relevant and just follow 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.360 your instinct, follow your nose. And that's the way it's 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:37.080 always worked for me. All right, So why did you 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.520 get into the hotel business in the first place, Because 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.120 you obviously were in the hospitality business broadly defined. But 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:48.280 what took you to hotels specifically? Well? Ones uh not 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.760 so sexy response and ones A sexy And I just 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.480 say he's smiling big. Whichever response you want to go 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.880 to give you both, gives you both, you know. For 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.960 the sexy respond it's, uh, it's the the nightclub business 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.760 of the goal is taking care of people, making sure 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.720 they have good, good time, they have fun. And that's 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.360 the same goal in the hospitality business. Uh, the not 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:18.440 so sexy responses that when we's old Studio fifty four, 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.640 we took back promissory notes, and when the guy couldn't 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.960 pay the promissory notes, we traded his interest in a 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.880 hotel for our interest in the promissory notes. So that 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:35.599 you're in business, what do you like more? Well? Uh, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.479 you know, I I've said everything I have to say 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.200 in a strict dancing, nightclub kind of place. I kind 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.960 of liked the hotel world because it's a combination of 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:55.360 everything sleeping, eating, bathing, dining, dancing, entertaining, working, socializing. It's 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.760 a kind of combination of everything people you like to do, 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.599 and now the distinction between all those things are getting blurred. 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.880 So it's a I still have a lot, a lot 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.479 to say. Well, and I mean this in in both 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.200 the literal and maybe figurative and wider sense of the 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.040 word but hotels ultimately are about intimacy as well, right absolutely, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.120 And uh, you know people forget when they go for 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.920 all the focus groups and the data and the millennials 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.880 and a lot kind of thinking that they forget. It's just, uh, 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.640 it's a business about people and people's desires and dreams 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.280 and urges and and and those things don't change. I mean, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.800 everything else changes, but not those uh, human conditions. Right 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:42.800 you talk about we talk about the animal spirits of 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.360 the market. You know that you just react to things 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:46.839 and that's just how it goes. And you want somebody 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.839 to walk in and have a certain kind of reaction, right, absolutely, 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.800 you know. And and it's hard to define it, but 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.120 we all know it when we see it. That we 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.200 all know it when we feel it. We know when 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.160 we're in an exciting place. We know when there's time 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.200 or an excitement in the air, we know when there's 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.400 romance in the air, we know when there's danger in 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.400 the era, you know. So you know, it's just it's 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.520 kind a very obvious thing to me. Well, and and 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:13.880 maybe as an homage to your past, I mean you're 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.360 including a club in this hotel, correct, Well, Uh, it's 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:24.560 not a traditional club. Uh, it's it's a UM, it's 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.120 very hard to put in a box because I know 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.720 we all like to Even with studio when we did that, 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.880 it was very hard to define what it was. You know. 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.200 We we have to see how the people use it 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.960 and then we can try and put a name on it. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.880 This is for nightlife, and it's also during the day, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.640 and it's also for business. But it's a kind of 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:57.520 very communal, socializing, visual invigorating place. Um that Um, the 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.800 last two nights we've had things there and it had 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.160 the same kind of energy. Uh. That would have seemed 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:10.040 it was gonna to explode of that studio act many 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.600 many years ago, but it was different. It was a 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.480 different kind of thing. So I want to go back 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:19.480 to something you said about your instincts, because obviously they're good. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.119 I don't think anybody would doubt that. But we also 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.960 know that instincts are honed, they are refined over time. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.680 So take us inside your mind. What how do you 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.360 do that? What do you read? What do you look at? 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.520 We know from getting to know you a little bit, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:40.800 you're a consumer of many media. What do you look at? 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.680 I'm a I'm a consumer of all media because I 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.760 never know when something will give me an impulse for 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:54.840 an idea. You know. The my um tech person in 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.560 my family's my eight year old son. Uh, And I'm 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.640 not from that generation. But the one thing, you know, 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.080 I've never part of the Facebook, never, never part of 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.280 any of that. But the one thing I do do 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:13.080 a lot is um Instagram. Why because I used to 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.720 read everything I can get my hands on, every magazine 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.840 or every book of interest, so magazine, all the magazines 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.000 I used to read, they all had great a great editor. 