Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. Hi, I'm
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. Welcome to the weekend
Speaker 1: edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Over the next couple of hours,
Speaker 1: we're gonna bring you some of the most important and
Speaker 1: informative coronavirus conversations that we had this week on our
Speaker 1: daily radio show. And Jason, for many of us, I
Speaker 1: was counting, it's either week four or five or more
Speaker 1: potentially of sheltering in place, meeting, working from home alone
Speaker 1: or with our entire family, a disruption of our normal
Speaker 1: way of life as we figure out a new normal.
Speaker 1: And we saw that playing out politically in the business
Speaker 1: world and certainly in the financial markets. Well, and it
Speaker 1: does feel like I'm so glad you brought that up,
Speaker 1: because it feels like it is creeping into every conversation
Speaker 1: right like the novelty has worn off. Everybody has settled
Speaker 1: into some sort of routine as best they can, and
Speaker 1: now the question becomes, where do we go from here?
Speaker 1: We pose that question to a lot of different folks, CEOs, investors,
Speaker 1: how they're handling it and maybe what they see around
Speaker 1: the corner. As we start to see some glimmer of hopes.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about who we talked to. One of the
Speaker 1: folks that we talked to was someone who runs a
Speaker 1: small business. It's publicly held, but I bet it's very
Speaker 1: familiar to a lot of folks in our audience. It's
Speaker 1: the Party City. And we talked with the CEO, Brad Weston,
Speaker 1: on how his business. I gotta say they are struggling
Speaker 1: big time. They're also adapting and trying to reach more
Speaker 1: of their consumer base who are used to kind of
Speaker 1: going into their stores now online. We also talked with
Speaker 1: someone who has a number of different fascinating windows into this.
Speaker 1: We're talking about Sue Decker. She's the former president of Yahoo.
Speaker 1: That's probably how you know her name. But she's got
Speaker 1: a newer company. It's called Rafter. They work in the
Speaker 1: higher education space. But also keep in mind she's on
Speaker 1: the board of Berkshire Hathaway and the board of Costco.
Speaker 1: What was great about her, she's at the intersection, as
Speaker 1: you said, of so much as a result of her
Speaker 1: background and her past positions and her current positions. And
Speaker 1: she also gave us a little bit of optimism about
Speaker 1: the future. So looking forward to uh hearing more of
Speaker 1: what she had to say, also the founder of Tom's Shoes.
Speaker 1: This whole one for one never more important than it
Speaker 1: is now. First up, though, let's go inside the magazine.
Speaker 1: This week, we spoke with Business Week editor Joel Webber
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg Market's own Mike Reagan. There's not really a
Speaker 1: textbook definition to say, Okay, this is what a bull
Speaker 1: market or a bear market is. But the sort of
Speaker 1: rule of thumb that everyone uses is obviously, once you
Speaker 1: drop from a peak, you're in a bear market. But
Speaker 1: a lot of people think that if a bull market
Speaker 1: can then be defined as a gain from that low.
Speaker 1: So we have seen that, we've seen the SMP up
Speaker 1: more than from it's it's low in more on March.
Speaker 1: The problem is that the worst bear markets in history
Speaker 1: are famous for having episodes where the market rebounds significantly
Speaker 1: more than say, it happened during the financial crisis at
Speaker 1: the end of two thousand and eight and in the
Speaker 1: early two thousand nine, but ultimately the low as yet
Speaker 1: to come. Um Historically, if you look how long it
Speaker 1: takes for the SMP to find that bottom, to find
Speaker 1: that low point in a bear market, it usually takes
Speaker 1: a long time. Something like three hundred and seventy trading
Speaker 1: days on average, recording some numbers trunched by my colleague
Speaker 1: Cameron Christ. So obviously there's a lot of disparity in that. UM.
Speaker 1: Look at say the crash of nineteen nine, the bottom
Speaker 1: wasn't uh found until ninety two UM. In the two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight nine example, you know, the market peaked
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, that the low wasn't found
Speaker 1: until two thousand and nine UM. And if you go
Speaker 1: all the way back to seven, that was the shortest
Speaker 1: time it took to reach a low. It was something
Speaker 1: like seventy four trading days. So if you look at
Speaker 1: this episode, that low we reached in March was only
Speaker 1: about twenty three days after the last record in the
Speaker 1: sp So historically it would just be unprecedented to see
Speaker 1: that low reached in such a short amount of time. Alright,
Speaker 1: So Joel Weber also with this editor of the magazine,
Speaker 1: and we are reminded so often that the markets are
Speaker 1: not uh the economy. How did you approach this story?
Speaker 1: I think the backdrop for everything for a lot of
Speaker 1: people here is obviously the unemployment numbers. But you know,
Speaker 1: here in the middle of all this obviously, the markets
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what to make of it, and
Speaker 1: the numbers that Mike um has in this story, you're
Speaker 1: just staggering to you know, go from this like highest
Speaker 1: high to lowest low and just like a matter of
Speaker 1: days really, um. And and I what I see when
Speaker 1: I look at it all is the markets trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what it all means. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: it really wants it to be over the other thing.
Speaker 1: And I think we're seeing that even today. Um, it's
Speaker 1: just desperately wanting to like get around the corner. And
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure that that, you know. And that's
Speaker 1: part of what Mike has in the story is like
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure. Um, you know that's gonna be. Um,
Speaker 1: what we what we get to loose through? Because the
Speaker 1: other thing that's happening here, obviously is that traders know
Speaker 1: you do not fight the Fed. Yeah, and that's where
Speaker 1: you know, as much as I just cited a bunch
Speaker 1: of historical precedents, it's very difficult in this current situation
Speaker 1: to really go back and compare to anything in history
Speaker 1: because it's so unique, it's so unlike anything we've seen
Speaker 1: in history. Um. And the response from the Federal Reserve
Speaker 1: and the government that quick massive, do whatever it takes.
Speaker 1: Response from both the Fed and Congress is is completely
Speaker 1: unprecedented in the history of you know, economic cycles that
Speaker 1: the markets had to work through before. But when you
Speaker 1: have that much support from the Fed, when you know,
Speaker 1: sort of suppressing interest rates, buying up all sorts of
Speaker 1: assets to keep that liquidity flowing, it's very hard to
Speaker 1: put a hundred person faith into those historical precedents because
Speaker 1: of this, uh, you know, unprecedented response that we're saying.
Speaker 1: But you know that said, there's just a lot of
Speaker 1: bad news. Is that we sought the work through. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's really hard to imagine this market continuing on
Speaker 1: this sort of shape recovery that it's in. And that's
Speaker 1: Bloomberg markets. Mike Reagan and Business Week editor Joel Weber.
Speaker 1: You know, the markets, they have been a key piece
Speaker 1: to all of this, and yet we keep trying to
Speaker 1: synthesize or maybe rectify, justify what the markets are doing
Speaker 1: versus what we see in the real world. Well, it's
Speaker 1: you know, you take a look at what stocks have done, Jason,
Speaker 1: they bounced more. Mike writes from that marche Low and
Speaker 1: our conversations even with our market guest, right, is it
Speaker 1: a new bull market? Are we still in a bear market?
Speaker 1: We're trying to figure out, Mike says, you know, hold on, everybody,
Speaker 1: be careful about your enthusiasm about the equity markets, because
Speaker 1: we have a long way to go to recovery. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up, we're going to
Speaker 1: catch up with the CEO of Party City. A long
Speaker 1: history he has in the retail business. He compares it
Speaker 1: to pass crises and helps us understand what retail may
Speaker 1: look like going forward. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. Today we're bringing you some of the most important,
Speaker 1: we hope informative conversations we had this week on our
Speaker 1: daily radio show, Bloomberg Business Week. It runs every weekday afternoon,
Speaker 1: all about the coronavirus, of course, and looking around the
Speaker 1: corner maybe to what happens next Carol and of course Jason.
