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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: All right, so here we are Bloomberg invest Downtown Manhattan.

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Speaker 2: You're back in the heart of the city. Man Melody Hobson.

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Speaker 2: She has quickly become one of the most influential people

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Speaker 2: across the sports world.

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Speaker 3: She's got a new fund.

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Speaker 4: There's no surprise to me that she now has entered

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Speaker 4: the world of sports, and she's building a world class team.

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Speaker 2: So Denver Broncos and the Denver NWSL team. She's in

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Speaker 2: League One volleyball Chicago White Sox. She's all in on

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Speaker 2: sports like we are. Let's go talk to Melody Hobson.

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Speaker 3: Let's do it cool.

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Speaker 2: All right, thanks everyone. I should point out I think

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Speaker 2: we're getting people post cocktails.

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Speaker 3: So let's let it rip. Okay, it's good time.

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Speaker 2: Well, welcome everyone to this very special edition of The

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Speaker 2: Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, featuring the incomparable

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Speaker 2: Melody Hodson. First of all, I should say you race

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Speaker 2: down town because you do so much for the Bloomberg Empire.

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Speaker 2: You're part of the Bloomberg philanthropy sports. So thank you

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Speaker 2: for your service and we're happy to have you here

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Speaker 2: in this platform as well.

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Speaker 5: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: One of the really fun things about prepping for this,

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Speaker 2: and this happens with a lot of our shows, is

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Speaker 2: one of us. Usually this guy knows the guests previously.

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Speaker 5: Yes, we know each other.

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Speaker 3: Tell us this story.

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Speaker 4: Well, it was really interesting. Hi, Melody and High it

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Speaker 4: was I don't know, maybe fifteen years ago. I was

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Speaker 4: still playing with the Yankees and we're playing the White

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Speaker 4: Sox and mutual friend introduced Melody and I and I

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Speaker 4: emailed her and I said, may I come see you

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Speaker 4: for an hour? Have an hour right before the game,

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Speaker 4: and I especially maybe be out of town or busy.

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Speaker 4: She's running a big firm, and she said, of course,

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Speaker 4: how's you know one o'clock on Friday. And I show

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Speaker 4: up to the meeting and as her and John Rogers

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Speaker 4: her partner, and I was just fascinated by this partnership.

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Speaker 4: And one of the key takeaways for me and I

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Speaker 4: still think about it today, is a your chemistry, your

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Speaker 4: mutual respect, your competitive advantage that you both have as

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Speaker 4: far as complimentary set of skills. What is it about

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Speaker 4: that relationship? And thank you for taking that meeting because

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Speaker 4: it really impacted me. What was it about this partnership

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Speaker 4: has worked so well for you and John.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's first of all start off there. Alex Rodriguez

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Speaker 1: calls you at a war and says, can I come

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Speaker 1: and see you?

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Speaker 5: Yes?

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Speaker 1: Right, everyone excited in the office, of course, and he

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Speaker 1: does show up and he's like, you know, the Adonis

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Speaker 1: there walks in is like, oh, nice to.

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Speaker 3: Meet you, Melanie. We don't need any live with this.

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Speaker 5: They were excited.

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Speaker 1: I was excited, but we ended up having this phenomenal

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Speaker 1: conversation about investing and the stock market and a whole

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Speaker 1: host of things, and of course he was very, very impressive.

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Speaker 5: So I'll stop there.

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Speaker 1: John Rogers started our firm, Aerial Investments, and we are

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Speaker 1: one of the oldest minority own firms in the country.

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Speaker 1: And he's one of the longest running stock pickers in

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Speaker 1: our category, which is small cap value. And he started

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Speaker 1: the firm, but it became mine along the way. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I have to tell you it's a unique thing in

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Speaker 1: terms of how much I loved it and how much

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Speaker 1: I loved working with him, and how much I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be there.

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Speaker 5: I've only had one job in my.

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Speaker 1: Entire life, which is at Ariel, and I've worked there

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Speaker 1: since I graduated from Princeton. And supposedly you have eleven

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Speaker 1: jobs in your lifetime, I've only had one. And I'm

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Speaker 1: the only person in my graduating class of eleven hundred

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Speaker 1: people who's had the same work phone number since I

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Speaker 1: graduated from college.

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Speaker 4: Wow.

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Speaker 5: So obviously I like it there. I'm very loyal.

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Speaker 1: But what I would say is that John and I

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Speaker 1: I knew very early on that he was extremely special,

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Speaker 1: that I had found a person who was going to

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Speaker 1: bring out the best in me without changing who I was,

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Speaker 1: and who was a sharer. He played team sports and

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Speaker 1: he shares. And so we are co leaders of a

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Speaker 1: real which is very rare. I don't understand why there

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Speaker 1: aren't more co CEOs, but we are co leaders, and

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Speaker 1: I think it works because we are complimentary and our

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Speaker 1: skills were very different. We have different parts of the

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Speaker 1: firm that we run. We are deferential to each other,

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Speaker 1: and yet at the same time we hold our ground

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Speaker 1: and last but not least, And it's a rare thing

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Speaker 1: to say in business.

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Speaker 5: We love each other. We really do.

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Speaker 1: He's like my brother. Jamie Diamond calls me his work wife.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, hmm, brother, But we do share you know

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Speaker 1: our lives are sort of back and forth. If he

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Speaker 1: asked me for something, it's a done deal, and if

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Speaker 1: I ask him for something. And even in our worst moments,

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Speaker 1: John said something to me once when we had a

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Speaker 1: tough conversation and kind of a fight. He was like, Melody,

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Speaker 1: remember one thing. I know you want the best for Ariel,

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Speaker 1: and you know I want the best for Ariel. If

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Speaker 1: we always remember that, we can solve whatever differences we have.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 5: Love that.

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Speaker 2: I always want the best for the deal too.

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Speaker 3: Okay, thank you.

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Speaker 2: So you mentioned something really interesting which gives us a

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Speaker 2: nice segue into a lot of what we want to

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Speaker 2: talk about, which is the team sport. Now, I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure anybody predicted that not only would you go into sports,

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Speaker 2: you would pretty quickly become one of the most influential investors,

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Speaker 2: like straight out of the gate in professional sports.

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Speaker 3: How did that happen?

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Speaker 5: A long and winding roads.

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Speaker 3: Okay, what I we're here for. We're here for the journey.

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Speaker 1: We've had investments in sports over the years. We've owned

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Speaker 1: Medicine Square Garden as it evolved into various versions of itself.

