WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - September 12th, 2020 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.320 This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:08.680 Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.240 edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Jason, it is week working 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.960 from home kind of we're seeing, you know, people slowly 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:18.840 make their way back to offices, and I gotta say 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.599 this week there was a lot more talk and action 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.119 toward getting people back to work when it comes to 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.800 New York City, especially among the Wall Street community. We're 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.960 going to get into that a little bit later on. Yeah, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.000 excited to get into that. That is the story of 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.720 the fall back to the office, back to school so 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:38.240 certainly pervades almost every conversation we had this week. We're 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.720 also going to bring you another edition of Business Week 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.480 Talks your conversation with Brian Nicol, the CEO of Chipotle 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.480 Mexican Girl. I'm gonna say I'm a fan. I've eaten 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.400 such Chipotle over this pandemic. I have ordered our family 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.640 definitely has ordered uh during our time at home, no 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:55.960 doubt about it. And this is a company that understands crises. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:57.840 So we'll see what he has to say about kind 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:59.920 of where we are in the pandemic, what the out 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.960 look is for this company, and this is one that's 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.360 been pivoting big time towards digital, so we'll dig deeper 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.520 into that. We begin this hour though, with news also 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.080 this week about Astra Zeneca. They were pausing tests of 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.760 the company's experimental shot after a patient became ill. Now 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.720 keep in mind, Jason, and this is something we tried 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.720 to dig into with our conversations. This is delays which 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.960 are often a routine event for the pharmaceutical industry. And 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.920 it's a reminder though that developing a safe and successful 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:32.759 vaccine it's gonna take some time. And yet we know 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.640 that every tick and talk towards the vaccine, regardless of 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.880 who's involved, it immediately becomes one of the most read 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.440 stories when it crosses the Bloomberg No exception. Here we 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.360 caught up with one of our in house go to 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.320 voices on COVID nineteen Bloomberg News Health reporter Michelle Cortess. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.960 It's kind of astonishing how quickly and smoothly everything has 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.840 gotten to this point. We have more than two dozen 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.000 vaccines in clinical trials for a virus that we didn't 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.840 even know existed, that probably didn't even exist a year ago. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.760 So that is astonishing, and as you point out, there 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.960 are normally hurdles and problems that come up. The way 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:09.720 this one has been coming out is a little bit 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.560 um unsettling, to say the least. So we heard that 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.720 after Zeneca had paused its trial. They're saying that it's 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.800 a very normal thing that it happens when there's an 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.440 unexplained illness. The condition that we're actually looking at, it's 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:27.399 a spinal cord condition called transverse my lightest causes inflammation 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:29.480 in the spinal cord can lead to paralysis, and it 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:35.160 is something that's worrisome, and I guess it's also a reminder, Michelle, 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.239 at just how heightened all of this is and how 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.680 heightened all of us are. We are. We're both hopeful, 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.600 but I dare say feeling almost a little bit desperate 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.240 because our very way of life has has been changed. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.040 We've seen tens and tens and tens of thousands of 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.000 people died just in the United States, and there's a 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:59.080 sense of urgency that I don't know we've ever collectively felt. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.720 Certainly in my lifetime, I would agree with that. But 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.720 also there is a concern here, of course, that that 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:06.840 there's beliefs that a vaccine is going to bring us 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.200 back to normal, that we do have an issue with 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.600 um with vaccine hesitancy and skepticism in the US. So 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.280 the idea that that some of this information is coming 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.360 out not so smoothly it a little bit is a 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.800 little bit concerning. Also, we did learn that there had 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.320 been an earlier incident as well where they temporarily paused 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.800 the trial. It didn't disclose that where they had similar 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.840 symptoms of of you know, paralysis type issues, and it 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.800 turned out that the patient had multiple sclerosis and they 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.520 determined that it wasn't related to the vaccination although the 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.400 person had gotten the vaccination. We're not exactly sure why 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.680 MS develops. So with two with two potential ties to 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.560 a neurological condition, you know, at some point people are 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.240 going to be making a decision whether they're going to 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.520 participate in a clinical trial, which clinical trial, and then 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.120 when we get done, hopefully we'll have more than one option. 