WEBVTT - Trek President on Cost of 'Know it All' Strategy 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.760 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:08.360 Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Let's add out to Wisconsin. Uh 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.240 rejoining us is John Burke. He is the president of 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.960 Trek Bikes. It's a family business. We got to know 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.440 him a little bit, I believe late last year. Carol, 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:20.440 My timeline is all uh messed up a little bit, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.960 but great to have John back with us. John, how 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:27.000 are you. I'm great, Thank you very much for having me. Good. Well, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.000 it's good to hear your voice. And I trust everybody 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.080 as well in your family and things are going okay 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.159 out in Wisconsin. They're doing very well. Thank you. So 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.879 you are in a unique position. I think are in 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.479 an interesting position, to say the least, as a business 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:43.080 owner an employer who has spent a lot of time. 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.159 We've read multiples of your books, you know, both the 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.239 one that you put together about the company, the one 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.639 you wrote about your father. You are someone who has 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.240 really been forward thinking and has made thinking about your 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.160 employees and your customers really at the center of everything 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.640 you're doing. How do you sort of synthes is everything 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:02.800 that's going on in the world and look at it 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.400 through that lens well, you know, I mean I've I've 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.720 been at Trek for thirty six years now, and I've 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.199 seen a lot of different things, and I've never seen 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.000 anything with the impact of the virus. I mean, these 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.840 are unprecedented times, and so as a as a company, 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.440 one of the things we're really focused on our customers. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.120 We've got five thousand small businesses around the globe and 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.600 we're trying to figure out everything we can do to 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.360 help those customers survive and help them get through this crisis. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.160 These are your retailers, these are retailers. Well, tell us 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.160 about some of the things that you've had to you know, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.080 some of the stories that you're hearing from them, some 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.680 of the steps that you've had to do to help 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.480 them get through this, you know. I mean it's a 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.560 mixed bag. I mean some you know. One of the 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.600 things that's good about being in the bike business right 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.480 now is bikes are good for social distancing, they're good 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.680 for the ironment, they're good for people's health. And you're 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.640 seeing a lot of people riding bikes, not just in 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.800 certain cities in the US, but all over the US 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.000 and all over the world. So there's actually, believe it 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.960 or not, a mini bike boom going on in certain markets. 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.160 In other markets, they're just closed. So we're having to 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.000 deal with the mixed bag. But one of the things 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.080 we're doing is an example, is we're putting out a 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.000 whole bunch of information as to how bicycles can run 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.320 a safe play with both their employees and their customers. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.440 We're also helping people out with how can you help 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.600 getting government assistance? Here. We set up a hotline within 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.720 the business here. The other thing we're doing is, you know, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.000 we send out content on here's six ways that you 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.200 can make it through the crisis. We're doing everything we 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:53.280 can to help those retailers manage their businesses. And so 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.120 John tell us about what this outbreak is like in 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.600 how this virus is affecting your local community and what 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:06.160 that means in terms of you taking action for your employees. Well, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.840 you know, as as soon as the virus broke, we 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.720 we got the you know, the senior staff together here 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.000 and we said what our priorities and we came up 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.359 with six six priorities, and number one was the safety 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.600 for our employees and our customers. And that's something we're 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.280 super serious about. So we're having everybody worked from home. 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:33.440 We have a small manufacturing group that works at the office. Um, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:35.720 I'm still working at the office just because I like 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.240 being here. And when you come in, you get your 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.920 temperature taken, you get asked a bunch of questions. But 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.160 we're doing everything we can on a safety side here 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.200 and we're doing everything we can to make sure employees 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.920 are in a good space. I mean, I'm just curious 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.040 what your perspective is too, as you look at what's 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.760 going on on the coast, whether it's West coast you know, 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.760 or the East coast. Certainly big markets for you guys, Um, 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.160 you know, but the the magnitude of cases and shutdown 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.880 are you anticipating you know, something along those levels or 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.880 I'm just curious how you see it? Well, you know, 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.720 we you know, you take a look Michigan for example, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.680 I mean, our business in Michigan is down. And if 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:18.919 you take a look at the bike business, April is 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.520 Christmas and the bike business and you're taking a look 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.440 at big markets for a trek that are just shut down. 