Speaker 1: These conversations with leaders in their respective fields, all of
Speaker 1: it happening in real time. And Jason one of the
Speaker 1: individuals that we caught up with was Brad Weston, the
Speaker 1: CEO of Party City. Now keep in mind it's a
Speaker 1: small business, but it's publicly held. It's taken a beating
Speaker 1: this year. Certainly it's share price has and so has
Speaker 1: its business. And we talked with the CEO about how
Speaker 1: do you reach customers in environment where they're so used
Speaker 1: to coming to its stores now they are reaching aggressively online.
Speaker 1: So you know, one of the fun things is about
Speaker 1: party City is is our purpose as a brand is
Speaker 1: to be in the joy business. And and we create
Speaker 1: joy by making it easy to create unforgettable memories. And
Speaker 1: we're neque uniquely differentiated really to partner with consumers who
Speaker 1: want to create customized and personalized celebrations and parties that
Speaker 1: make life milestones and special occasions amazing. And you know,
Speaker 1: we see it as our job to make, uh, make
Speaker 1: party heroes out of everyone, and and lots of ways
Speaker 1: that we're doing that as we speak, both from our
Speaker 1: stores and our website that we can talk some more about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about that. How do you make that shift?
Speaker 1: Because I feel, you know, candidly, when I think of
Speaker 1: party City, I mostly think of, like, all right, we're
Speaker 1: having a kids party or we're having, you know, a
Speaker 1: big celebration. Let's head on over and you sort of
Speaker 1: go nuts in the store, and you know you're having
Speaker 1: a good time. And as you say, you're, you know,
Speaker 1: like you're in the joy business. If someone showing up
Speaker 1: like they're throwing a party, it's fun, it's cool. Um,
Speaker 1: how do you ensure both logistically and and I guess
Speaker 1: from a field perspective that that you can translate that
Speaker 1: into an an online or a non retail type scenario. Yeah,
Speaker 1: great question. Uh, you know, And as a brand, our
Speaker 1: goal is to provide the utility to consumers in need
Speaker 1: a ways only Party City can really credibly deliver. And
Speaker 1: obviously we want to do that without overtly seeking credit
Speaker 1: or or appearing opportunistic despite being a part Our goal
Speaker 1: throughout this time is to continue to make it easy
Speaker 1: to share joyful moments of togetherness. And we believe you
Speaker 1: should never miss a chance to celebrate life's moments, whether
Speaker 1: big or small. And and you know we can do
Speaker 1: that in in unique ways of of togetherness. There's really
Speaker 1: two important ways that Party City is making that possible
Speaker 1: for consumers to do just that. One is around our
Speaker 1: operation sations we have been fortunate to continue to provide
Speaker 1: nationwide delivery as well as introduce curbside pickup in some
Speaker 1: of our markets. We're continuing to roll that out UH
Speaker 1: and only in markets where local and state governments allow that.
Speaker 1: At this point, our goal is to make this service
Speaker 1: available in every one of our stores as circumstances permit.
Speaker 1: And then additionally UH markets we're you know, we're trying
Speaker 1: to expand to additional markets for curbside pickup and expanded
Speaker 1: same day delivery capabilities UH, and more of those will
Speaker 1: become available UH next week. Kind of the second is
Speaker 1: our ability to bring unexpected joy to people's lives in
Speaker 1: this unique time, and if you go on Party city
Speaker 1: dot com you'll find a few ways that we're doing that.
Speaker 1: One is fund program. We have Adventure in a Box.
Speaker 1: So in response to social distancing and in the quarantine
Speaker 1: requirements UH parties seeing me, we activated themed adventure and
Speaker 1: a box ser Bible Kiss for families, which are a blast.
Speaker 1: We really wanted to provide that in a convenient and
Speaker 1: safe way to social distancing fatigue that we all know
Speaker 1: it's happening, and boredom that is happening. UH. And so
Speaker 1: Some of those boxes are things like movie night to
Speaker 1: family game Night. We've continued to expand those curated selections
Speaker 1: over this past month. We've also added a section called
Speaker 1: Gifts of Joy and they should think about it. Our
Speaker 1: family friends, the loved ones who are you know, in
Speaker 1: in shelter in place situations, we often think about how
Speaker 1: could we put a little joy in their lives, even
Speaker 1: if it isn't a party, right. You know, it's interesting
Speaker 1: that you say that because we've had already, um, one
Speaker 1: birthday at home, another one coming up, and another one
Speaker 1: coming up, so we have really thought about, Okay, what
Speaker 1: are kind of thoughtful gifts first of all of what
Speaker 1: families can do together while we're home, and then also
Speaker 1: thought about, you know, silly things, whether it's the balloons
Speaker 1: we can blow up or something. Just because we can't
Speaker 1: go out, we can't do a lot of things we
Speaker 1: might normally do. So I do feel like I understand
Speaker 1: where you're coming from. I am curious, Brad though, you
Speaker 1: know how much of a business impact have you taken
Speaker 1: as a result of this, because I know we've been
Speaker 1: in and out of your stores, whether it was Halloween
Speaker 1: or a party or something. Um, but obviously we're not
Speaker 1: doing that. I mean, how tricky is it for you?
Speaker 1: I mean you're publicly held, I know your stock has
Speaker 1: gone below I think a buck which has made the
Speaker 1: New York Stock Exchange, you know, reach out to you
Speaker 1: guys in terms of you know, being able to have
Speaker 1: your listing on the exchange. UM, just from a business perspective,
Speaker 1: how tricky is it right now? Well? I think you know,
Speaker 1: really all all of retail is in an interesting UH situation,
Speaker 1: whether you're open or you're not open, and the challenges
Speaker 1: of liquidity and ensuring you that you have the right
Speaker 1: levels of cash to support the business in the short
Speaker 1: term and the long term is is really the responsibility
Speaker 1: of management UH to to navigate it. I also think
Speaker 1: as as you think about the overall retail industry, you
Speaker 1: can imagine that the retail industry leaders are eager to
Speaker 1: assist in discussions with government and public health officials on
Speaker 1: on how to responsibly run open stores and then reopen
Speaker 1: stores that are closed. I think the retailers who get
Speaker 1: a lot of press UH these days and our forefront
Speaker 1: and the conversation that are those deemed essential who are
Speaker 1: open and are you know, are are they're the ones
Speaker 1: being talked about. But as you know, many of the
Speaker 1: nation's large retailers are closed, uh, and there are the
Speaker 1: voice has been largely unheard, however, uh, you know, on
Speaker 1: BAB with all of them, we're eager to do the
Speaker 1: right thing for consumers at the right time. And as
Speaker 1: we move forward this group of retailers, that group of
Speaker 1: retailers that I just mentioned that our clothes will be
Speaker 1: focused on reopening in compliance with public health officials, and
Speaker 1: we'll be ready to demonstrate the proper protocols to assist
Speaker 1: governors and in local government officials and understanding the state
Speaker 1: of alreadiness to encourage the ease of restrictions when they're appropriate.