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.160 Which one are you going to pick? Yeah, exactly, Well, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.440 there are different types of vaccines and I've been trying 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.360 to kind of brush up on it. I'm not an expert, 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.320 but in terms of the creation of vaccines. Right, there's 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.000 different ways of doing it, and I do wonder are 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:17.240 certain vaccines potentially going to be safer than others. There 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.159 are different ways to go about doing this, and it's 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:24.359 really again astonishing the breath of approaches that we have 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.680 already that have emerged. When it comes to coronavirus. There 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.279 is some companies, there are some companies who are building 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.160 off standard models that we already have, like seasonal influenza, 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:38.440 and they're just using a different ingredient basically in their vaccine. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.919 So they're hoping to provoke an immune system response to 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.599 coronavirus instead of influenza. Does that make it safer Michelle 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.920 or not necessarily? Well, I think that there's two ways 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.040 to think about it. You have the platform, the way 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.800 that you're going about doing it. And so for influenza, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.799 it's been given to you know, hundreds of millions, maybe 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.880 billions of people over over decades and decades, right, so 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.320 the platform is a known platform. Then you're putting in 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.320 a different portion of the virus, you know, maybe the 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.359 spike protein or something else, and so it's possible that 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.760 the body would respond adversely to what you're putting into it. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.640 But the platform itself should be safe. Whether or not 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.640 it's going to be effective is unknown, But then they're 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.560 completely novel ways like what astra Zeneca is doing. It's 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.120 it's not currently used in any approved vaccine, same as Maderna. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.840 They their approach is totally novel and different from astro Zenicas. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.159 J and J is working on a similar thing, but 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.400 also some more conventional approaches. So there is a wide variety. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.480 There is a wide variety. So you are Google on 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.320 the virus. We could go to Google and you know, 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.479 look for things, or we could just bring you in, which, yeah, exactly, 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.360 which is much I feel like, much more helpful and 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.200 much more enjoyable for us, to be honest, lead the 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.000 googling to the chart of the day. Alright, Michelle Cortez, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.880 thank you so much, Health Science, Medical Technology reporter for Bloomberg. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.560 So great to catch up with her and Jason. No 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.480 data at it one of our go to voices when 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.640 it comes to the virus. Really understanding, as you say, 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.560 the tick and talk of the headlines that come across. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.120 And what I love about her is, you know, she 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.640 said to us, it's kind of been a surprise at 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.280 how quickly and smoothly everything has gone, and we need 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:19.440 to keep that in perspective, especially as we rush to 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.960 get a vaccine, and that there will be some delays, 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.279 and they're going to have to be some delays to 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.880 make sure that it's a really safe vaccine and effective vaccine. 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.400 That's right. We're settling into a long haul of sorts 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.760 with all of this. There has been this rush, but 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.560 it's not a magic bullet, and it's not a panacea 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.919 by any stretch of the imagination. It is part of 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.040 the jigsaw puzzle that we're all putting together in real time, 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.640 a three D puzzle in many ways. You're listening to 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.520 Bloomberg Business Week coming up. Another edition of Business Week 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:52.800 talks the conversation you had with the CEO of Chipotle. Yes, indeed, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:59.640 we're talking about Brian Nichol. This is Bloomberg. This is 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.159 Blue Verb Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.440 from Bloomberg Radio. Jason, it's a company synonymous with the 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.480 fast casual space. It's in fact credited for creating it 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.240 to Potle Mexican grill. It's a company that took off 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.040 like a rocket. It's stumbled for a couple of years 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.760 as it dealt with its own crisis and e coal 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.920 like crisis that was back in It led to a 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.680 series of C suite exits, attention from activist investors, and 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.640 a new CEO two and a half years ago. So 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.120 I caught up with the CEO to Potles, Brian Nicol. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.280 He is going to be featured in upcoming Business Week talks, 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.480 and in this segment of our in depth interview, we 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.800 talked about the impact of the pandemic. I think where 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.400 we are right now is in a state where I 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.640 think everybody understands what they need to be doing. Uh, 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.360 and so as a result, I think people are starting, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.160 you know, to demonstrate good behavior so that we all 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.960 contributing really containing the pandemic. We've been very fortunate in 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.080 our restaurants where our employees, I think we're doing a 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.200 lot of the right things. We've put a lot the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.960 right food safety practices and wellness practices in place, So 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:08.240 that's giving people confidence to you know, basically used to 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.320 pole as a meal solution. And then obviously our digital 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.080 business is giving people access for that off premise occasion 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.160 that is becoming really critical. Yeah, and I want to 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:17.720 talk about that because I feel like you are very 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.400 precient in terms of the investments you made and when 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.000 you came in about two and a half years ago. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.360 Focusing on that. Before we get to that, though, I 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.280 do want to ask you, are you preparing your company 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.560 your staff for a second round with the virus come 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.839 the fall and winter months, And I do wonder if 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.840 you're kind of taking precautions, are setting up, um, you know, 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.679 just in case. Yeah. Look, I think we definitely have 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.280 uncertainty in front of us, UM, and so really the 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.640 approach we're taking is we're following the recommendations of the 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.079 CDC and a lot of the local health departments around 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.040 making sure our employees are wearing masks, we're practicing the 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.400 social distancing. Uh. You know, no one works if they're 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:01.200 not feeling healthy. UM. And you know, obviously we continue 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:05.120 to be in a working remote environment, so we want 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.520 to take all the precautions we can to hopefully contain 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.960 the pandemic and get to the other side of this. UM. 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.200 You know, it would be a real disappointment if we 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:18.320 have a setback, and I'm really hopeful that if we 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.479 do all the right things as a company, as a community, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.640 we can avoid that setback. Do you think we'll get one? 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.880 You know, you know, honestly, I I really hope people 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.280 do the right things going forward so that we don't 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.000 you know, uh, I think the big recommendations out there, 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.120 you go get flu shots where your masks, practice social distance, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.360 avoid big crowds, and that's our best bed to avoid 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.680 a real you know, major flare up. But you know, 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.560 cold and flu season, more people are probably not gonna 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.360 feel great, and it's important people get tested. They understand 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.320 whether they have COVID or just a common cold or flu, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.880 and then they need to do the right things to 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.720 protect themselves, their family, their friends, and their communities. And 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.679 I think if people just take that simple approach, um, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.680 I think, you know, we'll get past this a lot 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.559 faster than uh not taking those safe safety precautions. So 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.680 how do you keep you know, your employees safe motivated 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:13.440 during these trying times? And we talk about you know, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.920 corporate culture. When you've got people at home and people 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.040 all over the place, how do you keep though your 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.880 workers who have to be at work in order to 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:22.880 get the job done. How do you keep a motivated 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.120 during these trying times? And I'm curious if you've made 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:30.760 any employee policy changes during the pandemic. Yeah. Look, Carol, 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.199 I think it's fortunately for us. We we've always been 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.520 focused on our purpose, which is around this idea of 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.280 cultivating a better world through food with integrity. And we've 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:45.000 got some clear cultural values, um, you know around basically 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.800 authenticity lives here, the movement is real um, you know, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.600 teach and taste Chipotle, and then the line is moment 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.080 of truth. And the reason why these values are really 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.840 important is we've used them to guide a lot of 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.880 our decisions. We believe our per this and our values 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.040 drive our culture. It's why people love to work at Chipotle. 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.240 And we've been consistent, I think in all our decision 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:11.040 making against our purpose and our values, and I think 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:12.920 it's given a lot of our employees a sense of 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.800 pride um. They love the fact that, you know, regardless 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.120 of how hard um the decision is, we want to 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.800 do the right thing for our communities, moving our purpose 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.600 board and obviously our employees. So you know, we were 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.800 fortunate we already had a lot of things in practice 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.680 from a wellness standpoint, and you know, paid sick leave 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:39.840 and uh, a lot of employee programs around healthcare, mental wellness. Um, 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.040 you know, I'm sorry mental health benefits that were available 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.840 for not just the employee but their families. So we're 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.120 trying to surround people with all the right things and 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.559 those have been even more important in these challenging times. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.319 And you know, we've dialed up our communication. I'll tell 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.840 you the other thing that has really been powerful is, UM, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.439 we have really worked our to communicate with every single 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.240 employee at Chipotle, all ninety plus thousand of them. UM. 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.880 You know, we're doing zooms and web calls and telephone calls. 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:12.800 I just want to keep them up to date with 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.880 the most um, you know, up to date information. And 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.400 the more they know, the more they can feel confident 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.160 that we're making the right decisions and they're working in 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.199 a safe environment. UM. I've had the pleasure of making 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.640 some day trips visiting restaurants, and I can tell you 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.640 it really gets you pumped up because our employees are 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.200 so grateful, UM, to be working and to be a 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.720 part of Chipotle and making a difference in their communities 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.959 and moving our company and culture forward. Well, and I'm 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.400 guessing you're visiting a lot more workers because you guys 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.800 have been on a significant hiring push back into Loe. 