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:29.120 On Instagram, there's tens of millions of editors with tens 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.760 of millions of different viewpoints and ideas, and so I 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.600 look at that, not socialized, I look at it for ideas, 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:42.480 and it's incredible. I'm looking at a magazine with tens 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.959 of millions of editors, somebody's Instagram profile and just kind 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.840 of look through their pictures. What do you do when 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.480 you start putting things that you like and it kind 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:57.080 of builds on itself and you start seeing presumably sort 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.040 of little trends, You start connecting some dots among all 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.240 of those, as you say, editors out there, Yes, and 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.959 it's uh, I find it so stimulating, you know, when 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:13.080 I looked to Instagram, I'm not looking to socialize with someone. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.960 I'm looking for what other people are thinking and and 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:22.040 and ideas emerged from that and I so I find 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.559 it incredibly stimulating. So can you tell us something that 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.079 you that sort of bubbled up for you from looking 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.360 at Instagram that maybe you've put into practice, you know, Uh, 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.800 I see the Uh. Well, I get that also from 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.560 my son, by the way, like I the other day, 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.680 you know, my son plays Fortnite, UH, and UH, I 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:46.000 didn't realize, you know, what a huge business it was 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:49.200 and how much money it's evolved with it. And then 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.800 I saw on one of the uh it might have 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.480 been Bloomberger or something else. I saw where one of 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.760 the people who run the Big game company and the 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.920 kind of the scope of what's happening with that and 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.640 how big business it is. And then I was in 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.760 UH in Florida, and I took my son to a 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:14.960 a virtual reality place which is really the next generation, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:20.360 which is which was probably millions of dollars put into 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.920 this thing. It's in the very beginning stages. It's changing. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.959 So what do we do. We go into Times Square 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.839 with the Times Square edition. We have a JumboTron outside. 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.960 We hire a lot of video and visual artists to 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.400 put stuff on the JumboTron. We're not selling anything. All 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:45.559 we're doing is visualizing art increasing our presence. Uh and 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.520 uh it's been amazing. Uh and uh so you know, 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.080 and if I was wrong, no problem. Does your eight 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.400 year old get a consultant fee for that one? Sorry? 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.280 Does your eight year old get a consultant fee for that? 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.840 My wife asking me Jesus agent today? Doesn't? When you 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.160 were also part of our year Ahead summit here um, 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.240 and you talked a lot about co living as kind 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.319 of the next wave or next disruptor in terms of 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.280 the hospitality industry, how do you see that impact? I 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:23.120 still living, and I still believe in coworking. You know, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:27.079 in the coworking space there hasn't been a lot of quality, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:31.000 quality product done. But you know, my theory on on 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.800 the co working, by the way, is that you know, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:38.559 we work in these marble edifices, beautiful office buildings of 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.760 old uh and in our little cubicles. Uh. And then 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.840 we go home and you know, we get on the 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.880 computer and Facebook, so just kind of really a little 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:54.840 less personal interaction. So what happens coworking comes along. You 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.679 can work and you can have personal interaction. That is. 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.840 I think that's the way things, you know, happen, and 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.840 you can only tell by connecting the dots. And I 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.480 think you know, with the living, you know, these trends 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:15.600 going on about um uh, younger people, um, living home, longer, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:20.480 having babies later. Um. They don't put the same emphasis 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.360 on things I did. I couldn't wait to get a 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.480 call when I was eighteen. My girls they don't care, 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:27.920 but they don't want a car. They don't want the 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.720 headache of it. So social things change. And I think 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.000 the co living uh, provided somebody could do a good 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.680 job of it, and provided somebody you know, you still 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.760 have your privacy. Uh, but it's much leorth expensive, which 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.400 is the benefit of technology, by the way, right, it's 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.240 less expensive port it's easier. Uh. And I think that's 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.360 the future. Well you're already I mean, you're in the 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.360 hospitality industry, you're doing residential. Are you saying that Ian 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.839 that you would think about doing office? Uh? I think 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:02.160 about doing anything that people uh uh immerse themselves into 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:08.160 and would like something momore stimulating, more inspiring and makes 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.319 them productive. I don't care what that is, offices, hospitals, 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:18.320 we're timing homes, whatever that is. It's interesting for me. 