Speaker 1: And that's broad West in the CEO of Party City,
Speaker 1: and I thought what was interesting one of the things
Speaker 1: that he said, Jason, He talked about the responsibility of
Speaker 1: management to make sure that you have the financial liquidity
Speaker 1: you need at all times. And that's really relevant considering
Speaker 1: all of the stimulus packages and kind of bailout assistance
Speaker 1: that a lot of businesses large and small need right
Speaker 1: now because of the virus. Absolutely, and you know, on
Speaker 1: a lighter note, but an important note, I love the
Speaker 1: idea that he said, You know, their business is to
Speaker 1: bring people joy and to sort of enable joy, and
Speaker 1: I feel like we need a little dose of that
Speaker 1: every now and again, maybe more than a little toast
Speaker 1: and maybe more than every eight now and again. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg because week coming up. A friend of
Speaker 1: the show, Stephan Seeli, joins us. He's working at Bridge
Speaker 1: Park Advisors now used to be working for President Obama
Speaker 1: in the US Department of Commerce. This is Bloomberg. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of the
Speaker 1: most important and informative conversations that we had throughout the
Speaker 1: week on our daily radio show. Of course, Oliver Jason
Speaker 1: relates back to the virus and all of it happening
Speaker 1: in real time, getting reaction from leaders in all walks
Speaker 1: of life. Well and one person I know. We were
Speaker 1: both really looking forward to catching up with Stephan Seeley.
Speaker 1: He's a managing partner over at Bridge Park Advisor's longtime
Speaker 1: fixture on Wall Street. Worked at Bank of America as
Speaker 1: a vice chairman for a number of years, but he
Speaker 1: also worked in the government. He was the under Secretary
Speaker 1: of Commerce for International Trade under President Obama. Wide ranging Guy,
Speaker 1: wide ranging conversation, Check it out. We have seen a
Speaker 1: crisis unfold that has both been catastrophe thick and incredibly fast.
Speaker 1: And what I find, um most um interesting about it
Speaker 1: is that crisis was in fact self engineered, UH, as
Speaker 1: we shut down our economy um to save lots. So
Speaker 1: does it make it any worse or any better because
Speaker 1: of that? Well, UM, potentially, Carol, it means that the
Speaker 1: recovery may be as swift as the decline. As you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of the commentators you've had a you know,
Speaker 1: UM your show and Bloomberg generally have talked about this
Speaker 1: VU and L shaped recovery. UM. But implicit in that
Speaker 1: question is because it was self engineered, is there at
Speaker 1: least some visibility to a equally quick recovery. I guess
Speaker 1: it's my view that, UM, that so called V shaped recovery,
Speaker 1: at least in the economy may be challenging, um uh,
Speaker 1: which is different than what you might what you might
Speaker 1: see in the markets, which make faster. And you know,
Speaker 1: last week, I think um, you saw one of the
Speaker 1: strongest weeks in the equity market since Boy Night the
Speaker 1: nineteen mid nineteen seventies for a whole host of different reasons.
Speaker 1: But I think the economy is going to be somewhat
Speaker 1: slower to rebound. And so Stephan, you're talking to CEOs
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, your history on on Wall
Speaker 1: Street goes back a long ways advising you know some
Speaker 1: of the most influential decision makers out there. What are
Speaker 1: they saying to you? What if you can generalize, because
Speaker 1: obviously you're gonna have a different view depending on what
Speaker 1: business you're in, But if you're a CEO, what are
Speaker 1: you thinking right now? Well, first of all, Jason Um,
Speaker 1: I think there is no playbook. So we've never seen
Speaker 1: an economic crisis like this coupled with a health crisis.
Speaker 1: So every anybody that thinks they have some clairvoyance here,
Speaker 1: I think is UM being somewhat misleading? Um. I think
Speaker 1: everybody is very focused on um. When we are going
Speaker 1: to be able to term to some level of the
Speaker 1: new normal, and is it going to be fast enough
Speaker 1: that there's not going to be mass closures of businesses
Speaker 1: and people will have jobs to return to. And if
Speaker 1: it is fast enough, is the consumer going to start
Speaker 1: spending again? Because, as you guys know, seventy percent of
Speaker 1: the US economy is directly to the consumer, and folks
Speaker 1: are going to be very focused on one, UM, what
Speaker 1: has this How has this impacted the consumer both financially,
Speaker 1: financially but also psychically in terms of their willingness and
Speaker 1: interest in spending money. When we talk about reopening the
Speaker 1: world and reopening the economy again, if somebody says to well, Stephan,
Speaker 1: when do you think we're going to reopen? How do
Speaker 1: you think it's going to play out, what do you say? Well,
Speaker 1: I'd say a couple of things. One is it's going
Speaker 1: to be gradual, so there's not going to be an
Speaker 1: on off switch where all of a sudden Marabola dick. Two,
Speaker 1: we're all back at work the next day because we're
Speaker 1: either the federal government of the states have said so,
Speaker 1: I think you will see a phased reopening UM, both
Speaker 1: in terms of geographies and in terms of industries. And
Speaker 1: I think the interesting question, UM is, both at the
Speaker 1: federal level and at the state level, what sort of
Speaker 1: either guidance or um restrictions are going to be placed
Speaker 1: on folks when that reopening happens, Whether it's going to
Speaker 1: be wearing masks, whether it's going to be certain social
Speaker 1: distancing UM regulations, whether office office protocols are going to
Speaker 1: be different. And you know, we saw that, Carol. You know,
Speaker 1: we forget, but we all used to go into airports
Speaker 1: without screening and without security provisions. We all used to
Speaker 1: go into offices in New York City without checking in first.
Speaker 1: You know, there may be certain regimes now that are
Speaker 1: just different post COVID nineteen. Stefaniely, I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about trade with the virus as a backdrop. I
Speaker 1: do wonder how what's going on and what we saw
Speaker 1: with kind of the breakdown of apply chains again as
Speaker 1: a result of the virus coming on top of the
Speaker 1: breakdown of supply chains off of the U. S. China
Speaker 1: trade war. Is there some lasting impact as a result
Speaker 1: of all of this. I mean, Carol, you're already seeing
Speaker 1: a relatively severe contraction in global trade across virtually all
Speaker 1: regions around the world and across almost every economic sector UM.
Speaker 1: And that's obviously because of the damp and economic environment
Speaker 1: that we are you know, seeing now globally. And that's
Speaker 1: Bridge Park Advisors and former Undersecretary of Commerce Stephen Selig
Speaker 1: joining US he tells it like it is, and you
Speaker 1: know he's talking to C E O. S, but he's
Speaker 1: also talking to people all over the world. He's a
Speaker 1: big thinker in a lot of ways. Carol, Well, he's
Speaker 1: another one who understands the intersection of business, trade, markets
Speaker 1: and politics, which is why we love reaching out to
Speaker 1: him because he really brings everything that's going on in
Speaker 1: the world together and comes up with some really interesting
Speaker 1: and smart conclusions. All Right, you're listening to Bloomberg bus Week.
Speaker 1: Coming out, we check in with Sue Decker. She's the
Speaker 1: former president of Yahoo, on the board of Berkshire Hathaway
Speaker 1: as well as Costco. She's also got a social networking
Speaker 1: platform that works with colleges talk about in the news.
Speaker 1: It's called Rafter that's coming up next. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. So today we're bringing you
Speaker 1: some of the most important and we hope informative conversations
Speaker 1: we had throughout the week on our daily Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week radio show. Jason, we had the opportunity to catch
Speaker 1: up with Sue Deck. Are really another person who is
Speaker 1: at the intersection of so much. She's former president of Yahoo.
Speaker 1: She's on the boards of Berkshire Hathaway, on Costco, on Vox,
Speaker 1: of Veil Resorts, on so many different companies. But let's
Speaker 1: keep in mind she started a new social networking platform.