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.520 And if you go to Europe you're looking at you know, 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:32.599 a shutdown. But um, you know, thankfully there's you know 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.720 a few other positive things going on just because of 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.359 the popularity of the bike, and we believe. My whole 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.920 message to the team here is we're going to use 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.479 this as our finest hour. We are rethinking everything about 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.320 the business. It's a whole new world and when we 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.280 get on the other side of this, we're going to 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.279 be stronger than we've ever been before. That's what we're 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.080 focused on. That's so interesting. So tell us give us 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.360 an example of something that that you're rethinking. Are we 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.360 talking some light chain, are we talking sort of retail relationships, 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.240 like maybe all of the above, Like, give us an 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.279 example of something there. You know, we're talking everything, but 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.040 I'll take you in one place, which is just digital. Um, 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.960 most of our bikes are sold through retailers, and people 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.040 walk into a store and they buy the store. Well, 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.640 in this world, a lot of people home delivery. So 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.320 our whole website has changed to you know, you can 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.320 get on the website, you can buy the bike, you 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.919 can get that bike delivered at your house. Um. That 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.479 might sound like an easy thing, but to pull that off, 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.679 I think we pulled that off in less than a week. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.200 We're pulling it off really well. And it's all those 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.760 sorts of things that we're doing, whether it's working with 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.560 the customer on the website, our supply chain, the way 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:51.159 we're dealing with marketing where our sales people are focused. Um, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.120 this is a new world and uh, we're adapting to 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.960 it still with us. John Burke, president of Track Bikes, 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.040 on the phone from Wisconsin. So, John, tell us a 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.000 little bit about this book that you wrote, Sixteen simple 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:09.080 Solutions to save America. Um. Timely, uh and thoughtful considering 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.000 it is an election year, and I do feel like 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.279 right now we are seeing some leaders step up to 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.680 the plate and some really disappoint You know, after the 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.919 two thousand and sixteen election, I said to myself, I 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.080 was really kind of disappointed with the whole political process, 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:29.120 and I said, if no one runs for the presidency 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.599 who is competent or who has a plan, that I'd 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.440 do it myself. And so I spent the last two 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.240 years of writing a book which would be my plan 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.960 for the American people. And I got to the end 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.039 and I decided not to run. But I decided, you 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.640 know what, this is a really good plan and I'm 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.480 going to share it with the American people. In the 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:54.800 first chapter, and there's sixteen on sixteen Nonpartisan Solutions to 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:59.599 Save America. The first chapter is demand a high performance 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.839 government it and I think we um, I think we 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.960 deserve better as a people, and I think COVID nineteen 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:12.040 is a perfect example of good government matters. And I 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.440 think we've forgotten that as a people. And right now 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.679 we're paying the price for poor leadership, and we're paying 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.480 the price for poor government. And what have you seen 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.120 is this has has played out because we've been talking 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.200 about this a ton, uh, John, as you can imagine, 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.200 especially sort of sitting here where we are in the 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.840 Tri state area and seeing mayors and governors, you know, candidly, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.880 regardless of your politics, sort of step to the step 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.920 to the front. I mean this unprecedented. I think by 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.880 all accounts, you know, even conference call that Weed saw earlier. 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.760 It really you know, brings that to mind, Carol, and 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.280 similar things going on on the West coast too. And 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.480 I'm guessing around you as as well, John, Um, what 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.800 have you what have you learned about leadership or what 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.640 are some of the things that you've seen that dovetail 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.880 with what you're writing about? You know, I think a 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:07.800 key here is, you know, Jim Collins, Great Business author 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.560 definds a level of five leader, and he says it's 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.640 a it's a combination of will and humility. And humility 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.760 is putting the team first and not putting yourself first. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.520 And humility is being a learn it all, not a 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.000 know it all. And I think the problem we have 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:31.200 with this administration is we have just worthy know it all. 