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Speaker 1: But that investment goes back to twenty eleven We bought

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Speaker 1: that stock during the basketball lockout when there was right

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Speaker 1: before Lynn Sanity, remember Jeremy Lynn. When they were doing

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Speaker 1: this retrofit of the garden. It was way over budget

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Speaker 1: and people were very skeptical of the name. And we're

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Speaker 1: value investors. John went and visited the garden and he said,

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Speaker 1: you can't rebuild this anywhere in New York. This is

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Speaker 1: a great investment and it ended up being a wonderful

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Speaker 1: investment for us. We own Manchester United, the European soccer team,

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Speaker 1: so we've been in the publicly traded sports area that

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Speaker 1: we think of.

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Speaker 5: A media a media business interesting.

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Speaker 1: And then personally I crept into sports so secretly, and

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Speaker 1: Alex knew this. I bought into the Chicago White Sox

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Speaker 1: years ago, but I swore all the owners to secrecy.

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Speaker 5: I said, you can never talk about it.

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Speaker 1: I told the commissioner because I didn't want anyone to

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Speaker 1: confuse it with Aeriel. And then John Rogers had been

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Speaker 1: a longtime owner of the Chicago Sky from two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five when they came to Chicago. And then for me,

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Speaker 1: the news around me in sports was when I bought

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Speaker 1: into the Broncos.

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Speaker 5: Why they're great businesses.

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Speaker 1: You realize the uniqueness of these assets and the value

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Speaker 1: that is being created in these businesses, and the fandom

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Speaker 1: and the sponsorships and the media rights. All of it

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Speaker 1: very quickly became clear to me.

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Speaker 5: Wow.

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Speaker 1: And I then realized and had someone say to me

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Speaker 1: about a year you're in fifteen months ago women's sports.

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Speaker 1: And I'd been doing a little bit in women's sports

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Speaker 1: as well, quietly WNBA investment and then also League One

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Speaker 1: volleyball and that on my own, just dabbling. And when

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Speaker 1: they said women's sports, I started to study women's sports

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Speaker 1: like an eleven year old studies baseball statistics, and I

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Speaker 1: got dangerous and seeing up arrows, up arrows, up arrows

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Speaker 1: on what was happening in attendance, in sponsorships, in media rights,

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Speaker 1: in girls playing starting at young ages. Everything was pointing

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Speaker 1: in the direction. Eight point four million kids in high

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Speaker 1: school play sports, forty one percent of them are girls now,

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Speaker 1: which most people don't realize.

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Speaker 5: How that gap is narrowed.

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Speaker 1: Affordability of women's sports very expensive to go to some

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Speaker 1: of the games that are out there, especially in the

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Speaker 1: big cities. The women's attendance and the women's games often

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Speaker 1: are more affordable for families, and it's unbelievable and an

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Speaker 1: unbelievable experience because the women are so talented. And then,

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Speaker 1: of course you saw this inflection point. You saw the

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Speaker 1: NCAA Finals last year with Caitlin Clark five million more

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Speaker 1: viewers for the women's finals than the men.

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Speaker 5: And then we've seen it in so many other areas.

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Speaker 1: Think about the Olympics and the big names, no disrespect,

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Speaker 1: lots of amazing athletes, but some of the women were

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Speaker 1: the biggest names.

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Speaker 5: And I just said, we're going to drill.

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Speaker 1: Down on this and ultimately saw a real opportunity and

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Speaker 1: I said, go big or go home.

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Speaker 5: Always let's do a big fund in this area.

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Speaker 4: I do have a follow up on that melody because

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Speaker 4: I've been studying you and John Rodgers for years and

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Speaker 4: you have your turtle, which means you guys are patient

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Speaker 4: and you're selective and when you see a big pitch,

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Speaker 4: you go for the fences. But you've made a lot

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Speaker 4: of money in your firm over the years and being

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Speaker 4: a contrarian, and I believe you've taken that from Warren

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Speaker 4: Buffett right in sports right now, you're not necessarily being

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Speaker 4: a contrarian, how do you apply that philosophy into sports

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Speaker 4: because there's so much capital flowing through it.

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Speaker 5: I love this question so much.

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Speaker 1: So, first of all, I talked about our early beginnings.

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Speaker 1: We're investing in undervalued, small and medium sized companies that

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Speaker 1: showed a strong potential for growth. That is women's sports.

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Speaker 1: I call it the small caps of sports. The most

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Speaker 1: valuable women's sports team today is worth two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty million dollars and that's Angel City.

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Speaker 5: That was bought by Bob Eiger and Willow Bay.

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Speaker 1: The most valuable men's sports team is the Dallas Cowboys

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Speaker 1: that's worth eleven billion dollars. There is a dramatic difference

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Speaker 1: between two hundred and fifty million dollars and eleven billion,

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Speaker 1: which is why I'm calling them the small caps small

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Speaker 1: caps because smaller companies tend to grow faster, and we

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Speaker 1: say the big guys it's going to be harder to

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Speaker 1: grow the way they've grown in the past. But the

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Speaker 1: women have a big trajectory of growth in front of them.

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Speaker 5: So this is where value meets growth.

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Speaker 2: And so the first big deal that you do, I believe,

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Speaker 2: is expansion in the NWSL. The Denver team, a market

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Speaker 2: obviously you're familiar with, walk us through that deal. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we've interviewed several NWSL owners, including in Chestin over the

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Speaker 2: at BFC. We both know will Obey very well and

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Speaker 2: her investment thesis and Bob's on Angel City. What was

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Speaker 2: the case here because those expansion fees, while yes, on

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Speaker 2: a dollar per dollar basis low, those expansion fees have

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Speaker 2: grown very fast. I mean, we've seen it over the years.

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Speaker 2: So walk us through that case.

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Speaker 5: Okay.

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Speaker 1: So this came to us in a very unusual way.

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Speaker 1: So after the Broncos deal, a lot of people have

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Speaker 1: just come to me on sports just personally thinking, you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe you would look at this. Lots of teams, lots

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Speaker 1: of opportunities. So I'm giving a speech in Florida at

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Speaker 1: a conference. Two people come up to me. At the

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Speaker 1: end of the speech. We have not announced what we're

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Speaker 1: doing in sports, and we just have this skunkworks group

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Speaker 1: working on this sid side of aerial.

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Speaker 5: We hadn't even told our firm.

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Speaker 1: So there were only two or three of us working

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Speaker 1: at maybe three working on this.