Speaker 1: It's called Rafter, and it's really tackling some of the
Speaker 1: challenges that are facing higher education. Yes, it's it's in
Speaker 1: a really challenge time in many ways for many people
Speaker 1: all over the world right now, and I think universities
Speaker 1: and students in particular are facing a reality that no
Speaker 1: one really anticipated. You have to commend the universities for
Speaker 1: how quickly they were able to get people and students
Speaker 1: home and faculty transition to online learning UH in such
Speaker 1: a short amount of time. But I think it's been
Speaker 1: a lot of triage and weekly, daily emergency meetings trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how to make that work. Most of
Speaker 1: them are that I speak with our focused the first
Speaker 1: time getting through the spring semester, spring quarter, depending on
Speaker 1: how they organize themselves, and then the next focus is
Speaker 1: how they handled the summer and UM and will be
Speaker 1: finding out in May how many people are enrolling and
Speaker 1: sending checks in that's going to be important. And then
Speaker 1: for the next phase will be during the fall. Do
Speaker 1: they do they need a plan B that is starting
Speaker 1: school online again UM, and many of them are talking
Speaker 1: about that right now. So, Sue, you tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about what what are some of the specific
Speaker 1: programs that or or some of the outreach that you've
Speaker 1: done with universities as a result or colleges as a
Speaker 1: result of the virus. What kinds of things are going on? Sure, well,
Speaker 1: we we announced in mid March that we would offer
Speaker 1: our platform and our our solutions for free for the
Speaker 1: rest of this academic year, recognizing that these schools are
Speaker 1: having to handle things that they've never planned on handling
Speaker 1: before and so having once you move online, it's more
Speaker 1: difficult to create a sense of community, to have a
Speaker 1: platform where people can find events, can connect with one another,
Speaker 1: can keep up the groups that they had in physical
Speaker 1: form on campus in an electronic form. So since that time,
Speaker 1: we had a lot of incoming. We've been hosting a
Speaker 1: webinar once a week with UM, roughly twenty universities on it.
Speaker 1: Last week we had two different ones UM primarily focused
Speaker 1: on how they're going to handle orientation coming up sometimes
Speaker 1: sometimes many of them in the summer are having to
Speaker 1: figure out an online way to orient parents and students. UH.
Speaker 1: And as well if the faculty, faculty has three needs.
Speaker 1: When they have to broadcast their lectures, which Zoom and
Speaker 1: Zoom equivalence can do, they also have to have a
Speaker 1: learning management system of electronically students can submit as finements
Speaker 1: and grades and there are systems like Canvas and blackboard
Speaker 1: that do that. And they also the third part is
Speaker 1: what raft or does, which is a communication um and
Speaker 1: an event hub so that one tap access the students
Speaker 1: can find their Zoom links to get into their classes,
Speaker 1: or they can find their lecture notes for tomorrow. Then
Speaker 1: the professor can set up a group or raft so
Speaker 1: they can have easy access to the students for online
Speaker 1: office hours things like that. So, um, those are the
Speaker 1: kinds of things we've been offering to support the community.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny, Sue, in part just serendipitously, I
Speaker 1: was connected with the dean of a of a journalism
Speaker 1: school UH and I was saying to her, you know,
Speaker 1: it feels like University Higher Ed is going to be
Speaker 1: radically changed by this. And her response is interesting, and
Speaker 1: she said she said yes and no. She said yes
Speaker 1: obviously based on a lot of the technology that that
Speaker 1: you and your folks are are working on. But she said,
Speaker 1: on the other side, you know, we also have to
Speaker 1: appreciate that higher education is about convening students and sort
Speaker 1: of taking them through in a very personal way a
Speaker 1: really critical stage of their life, and so much of
Speaker 1: that happens in person, and so much of the community
Speaker 1: has to be, or at least traditionally has been in person.
Speaker 1: How do you sort of synthesize and rectify all of
Speaker 1: that as we look at this very uncertain future. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I was to say, that makes total sense to me.
Speaker 1: I think when we when I started rafter, it was
Speaker 1: based on the experience I saw my daughter having when
Speaker 1: she started university. She's now graduated, but um, it was
Speaker 1: it was because of how I saw it the communication
Speaker 1: happening on campuses, that I felt there could be a
Speaker 1: much more authenticated network where like a Slack but for
Speaker 1: universities or next door. For universities, it's private, it's curated.
Speaker 1: Everybody on it is at your school. You can discover
Speaker 1: things that it makes students feel like they belong and
Speaker 1: it's a more welcoming experience. So our product was designed
Speaker 1: as an online adjunct for an offline experience, and I
Speaker 1: think the offline experience is fantastic. UM. It's hard to
Speaker 1: know how long this will go. Some people I talk
Speaker 1: to think this is accelerating a trend toward online learning
Speaker 1: where only three percent of online learning three percent of
Speaker 1: curriculum was delivered online in the past, and some people
Speaker 1: think it'll move much more quickly to that UM than
Speaker 1: it otherwise would have. But I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't have a crystal ball on that front. I
Speaker 1: think our our products sort of work to support physical communities, UM,
Speaker 1: but I think it becomes even harder to connect and
Speaker 1: stay feeling like a part of that membership if you're
Speaker 1: if you're away from your physical community. So I gotta
Speaker 1: ask you, you you know what I mean. It's like you
Speaker 1: start your career on Wall Street, you you know, had
Speaker 1: a career at at Yahoo, you serve on the boards
Speaker 1: of Berkshire, Hathaway and and cost Go as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: if there is one person who is sort of seeing
Speaker 1: the world very holistically right now and seeing all sorts
Speaker 1: of consumer behavior changing, it's you what jumps out at
Speaker 1: you as you sort of go through your day, and
Speaker 1: I can only imagine the emails and conversations that that
Speaker 1: you're having. What's surprising you right now? Well, I think
Speaker 1: it's uh surprising in some ways that we've all gotten
Speaker 1: used to this new normal. I think about three weeks ago,
Speaker 1: most people I talked too felt like their world was
Speaker 1: upside down, Like there was almost this um feeling of
Speaker 1: dizziness from one headline after another being so consequential and
Speaker 1: changing everything that we know in our world, like sports
Speaker 1: stopping and school stopping and people going home. And I
Speaker 1: think now, you know, I think people are like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can do this. I don't really want to do
Speaker 1: it forever, but I could, you know, I could, I
Speaker 1: could live like this. And I think as part of that,
Speaker 1: back to the prior conversation of accelerating changes that were
Speaker 1: already underway, I think the idea of um home delivery
Speaker 1: of groceries for exact ample. You know, I'm on the
Speaker 1: board of Costco and we have a two day delivery
Speaker 1: that we do internally in an instant delivery that instant
Speaker 1: Art helps with, and uh, you know, I think all
Speaker 1: over people, I think we'll have a little more sensitivity
Speaker 1: to doing things like shaking hands in the future, and
Speaker 1: they have a greater demand for things being delivered just
Speaker 1: a higher level of dermophobia for a while. So I
Speaker 1: think there's certain trends that may not have been underway
Speaker 1: for that reason, but I think that they're likely to accelerate,
Speaker 1: and I think you can see that in the numbers
Speaker 1: of everything that you look at. I mean, I'm on
Speaker 1: the board of Costco of course, which has been indispensable
Speaker 1: for people during this period. And then as well Veiled Resorts,
Speaker 1: which I just set to shut down a month early
Speaker 1: UM in a in a business that's already seasonal. So
Speaker 1: you know, there's an extreme. Different companies are obviously being
Speaker 1: hit in different ways, but does everybody Does every company
Speaker 1: now have to have the virus playbook? Like is this
Speaker 1: just part of our society now in terms of fighting
Speaker 1: viruses as a you know, I don't know, is that
Speaker 1: part of it? I think I think having an online
Speaker 1: playbook is critical for your employees UM and also for
Speaker 1: your customers in certain circumstances where your customers can be online.