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.560 So you've talked about sort of the through line of 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.640 your own career, you know, from studio to to where 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.959 you are today. Whiten the aperture for us a little 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.280 bit as a society, as as a people, you know, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:35.320 especially here in New York City. What's the legacy now 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:41.040 so many decades on of studio? You know, studio there 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:48.720 were too Uh. I think paradigm shifting events, cultural events 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.280 in my life Woodstock, uh and uh and uh and studio. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.079 I think people don't talk too much about Woodstock anymore, 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.000 even though that happened you a little bit later, but 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:05.000 around the same time. And I studied about Woodstock in 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.520 law school, you know, the suspension of laws and what 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.800 was illegal and so and so forth. You know. But 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.040 I think I am surprised, and I am amazed about 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.560 the interesting in studio And what is it about that 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.600 that people still fascinated about and and and what The 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.120 only logical explanation I can come up with is that 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.720 there are very few times in in people's lives where 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:35.160 you can h experience absolute freedom. Um, there are no 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.640 ramifications of anything that you're doing. You can be yourself 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.360 if there's a celebrity right next to you, nobody cares. 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.080 Everybody's there to just let it all hang out and 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.480 have fun. Uh and uh, you know, I think there 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.120 aren't many times that you experienced it and there wasn't 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.120 anything you would do that night. You couldn't get up 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.440 the next morning and walk away from so Althowise, I 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.480 cannot come up with an explanation for why the fascination 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.760 with it, you know over of forty two years later? 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.240 Can we can we not do that again? Because of 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.880 social media? I think about people when they go somewhere right, 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.960 everything is documented. Can we not have that kind of 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:23.480 space again? I think that's um, you know what the 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:28.760 intellectual uh people think. You know, it was a different time. 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:32.320 New York was different. Uh, you don't have the technology 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.360 and the demographics are different. But I don't believe that. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.680 You know, I think everything changes. But you know you 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:44.600 still have Burning Man where something similar to Studio happened. 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.120 You still have those uh really cool nightclubs in East 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:52.040 Berlin that is happening. Those are the only still have clubs. 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.000 And I besa that still it still happens. I just 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:59.760 think somebody has to find a current expression of that, 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.200 you know, for a nightclub, which we're not calling it 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.240 a nightclub, but we think we're playing around and flirting 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.440 with that at the Paradise club, at the hotel, you know, 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.960 to to achieve that full, full freedom. So you know, 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.160 the Matt Turnout, who was the director of the Studio 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.920 fifty four documentary, he doesn't think it could be repeated. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:28.640 I do, uh and uh, you know, because uh, it's 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.720 just the the to hims of the skirts go up 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:37.760 and down, and they need to call its. Change haircuts, change, refrigerators, automobiles, 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:43.400 everything changes, but the basic human condition doesn't change. I 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.120 think about we've talked about just workouts, how people are 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.760 now wanting to come together to work out, to kind 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:50.560 of have that sense of community. And I do wonder 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.960 because the social media has been so increasingly isolating, where 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.120 the people will look for places like that where they 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.200 can just kind of come together with friends or even 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.600 people they don't know. Yes, it is isolating, and and 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.240 and and people will be reacting to that, you know, 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:09.120 like they have rave now where people coming up they 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.840 you know, hundreds of them, and and and and they 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.520 exercise to music, and it's kind of a social thing, 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.800 but there's a serious aspect, you know to it. So 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:25.000 those things change, they evolve, they make left turns, right turns, 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:29.439 but all of those things to me indicate there is 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.679 a desire to socialize. So we have a couple of 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.240 quick questions that we want to ask you, a little 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.760 little rapid fire, we like to call it. When you travel, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:44.080 where do you stay only in the public or addition, okay, 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:48.840 if they're not around, though, you know, I always try 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:53.119 and stay in a place that's stylish, you know that 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.800 I I feel comfortable and I don't want to stay 0:17:55.800 --> 0:18:00.280 in a hotel that has fake French antiques, you know, 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.920 over the top or pretentious or presumptuous. You know. So 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.880 I like staying in in in a hotel not contrived, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.399 you know, not something over the top, not over zealous design, 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.560 but something that kind of tasteful that I feel comfortable 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:20.439 and so um. You know. But but there's there's editions 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.919 every real