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.400 And if you take a look January, the first case 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.959 of coronavirus happened in South Korea, and it happened in 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.559 the United States on exactly the same day. If you 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.480 take a look at where we are now, if you 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.440 take a look at South Korea, they've had less than 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.360 two deaths. In the United States, it's over ten thousand. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.000 Our country is shut down. There's is not and worth 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:01.840 spending two trillion dollars in the first first group of 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.480 funding to try and get our economy back. That's the 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:10.080 price of poor government is we missed this thing at 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:14.240 the start. Even though you had people like Bill Gates, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.880 you people like George W. Bush, you had Barack Obama, 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.000 you had people talking about the potential of a pandemic, 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.400 and for sure you had the CIA, you had other 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:31.240 intelligence agencies telling the White House, this is what could 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:39.080 happen in January, and it was ignored. Yeah, he said like, 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.520 how do you you know, what do you do with that? Um, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.280 what do you do? What do you do with that? 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.839 Because it's not you know, this is something Jason, you 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.920 know we've talked about this that you know, past administrations 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.719 in times of crisis will lean on past leaders to 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.320 be like, how did you do or what did you 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.200 know or what would you do? Like and we're not 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:02.600 necessarily seeing that this time round. No, And you know 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.320 you're seeing somebody who's a self proclaimed genius and that's 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.840 not leadership. Leadership is a high degree of will combined 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.400 with humility that you learn from other people, that you 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.880 have the best experts, that you listen to people, and 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:19.920 you go from there. And I think where we really 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.120 missed it. A lot of talk is you know, where 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.080 we allocate resources today when we open back up. But 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:27.720 I think you got to go back to January. But John, 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.160 don't you also to be fair? Is I feel like 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:31.840 and this was this has certainly been a theme of 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.360 our broadcast here today is about to some extent, you know, 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.600 we're seeing it now. The governor's coordinating about how do 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.080 we reopen they understand this right, We didn't really see 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.160 a ton of global cooperation either. I feel like among 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.600 leaders in terms of dealing with this well. And I think, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.520 you know, one of the there's sixteen chapters in my book, 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.800 and one of them is on the you know, importance 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.840 of a responsible foreign policy. We used to lead the world. 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.800 We used to have a lot of friends. You know, 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.280 if you take a look at, you know, some of 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.960 the age old alliances that this country has with countries 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.360 like Germany, um, those don't exist to the extent that 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.800 they used to. And the United States used to be 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.080 the global leader. And if you take a look at 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.000 where we are with COVID nineteen, we're not there. We 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.400 used to be there, and we can be there again, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.360 but it takes leadership in order to make that happen. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.600 And in this book, I lay out here sixteen chapters, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.280 and I think one of the key things is is 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:42.240 going forward, what do we learn from this pandemic, Because 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.160 there's other big issues that people have been warning about. 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.880 They've been warning about a nuclear holocaust. If you take 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.920 a look at climate change, people have been warning about 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.240 climate change. If you take a look at the health 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.040 of our people. The people in the United States today 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:03.560 are obese, and by thirty it's projected to be big 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.680 issues that need leadership. Well, and to your point, I mean, 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:09.400 and we've been talking about this a lot, and we'll 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.680 have to save this for our next conversation. But you know, 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.160 the other one of the big, big things that this 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.680 crisis has laid bare is the deep, deep inequality that 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.599 we have, uh that is structural in many ways, and 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.040 when you see the victims of this crisis, it is 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.280 very very clear. Alright, great to catch up with you. 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.080 John Burke, president of Truk Bikes, joining us on the 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.719 phone from Wisconsin. His new book, Sixteen Simple Solutions to 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:37.320 Save America. Check that out. Think about all. You know, 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.360 we were saying that the virus doesn't discriminate. It does discriminate, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:45.040 I mean in terms of those that seem to be impacted, um, 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:49.160 you know, much more dramatically. It's often a poorer population 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.600 and minority population. It just we've got some problems out 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:53.800 there that we really need to tackle.