Speaker 1: They can't really do that for availed resorts, but certainly
Speaker 1: for the employees. Is there needs to be an online playbook.
Speaker 1: And I think our government, I mean, this was this
Speaker 1: is an unprecedented situation, and no one was really ready.
Speaker 1: Everybody's pointing fingers and looking backward about whether we could
Speaker 1: have been or should have been, but the fact is
Speaker 1: we weren't, and I think it's very unlikely in the
Speaker 1: next ten years that we won't be very ready with
Speaker 1: testing and the ability to UM handle tracing contact tracing
Speaker 1: in a very different way. A friend of mine from Singapore,
Speaker 1: she sends me the daily reports and it's like unbelievable
Speaker 1: how they run that place, just daily reports, emails the
Speaker 1: entire city and knowing exactly where each case came from.
Speaker 1: We're nowhere near that so UM and you know, it
Speaker 1: has to work within our freedoms and our in our government,
Speaker 1: which is obviously very different from Singapore. But I think
Speaker 1: all governments around the world of major UM nations will
Speaker 1: be much more prepared and take it seriously. And Bill
Speaker 1: Bill Gates, many people had said that this was going
Speaker 1: to come. That's rafter. Co founder and CEO Sue Decker
Speaker 1: UM great to catch up with her because she has
Speaker 1: seen so much understands the online world and it's impact
Speaker 1: that it's having certainly on education, and even further, what
Speaker 1: I thought too is Jason. She gave us some optimism
Speaker 1: about what happens in terms of life after the virus,
Speaker 1: and she reminded that humans are social animals to a
Speaker 1: lot of things will ultimately come back. Yeah, no, she
Speaker 1: and she has a fascinating window into the world of
Speaker 1: higher education, which I feel like is one area we've
Speaker 1: been very focused on, and rightly from a personal perspective,
Speaker 1: we've got a vested interest in it. But we also
Speaker 1: know that lots of our listeners do as well. They're
Speaker 1: thinking about their kids, they're thinking about their alma mater,
Speaker 1: they're thinking about what that looks like on the other side,
Speaker 1: and it's an ever changing landscape to be sure. Well.
Speaker 1: That wraps up the first hour of the weekend edition
Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly
Speaker 1: and I'm Carol mass Or plenty. Coming up in our
Speaker 1: next hour, we're gonna hear Jason from Tom's founder, Blake mccowsky.
Speaker 1: He's such an interesting individual. I love this company. I
Speaker 1: love their mission. They continue to do things to help others,
Speaker 1: including those impacted by the virus. Well, and he's got
Speaker 1: a big new idea and it's all about sort of
Speaker 1: taking care of yourself. We talk a lot about wellness,
Speaker 1: So what is going to be the impact on that business?
Speaker 1: How are we going to think about ourselves differently in
Speaker 1: the midst of this, But also on the other side.
Speaker 1: Another person who's thinking about that, Trek Bicycle president John Burke.
Speaker 1: He's been on this program before. It was good to
Speaker 1: catch up with him because we talked a little bit
Speaker 1: of politics. Right. He's got a new book at it's
Speaker 1: called Sixteen Simple Solutions to Save America. So you look
Speaker 1: forward to hearing what he has to say about that.
Speaker 1: And then Bloomberg's own Sarah Fryar. This was a big
Speaker 1: week for her. Her new book coming out, giving us
Speaker 1: the inside story of Instagram. It's called No Filter, The
Speaker 1: Inside Story of Instagram, appropriately titled, But man, I love
Speaker 1: all of the people that she talked to so many
Speaker 1: and she gave us incredible insight a out Facebook's acquisition
Speaker 1: of Instagram and why Mark Zuckerberg became so jealous. Yeah, Zuckerberg,
Speaker 1: Kardashian and a wind Tour, They're all in the book.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with
Speaker 1: Carol Masser and Jason Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing
Speaker 1: you some of the most important and informative conversations we
Speaker 1: had throughout the week. Another busy week, Jason, on so
Speaker 1: many different fronts as we figured out where we are
Speaker 1: in terms of the virus and what the impact will
Speaker 1: be ultimately and how do we get out of it.
Speaker 1: It's not an easy process. Basically, We've all got to
Speaker 1: be patient, absolutely, And the other big question is what
Speaker 1: are we doing throughout this? You know, what are we
Speaker 1: doing maybe to change our lives, change the lives of others.
Speaker 1: And someone who has thought a ton about that we
Speaker 1: know it is Tom's Shoes founder Blake mccowsky has got
Speaker 1: a new company as well, and he's just one of
Speaker 1: those people you want to hear from in a time
Speaker 1: like this because he's got the perspective and he's got
Speaker 1: that vibe about him that makes you think, huh, maybe
Speaker 1: there's something good that could come out of all of this. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I was actually down in Baja on a seven
Speaker 1: days silent the Pasina Meditation retreats when the current outbreak happens.
Speaker 1: So literally I went into silence with the world being
Speaker 1: quite normal. Uh. And then eight days later came out
Speaker 1: in the world it totally changed and rather than fly
Speaker 1: back home to Jackson Hold, Wi I live, I actually
Speaker 1: uh called my ex wife and and got her and
Speaker 1: my kids to fly down to BA and we decided
Speaker 1: to hunker down here for the unforeseeable future, until until
Speaker 1: it's safe to come home. So it's UM, it's good
Speaker 1: for the kids that can be outside and a lot
Speaker 1: we can say, you know, very god to social distancing
Speaker 1: and um and you know, being in the sun and
Speaker 1: it's kind of nice. So we feel very blessed to
Speaker 1: be down here, but doing a lot of work down
Speaker 1: here every day, helping those in our different communities that
Speaker 1: we live and work in, uh, and staying connected. So
Speaker 1: what was that moment, like take us back to that
Speaker 1: moment where you know, obviously things were brewing a little bit,
Speaker 1: but you had no idea, no sense of like the
Speaker 1: depth of depth of it. What was your first thought, Well,
Speaker 1: it's crazy because I had been in New York the
Speaker 1: week before because we launched this new company made for
Speaker 1: that I know we're going to talk about that I've
Speaker 1: been working on for the past couple of years. We
Speaker 1: launched it by in New York on I think the
Speaker 1: launch date was on March fourth, So I was in
Speaker 1: New York. I was on the on the floor the
Speaker 1: stock has change on the fifth and six, doing some interviews. Um,
Speaker 1: and then I left and then went to the meditation
Speaker 1: retreat on March six. So you know, there was some
Speaker 1: there was some turbulence stuff going on in the in
Speaker 1: the stock market. Disney stock was going down and cruise
Speaker 1: ships something like that, but nothing about you know, a
Speaker 1: pandemic and uh. And so I left. When I came back,
Speaker 1: I went to the Laredo Airport, was a tiny little airport,
Speaker 1: and BA to fly to l A and then l
Speaker 1: A go back home, and people were wearing masks, and
Speaker 1: I was like whoa. And I need checked my phone
Speaker 1: or email and anything in eight days. And so I
Speaker 1: immediately got online and saw just this barrage of text
Speaker 1: messages and emails asking how it's okay and where I
Speaker 1: was and what I was doing. And I was like wow.
Speaker 1: And then I started reading news and and it was
Speaker 1: just it was a very surreal experience. I think, how different, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just in a week, and how much I
Speaker 1: missed in a week. Frankly from a news perspective and
Speaker 1: from a you know, from the spread of the virus.