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Speaker 5: So two people came up to me.

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Speaker 1: One said, I'm trying to do a WNBA expansion team

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Speaker 1: and the other said I'm working on an NWSL soccer team.

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Speaker 5: It was just fortuitous because I.

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Speaker 1: Knew what we were working on, right. I followed up

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Speaker 1: with both of them and Denver. We started to do

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Speaker 1: the research.

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Speaker 5: On Denver.

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Speaker 1: We looked at, first of all, the market, and we

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Speaker 1: looked at the demographics of the market, which seemed to

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Speaker 1: be very, very favorable to women, think outdoor. We also

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Speaker 1: looked at the socioeconomic you know, the average income in

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Speaker 1: the city that was favorable to season ticket sales. We

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Speaker 1: learned of the locations of a potential stadium. We did

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Speaker 1: a lot of work on why do we need a stadium,

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Speaker 1: why wouldn't we And then we saw the stadium made sense.

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Speaker 1: We got excited about stadium rights. So I always knew

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Speaker 1: stadium rights made the ownership more valuable because of the

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Speaker 1: other events and the like, and so there was a

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Speaker 1: lot there that was just adding up. And then we

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Speaker 1: said we need to come and big and they were

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Speaker 1: willing to move the cap table around for us, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately I will say we saw the lead investor, Rob Cohen,

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Speaker 1: and thought, this is a good guy. He's been able

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Speaker 1: to demonstrate success in the building of his own business.

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Speaker 1: And we just when we did the work on the opportunity.

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Speaker 1: We said, the math looks good, and I always say

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Speaker 1: math has no opinion. You follow the math. Now, just

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Speaker 1: to give you a sense of why we think we're right,

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Speaker 1: in three days of publicly announcing, we sold five two

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Speaker 1: hundred season tickets. Now since then that number has gone

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Speaker 1: up a lot more, and I have to tell you

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Speaker 1: that was way past our best case scenarios in even

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Speaker 1: our own modeling. We also are launching a team with

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Speaker 1: sponsorships in hand. There are a number of things that

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Speaker 1: we're doing that just are were unprecedented. Why were we

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Speaker 1: okay with the expansion fee which has gone up. We're turtles.

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Speaker 1: We're thinking long term. As I've gone out to people,

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Speaker 1: I said, my strong belief is you want to own

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Speaker 1: these teams in a decade or two, they will be

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Speaker 1: very valuable businesses. The other reason that we were comfortable

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Speaker 1: we were the sixteenth team to expand, I call it

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Speaker 1: sweet sixteen. We looked at the expansion fee and realized

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Speaker 1: the owners of the teams share the future expansion fees,

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Speaker 1: so that puts a floor on even your valuation. If

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Speaker 1: you think out how those teams will expand over time,

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Speaker 1: then you get the upside from the media rights and

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Speaker 1: things like that. And even though the media rights they

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Speaker 1: will be renegotiated soon, they don't get locked into the

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Speaker 1: same kind of ten year contracts that other sports do

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Speaker 1: because many of the women's leagues have been able to

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Speaker 1: negotiate deals where they can reopen negotiations with viewership milestones.

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Speaker 2: So you're in soccer when it comes to this fund

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Speaker 2: Where else are you looking? Is this slee team stakes?

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Speaker 2: Is that the ecosystem? Like, what's the what what sort

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Speaker 2: of the window of the three buckets?

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Speaker 1: We start off with major League Sports, so owning teams.

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Speaker 1: Then we've you know, obviously accomplished that first with Denver,

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Speaker 1: and we're looking in other areas. We'd like to also

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Speaker 1: be in Europe, by the way, not just in America.

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Speaker 1: The next bucket we have is we call it emerging

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Speaker 1: leagues and junior sports.

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Speaker 2: Okay, the junior sports.

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Speaker 1: Is a powerful business because of the you know, the

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Speaker 1: number of young people and the family's commitments to sports

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Speaker 1: is huge, huge. And then the last areas we see

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Speaker 1: is related or ancillary businesses that benefit or grow through

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Speaker 1: the growth of women's sports.

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Speaker 4: Aerial is one of the top tier firms in the

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Speaker 4: country around the world. Right, and John and you are

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Speaker 4: both world class investors. But if I'm an institution and

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Speaker 4: I'm coming to Area and saying, Okay, what do you

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Speaker 4: guys know about sports? One? I know you're building a

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Speaker 4: world class team, but how do you source deals? And

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Speaker 4: are you confident that you can get enough deals for

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Speaker 4: area and for your investors?

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Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I have to tell you what

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Speaker 1: we're saying right now, is Jason Wright, who's running this

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Speaker 1: for us, who's a super strang, huge superstar. Everyone's asking me,

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Speaker 1: how did you get Jason? Jason, if he were here,

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Speaker 1: he would tell you the fish are jumping in the boat.

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Speaker 1: Sourcing deals is not our problem. One of the reasons

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Speaker 1: that I think we have a distinct advantage is that

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Speaker 1: the leagues want gender and racial diversity and ownership.

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Speaker 5: Notwithstanding the mood of.

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Speaker 1: Some of the conversation that is going on in our country,

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Speaker 1: if you're starting women's teams and leagues, it would be

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Speaker 1: great to have some women and people of color involved,

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Speaker 1: And I think they see that that's a priority.

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Speaker 5: It's really important.

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Speaker 1: And then to be able to go in with the

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Speaker 1: resources and at scale, I think is very very helpful.

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Speaker 1: And I think they see a couple of things with us,

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Speaker 1: which is different if you're starting a team from scratch

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Speaker 1: like Denver Jason Ran the Commanders has that experience. We

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Speaker 1: bring operating expertise to the conversation where you don't have

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Speaker 1: to learn trial by error. So everything from recruiting the leadership,

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Speaker 1: it's this recruiter and it's this person at this firm.

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Speaker 1: That's the way the conversation goes, as opposed to there

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Speaker 1: are five firms in front of us, what should we do?

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Speaker 5: Or you're building a stadium and you've Jason has had

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Speaker 5: that experience.

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Speaker 1: So this operational excellence is highly valued and that I

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Speaker 1: think is that is being sought after. I also think

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Speaker 1: our brand and reputation is helping people to come to

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Speaker 1: us where they say they have access to lots of people,

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Speaker 1: relationships that might mean sponsorships, that might be a whole

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Speaker 1: host of things that we can lean into and help

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Speaker 1: in the growth because it will be in our best interest.