and growing and growing, I know. So you 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.639 talked about taking this macro view and seeing all of 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.000 the different influencers, but if you had to zero in 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.959 on one or two people who were really influential in 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.680 your mind right now, who would it be, oh, dead 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:42.000 or alive? Alive? Alive is more difficult, you know. Uh, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.880 you know, I think uh historically will be Steve Jobs 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.800 in Walt Disney by far and away. Uh, you know, 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.920 and they still resonate obviously with a lot of their influence, 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.359 still clearly felt definitely stay with that. Why Steve Jobson 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.720 Walt Disney, you know, the and between the two. Uh, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.040 even though Steve Jobs is more compelling right now because 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:08.760 of the technology, Uh, Walt Disney. Uh did things across 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.520 a lot of disciplines, not just one thing. So you know, 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.840 by thinking about it, you know, I I love what 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.600 Steve Jobs did. You know, I love the marketing I 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.200 you know, I love his relentlessness, you know, his drive 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:27.720 for excellence, uncompromising. You know, that's the way you do 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.760 a product, and that's the way you create a cult. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:36.560 Which that's our goal, creating a cult. Uh. Walt Disney 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.879 was but he did so many different things over the 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.040 first guy to do merchandise, and I mean he did 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.879 over so many first guy to do those nature programs 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:52.280 that we all love. I mean, he animations, movies, you know. Uh, 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:58.480 so they both inspired me today. Um, you know, did 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.480 I have a different kind of group. I'm kind of 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:07.639 fascinated by the the men that run uh big big companies, 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:13.320 you know, like Mike Bloomberg, who I wish would run 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:19.160 for president, Like Annie Sorensen who uh your runs Marriott, 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:23.320 who's the loveliest guy and smartest, you know, a whip. 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.960 I'm kind of inspired by them because it shows me that, um, 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.119 you know, entrepreneurs. Skill set of an entrepreneur is not 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.320 suitable for running a big company, nor is the suitable 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:41.880 for running the country. And so those guys, uh, they 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.360 can run anything and we have to of course they 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:46.840 Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg LP. And of course 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.000 that's this podcast falls under. All right, so how do 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:55.359 you relax? Uh? Now, I really just being with my family, 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.960 and I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. You know. 0:20:58.000 --> 0:20:59.720 I love what I do. It's a job I would 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:02.840 take if I didn't need a job, uh and uh 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.920 and I don't uh. And when I'm not working, I 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.399 worked very hard, but because I enjoyed it, you know, 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.840 like hanging out with my wife and and uh and 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:15.840 my five kids, and you like watching news, right, all 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.000 the time. We know that. Can I just tell a story? 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.920 Do you mind? You've come into our studio before, and 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.040 we have a lot of monitors in in our radio studio. 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.119 We have to monitor different networks and feeds. And you 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:29.800 walk in you're like, how do I get one of these? 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.200 And we're like, you're inch ring or you could get one. 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.639 It's a dream, all right. So before we let you go, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:39.639 gotta ask you your favorite moment from Studio fifty four, 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.000 you know would be at perhaps a little surprising. I remember, 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.359 you know, Steve and I I was twenty nine, and yes, 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:52.240 uh and uh, I think Steve was like a thirty 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:56.879 three thirty four, you know, and up to that point, uh, nightclubs. 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.719 That was right on the end of the garage phase 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.719 of doing nightclubs, like the garage phase of doing rock 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:07.720 and roll, the garage phase of doing technology. So you know, 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:11.080 there wasn't you didn't get on the front page of 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.600 a newspaper or anything like that to remember the opening night. 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:20.320 As soon as the club um passed to the critical 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.359 point and everything was, you know, working well and so 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.000 on and so forth. Of course I went home and 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.080 Steve stayed there, and so I get a phone call 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.520 from Steve at five in the morning. Uh, like, exalting 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:37.000 that we were on the front page of the New 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.320 York Post is just the first, never been been done 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:44.040 before with the opening, so it was like we just 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:48.800 couldn't believe it. It's funny. That's one of my favorite 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.360 favorite moments. And then of course I have a lot 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:58.040 of them, but um, I'm not telling you. All right, 0:22:58.080 --> 0:22:59.800 we'll say that hopefully for a future maybe we'll love it. 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:03.119 You get the new hotel and we'll do that. Ian Steer, 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:05.159 thank you so much, really appreciate it. Thank you for 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.120 having me. And that wraps up our Bloomberg Business Week 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.760 Extra podcast. Check out our daily show every day two 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:16.000 to five Wall Street Time for Carol Masser. I'm Jason Kelly.