Speaker 1: So well, well that's very giving a lot of perspectives. Well,
Speaker 1: that's so true. This virus, you know, Blake is something
Speaker 1: that moved so quickly, right, and the numbers just went
Speaker 1: from Okay, this isn't something that we're dealing with to
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, yet we are dealing with it. Um,
Speaker 1: really quickly, tell us about though, your employees and everyone
Speaker 1: you know who are working around the world on various projects. UM,
Speaker 1: what's what's been the direct impact on them and your team? Well,
Speaker 1: it's expected everyone, um, you know kind of the same way.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, everyone is pretty much sheltered and
Speaker 1: staying at home. UM. You know, whether they're one of
Speaker 1: our eight workers and you know world Ethiopia on the
Speaker 1: Tom's Shoes front. Um, all of our employees were made
Speaker 1: For based in l a UM and so they've been
Speaker 1: sheltered and staying at home. Luckily, our distribution center where
Speaker 1: we send out the wellness kits each month our members, um,
Speaker 1: they they are still operating. So we are still operating
Speaker 1: getting people signed up for Made For and UH, and
Speaker 1: we're finding that people are really valuing having some structure
Speaker 1: and some stuff that they can control and their well
Speaker 1: being during the time when so much is out of
Speaker 1: their control. So we're actually seeing the business of Made
Speaker 1: for you know growing, you know, quite rapidly since we
Speaker 1: launched it just six weeks ago. The world is changing
Speaker 1: all around us. I mean, we were speaking with someone,
Speaker 1: a psychologist from Johns Hopkins who was who was essentially
Speaker 1: saying she was saying, the thing that maybe we're not
Speaker 1: thinking enough about is self care and self care as
Speaker 1: a way to help those around us. That's means to
Speaker 1: be at the core of what you're doing here, tell
Speaker 1: us more about it. Yeah. So, so I spent two
Speaker 1: years working with scientists from uh University Labs at Stanford, Harvard,
Speaker 1: and other top universities around the country, really trying to
Speaker 1: understand how do we teach people the habits and practices
Speaker 1: will have the greatest impact on their life that they
Speaker 1: can sustain and increase their well being. I've gone through
Speaker 1: a slight ballots of mild depression myself a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago and really started to ask myself, what are
Speaker 1: the things that I'm not doing the others who are
Speaker 1: thriving and fourishing are doing and how can I make
Speaker 1: those changes? And I found that, you know, the information
Speaker 1: was quite simple, but actually learning and sustaining these habits
Speaker 1: that I'm most highly affective people are doing every day
Speaker 1: is quite hard. And so myself and my partner, Pat Dossons,
Speaker 1: who is a Navy seal for nine years serving in
Speaker 1: the military, and we got together and we started working
Speaker 1: with these different scientists on really teaching people these practices.
Speaker 1: And what's so interesting is we worked on this for
Speaker 1: two years and we developed this ten month program where
Speaker 1: every month we teach you one new habit and practice
Speaker 1: and it's completely analog, and it's always done in your
Speaker 1: home alone, and so is what's fascinating is that the
Speaker 1: whole program was built around you getting this box once
Speaker 1: a month, and in the box there's a tool that
Speaker 1: we designed to help you learn the new habit and practice.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about how you how you
Speaker 1: came to what you would focus on and how it
Speaker 1: would work. And I love the idea of picking one
Speaker 1: thing because I feel like, you know, we all create
Speaker 1: this huge list and then it's like we get nothing done,
Speaker 1: and we get nothing. I don't know it's not helpful
Speaker 1: to us. Well, that's exactly what we set out actually
Speaker 1: originally to find twelve things that science could prove would
Speaker 1: have a meaningful effect on your well being. And after
Speaker 1: a year's worth of research with working with scientists from
Speaker 1: Stanford and Harvard, we actually found that there are only
Speaker 1: ten things that science could really back up um and
Speaker 1: so that's why we decided to focus on ten things.
Speaker 1: Why we chose one a month is exactly what you
Speaker 1: just said. There's all this information on how we can
Speaker 1: really take control of our personal well being has been
Speaker 1: out there forever, but the reason why so few people
Speaker 1: actually do it is they're bombarded with all that what
Speaker 1: you know, you hear it in a podcast or you
Speaker 1: hear it by reading a book, and you don't ever
Speaker 1: take the time to actually learn the new practice or habits.
Speaker 1: And that's Blake mccowsky, founder of Tom's, founder of Made
Speaker 1: for and like we said, just someone you want to
Speaker 1: hear in a time like this, and I feel like
Speaker 1: that maybe one are the themes of this show, Carol.
Speaker 1: You know, us sort of going back our findings of
Speaker 1: people who give us some sort of comfort, but maybe
Speaker 1: more importantly, some perspective at a time like this, because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we are going to
Speaker 1: get through this. We're making our way, and the question becomes,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do that's gonna be different? And
Speaker 1: I've got to say I love some of the initiatives
Speaker 1: that are coming out from the private sector. We keep
Speaker 1: hearing from them from so many of our different guests
Speaker 1: about what they are doing. Not only are they running
Speaker 1: their companies, taking care of their employees, taking care of
Speaker 1: their own family, but they're thinking about how do we
Speaker 1: help the greater society that's impacted by the virus. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what we got from Blake. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week. Coming up, Bloomberg Sara Fryer on our new
Speaker 1: book It's called No Filter, The Inside Story of Instagram.
Speaker 1: There are so many juicy tippets in this one. This
Speaker 1: is your quarantine read for sure. This is Bloomberg. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. Today we'll bring you some of
Speaker 1: the most important and informative conversations we've had on our
Speaker 1: daily radio show this week. Bloomberg Business Week every day
Speaker 1: two to six pm Wall Street Time all about the coronavirus.
Speaker 1: Of course, these were conversations that we had in real time.
Speaker 1: To keep that in mind as you're listening. Well, we
Speaker 1: spoke with Bloomberg News technology reporters Sarah Fryer. We've been
Speaker 1: following her work on her new book. It came out
Speaker 1: this week. It's all about Instagram, and it's called No Filter,
Speaker 1: The Inside Story of Instagram, and we caught up with
Speaker 1: her to talk about the process, what she wrote about,
Speaker 1: what inspired her, and some of the interesting stories that
Speaker 1: she revealed in doing her reporting. I feel good that
Speaker 1: this story is finally out. I think the Instagram story
Speaker 1: is one of the most unknown stories in business. I
Speaker 1: learned so much in the process of reporting it out
Speaker 1: that I'm excited to people to hear. So what did
Speaker 1: you learn? So? I learned, uh, the tactics that Instagram
Speaker 1: had for building its tremendous cultural impact and working within Facebook.
Speaker 1: Instagram was acquired by Facebook in and and as business reporters,
Speaker 1: we generally kind of just let the story end there
Speaker 1: with a nice victory um. But the story really began there,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and you know, the bulk of my
Speaker 1: book happens after the founders are working within Facebook and
Speaker 1: trying to grow their product while grappling with Facebook's move
Speaker 1: fast and break things mentality, and trying to build its
Speaker 1: its cultural cachet, comporting with celebrities, and trying to determine
Speaker 1: what should become popular in shaping our behavior. So, Sarah,
Speaker 1: I feel like, in a story like this, and in
Speaker 1: a narrative that's so sort of complicated and multifaceted and
Speaker 1: has so many big characters in it, there must have
Speaker 1: been some conversations that you had over the course of
Speaker 1: this book where you thought, Okay, so this things start
Speaker 1: sort of clicking into into place here. What were some
Speaker 1: of those key conversations. I really I had a bunch
Speaker 1: of conversations with with people with employees who had worked
Speaker 1: on at the end of the founder's tenure at Facebook,
Speaker 1: the analytics of growth, determinations about how Facebook would be
Speaker 1: cannibalized by Instagrams continuing success, and I was just, you know,
Speaker 1: before that was public, I was quite shocked that Facebook
Speaker 1: would feel threatened by instagram success because in my mind,
Speaker 1: Instagram was the future of Facebook, Like, this was the
Speaker 1: company and this is the product that was really going
Speaker 1: to be the solution to the negative feelings that that public,
Speaker 1: the public had and regulators had about Facebook, and so
Speaker 1: the fact that they were willing to sacrifice them with
Speaker 1: instagram success in order to hold on to Facebook's dominance
Speaker 1: was really surprising to me. And the other the other
Speaker 1: conversations that were quite um surprising to me were with
Speaker 1: the people on the partnerships and community teams that Instagram.