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Speaker 2: And so let's talk about Jason Wright for a second.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is a name, just to give the

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Speaker 2: audience who doesn't know who he is, a little bit

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Speaker 2: of backstory played in the NFL seven years worked at McKenzie.

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Speaker 5: Partner youngest partner at mackenzie.

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Speaker 3: Exactly, then goes to run the Washington Commanders.

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Speaker 1: No slouch, first black president of an NFL team in

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Speaker 1: one hundred and five years, right, And.

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Speaker 4: If you can run the Commanders in that era, are

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Speaker 4: you doing something.

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Speaker 2: You can There's there's nothing that can surprissfully?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, very successfully.

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Speaker 2: So what are the conversations? How do you get to him?

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Speaker 2: How does he get to you? Like, how does that

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Speaker 2: come together?

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Speaker 1: Okay, He's on a panel at a conference that I'm

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Speaker 1: hosting and we have presidents and CEOs of teams Set Marshall,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Warren.

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Speaker 2: Dallas, Maverick, Chicago Bears like these are.

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Speaker 1: So and Jason is there and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: I am listening to him and I am I've been

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Speaker 1: working on this project. It's September, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: I got to get to him. So I go up

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Speaker 1: to him at just an event like this, and I said,

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Speaker 1: I need to spend time with you. And he's looking

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Speaker 1: me like I have three heads and I'm very aggressive

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Speaker 1: at it.

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Speaker 3: And by the next.

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Speaker 1: Week we are meeting in New York and I said,

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Speaker 1: I have this idea and I know you are very

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Speaker 1: much in demand, and I had heard he was leaving

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Speaker 1: that was public, and I said, I think we're going

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Speaker 1: to do something that is literally a game changer, and

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Speaker 1: I think you would be great working with us. And

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Speaker 1: so we spent a little bit of time going back

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Speaker 1: and forth, not a lot.

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Speaker 5: Actually, you'd be shocked.

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Speaker 1: And within a few weeks he hadn't totally committed, but

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Speaker 1: I kept tossing him things.

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Speaker 5: I'm like, what do you think about this? What do

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Speaker 5: you think about this?

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Speaker 2: So he just was working.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure how Josh here feel, but occasionally I'm like,

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Speaker 1: look at this, what do you think? And within just

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Speaker 1: a very short amount of time, he signed on. And

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Speaker 1: I told him, I said, I can't tell you how

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Speaker 1: committed I am to this, and I can't tell you

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Speaker 1: how hard I'm going to work. You're going to You're

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Speaker 1: going to look through and find the best opportunities, and

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Speaker 1: I will find the money. That is the deal that

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Speaker 1: we have. So I'm our chief cheerleader and fundraiser. I

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Speaker 1: like that, and he's our quarterback.

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Speaker 4: So mentally, one of the things that our audience has

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Speaker 4: probably not been able to see a pitch. I recently

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Speaker 4: had a drink with Rob Walton, your partner, and he's

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Speaker 4: thrilled to have you. Obviously you make a great partnership

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Speaker 4: by the Denver Broncos. I'm sorry, Denver Broncers. My question

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Speaker 4: is what was it about the pitch when you heard

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Speaker 4: it that you said, I must Was it the p

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Speaker 4: and L was forecast? Yes, the Broncos? Was it the forecast?

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Speaker 5: Was the growing math on again?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Tell us a little bit about what got you excited.

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Speaker 1: The initial call came through and it said, would you

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Speaker 1: ever consider investing in the Broncos?

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Speaker 5: Honest answer, I said no. I said no.

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Speaker 1: I was like, why no, I'm not going to do that,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm so busy and no. And then my

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Speaker 1: friend Kasey Wasserman and Jeffrey Katzenberg cornered me at a

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Speaker 1: breakfast and sat down at a table because both were

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Speaker 1: very close to Greg Penner, who I knew very well.

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Speaker 1: We run a board together, and they said, Melody, you're

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Speaker 1: actually you are the person to do this. And so

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm sitting there and I'm being very open

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, maybe I don't see something, and it wasn't.

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Speaker 1: The no wasn't out of but this is a bad idea,

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Speaker 1: the no was out of capacity and a whole host

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Speaker 1: of things. And Casey got me and he's like, Melody,

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Speaker 1: you know how you feel about financial literacy. What if

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Speaker 1: you have like this model for a team on financial literacy.

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Speaker 1: And he's like, it's been your mission And I was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's good.

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Speaker 5: So that became the hook. I was like, wow, that

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Speaker 5: would be so great.

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Speaker 3: And wait, explain that how the idea.

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Speaker 1: That the athletes could be helped and that there could

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Speaker 1: be a conversation about a financial literacy in a different way.

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Speaker 5: That was something that was really really appealing to me.

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Speaker 1: And then we started to do the work on the

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Speaker 1: opportunity and the financial aspects of it, and I saw

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Speaker 1: how compelling it was. Now at the time, the Waltons

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Speaker 1: made it clear, sorry, Penner Walton's we're buying the team.

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Speaker 5: I mean they were like, we're buying the team, and

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Speaker 5: it was like, no.

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Speaker 3: Matter what, and they kind of cleared the debt right.

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Speaker 5: Like the team.

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Speaker 1: So you know, you're sitting, you know, writing sidecar with

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Speaker 1: someone who's like, we're buying the team.

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Speaker 5: And you're like, okay, we're buying.

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Speaker 1: And first of all, I knew Greg and I knew

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Speaker 1: how talented he was, and I knew Carrie.

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Speaker 5: I'd gotten a no Carrie.

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Speaker 1: I met Rob first over Zoom and this is such

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Speaker 1: a great story. So Rob and I in the phone,

439
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 1: and you know, they have to like me and I

440
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: have to like them because this is real money and

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Speaker 1: we're in business together and and hopefully it'll be a

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Speaker 1: multi generational asset. I'm on the phone with Rob and

443
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 1: I said, you know, Rob, he explaining to me how

444
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,959
Speaker 1: much he loves cars, and I was like, my husband

445
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,880
Speaker 1: loves cars, and you know, he loves cars more than anything.

446
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,240
Speaker 1: And he said, you know he has this Rob's talking

447
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 1: about his car collection and I said, oh, my husband's

448
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,360
Speaker 1: favorite car is this bird cage Maserati.

449
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,600
Speaker 5: And he was like, I have two of them.

450
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 3: Quick flex.

451
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 6: So George I go to.

452
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 1: I say, George, Rob Walton has two bird Cage Maseratis

453
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,679
Speaker 1: and George is like, well they throw one in with

454
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:42,959
Speaker 1: the investment.

455
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 2: That would be that would be a never before seen

456
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 2: you know, little sweetener for a deal.

457
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,199
Speaker 1: We had so much in common, and that also I

458
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 1: felt like I was working with people of high integrity,

459
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: which was really important to me. You don't spend your

460
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 1: whole life building your reputation and your brand to go

461
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,600
Speaker 1: down the drain because of an affiliation. And that affiliation,

462
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 1: I was like, these are best in class business people, philanthropists.

463
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,919
Speaker 1: They are low key, you know, extremely low key, and

464
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 1: as a result of that, it fit. And I said

465
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: to them, and I wasn't joking. I said, you know,

466
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: we don't need Super Bowl tickets.

467
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 5: This isn't why we're doing this. We're doing this.

468
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: You know, I'm going to be an investor and I'm

469
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 1: excited to do this. And we have our ownership meetings

470
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 1: with Lewis who I brought in.

471
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 3: With us, Lewis Hamilton.

472
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,240
Speaker 5: Yes, Lewis is like a little brother.

473
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,479
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, you should consider bringing Lewis,

474
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,119
Speaker 1: and you know, considering the number of followers that he

475
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,400
Speaker 1: has and he loves sports and.

476
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 5: He's global sporting legends.

477
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: And then Condy Rice obviously is a legend in a

478
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: different way as the first black woman Secretary of State,

479
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 1: a football nuts, her.

480
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 5: Father was a coach.

481
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 1: You know, there was so much there that you glued

482
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,320
Speaker 1: us all together. And it's been just it succeeded my

483
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 1: expectations and financially it's been a great investment.

484
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 2: I'm glad you mentioned Lewis because, first of all, and

485
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 2: I hope I have this right. I read something a

486
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,159
Speaker 2: couple of years ago about how you were one of

487
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,679
Speaker 2: the first calls that he made or he took after

488
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:29,120
Speaker 2: that fateful race and Abu Dhabi. You and I say this,

489
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 2: You know, sitting alongside this guy, you have had access

490
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:41,919
Speaker 2: and relationships with some of the most interesting and influential

491
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 2: athletes in the world.

492
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 3: What have you learned from them?

493
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 5: So, first of all, it wasn't a call. We were

494
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:46,959
Speaker 5: in Abu Dha.

495
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:47,680
Speaker 3: Oh you were there.

496
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: So this was a debate George and I had back

497
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: and forth. Lewis and I are very very close, and

498
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 1: I met him in his rookie season and we really

499
00:25:57,640 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: He calls me sis, and I call him sir little brother,

500
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: and so literally even in our emails, sir little brother,

501
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:06,679
Speaker 1: he calls me, says, we.

502
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 5: Debated going to Abu Dabi. It's the last race. It's

503
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 5: they're tied, remember.

504
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 2: Exactly, Lewis and Max Vers, they're tied.

505
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 1: It's you know, this is the potential eighth championship never

506
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,879
Speaker 1: been done before. The seventh was Lewis's tide with Michael

507
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,159
Speaker 1: Schumacher and George's like, I'm.

508
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 5: Like, should we go or should we not go?

509
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: He's like, there's nothing worse than your family showing up

510
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:29,879
Speaker 1: when you have to work.

511
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 5: No, we should not go. I hate that idea.

512
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 1: And I was like, maybe we should go, And so

513
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 1: we came up with a decision that we would go,

514
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:39,920
Speaker 1: but not.

515
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 5: Tell him that we were there.

516
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 3: Oh wow.

517
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 1: And so the reason that I wanted to go is,

518
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,640
Speaker 1: I said, it's not if he wins, it's if he loses.

519
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 1: I said, we're only going that we're going in case

520
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 1: he loses, but we're not telling him we were there.

521
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 1: So the team put us in a special spot. He

522
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 1: never knew we were there the whole weekend, and it

523
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,360
Speaker 1: was only when he lost that we thought he had won.

524
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,680
Speaker 5: Remember it's the last half of the last lap.

525
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:12,120
Speaker 1: We're like, you know, and he loses, and we go

526
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: to his room, you know, and he's devastated as you

527
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 1: would be, and doesn't quite understand what has happened. It

528
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 1: was a very important moment because that was when he

529
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: went and shook Max's hand. And George had this famous

530
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,879
Speaker 1: quote that I've told people where he said heroes are

531
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 1: bigger than champions. He's like Lewis went to hero status

532
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,199
Speaker 1: in that moment, because that is hard for anyone to

533
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 1: do with that level of disappointment. And what I've learned

534
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,400
Speaker 1: from Lewis, who I tell him all the time, I'm

535
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,880
Speaker 1: so fortunate that I have these good guys in my life,

536
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,479
Speaker 1: like John Rogers and Louis George. When I tell Louis,

537
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,360
Speaker 1: I say, you are my mind's friend. When I am

538
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: really struggling, I conjure up Lewis. And what I say

539
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:07,399
Speaker 1: about Louis, he never ever ever gives up ever, and

540
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: he has taught me things where he hits me right

541
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: between the eye with his lesson, one of which he

542
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: came and spent some time with us. We were in

543
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: the Caribbean and he said, you know, Melody, let's go

544
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 1: jet Skang. And I said I can't. I can't go

545
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: jet Skang. And he looks at me and he said,

546
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,479
Speaker 1: I've been here for three days and you've said can't

547
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 1: four times.

548
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:31,359
Speaker 5: He said, you choose not to. Wow, And He's like,

549
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,920
Speaker 5: can't is not a word you use. You choose not to.

550
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 5: He said, your.

551
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: Language is very important, Melody, and you have a young child.

552
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: You choose not to. So I looked at him, and

553
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: I said, well, I choose not to you. But it

554
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: was a moment. And then the second thing he taught me,

555
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: he said, I only talked. He only speaks positively to

556
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: himself in his head, and that was something that's a

557
00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: hard thing to do. He's like, melody, only speaks positive

558
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 1: to yourself and your head. Never give up, you don't use, can't,

559
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 1: and you only speak positively. So in the worst of moments,

560
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: he believes anything as possible. And you've never seen the

561
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 1: discipline ever. I mean, this discipline is insane. And that

562
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: discipline is where it's like four in the morning and

563
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: I'm getting up to run and I'm like, I don't

564
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: want to do it, I want to stop.

565
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 5: I'm like Lewis would get up.

566
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 4: We give us an example of his discipline.

567
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 1: Lewis's discipline I mean from every morsel of food that

568
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: goes into his mouth. But not in a way that

569
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: like it's about him. It's just something I have noticed.

570
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: I know it from being with him, how specific he

571
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: is about everything, certainly his workouts, his intensity around things

572
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: that he do. Like play a game with him, you

573
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 1: know he's going to kill you. But the discipline of

574
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: just there is no settling and there are no excuses ever.

575
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,480
Speaker 1: You know, it's like if he lands at a really

576
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 1: late hour, you are shocked that he is running at

577
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: five am and he's you know, and you're like, well,

578
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 1: how many how long did you go?

579
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 5: Oh?

580
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: I went nine miles And you're like, you know, you've

581
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,720
Speaker 1: had three hours of sleep or whatever it is. And

582
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: so he's, you know, just he's so he has to

583
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: because he has to be in such good.

584
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 5: Form to win.

585
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 1: So in starting with Ferrari this season, he's like, sis,

586
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 1: I want to be in the best shape of my life.

587
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 1: So he's been running all these mountains in Colorado, I

588
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 1: mean hard, hard, and he's just you know, he's committed

589
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: to being his best self.

590
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean it's interesting too.

591
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,479
Speaker 2: Just sticking with Lewis and that sport for a second,

592
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 2: it must be such an interesting window for you, not

593
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 2: just into him as an athlete, but into watching that

594
00:30:55,560 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 2: sporting business just explode as a me America. In America,

595
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 2: it obviously was a global sport. It is really like

596
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 2: leveled up because of what in America. Change everything in

597
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 2: America when you look at something like that, what needs

598
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 2: to happen in women's sports, Well, I.

599
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 5: Think that's part of it, the media piece.

600
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: But what Drive to Survive did, which was so brilliant,

601
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: It personalized all the athletes, and once people got to

602
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: know them, they loved them. I mean they already loved

603
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 1: baseball players, and but the America especially didn't know those athletes,

604
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 1: and they went deep on the personalities and the experience

605
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: and for a sport that is far away, middle of

606
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: the night, all of those things they bonded the audience.

607
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: And I think that is coming for women's sports in

608
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 1: a big way.

609
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 5: Besides the fact.

610
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: That the women are excellent in social media and so

611
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: they can curry that kind of influence and use that

612
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 1: to the benefit of the sport in a very different way.

613
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 5: It's coming and you can just see it.

614
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 3: I mean you've seen that with the Link.

615
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 2: I mean, the Links are an incredible brand, in part

616
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 2: because the players are so engaged and they're really good

617
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 2: to I mean, you know they were in the final

618
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 2: there really are.

619
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 4: I mean we've won four titles, we almost won a fifth.

620
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 4: We lost to the Liberty here in New York. But

621
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 4: everything Melody is saying is exactly right. They're more engaged

622
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 4: in social media. We have a huge following.

623
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 1: And you can see the interest in the athletes, the

624
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: waiting at the locker room, right, you know, the outfits,

625
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 1: the whole thing. The personalities have come through, and I

626
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: think that they were always there, but they've broken through

627
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 1: with the media interest in a different way in the

628
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: last few years, and that votes very, very well for

629
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: all of the sports.

630
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 4: I do have a question if you don't mind how

631
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 4: transition to place you sit on the show. You sit

632
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 4: on many boards, you know, JP, Morgan, Star, others. I

633
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 4: love the story how you always sit next to Howard Schultz,

634
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 4: who's one of my favorites, and you thought that made

635
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 4: you a better investor. But what makes you or what

636
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 4: makes anybody in the room a good director?

637
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 5: They ask questions.

638
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 1: I feel very strongly about that great directors and I

639
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 1: worked really hard on this. I always say I want

640
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 1: to go to every board meeting with two original questions,

641
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: not rhetorical original, and the questions lead to hopefully breakthrough ideas.

642
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 1: In a boardroom, making statements puts people on the defensive,

643
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 1: especially if they feel somehow you're you know, finger wagging

644
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: or suggesting you know better. You're dropping in maybe four

645
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: or five times a year, and the people there are

646
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: there every single day, so there's nothing worse than they

647
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: know it all. And I remember sach an Adella who

648
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: said on the Starbucks board saying he wanted to be

649
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,520
Speaker 1: a learned at all. So the learn it all asks

650
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 1: a question. You don't presume that you know better and

651
00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: then asking the question. Oftentimes, first of all, it's not

652
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 1: the first question that matters.

653
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 5: It's the follow up.

654
00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 1: I always say it's the secondary, intertiary questions that come

655
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: from that first question. I think it leads to breakthroughs

656
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: in boardrooms. And I've worked with the boardrooms i've been in.

657
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 1: The people are extremely collegial, and the teams that are

658
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: the management teams certainly want to win.

659
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,240
Speaker 4: So I have a secondary question, you have a tertiary.

660
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 4: The secondary question is and I love this because I

661
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 4: was never the best student, but I always tried really hard,

662
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:34,840
Speaker 4: and I always thought about how do you hack the system?

663
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,960
Speaker 4: While you do your homework, you stay in the front row.

664
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 4: I mean, when you don't have it, you have to

665
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,880
Speaker 4: kind of figure it out. My question to you is

666
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 4: why was it so important to sit next to Howard?

667
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:45,360
Speaker 4: And what lessons did you learn from that?

668
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 1: Yes, I've told this story that I've been on the

669
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:50,040
Speaker 1: board for twenty years.

670
00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 3: And what are twenty years for?

671
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:51,399
Speaker 2: That?

672
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: I know, right, it's unbelievable, the stock performance, everything, even

673
00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 1: with the bumps along the way, tremendous lesson, great lessons

674
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 1: in both vision and humility. Really amazing, amazing, amazing experience

675
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: where I learned so much. But one of the things

676
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,080
Speaker 1: I did from the very first board meeting is I

677
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 1: sat to Howard's right in a boardroom.

678
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,880
Speaker 5: Where everyone changes seats all the time. I made it like,

679
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,839
Speaker 5: you know at home, you have your chair.

680
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: Sure, well that was my chair, even though the board members,

681
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: the other board members sat in different seats. So there's

682
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 1: a funny story. Mary Dylan joined our board. She was

683
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 1: running Alta at the time now she runs Footlocker. Great

684
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 1: great person. Her first board.

685
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,320
Speaker 5: Meeting, I walk into the boardroom, She's in my chair.

686
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 3: Oh boy, oh.

687
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,480
Speaker 1: And I'm like, and I know Mary from Chicago, Like,

688
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: she's in my chair. And so I literally took a chair.

689
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 1: I put it next to Howard and I said, everyone

690
00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:52,320
Speaker 1: moved down. Now. Everyone said like why Because one of

691
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 1: the things about sitting next to him that I wanted

692
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: to absorb was what did he react to in a

693
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,720
Speaker 1: board meeting, and so if someone spoke and said something,

694
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 1: I would note like why is he writing now? Like

695
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,799
Speaker 1: what was said that he thought was important? Or how

696
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: was he sort of running the meeting? And I literally

697
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: felt the closer I could sit to him, the more

698
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 1: I could learn. And it sounds a little creepy, but

699
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,200
Speaker 1: I don't. I really For twenty years I sat in

700
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: the same seat. Everyone else sat in a different seat. Now,

701
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: Howard never knew that until I was giving a speech

702
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 1: introducing him and I said out loud, I said, you know,

703
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: I've sat next to him in this board meeting every

704
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:32,360
Speaker 1: single quarter.

705
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 5: And he suddenly looked at me and he was.

706
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 1: Like, I said, I wanted to be next to the power,

707
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 1: and I wanted to be next to the vision, and

708
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 1: I wanted to learn from it in every conceivable way.

709
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 5: That I could.

710
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 4: Wow, that is awesome.

711
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 2: You know you said something a little while ago about

712
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,359
Speaker 2: Jason Wright, and you know that sort of he had

713
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 2: a lot of opportunities, I would imagine, and the Broncos

714
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 2: story that he told is an interesting example of this too.

715
00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 3: A lot comes your way.

716
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 2: You've been incredibly successful as an investor, as a director,

717
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,319
Speaker 2: as an executive.

718
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 3: When do you say no a lot.

719
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,360
Speaker 1: I've had to get better at that, Okay, Warren Buffett,

720
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,319
Speaker 1: we idolize. I know you are very close to him,

721
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: and we're Warren Buffett disciples at Ariel and I remember

722
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 1: once reading a story where he talked about what real

723
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 1: wealth is and he said, real wealth is a blank calendar.

724
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:24,080
Speaker 3: Whoa.

725
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 1: And then my husband, I think some people know I

726
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 1: married Yoda's dad. My husband, Yoda's dad, George does not

727
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 1: take meetings, and any meeting that he wants, it's on

728
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:40,720
Speaker 1: his terms. He doesn't and he's like, you fly around

729
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 1: the world, You're doing all this stuff. Why do you

730
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: do that? It's so foreign to him. And he was

731
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: the one who taught me, like, the most valuable thing

732
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: you have is time.

733
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 5: That is the most valuable thing.

734
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: And he has a thing on his desk that says

735
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 1: an ounce of gold.

736
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 5: Won't buy a minute of time. You know it, just it.

737
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 1: You know, time is the most valuable thing. I think

738
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 1: people I've come to believe people overvalue money and undervalue time.

739
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,880
Speaker 1: And so as a result of that, while there are

740
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: tremendous opportunities that have come to me. And remember I

741
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: grew up with nothing, nothing, youngest of six evicted, phone

742
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,839
Speaker 1: could disconnected, lights turned off. I mean, everything you can

743
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 1: imagine happened to me as a child, and that probably

744
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: led to the hunger and drive that I have in

745
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 1: a major, major way. So I wouldn't be me if

746
00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:34,720
Speaker 1: the bad things hadn't happened. But one of the things

747
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,399
Speaker 1: about that is I don't take any of these opportunities

748
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: for granted. I have never been one of these people

749
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 1: with swagger. I really I am. I have sat in

750
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: a Starbucks board meeting for twenty years and still felt

751
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,919
Speaker 1: such gratitude to be there. Not that I didn't belong there,

752
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:57,319
Speaker 1: that's a different thing, but such appreciation for the opportunity

753
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,319
Speaker 1: that I was given. And I think when it goes

754
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: to saying no, then I know how much I lean

755
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,680
Speaker 1: into things. And because I am an all or nothing

756
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,759
Speaker 1: kind of person, as I said earlier, go big or

757
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:14,560
Speaker 1: go home, I can't say yes to everything because I

758
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,280
Speaker 1: can't do it that way. You know in the spinal

759
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: tap they have that line the dial goes to eleven.

760
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 1: I kind of live at eleven, and so if you

761
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,560
Speaker 1: live at eleven, you could burn yourself out really badly

762
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 1: and really fast if you don't control so I had

763
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 1: to learn no. And I love this quote. If you

764
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,839
Speaker 1: can't decide, the answer is no. Anything I keep pondering,

765
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's no. If I can't make it should

766
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,879
Speaker 1: be an instant decision or I know in my heart

767
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be doing it.

768
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:47,480
Speaker 4: So, Melie, you mentioned Warren Buffett, I've been such an

769
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:52,800
Speaker 4: enormous beneficiary of great mentorship and friends. My father wasn't around.

770
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,720
Speaker 4: He left us when I was ten, left my siblings.

771
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,720
Speaker 4: Similar story too. As I resonate with your story as

772
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 4: being evicted and food stamps and all of that, and

773
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 4: I think it's helped me with my grit and my

774
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:06,520
Speaker 4: determination threw my ups and downs. You mentioned in an

775
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 4: interview that I saw a while ago about one of

776
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 4: your mentors, Bill Bradley, the NBA Hall of Famer, and

777
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:14,120
Speaker 4: he mentioned to you as tough advice. I thought it

778
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 4: was real advice is you don't want to be a

779
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,879
Speaker 4: ball hog. Can you explain to our audience what that

780
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,239
Speaker 4: means and why he said that?

781
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:23,640
Speaker 1: Yes, so Bill is very important to me. He's really

782
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: become a surrogate father. He walked me down the aisle

783
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 1: when I got married. There's that's a whole another story.

784
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,000
Speaker 1: I met him when I was seventeen years old and

785
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: trying to decide between going to Princeton and Harvard, and

786
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: because of Bill, I went to Princeton. Wow, and how

787
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,400
Speaker 1: he took an interest in me. And John Rogers went

788
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,759
Speaker 1: to Princeton as well, of course, And I've graduated from

789
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:48,280
Speaker 1: college and I would go and visit Bill at his office.

790
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 1: And I'm in his office one day and he says,

791
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 1: you know, Melody, if you're not careful, you're going to

792
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 1: be a ballhog. And it's just like he just says

793
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: this to me straight. And I remember sitting there and

794
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 1: I'm maybe twenty three years old, and I'm saying to

795
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 1: myself in my head, don't cry, because I wanted to cry.

796
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:10,239
Speaker 1: And I was like, if you cry, he's never going

797
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,520
Speaker 1: to say anything about like this to you again. Don't cry.

798
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 1: So I'm telling myself not to cry. I'm trying to

799
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: be very curious. I'm having a conversation in my head

800
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: saying he loves you, do not be offended.

801
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:24,359
Speaker 5: What is he trying to tell you?

802
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 1: And he says, you know, you could suck the oxygen

803
00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 1: out of a room if you're not careful, And I

804
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,920
Speaker 1: was like okay, He's like, and so we want to,

805
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:35,600
Speaker 1: you know, you want to think about how you can

806
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 1: you be a you know, whole and thoughtful person. I said, well,

807
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 1: how do I do that? He says, I don't know,

808
00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,520
Speaker 1: So he just throws it back at me. And so

809
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there thinking, what is he seeing me? Why

810
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:51,440
Speaker 1: is he saying this? You know that corner of thing.

811
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: I know he loves me, what is he thinking? So

812
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 1: I get to the street, falling.

813
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 5: On the street crying. Don't cry yet, No, I don't

814
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 5: cry in front of him.

815
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 1: I've cried in front of him plenty of times, but

816
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: not in that one. Go down to the bottom of

817
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,360
Speaker 1: the street, I'm crying, and I'm like, okay, what is

818
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:09,040
Speaker 1: he telling me?

819
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 5: And what could I do to not be what he's

820
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:14,960
Speaker 5: saying I could be?

821
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: And so I decided at that moment that I would always,

822
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,920
Speaker 1: in every encounter take an interest in the other person first,

823
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 1: to take all of the energy off of myself. So

824
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:29,880
Speaker 1: if you have spent any time with me, and you have,

825
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: I will ask you so many questions about your two.

826
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 5: Girls, or about your life.

827
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: Or anything like that, so I can invest in the

828
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,399
Speaker 1: other in person and they don't feel that I am

829
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,880
Speaker 1: sucking up the oxygen in the room. People appreciate you

830
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:47,880
Speaker 1: taking an interest in them. So it is it is authentic.

831
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 1: It is not some tactic and is not a manipulation.

832
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 1: For me, I learned so much from I mean, it

833
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: could be the person who picks me up in the lobby,

834
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:57,080
Speaker 1: going to someone's office.

835
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 5: How long have you worked here? Where do you live?

836
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 5: Out of school?

837
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 1: Where did you go? I mean lots of things like that.

838
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 1: People really do like you taking an interest in them,

839
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:10,279
Speaker 1: and you learn stuff. And so that pushing me in

840
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: that moment really changed how I show up for people,

841
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: and it led to my whole belief about asking questions

842
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: instead of making statements.

843
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:34,320
Speaker 2: All right, so we're going to end up by asking

844
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,759
Speaker 2: you some questions rapid fire, so we'll bounce it back

845
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:38,320
Speaker 2: and forth.

846
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:40,760
Speaker 3: What's one word to describe your deal making.

847
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:43,400
Speaker 5: Stuff long term?

848
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,280
Speaker 3: What's more important? Your gut or data?

849
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 5: Gut?

850
00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 3: Who's your dream deal making partner?

851
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 5: Jason?

852
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:52,040
Speaker 4: Jason? Who?

853
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 1: Right?

854
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:55,040
Speaker 3: We have?

855
00:43:59,040 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 5: He said deal?

856
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,439
Speaker 3: I mean maybe i'd made deal.

857
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,200
Speaker 5: The besting is John on tops of public Companies?

858
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 3: Okay, melody.

859
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,400
Speaker 4: Question number four, What is the best piece of advice

860
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 4: you've ever received? On deal making or business.

861
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 1: Don't ever make an important decision based upon money.

862
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:17,920
Speaker 2: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?

863
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:20,240
Speaker 5: Make yourself seen or heard.

864
00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:22,359
Speaker 4: There's a good one. You're ready for this one. What's

865
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 4: your hype song before a big meeting or negotiation?

866
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:26,280
Speaker 5: I will survive.

867
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,120
Speaker 2: What's the most important trait you look for in a

868
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:31,840
Speaker 2: board member?

869
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,400
Speaker 5: Ethics, smarts and.

870
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,480
Speaker 1: Team player? Timplayer They can get along with the other

871
00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:40,360
Speaker 1: people in the room.

872
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 4: You can only watch one sport for the rest of

873
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:44,040
Speaker 4: your life. Which one is it?

874
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 5: F one?

875
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 2: Whoa Okay, that's the first time we've gotten that.

876
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay.

877
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 2: What team do you want to see win a championship

878
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 2: more than any mine? Whichever one that may be. Because

879
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:58,799
Speaker 2: now you've got a few.

880
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 5: This has been incre Thank you for having me a.

881
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:05,640
Speaker 3: Thank you.

882
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 6: The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.

883
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 6: The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly.

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Speaker 6: This show was produced by Anna Mazarakis, Lizzie Phillip, and

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Speaker 6: Stacey Wong. Original music and engineering by Blake Maples. David E.

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Speaker 6: Ravella is our managing editor. Our executive producers are Jason Kelly,

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Speaker 6: Brendan Francis Newnham, Jordan Opplinger, Trey Shallowhorn, Andrew Barden, Kelly Leferrier,

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Speaker 6: and Ashley Hoenig. Sage Bauman is our head of Podcasts.

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Speaker 6: Special thanks to Rachel Carnivali, Elena Los Angeles, Nick Silva,

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Speaker 6: Adrian Descano, Stephen Craig, Mark Dawson, Jennifer Yelverton, Micah Rondo,

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Speaker 6: Stephen Fossberg, Patrick Karn's, Billy Church and Blackhouse. Rubob Shakir

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Speaker 6: is our creative director. Art direction is from Jacqueline Kessler.

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Speaker 6: Joshua Devaux is our director of photography. Camera Operation by

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Speaker 6: Crystal Jefferson and Holly Fisher. Listen to The Deal on

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Speaker 6: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You

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Speaker 6: can also tune into the Video Companion on Bloomberg Originals

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Speaker 6: and on Bloomberg TV. Thanks for listening.