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.720 You talked about hiring about ten thousand workers, So how 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:53.840 has that push gone so far? Where are you in 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:58.199 that process? Yeah, it's been you know, we're very fortunate. 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.440 People have been really excited to uh join Chipotle, and 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:07.560 the applications have been, uh, you know, frankly, really exciting 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.160 to see did you get something like seven hundred? Didn't 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.719 you get something like seven hundred applications or something? It 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.640 was crazy. You know, I don't remember what the numbers, 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.040 but I wouldn't be surprised if that's close to right. Um, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.000 you know, because we have had you know, I saw 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.560 we just had a job for one of our digital 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.400 opportunities open up, and for just this one position, we 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.240 had well over you know, I think three or four 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.960 hundred applications, which is really amazing. Um. And you know, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:41.520 now you've times that out across ten thousand opportunities, from 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.000 you know, crew members all the way up to jobs 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.920 that are support centers. And we've been very fortunate to 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.280 attract really great people and we've been able to retain 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.440 really great people. So we're we're feeling really fortunate with 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.200 where we are, with the people we have and the 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.640 people that are drawn to to work at Chipotle and 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:00.600 apply and want to be a part of what we're doing. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.360 That's Brian Nichol, the c of Chipotle Mexican Grill. And 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.439 catch more of that Business Week Talks interview next week 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.199 in the magazine on the Bloomberg online at Bloomberg dot com. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.520 I mean, Jason, this is a company. They really have 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.320 just kind of changed how we eat out in a 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.560 casual way, and yet they understand crises like no other. 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.960 They absolutely do. And so the playbook, while it's different 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:27.480 for every crisis, that sort of attitude, that posture, it 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.520 certainly has to prepare you for the unexpected. Great great 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.840 interview more to come on that one. You're listening to 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.440 Bloomberg bu Week. Coming up, we hear from the intermitting 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.600 of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.240 University of Maryland talking about the dual pandemics right, the 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.840 health crisis as well as the problem with inequalities. This 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:55.360 is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.360 Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Carol, clearly we 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.320 live in a world of dueling crises. Who've got at 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.760 least two going on right now, and we never know 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.960 what's around the corner, and that is making it all 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.160 the more demanding for young business leaders and for those 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.160 who trained them. One of the folks tackling this is 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.080 Rito Agarwall. She is the interim Dean of the Robert H. 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.640 Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.360 also understands that business school students they need to be 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.560 around each other, and that came through loud and clear. 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.440 Check out our conversation. This has been such a wild 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.320 ride for the past six months, and there are so 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.840 many different things that I can talk about, but I 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.240 do want to sort of take you through the ACAPA experience. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.040 Let me start by what's it like inside the business 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.560 school today? Density is slow, but students are masked and 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.520 they have big smiles on their faces. From what I 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:52.760 can tell from behind their market they are just so 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.040 glad to be back. We'll talk to us a little bit, 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.440 to dnagar Wall about the adjustments that you guys have 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.200 had to make in order to you get students back 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.120 on campus. So let me just talk about, you know, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.600 sort of two pandemics that we've dealt with in the 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.040 last six months. Right the first one is of course 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.480 the public health crisis that is front and center and 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.520 everybody's mind. But there's also a second, more subtle one 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.520 that reveals itself at the end of May, and that's 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.400 you know, the national spotlight on the racial injustice and 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:26.640 systemic bias. So we've had to make adjustments to address 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.080 both of these pandemics. So I'll start by focusing on 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:34.520 the first, which has you know, of course, captured everybody's attention, 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:39.240 time and energy for six months. Now. Um, I want 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:44.080 your listeners to remember two words, unprecedented and pivot, because 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.760 that has really described our experience so far. So on 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:52.320 March eleven, you know, we all received an email and 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:54.800 a text on our cell phones telling us to go 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.480 home because the governor had just imposed the stay at 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:02.320 home model, and literally overnight, the campus emptied out. Both 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.200 campus and the city of College Park became ghost towns. 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.359 And luckily we were scheduled to go on screen break 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.000 the following week, and we delayed the started classes by 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.520 another week, and that allowed us to make the first 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.320 crucial pivot, you know, on a dime. We took five 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:24.080 courses and we moved them all to online delivery and 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.760 let me just say, Carol, anybody who thought can appreciate 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.000 the complexity of taking what was design is a face 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.760 to face course and moving it online in a matter 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.320 of a couple of weeks. You know, it's not just 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.359 simply getting onto a Zoom meeting and giving a lecture. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.240 There are so many nuances related to teaching. There are 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.000 so many different adjustments in pivots you have to make. 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.600 So we did that. That was fall, and then the 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.080 entire summer was spent in I want to say, hundreds, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:57.240 if not thousands of hours of meetings trying to figure 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.399 out what should be our strategy in the face of 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.639 a pandemic that nobody can predict, in the face of 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:08.960 a virus that's totally unpredictable, that's moving in whatever direction 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.200 it wants to, in the face of shifting public health 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:18.320 guidance on how institutions should be moving. So that's what 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:23.640 our summer look like. And when you think about Dnagar Wall, 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:29.439 the students, the interaction among students, the whole notion of 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:34.000 a business education is an extremely collaborative one. And granted, 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.000 we're all adjusting to that, and we all are adjusting 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.640 to to working on Zoom and Carol and I only 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:44.440 see each other over video conference at this point. Literally, UM, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.560 but what's missing and how do you make up for it? Uh? 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.320 If some, if even some of that interaction has to 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:56.680 be virtual, that's a great question, Jason, and one that 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.840 we've grappled with. UM. We have an Office of to 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:04.800 Informational Learning that has penagogical experts who can allow us 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.879 to recreate a few will not a hundred percent, but 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.440 pretty close to that off that rich face to face 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.000 interaction that you might have in an online setting. So 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.359 we've tried to do that in as many of our 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.040 classes as possible. But I don't want to make one 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.320 more point. One of the controversial decisions we made over 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:28.240 the summer, and for exactly the reasons that you outcline, Jason, 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.080 is we decided we're going to come back and fall 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:38.359 and have a hybrid quasi in person quasi online experience. 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.720 And that's three to Aggrawall. She's the interim Dean of 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.440 the Robbert Ahm School of Business at the University of Maryland. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.240 Interesting to talk with her. I have to say, Carol, 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.000 you know the nuts and bolts of getting back to business, 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.760 in this case business school. It is not easy. No 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.080 it's not easy, and especially as she talks about these 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:58.119 two pandemics that are facing our world right now, talking 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.280 about of course the virus, and then also talk about 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.360 diversity and inclusion. It's something the school has been focusing 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.320 on a lot. She says, they put a lot of 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:07.879 initiatives in place, but she said, we can kind of 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.720 do better, especially when it comes to attracting a more 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.280 diverse group of faculty, and so there are things that 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.320 can be you know, definitely improved upon. And I think 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:20.560 that point about the faculty is a really important one 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.239 that maybe we're not focusing as much on. And I 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.800 also was intrigued by what she said about the case studies, 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.359 what they are actually studying, the examples that they're using 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:33.000 to learn about business. You need to think about diversity, 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.560 inclusion and a wider swath when it comes to that. 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:37.639 That really stuck with me. Coming up, Jason, we've got 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.120 one of those potential case studies. We're talking about Don Peebles. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.639 He's the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Peoples Corporation. 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.000 He has been practicing diversity and inclusion at his own 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.840 firm for years and also helping others to do exactly 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.199 the same. Yeah, it's a smart conversation. I took a 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.439 lot away from this one as well. That's coming up. 0:20:55.480 --> 0:21:02.280 This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.119 Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. So, Carol, 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.440 diversity and inclusion in action in the real estate world. 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:11.320 What does it look like when you actually do this 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.399 day to day? That's the question we pose to Don Peoples. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.440 He's the founder, chairman, and CEO of the People's Corporation. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.359 That's right, Jason. It's a privately held national real estate 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.040 investment and development company. It's got a multibillion dollar portfolio 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.480 projects New York, Boston, Philly, Washington, d C, Miami, and 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:30.960 out on the West coast as well. He also served 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.280 on the National Finance Committee of President Barack Obama. He's 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.800 on the board of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.760 He's also the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.760 So he has seen the world from so many different perspectives. Initially, 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.560 though we talked about the short term impact from the pandemic. Well, 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.160