Speaker 1: When we think about Facebook and Twitter, I mean those
Speaker 1: So I really tried to be utual. They don't try
Speaker 1: to get too involved in what becomes popular. Who wins
Speaker 1: and who loses on Facebook is not really their concerns, um.
Speaker 1: But Instagram has already always had and I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that they all always had the editorial strategy for Instagram,
Speaker 1: promoting certain people, making certain people famous, deciding um, what
Speaker 1: celebrities to listen to and cater to, even in the
Speaker 1: design of their products. And that was really eye opening
Speaker 1: for me because considering how much Instagram has changed not
Speaker 1: just our behavior on our phones, but the way that
Speaker 1: we operate in society and what we consider relevant and
Speaker 1: what we consider interesting. Um, it was really uh fascinating
Speaker 1: to see how they picked the scales of of who
Speaker 1: want and loss on their platforms well, and not just what,
Speaker 1: but who right like, who we consider interesting, and who
Speaker 1: we consider relevant. I think has largely been defined by Instagram.
Speaker 1: Sarah absolutely, and and there's the direct editorial decisions that
Speaker 1: they've made that at Instagram. Account on Instagram has more
Speaker 1: followers than any Kardashian, for example, and they constantly put
Speaker 1: accounts on there that get boosted and become famous because
Speaker 1: of their involvement on the On the broader scale, the
Speaker 1: way that Instagram has been designed has dramatically shaped our
Speaker 1: our society because there's no re sharing of posts on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Everything that is in your feet is something you have created,
Speaker 1: which makes it the perfect personal branding tool in this
Speaker 1: economic engine of of marketing, which you know, we know
Speaker 1: them as influencers, the people who get paid to post
Speaker 1: about what products are using and what they like, and
Speaker 1: even just regular people who are using Instagram to build
Speaker 1: the version of themselves that they want people to know.
Speaker 1: That's Bloomberg Surifier. She writes on the technology space for
Speaker 1: us here at Bloomberg News. And she's been really busy
Speaker 1: over the last past year or so, and she's got
Speaker 1: her new book out. It came out this week. It's
Speaker 1: called No Filter, The Inside Story of Instagram, and I
Speaker 1: love what you keep saying, Jason. It's a great read
Speaker 1: while we're all sheltering at home right now. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: social media never been more important to many of us,
Speaker 1: and Instagram this really is. You know, people away say, oh,
Speaker 1: this is the inside story. This really is the inside
Speaker 1: story in a lot of ways, because it's not just
Speaker 1: about the founding. It's maybe more importantly what happened after
Speaker 1: Instagram got bought by Ace Book, because it became even
Speaker 1: more of a juggernaut. It completely upended that company and
Speaker 1: really the way we think about social media. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week. Coming up Trek Bicycle president John Burke.
Speaker 1: He talks about staying fit, keeping your supply chain in place,
Speaker 1: taking care of employees, and even has some advice around politics. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all that's saving America. This is Bloomberg. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Radio. We're bringing you some of the most
Speaker 1: important and informative conversations we had throughout the week on
Speaker 1: our daily radio show. So much going on once again
Speaker 1: this week. Of course, all of it relating back to
Speaker 1: the virus, and all of it happening in real time, Jason,
Speaker 1: as the news just kept on coming. That's absolutely true.
Speaker 1: So we're happy to catch up with John Burke. He's
Speaker 1: the president over at Trek Bikes. Obviously, we talked to
Speaker 1: him about staying fit in quarantine, what he's doing for
Speaker 1: his employees, what he's hearing from customers. But amid all
Speaker 1: the US he's thinking some big thoughts about politics. He's
Speaker 1: got a new book, Sixteen Simple Solutions to Save America.
Speaker 1: I've been at Trek for thirty six years now, and
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of different things, and I've never
Speaker 1: seen anything with the impact of the virus. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are un precedented times, and so as a as
Speaker 1: a company, one of the things we're really focused on
Speaker 1: our customers. We've got five thousand small businesses around the
Speaker 1: globe and we're trying to figure out everything we can
Speaker 1: do to help those customers survive and help them get
Speaker 1: through this crisis. These are your retailers, These are retailers. Well,
Speaker 1: tell us about some of the things that you've had
Speaker 1: to you know, some of the stories that you're hearing
Speaker 1: from them some of the steps that you've had to
Speaker 1: do to help them get through this, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean it's a mixed bag. I mean some you know.
Speaker 1: One of the things that's good about being in the
Speaker 1: bike business right now is bikes are good for social distancing,
Speaker 1: they're good for the environment, they're good for people's health.
Speaker 1: And you're seeing a lot of people riding bikes, not
Speaker 1: just in certain cities in the US, but all over
Speaker 1: the US and all over the world. So there's actually,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, a mini bike boom going on
Speaker 1: in certain markets. In other markets, they're just closed. So
Speaker 1: we're having to deal with the mixed bag. But one
Speaker 1: of the things we're doing is an example, is we're
Speaker 1: putting out a whole bunch of information as to how
Speaker 1: bicycles can run a safe play with both their employees
Speaker 1: and their customers. We're also helping people out with how
Speaker 1: can you help getting government assistance? Here, we set up
Speaker 1: a hotline within the business here. The other thing we're
Speaker 1: doing is, you know, we send out content on here's
Speaker 1: six ways that you can make it through the crisis.
Speaker 1: We're doing everything we can to help those retailers manage
Speaker 1: their businesses, and so John tell us about what this
Speaker 1: outbreak is like in how this virus is affecting your
Speaker 1: local community and that means in terms of you taking
Speaker 1: action for your employees. Well, you know, as as soon
Speaker 1: as the virus broke, we we got you know, the
Speaker 1: senior staff together here and we said what are priorities
Speaker 1: And we came up with six six priorities and number
Speaker 1: one was this safety for our employees and our customers.
Speaker 1: And that's something we're super serious about. So we're having
Speaker 1: everybody worked from home. We have a small manufacturing group
Speaker 1: that works at the office. Um, I'm still working at
Speaker 1: the office just because I like being here. And when
Speaker 1: you come in, you get your temperature taken, you get
Speaker 1: asked a bunch of questions. But we're doing everything we
Speaker 1: can on a safety side here and we're doing everything
Speaker 1: we can to make sure employees are in a good space.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just curious what your perspective is too,
Speaker 1: as you look at what's going on on the coast,
Speaker 1: whether it's West coast you know, or the East coast.
