Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast bringing you an in
Speaker 1: depth interview you will not hear anywhere else. And this
Speaker 1: week it's all about my panel at the Power Players
Speaker 1: Summit in Miami. This was just ahead of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It was called Tackling Sustainability through Sports, and we looked
Speaker 1: at different communities, different individuals. Al Guido, president of the
Speaker 1: San Francisco forty Niners. Cynthia Marshall, the CEO of Dallas
Speaker 1: Mavericks and kirktown Are the CEO of PepsiCo Beverages North America.
Speaker 1: They came at sustainability from different perspectives. It ended up
Speaker 1: being just a really rich and smart conversation. Let's start
Speaker 1: with you, all right, San Francisco. You have this amazing stadium.
Speaker 1: I mean you even have a dashboard I believe when
Speaker 1: you go there where fans can check out how green
Speaker 1: you are. Tell us about this stadium. Why you guys
Speaker 1: did it well? I think, first of all, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me here. It's an exciting weekend for us. Oh
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I did this to him on the
Speaker 1: planning called like, all right, what are we gonna talk about?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and congratulations on being in the big game,
Speaker 1: that that game on Sunday. Yes, are you relaxed? I'm
Speaker 1: it's I'm a little getting a little anxious as the
Speaker 1: day's going. Nowadays are a little long, but it's been
Speaker 1: a fun week so far. Who do you think is
Speaker 1: gonna win? I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Um. Look,
Speaker 1: I think for us being in the Bay Area, it's
Speaker 1: sort of it was a staple that we wanted to
Speaker 1: be green, we wanted to be sustainable. It came down
Speaker 1: it was an edict from our ownership group, Jed York.
Speaker 1: We wanted to be the first stadium that was ever
Speaker 1: built lead gold. There's been a number of stadiums that
Speaker 1: have opened and then became lead gold, but it was
Speaker 1: important for us to do so, and a lot of
Speaker 1: things went into it. Some of it is the location
Speaker 1: in the stadium and where where we picked it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: all of us in the sports business have this challenge
Speaker 1: of have seventy people come down to a stadium, So
Speaker 1: how do you actually do that? How do you reduce
Speaker 1: the carbon footprint? The number of cars. Well, build a
Speaker 1: stadium next to two forms of public transit, get fifteen
Speaker 1: to eight percent of your people using those publican forms
Speaker 1: of transit on game day. It's very fair. It was
Speaker 1: great for us. The second we really wanted to be
Speaker 1: you know, it was ambitious, but we wanted our game
Speaker 1: days to be powered by the sun. So we partner
Speaker 1: with NRG and sun Power. We have over eighteen hundred
Speaker 1: fold of voltaic panels in our building. We use that
Speaker 1: stored energy and we literally power Sunday via the sun,
Speaker 1: and then there's a number of other things in the
Speaker 1: recycled water. On top of our stadium. We actually have
Speaker 1: a twenty thousand square foot green roof where we actually
Speaker 1: use those products. Um inside of our concession stands from
Speaker 1: our cooking perspective, but at the very highest levels, I
Speaker 1: would say it starts with ownership. It starts with leadership.
Speaker 1: It was important for our organization to really put a
Speaker 1: flat in the ground and make this an important thing
Speaker 1: for us, and I think a lot of the other
Speaker 1: stadiums that that came on board after us followed sit there.
Speaker 1: I want you to come into it because speaking of sustainability,
Speaker 1: you were brought into a situation of the Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 1: that wasn't sustainable. So talk to us. First of all,
Speaker 1: I think everybody's probably heard the story. Mark Cuban, I
Speaker 1: think calls you, right and you're like, who is this?
Speaker 1: I didn't know him. You didn't know who he was,
Speaker 1: all right, not me either, So it's okay. But you're
Speaker 1: a smart lady, and you get up to speed and
Speaker 1: you find out and you go to meet with him,
Speaker 1: but you don't think you're going to take the job
Speaker 1: to work with the Dallas Mavericks. Tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about what was going through your head and what
Speaker 1: you knew of the problem. Right, Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I had just retired from a T n T. Your retirement, right,
Speaker 1: So I just retired started consulting company and it was
Speaker 1: a consulting company focused on leadership development, diversity and inclusion,
Speaker 1: cultural transformation. And so that I get this call and
Speaker 1: I want to talk to him, And on my way
Speaker 1: over to us off this, I read the Sports Illustrated
Speaker 1: story and that's when I thought, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I want to do this. I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna want to be a part of this.
Speaker 1: But obviously. The person who I talked to was so
Speaker 1: focused on a culture transformation, and Mark says, I need
Speaker 1: you to come in. We have some issues here. I
Speaker 1: need you to come in and help us. And as
Speaker 1: I was leaving his office, two women stopped me to
Speaker 1: tell me their stories. I came back the next day
Speaker 1: and said, I gotta do this. I just have to
Speaker 1: do this, because what I have learned is it takes leadership,
Speaker 1: and you talked about that and the tone has to
Speaker 1: be said at the top. So here's an opportunity to
Speaker 1: come in be a part of something truly that would
Speaker 1: be sustainable, to create a culture and a climate of
Speaker 1: diversity and inclusion. Not just diversity because there's a difference,
Speaker 1: but true inclusion, a sense of belonging. Are really having
Speaker 1: people wanting to be a part of it, really appreciating people.
Speaker 1: And so I got a chance to do it. I
Speaker 1: said yes. And it's been twenty three months and the
Speaker 1: NBA just gave us the Inclusion Leadership Award for the progress.
Speaker 1: The work is not done, but we've made a lot
Speaker 1: of progress. That's like congratulations. And I have to say
Speaker 1: I've been quoting you because you say there's diversity and
Speaker 1: Inclusion diversity being asked to the party. Being invited to
Speaker 1: the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. So you
Speaker 1: can invite me to the party and have me ask
Speaker 1: the only black at the table, the only woman at
Speaker 1: the table, and your numbers look good and I look good,
Speaker 1: and we think we've done something great. But then I
Speaker 1: don't feel included because you haven't taught me the rules.
Speaker 1: You haven't taught me the dance steps. Everybody's doing something,
Speaker 1: all the fellas are doing it, but I don't know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. And so inclusion is about teaching me
Speaker 1: those moves and making sure that I can be successful
Speaker 1: at that table. And I want to get let's go.
Speaker 1: I would love that comes on in on this because,
Speaker 1: as you you know, in our prepping for call, you
Speaker 1: reminded us Indra Nuie talked about performance with purpose. She
Speaker 1: did that back and I think two thousand six, and
Speaker 1: I feel like now everybody talks about people profit planet right,
Speaker 1: It's become very common. When she did it, I think
Speaker 1: people were like, well, what are you talking about? This
Speaker 1: has been income you go to you go to the
Speaker 1: PepsiCo website, It's ingrained in your culture. Talk to us
Speaker 1: about sustainability at PepsiCo, and I mean it goes all
Speaker 1: the way up absolutely. Um injur started with performance with
Speaker 1: purpose and we've built on that with winning with purpose.
Speaker 1: And I would say sustainability is center plate. It's as
Speaker 1: bording as profit, revenue, share volume. Sustainability is right a
Speaker 1: part of it. We talk about our business and faster, stronger,
Speaker 1: and better and under better. We are attacking the sustainability opportunity.
Speaker 1: Of course, plastics is a big opportunity for us. We
Speaker 1: are working incredibly hard. We're leveraging our partnerships with the
Speaker 1: NFL and the NBA to drive awareness education because we
Speaker 1: do believe every plastic bottle can come back as another
Speaker 1: plastic bottle if it's recycled, and that's our mission. Our
Speaker 1: mission is really to reduce our recycler virgin plastic, to recycle,
Speaker 1: inspire consumers to recycle. And then the third one is
Speaker 1: to reinvent, and that's things like our soda stream acquisition
Speaker 1: is things that are outside the bottle. So we think
Speaker 1: we can. We have to win across all those platforms well.
Speaker 1: And I do think about we asked this that the
Speaker 1: athletes who are on stage about their responsibility about you know,
Speaker 1: having incredible platforms and to be you know, social agents
Speaker 1: have change. And I do wonder how you folks see, Cynthia,
Speaker 1: I want to go back to you for a moment.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Me Too movement certainly got it all
Speaker 1: out front and center. Tell me about the culture though,
Speaker 1: that you walked into at the Mavericks, because from what
Speaker 1: I understand, I think you said to me, people were saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: don't worry, don't worry about her. It's just gonna be
Speaker 1: god a ninety day. It's just about optics. That's a
Speaker 1: culture that's tough to change, all right. That's a culture
Speaker 1: that says we don't want to change. It's been like
Speaker 1: this for twenty years. Uh. It's a place that, uh
Speaker 1: is not as friendly to women that you know, like
Speaker 1: you wanted to be. And so change is difficult. But
Speaker 1: I got a mandate. Mark Cuban gave me a mandate
Speaker 1: to change the culture. He was serious about it. He
Speaker 1: wanted a different culture. And we brought in a leadership team.
Speaker 1: And our team now is fifty women. Our leadership team
Speaker 1: from zero women and percent people of color. So we
Speaker 1: have a diverse leadership team around the table and we're
Speaker 1: all on the same page. We put a set of
Speaker 1: values in place, the spells, crafts, character, respect, authenticity, fairness, teamwork,
Speaker 1: and safety, both physical and emotional safety. And what I
Speaker 1: told the team is that these wouldn't just be on
Speaker 1: the walls, these words, but they would operate in the halls.
Speaker 1: Everything we do, every decision we make, every higher we make,
Speaker 1: everything will be about the set of values and this culture.
Speaker 1: And I got all the backing in the world from Mark,
Speaker 1: and we're doing it. We're doing it well. And I'll
Speaker 1: come on in on it because I do think you know,
Speaker 1: it's got to start from the top. I mean there's
Speaker 1: you can greenwash something and say hey, yeah, we should
Speaker 1: be doing this, and then there's actually doing it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys, when you set out doing a stadium, was
Speaker 1: there any pushback? I mean, you're in San Francisco, so
Speaker 1: I feel like that's an environment where if you're gonna
Speaker 1: do a stadium like you did, it's perfect. But tell
Speaker 1: me about ten years ago when you started talking about it,
Speaker 1: We're some people like, oh, we really need to do that.
Speaker 1: On the stadium front, yeah, I mean in California that
Speaker 1: we were the first new stadium built in fifty years,
Speaker 1: so not an easy place to get things done sometimes. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think from our perspective, it's a privately financed building,
Speaker 1: which was important to the ownership group, right. We wanted
Speaker 1: to get back into the community. And I think this
Speaker 1: topic is fantastic in the current world we're in in sports,
Speaker 1: and what this lady has done down there, I don't
Speaker 1: it's it can't be. It's understated up here. Frankly, it's
Speaker 1: a complete turnaround and we're really proud from our organization.
Speaker 1: The two teams playing the Super Bowl this weekend are
Speaker 1: run by females. Denista Barnalow York all right, again, the
Speaker 1: two teams playing in the Super Bowl are owned and
Speaker 1: run by females who talk about, yeah, we're We're unbelievably proud.
Speaker 1: We have the first female coach coaching in the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday with Katie Sours. We have three minority coordinators
Speaker 1: that work for the San Francisco forty Niners. Our front
Speaker 1: office is highly diverse and so it is unbelievably important.
Speaker 1: You know, our goal this weekend is obviously to win
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. We talk about our why. Our why
Speaker 1: is to go a step further for someone so they
Speaker 1: feel part of our family, and that reverberates around every decision.
Speaker 1: It is the lens in which we look through when
Speaker 1: we make hiring decisions, when we make business decisions, whether
Speaker 1: it's on the field or off the field. And I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of it's not just about what these guys
Speaker 1: do or what these people do on Thursdays and Sundays
Speaker 1: and Mondays. It is about what they do in the
Speaker 1: community after fact. And I think the greatest thing about
Speaker 1: the today's current athlete is they They're more than what
Speaker 1: they portray on the court or the ice or the field,
Speaker 1: and things matter to them and when you ask them
Speaker 1: to get involved in something, it has to be a
Speaker 1: passion project for them for it to really matter. But
Speaker 1: when it is, the difference it makes in our communities
Speaker 1: and across the globe, I mean, it's staggering. And so
Speaker 1: we have a tremendous group of individuals inside of our
Speaker 1: our team. We have a great group of players that
Speaker 1: are really outspoken on a lot of these topics, and frankly,
Speaker 1: we encourage it. We think this debate is healthy and
Speaker 1: uh where it's it's nice to be on a platform
Speaker 1: like the Super Bowl to be talking not just about
Speaker 1: the game itself, but all of these other tremendous or
Speaker 1: important issues. Well, Kirk, come on in on this, because
Speaker 1: all right, I think a PepsiCo one of the great
Speaker 1: global brands that are out there, and you do have
Speaker 1: a partnership with the NFL, you partner with a lot
Speaker 1: of different sports franchises. We are, I think in a
Speaker 1: very critical juncture where these athletes, team owners, leagues can
Speaker 1: really help push the needle in some really important issues.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that in terms of a
Speaker 1: corporate perspective when you're thinking about sponsorships. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's critical and I think in today's world, you want
Speaker 1: to surround yourself with partners that have this high performance
Speaker 1: mentality and all high performance only comes from diversity and inclusion,
Speaker 1: and I think this vision of purpose, So it's it's
Speaker 1: much more we talked about it before. It isn't just
Speaker 1: about the bottom line or the top line. It is
Speaker 1: about the longevity of the partnerships you want to create,
Speaker 1: and that comes down to sustainability and having a high
Speaker 1: performance culture. That's that's who you surround yourself with. I
Speaker 1: think PepsiCo does a really good job surrounding themselves with
Speaker 1: partners that have the same passion to do things the
Speaker 1: right way. I think that's really important to us. Well,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I know at PepsiCo and I want to
Speaker 1: bring you into the end, but you guys, it's I
Speaker 1: think about you go back a few years and it
Speaker 1: was like if you created a sustainability office, it was
Speaker 1: in the back room, and I don't know what those
Speaker 1: guys are doing. They're getting paper cups, you can recycle.
Speaker 1: It's not that way anymore. And it's not that way
Speaker 1: I know a PepsiCo right, the CEO is involved, C
Speaker 1: suites involved. Absolutely. We have a senior leader in Simon Loudon,
Speaker 1: one of our top executives these over sustainability. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: a part of our KPI. So we have our performance
Speaker 1: metrics every year across from top down and we have
Speaker 1: specific thick goals against this that are as important as
Speaker 1: our financial performance. It is top to bottom or bottom
Speaker 1: to top. Everybody in the organization believes in it. I'll
Speaker 1: say one more thing. If you want to attract talent
Speaker 1: into your organization, so if you're attracting that person graduating
Speaker 1: from college and you don't have a sustainability agenda, and
Speaker 1: are passionate about it and make it real. They won't
Speaker 1: come to work for you. Is that safer, plain and simple.
Speaker 1: They'll find someplace that will, you know, meet that need.
Speaker 1: And it's focused on sustainability. And I just want to
Speaker 1: jump in and say that's one thing that I truly
Speaker 1: love about our players. We start our preseason with a
Speaker 1: day of service. We figured we can serve. We can
Speaker 1: start by serving each other, then we can serve our fans,
Speaker 1: we can serve others, and we go out into the
Speaker 1: community and they are so passionate about it. And even
Speaker 1: when something happens, like when you look at what jj
Speaker 1: Barea did when we had the crisis in Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: they step up immediately. When we get new players, the
Speaker 1: first thing they want to know about is what are
Speaker 1: you doing in the community or what are you focused on?
Speaker 1: Here's our personal passion. Can you help us with that?
Speaker 1: So they are champions on and off the court. We
Speaker 1: put together a community impact report last year and we
Speaker 1: use the NBA's tagline, this is why we play because
Speaker 1: they will tell you, The players will tell you in
Speaker 1: our leadership will all tell you, Yes, we play for
Speaker 1: the fans, and we play for what's on the court,
Speaker 1: but we play a lot for what's off the court,
Speaker 1: what truly is happening in the community. And to your point,
Speaker 1: when we get new employees, they want to know what
Speaker 1: are we truly about that is happening in the community.
Speaker 1: What are the passion points? What kind of issues will
Speaker 1: we take a stand on. That's how you attract talent,
Speaker 1: That's how you attract good players, That's how you keep them.
Speaker 1: Are we doing enough though? Because we think about diversity, right,
Speaker 1: you don't even have to finish. No, no, there is
Speaker 1: more to do. There's clearly more to do. You can
Speaker 1: look around this room. There is more to do. So
Speaker 1: all right, So I want to get to you guys,
Speaker 1: So what more can we do? Having you have to
Speaker 1: make some drastic changes? At the mast of all, I
Speaker 1: think we have to really understand and appreciate and digest
Speaker 1: the business case for diversity and inclusion. And you gave it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a financial impact to have you a
Speaker 1: diverse group of people that are included two and since no, no, no, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: But I've been we've been talking about those studies right
Speaker 1: for how long? In terms of diversity, the importance of
Speaker 1: a diverse board or diverse executive suite. How important is
Speaker 1: to financial performance if you have to do it though? Okay,
Speaker 1: but you have to do it. We turned around our
Speaker 1: leadership team in the makeup of it in ninety days.
Speaker 1: Talking is one thing, but you you don't just talk
Speaker 1: about it. You have to be about it and you
Speaker 1: have to make it happen if you want to change, Kirk,
Speaker 1: what do you think about that? Yeah? I agree. I
Speaker 1: think actions speak louder than words UM, and I think
Speaker 1: that for a company like PepsiCo, we're serving the community,
Speaker 1: We're trying to engage consumers, We're trying to win consumers
Speaker 1: over and if you don't reflect the consumers that you're
Speaker 1: trying to serve, you have no chance. So if you
Speaker 1: don't have the diversity and inclusion, you won't create the
Speaker 1: right brands, you won't develop the right products, and you
Speaker 1: won't be able to talk to consumers. So it's this
Speaker 1: full circle that returns. And I believe that diversity and
Speaker 1: inclusion is a direct impact on financial performance. UM to
Speaker 1: go faster, I think it's all about holding each other
Speaker 1: accountable for it UM and keep raising the bar so
Speaker 1: we'll make an achievement. But you have to keep raising
Speaker 1: the bar because it's a journey. We're not there and
Speaker 1: there's a long way to go, but I think you
Speaker 1: gotta keep you know, moving and pushing the target forward.
Speaker 1: The answer is no, um, But I'd say in our
Speaker 1: world in sports entertainment, I would say it's gotten a
Speaker 1: lot better. Um, But we're not where we need to
Speaker 1: be yet. This fast hiring season in the NFL, you
Speaker 1: know did not uh, you know, we did not wind
Speaker 1: up with the minority head coach outside of Ron Rivera
Speaker 1: that got hired with the Washington Redskins. And so I
Speaker 1: think what Art Rooney did years ago in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And I was at uh function the other night, the
Speaker 1: French Polity Alliance where Promurate who works for us, won
Speaker 1: an award. We need at the NFL and across our
Speaker 1: entities on certainly on the business side, we need to
Speaker 1: put in place policies that lead to change. Right if
Speaker 1: we continue to just say, hey, you know, bring a
Speaker 1: diverse state of candidates, but let that same hiring manager higher,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be human bias in that. And so at
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine is what we've done, is
Speaker 1: we've instituted the Rooney rule across our entire organization, because
Speaker 1: what we said is why should it just be coaches,
Speaker 1: Why shouldn't it be executives as well? And we need
Speaker 1: a diverse candidate for every open position. Every position we have,
Speaker 1: we post and everything whole time we bring in a
Speaker 1: diverse slate of candidates, and we interview across business verticals.
Speaker 1: So even if that person is interviewing for a job
Speaker 1: on the G and A side, folks in the sales
Speaker 1: and marketing department will make sure they interview and then
Speaker 1: we'll grade that person on a scale across five or
Speaker 1: six or seven people, because we think it's the best
Speaker 1: way to take an overall look at a candidate as
Speaker 1: opposed to just letting the hiring manager dictate who are
Speaker 1: who they may want to hire. And I think sometimes
Speaker 1: that hiring manager they don't really know it until they
Speaker 1: get outside perspective around what that person can mean to
Speaker 1: their organization or their business line and how it may change.
Speaker 1: And I think Kirk said it so well, it's how
Speaker 1: you view yourself a little bit. If we were just
Speaker 1: to view ourselves as an NFL football team, my answer
Speaker 1: might be different. But we're an NFL football team, and
Speaker 1: we're a sports entertainment property and where a fabric out
Speaker 1: of our community, and we have fans across all different spectrums.
Speaker 1: That was out president of the San Francisco forty nine,
Speaker 1: or Cynthia Marshall, CEO of Dallas Mavericks, and Kirk Tanner,
Speaker 1: the CEO of PepsiCo Beverages North America. And you've been
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week Extra be sort of tune
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Speaker 1: and I'm Jason Kelly. This is Bloomberg