Speaker 1: Certainly big markets for you guys, Um, you know, at
Speaker 1: the magnitude of cases and shutdown, are you anticipating you know,
Speaker 1: something along those levels, or I'm just curious how you
Speaker 1: see it. Well, you know, we you know, you take
Speaker 1: a look Michigan for example, I mean, our business in
Speaker 1: Michigan is down. And if you take a look at
Speaker 1: the bike business, April is Christmas and the bike business,
Speaker 1: and you're taking a look at big markets for a
Speaker 1: trek that are just shut down. And if you go
Speaker 1: to Europe, you're looking at you know, a shutdown. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, thankfully there's you know a few other positive
Speaker 1: things going on just because of the popularity of the bike.
Speaker 1: And we believe my whole message to the team here
Speaker 1: is we're going to use this as our finest hour.
Speaker 1: We are rethinking everything about the business. It's a whole
Speaker 1: new world and when we get on the other side
Speaker 1: of this, we're going to be stronger than we've ever
Speaker 1: been before. That's what we're focused on. That's so interesting.
Speaker 1: So tell us give us an example of something that
Speaker 1: that you're rethinking. Are we talking supply chain, are we
Speaker 1: talking sort of retail relationships, like maybe all of the above, Like,
Speaker 1: give us an example of something there. You know, we're
Speaker 1: talking everything, but I'll take you to one place which
Speaker 1: is just digital. Um. Most of our bikes are sold
Speaker 1: through retailers, and people walk into a store and they
Speaker 1: buy the store. Well, in this world, a lot of
Speaker 1: people home delivery, So our whole website has changed to
Speaker 1: you know, you can get on the website, you can
Speaker 1: buy the bike, you can get that bike delivered at
Speaker 1: your house. Um. That might sound like an easy thing,
Speaker 1: but to pull that off, I think we pulled that
Speaker 1: off in less than a week. We're pulling it off
Speaker 1: really well. And it's all those sorts of things that
Speaker 1: we're doing, whether it's working with the customer on the website,
Speaker 1: our supply chain, the way we're dealing with marketing, where
Speaker 1: our sales people are focused. Um, this is a new
Speaker 1: world and uh, we're adapting to it. So, John, tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about this book that you wrote,
Speaker 1: Sixteen Simple Solutions is to Save America. Um. Timely, uh
Speaker 1: and thoughtful considering it is an election year and I
Speaker 1: do feel like right now we are seeing some leaders
Speaker 1: step up to the plate and some really disappoint You know,
Speaker 1: after the two thousand and sixteen election, I said to myself,
Speaker 1: I was really kind of disappointed with the whole political process,
Speaker 1: and I said, if no one runs for the presidency
Speaker 1: who is competent or who has a plan, that I
Speaker 1: do it myself. And so I spent the last two
Speaker 1: years of writing a book which would be my plan
Speaker 1: for the American people. And I got to the end
Speaker 1: and I decided not to run. But I decided, you
Speaker 1: know what, this is a really good plan, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to share it with the American people. In the
Speaker 1: first chapter, and there's sixteen on sixteen nonpartisan solutions to
Speaker 1: save America. The first chapter is demand a high performance government.
Speaker 1: And I think we um. I think we deserve better
Speaker 1: as a people. And I think COVID nineteen is a
Speaker 1: perfect example of good government matters. And I think we've
Speaker 1: forgotten that as a people. And right now we're paying
Speaker 1: the price for poor leadership, and we're paying the price
Speaker 1: for poor government. And what have you seen is this
Speaker 1: has has played out because we've been talking about this
Speaker 1: a ton, uh John, as you can imagine, especially sort
Speaker 1: of sitting here where we are in the Tri state
Speaker 1: area and seeing mayors and governors, you know, candidly regardless
Speaker 1: of your politics, sort of step to the step to
Speaker 1: the front. I mean this unprecedented. I think by all accounts.
Speaker 1: You know, even conference call that Weed saw earlier, It
Speaker 1: really you know, brings that to mind, Carol, and similar
Speaker 1: things going on on the West coast too. And I'm
Speaker 1: guessing around you as as well, John, Um, what have
Speaker 1: you what have you learned about leadership or what are
Speaker 1: some of the things that you've seen that dovetail with
Speaker 1: what you're writing about. Yeah, I think a key here is,
Speaker 1: you know, Jim Collins, great business author, defines a level
Speaker 1: of five leader and he says it's a it's a
Speaker 1: combination of will and humility. And humility is putting the
Speaker 1: team first and not putting yourself first. And humility is
Speaker 1: being a learn it all, not a know it all.
Speaker 1: And I think the problem we have with this administration
Speaker 1: is we have just where they know it all. And
Speaker 1: if you take a look January, the first case of
Speaker 1: coronavirus happened in South Korea, and it happened in the
Speaker 1: United States on exactly the same day. If you take
Speaker 1: a look at where we are now, if you take
Speaker 1: a look at South Korea, they've had less than two deaths.
Speaker 1: In the United States, it's over ten thousand. Our country
Speaker 1: is shut down. There's is not and worth spending two
Speaker 1: trillion dollars in the first group of funding to try
Speaker 1: and get our economy back. That's the price of poor
Speaker 1: government is we missed this thing at the start. Even
Speaker 1: though you had people like Bill Gates, you had people
Speaker 1: like George W. Bush, you had Barack Obama, you had
Speaker 1: people talking about the potential of a pandemic, and for
Speaker 1: sure you had the CIA, you had other intelligence agencies
Speaker 1: telling the White House this is what could happen in January,
Speaker 1: and it was ignored. And that's Trek Bike's president, John
Speaker 1: Burke joining us from Wisconsin talking about his book Carol,
Speaker 1: which was fascinating. I mean, he really goes deep on
Speaker 1: what he thinks needs to be done. It's not his
Speaker 1: first book. He wrote a book about his dad. We
Speaker 1: had talked about that with him last year. Um, and
Speaker 1: he's a businessperson. He's dealing with this as a manager.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's one of those modern business people
Speaker 1: because he thinks about his company, obviously, but he thinks
Speaker 1: about his family has been so involved in the truck
Speaker 1: bicycle business. It's multigenerational. But he also thinks about his employees.
Speaker 1: They have a very distinct culture. We've read the book
Speaker 1: about the culture of that company, and I think he's
Speaker 1: trying to apply some of those softer, more thoughtful ideas
Speaker 1: in terms of what he does for his business to
Speaker 1: the broader society at large. And that's why I love
Speaker 1: catching up with him. And that wraps up the weekend
Speaker 1: edition of Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. But before
Speaker 1: we go, a couple of stories you want to tell
Speaker 1: you about that you can find at Bloomberg dot com
Speaker 1: online and on the Bloomberg terminal. One is about virtual
Speaker 1: Zoom nightclubs people are paying Jason real money to get
Speaker 1: into them. It's in the Pursuit section this week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm headed to a club right after this, right after
Speaker 1: we're done, I'm going to get all doll that I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not gonna do. Also, the cover story, Wow,
Speaker 1: what an amazing and deeply reported story about Carnival Cruise Lines,
Speaker 1: its role in the coronavirus, its reaction maybe lack thereof,
Speaker 1: and everything that was happening on the boats and back
Speaker 1: at headquarters. Well, it's all about what it knew when
Speaker 1: it knew it, and what it did or did do
Speaker 1: when it came to the coronavirus. So a really detailed
Speaker 1: story and it's a must read. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. Everybody, have a safe weekend. I'm Carol Masser
Speaker 1: and I'm Jason Kelly. Be sure to tune into us
Speaker 1: every day. Are Bloomberg Business Week radio show Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: starting at two pm time, And if you can't catch
Speaker 1: us live, we'll get our daily podcast wherever you download
Speaker 1: your podcast. You can also watch our show live on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Just search for Bloomberg Global News. You can get this
Speaker 1: week's edition of the magazine. It's on newsstands now, and
Speaker 1: we'll be back right here next week at the same time.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg