WEBVTT - Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend-March 27, 2021 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:05.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week inside from the reporters and 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.200 editors who bring you America's most trusted business magazine, plus 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:13.200 global business, finance and tech news as it happened, Sloomberg 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.759 Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes, Tim 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.160 Stinevin on Bloomberg Radio. Hi, and welcome to the weekend 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.200 edition of Bloomberg Business Week. Week fifty four. Working home 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.479 Still for so many, It's week tim where more U 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.920 s States open vaccines to anyone's sixteen and older, where 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.599 Wall Street was maybe finally finally seen a path back 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.280 to the office. Hey, this is our backdrop the Biden administration, 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.040 of course, saying weeks ago that by May one, Biden 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.559 wants to see this happen in all fifty states, vaccine 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.879 eligibility being available to all adults. We did have some 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.239 big macro conversations though this week, on everything from E S, 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.519 G and E VS. To white wealth and our own 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.000 well being right, including conversation with Nobel Laurie economist Joe 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.040 Stiglitz on the developed world remembering the developing one, especially 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.840 if we want to end to COVID. Plus Jimmy Ethridge, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.520 CEO of Accenter in North America on being okay to 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.280 say that you're not okay during the pandemic. It is 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.040 okay to not be okay. And we've also got a 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.720 former NFL pro bowler on being a force for good 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.880 and tapping into the sanitizing craze. All of that to come. 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.039 We begin with the cover story this week, a business 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.880 takeover of the magazine that's all about vaccine passports. Companies 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.960 and governments from Beijing to Brussels that depend on travel 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.440 or large gatherings. They're counting on the unproven concept of 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:32.400 vaccine passports to get the wheels of the economy going 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:36.920 Againberg Business Week Assistant managing editor Jim Ellis oversaw the coverage. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.280 So we've we've heard so much about, you know, the 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.360 pain that businesses have had and the countries have had, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.960 you know, particularly tourist dependent countries since the pandemic has 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.080 pretty much stopped the ability that sort of easily moved 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.440 between places or even the congregating groups. So I thought 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.360 it would be a great idea to sort of take 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.680 a long look, deep dive at, you know, a the 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.640 problem and also the range of solutions that are coming 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:06.600 out now and whether this vaccine passport, this sort of 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.720 mythical savior that so many people have been talking about, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.200 is really going to be as effective and is easy 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.320 to put together as a lot of people seem to think. 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.280 I mean, this is one of those things that this 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.600 is a solution that people came up with quite so 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:27.480 quickly before actually understanding what it means. It's like, look 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.640 at that, really, will it be the golden ticket? And 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:31.840 you guys take us to Israel, you take us to 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:34.799 uh Europe or I feel like this is where we're 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.120 starting to see kind of moves in that direction, at 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.480 least more ahead than some other parts of the world. Yeah, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:45.160 they've been very, very much more interested in in in 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.560 getting things reopened in a coordinated way than here in 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.840 the US for for a lot of reasons. I mean, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.399 it's in some ways it's simpler because their health systems 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.480 sort of centralize a lot of data, and so therefore 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.040 here in the US we've got a health system where 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.000 you know, millions of different systems in every state, and 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.160 so it's sort of hard to be able to track people. 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.880 That's easier in it when in countries that have their 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:15.040 own health systems, But more importantly, UM certain parts of 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.440 the world are so impacted by the drop and travel 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.840 that they have an interesting getting this back together, particularly Europe. 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.000 Europe has a lot of countries, particularly in Southern Europe, 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.160 like a Greece or Spain or in Italy, that desperately 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.600 need tourism to come back. It's a big piece of 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.680 their GDP and they want some reason to say that 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.520 it's safe to travel, whether it's truly safe or whether 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.800 that's just the big lead. It seems more and more businesses, 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.040 whether it's an airline, whether it's in the hospitality business, 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.240 but increasingly whether it's in things like sporting events, um um, 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.440 you know, gyms, all those are looking to a vaccine 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.960 passport as a way to say, hey, it's safe, here's 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.280 your get out of jail car. You have this. Now 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.400 let's get back to business as usual. All right. So 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.200 let's talk about some of the things that are out there. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.800 There's the International Air Transport Association. They've got a travel 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.080 pass app. You've got the EU with their Digital Green 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:13.320 Pass proposal, you've got the a Okay Pass. Any of 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.920 this really working well, or at least maybe some tests 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.400 of it, Well, yeah, the things are in test. The 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.040 issue is that there's right now no coherent standard about 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.599 what these things should, um you know, sort of what 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.400 kind of data they should capture, and how they should 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.360 be able to sort of share that data, and what 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:32.800 do you have to do to make sure that that 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.680 data is sort of private because it's often tied to 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.080 other data, other health data on you and other sort 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.960 of just personal information on you, which is a really 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.000 big issue in parts of the world, particularly in Europe, 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.200 where privacy is a major concern amount over everything. And 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.120 so you've got a lot of competing systems as opposed 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.159 to a standard, whether it's you know, right now, Air 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:00.240 France is trialing something called an a Oka pay s 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.760 um you know, IATA you know has its travel pass, 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.159 the Common Pass, which is something that's backed by the 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.160 World Economic Forum. All of these are basically competing systems 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.520 that in various ways take your vaccination and and and 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.799 COVID testing history and put it uh into a form 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.240 that can somehow be displayed on a screen. Uh. The 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.440 problem is that, um, you know, how that happens can 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.600 really affect how private the data is. So increasingly what 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.960 we're seeing is people are you know, coalescing around sort 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.040 of an open standard that's tied in with the way 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.520 that we look at security on the Worldwide Web, which 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.160 is pretty well adopted around the world. And the key 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.080 here is rather than having a central database that has 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.320 everyone in the world's health data, which is something that 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.919 most people would not want, I'm just gonna say, you 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.040 made me really nervous. Like I think about it's like 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.440 similar to what we're trying to do with, you know, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.640 medical history. Every time I go to the doctor's office, 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:00.800 I'm frustrated that I file something out. But will I 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.280 be ultimately comfortable if there is some universal database that 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:08.760 knows everything medically on me, particularly since that database is 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.160 you know, some people would say that's cool if it's 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.080 just to transport, to transit borders or something like that 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.280 where government is involved, but increasingly, you know, this is 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.440 going to be used in Britain is arguing now about 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.840 whether this can be whether a vaccine passport can be 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.360 used for admissions to pub Look, a lot of thorny 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.719 issues can arise when you're thinking about this type of thing, Carol. 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.279 That was, of course, Bloomberg Business Week Assistant managing editor 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.920 Jim Ellis. Check out the full cover story and coverage 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.160 including more on the uncertain science of vaccine passports. It's 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.040 all in the magazine, on newsstands, online, and on the Bloomberg. 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.360 With everything with COVID, it's never a straight line forward, 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.359 all right. Coming up more on the virus with Nobel 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.560 lauread economist Joseph Stiglets, who talks how we can free 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.920 the world from COVID nineteen. He weighs into on taxes 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.039 as well as Jamie Diamond. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:11.320 This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.600 Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.360 So Tim safe to say, we had so much to 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.800 talk about when Nobel Laureate economist and Columbia University professor 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.120 of economics Joe stick Let's joined us. Yeah. He's also 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.760 a co chair of the Commission on Global Economic Transformation 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.239 at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. The organization recently 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.480 publishing a report on how dealing with the pandemic needs 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.080 to be a global effort and one that takes care 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:41.440 of the developing world. The key point is that that 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:48.360 uh the developing countries, particularly in emerging markets are not 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:53.320 on tracked to have the kind of UH light at 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.400 the end of the tunnel that we're beginning to see 0:07:55.440 --> 0:08:02.120 in the United States into distinct areas. UH, we're getting vaccinated. 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.720 President Biden talked about July four being I heard day 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:10.600 of independence from the from the COVID nineteen And there 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.080 are many many countries, as we document around the world 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.600 that have not had a single vaccine. They just can't 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:21.160 get access, UH, they can't afford it. UH. And one 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.320 of the points we make is that that supply constraint 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:28.160 is in part artificial. UH. The second thing is the 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:33.880 noting States has spent approximately seventeen thousand dollars UH per 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:41.000 capita GDP on UH the Economic Recovery, the Rescue Act 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.400 UH combined with the Cares Act that was last last 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:52.760 spring and the December bill UM. The developing countries are 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.000 spending a fraction of that because they just don't have 0:08:56.080 --> 0:09:00.319 the money. UH. They're spending on average somewhere between two 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:05.200 dollars and seventeen dollars per capita. Compare that with seventeen 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.120 thousand dollars in the United States. Professor, let's start with 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.440 the recovery. When it comes to vaccinations around the world. 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.839 Then get to economics in just a few minutes here, 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.800 but obviously the two are intertwined. I gotta ask, you know, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:21.400 when it comes to this virus, the way that we're 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.480 looking at it, I think so many Americans look at 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.000 it from a perspective of where they live, right in 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.560 their neighborhood, who who they're around in their city, and 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:31.480 those are the statistics that they're looking at, how easy 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:33.920 it is to get them a vaccine. Make the case 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.040 as to why we should take a global approach and 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.600 why we're not out of the pandemic until the world 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.680 is vaccinated. The real reason, one of the real reasons 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:49.120 we ought to be concerned is this virus seems particularly 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:54.400 successful in mutating. And as long as it's mutating, as 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.680 long as it's flourishing in any part of the world, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.840 and the longer it flourishes, the more mutation, some of 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.640 those mutations are going to come back, and to put it, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.880 you know, bite us. We don't know when, and we 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.280 don't know how bad it will be will be Will 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:16.520 those mutations be more um contagious, more deadly? Uh? With 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.880 a uh, We just don't know. So we are at 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:24.840 a very big risk letting this UH virus just basically 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.200 flourish in some parts of the world. And listen, not 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.920 apples to apples, but professor stickles, you know, coming off 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.360 of the financial crisis, I think we learned hopefully a 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.240 lot in terms of we thought this was going to 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.280 be developed you know, the developed world thing. We thought 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.160 it really spread around the globe. In terms of the crisis. 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.800 Is there something that we can or should have learned 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.040 from that crisis that we can carry over to this 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:51.120 crisis in terms of its impact globally? What you remember 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.760 in that particular crisis, Uh. The G twenty was founded 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.800 on the basis of the recognition that we needed to 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:05.080 have a global economic recovery. Gordon Brown, who was the 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.319 Prime Minister of the UK at the time, was particularly forceful. 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.920 He pointed out that if one country is doing well, 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.800 it helps its neighbors, and if it's doing poorly, it 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.080 hurts its neighbors. UH. We've lost enormous number of jobs 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.720 in the export area because of the global slowdown. So 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.600 just in our own self interest that there will be 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.680 a strong global recovery UH and certain sectors, of course, 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.800 if we don't have a slow strong recovery, they just 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.120 won't be able to get back on their feet. So 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.640 that's UH on the economic side, why it's so important 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.280 for this to be a global recovery. Back in two 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.920 thousand and eight nine, China played a very big role 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:55.960 in that global economic recovery. UH. It grew really very 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:00.440 very strongly. Uh. This year China is the only major 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:05.040 country growing, but it's only growing about three UH. Next 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:12.320 year is expected somewhat stronger, but uh uh with Europe 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.920 as weak as it is um a decline of something 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.480 like twice that of the United States eight percent, and 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.280 having a hard time getting the vaccines and getting the 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.079 disease under control, it's really important that developing countries and 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:32.280 emerging markets have a stronger recovery as we can engineer. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:34.880 What do we need to put in place in order 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:36.600 for this to happen at this point? Is this just 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.439 a case of developed government saying, listen, we've got to 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.280 spend a help these developing economies get the vaccine? There 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.760 is it that the first big step that we have 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:48.880 to do health is obviously UH the first order of business, 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:55.800 getting vaccines, therapeutics, protective gear to the UH. Developing countries 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.880 and emerging markets is absolutely necessary. There's a policy for 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.400 amework though that can help facilitate that. And the next 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:08.880 a temporary suspension on some of the intellectual property rights 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:14.840 that pertain particularly to COVID nineteen, meaning allow companies to 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:20.000 reproduce vaccine and other technology so it can quickly be distributed. Absolutely, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.240 and you know that they can pay uh license fee. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.680 It's not like you're uh not compensating those who did 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.520 the basic research. But remember much of that research was 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.079 funded by the public in the United States and in Europe. 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.000 So uh, the and the returns that have all the 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.600 vaccine companies have already obtained or scheduled to obtain this year, 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:47.000 are you look like they will be a enormous return 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.040 on their private investments. Let's talk about your plan and 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:55.600 the Institute for New Economic Thinking, this three pronged strategy 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.679 of helping the world in terms of getting beyond COVID 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.120 and it's impact. We've already talked about vaccines, that vaccines 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.400 need to be made available for the developing world. You also, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.160 though the other two prongs economic recovery policies in debt management. 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.360 Tuck briefly about those I've mentioned earlier that the disco 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.720 space in the United States. It's just so much larger 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.320 than they used to. Developing countries and merchy markets, they 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.560 just don't have much much much they can do. So 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:27.320 if there's the usual stanks of two little depth restructuring 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.640 done too late, these countries growth gets so inhibited they 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.440 aren't able to pay as much as they would be 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.640 able to pay if you gave them more space. Right now. 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.840 That was Nobelt Lauria Economists Joseph Stiglitz, also co chair 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.680 of the Commission on Global Economic Transformation at the Institute 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.960 for New Economic Thinking. I canna say we're just getting 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.360 started with the weekend, so but that was one of 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.480 my favorite conversations this week. Yeah, that was one of 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.840 my favorites as well. We could have gone cold on 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.120 the entire show with them, hours and hours and hours 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:56.680 all right still ahead. There are many worries out there 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.000 when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus, right, we 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.640 know that, and Toll in particular, is that on our 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.320 collective mental well being. The CEO of X Center in 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.720 North America, Jimmy Afridge, walks the talk that conversation next 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:13.800 on Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg broadcasting from the 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.720 financial capital of the world Bloomberg eleven Frio in New 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:22.320 York to Washington, d C. Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg one 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.440 oh six one to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.720 the country Sirius XM Chado one nineteen and around the 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.800 globe the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:37.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week News this week about black 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.800 Stone leading a one hundred million dollar funding round in 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.520 the on demand mental health company Ginger Right. And then 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.040 we also had tim City Group CEO Jane Fraser. She 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.680 banned Friday internal zoom calls and encourage vacations for her staff. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.560 It's all about an effort to combat workplace malaise that's 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.680 been brought down by the pandemic. I mean, everybody's feeling 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.600 kind of wiped out. Yeah, I'd be okay with no 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:01.480 video call Friday's which ever, seriously well our mental well 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.920 being Carol has been one of the other crises over 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.840 the past year, exposing mental health struggles as never before, 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.720 also increasing corporate awareness big time. Think about all the 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.960 conversations we've had with CEOs and leaders about the mental 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:15.200 well being of their their teams. With that in mind, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.440 I did catch up with Jimmy Ethridge. He's the CEO 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.880 of Accenter North America. This happened at the Bloomberg Live 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.120 Mental Health in the Economy Virtual event. I began though, 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.760 by asking him about the economic and market outlook. I 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.480 had to do this, especially since Accentia works with global 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.400 clients in all industries. We survey the C suites of 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.200 our clients a couple of times a year, and the 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.680 outlook right now is as optimistic as it's been. The 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.880 survey that we did in December, which is over fifteen 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.520 hundred C suite executives, the vast majority are anticipating this 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:51.240 case shaped recovery, consistent really around the globe and a 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:56.520 pretty optimistic outlook. A little more optimistic in North America, 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.720 where about half of these executives feel build their growth 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.320 goals by the end of a little more pessimistic when 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.920 you look at Europe and um, you know, I think, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.640 not surprisingly a lot of this is tied to success 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.560 with the vaccine and vaccine deployment. What's happened with COVID 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.320 has really created a little bit of a technology time 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.200 machine and are and clients are moving much more quickly 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:27.240 around technology investments, looking to achieve in ten months what 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.399 normally would have taken them, uh five plus years to do. 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.560 And that's good news for our business because we're exactly 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:36.400 where our clients needs to be. But you know, as 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.119 you were saying with some of the survey results, the 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.440 fact is a lot of the productivity that the clients 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.440 have experienced over the past year, it has really been 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.520 through adrenaline as much as anything. Well, let's talk about 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.400 those pressures. I've seen them firsthand. I've seen them with colleagues, 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.399 I've seen them with family members. Jimmy, what have you 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.080 seen with your employee base, with your leadership team over 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.800 the past year. First of all, I'm really proud of 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.680 what our employees have been able to accomplish. The creativity, 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:09.600 the compassion, and the resiliency. We shifted what has been 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.760 a long traditional client service model of being on site 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.480 at clients with with a lot of our services, to 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.640 completely working remotely and for most of our employees working 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.800 from home. And the fact that we were able to 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.120 do that without skipping a beat with the client service. Um, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.560 the fact that we've had to shift so many key 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.560 processes to being virtual. It's still blows my mind that 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.680 with the thousands of people that Accenture has hired in 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.320 the last year, none of them have ever stepped foot 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.240 in an Accenture office. Probably none of them have met 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.440 in person with Accenture leadership or colleagues. But the compassion 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.560 and grace that I've seen our people try to take 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.399 care of each other, uh in dealing with you know 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:56.359 what's a combination help crisis, economic crisis, and social crisis. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.240 It makes me very proud. However, while the SEMs to 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:05.960 have been incredible, they are clearly feeling the stress, anxiety, depression. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.439 Like a lot of corporations, we do internal surveys and 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.960 it was very clear that everyone is feeling that. And 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.640 I think it kind of goes back to the point 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.600 I made earlier that the adrenaline can only take you 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.280 so far, and the things that are happening to people 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:24.520 that they're having to deal with are really putting a 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.720 lot of pressure on mental health. Well. And you know 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.840 it's interesting is I feel like we all will say 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:30.639 how you doing, I'm doing okay, or I'm having a 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.360 bad day, and then we just kind of brush it off. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.119 But when you start to drill down. And we actually 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.720 took a poll of our audience here and ask the 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.359 question have you experienced any of the following since COVID 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:47.080 nineteen lockdown and almost said they have experienced anxiety? UM, 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:53.280 almost said they felt lonely, depression, and then in terms 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.280 of thoughts of self harm about four percent. Tell me, 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.440 like those results, how do they speak to you? I 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.840 s we can relate to them, and I can relate 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.680 to them personally. I mean, my life is a lot 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.160 different than it was before. Um, I've been I haven't 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:11.240 been on a plane and over a year and you're 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.800 talking about someone who lives lives in airplane and airports. Um. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.320 My dogs have gotten to know me better than the 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.679 guy that just leets us on the weekend. Um. And 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.760 of course I've got the cliche COVID puppy that has 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.040 become a key part of my stress therapy and kind 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.480 of coping mechanisms. But I will say about to your 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.040 point about how are you doing? UM, I'm speaking more 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.800 frequently with the c suites of our clients in part 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.399 because video just enables It's a lot easier than getting 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.280 on a plane and going to meet with someone. I 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:46.919 gotta say, it's a hard thing for most of us, 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.480 Tim to admit, and maybe maybe just look soon for 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.719 a chief empathy officer coming to a company near you. 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.840 It would be nice, right, wouldn't it part of the 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.119 C suite that was the centure in North America CEO 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.720 Jimmy Ethridge. You can watch the full interview on Bloomberg 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:02.720 Lives YouTube page, so be sure to check that out. 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.760 You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week coming up next, speaking 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.240 of empathy. A former NFL pro bowler on athletes being 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.160 agents of change. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. This 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:21.399 is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:27.440 Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik from Bloomberg Radio. So, Tim, 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:29.119 it's over a years since I caught up with former 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.280 NFL pro bowler and fullback for the Atlanta Falcons. I'm 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.520 talking about Ovie Muhailey. We caught up at the Bloomberg 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.840 Power Players Summit. Like I said, about a year ago 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.639 in Miami. Obe's president and founder of the foundation that 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:42.760 bears his name, and Carol, A lot has happened since 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.440 you two last talk. The pandemic. Of course, the Black 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.240 Lives Matter movement gaining so much momentum over the summer 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.440 and more. There was so much I wanted to talk 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:52.880 with him about, and we really got to it. And 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.080 I gotta say, though, like so many of our conversations 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:57.680 to him that we do on our daily radio show, 0:21:57.800 --> 0:21:59.800 we had to begin with what his life has been like. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:04.480 Been been crazy, but um, we're definitely blessed and realizing 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.600 now more than ever that wire blessed to be a blessing. Well, 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:10.600 and it's interesting it's been a year um that you know, 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.280 we talked about the dual crisis, whether it's racism, inequities 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:17.719 obviously the health pandemic, and I just wonder, you know, 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.560 we've had some great leaders in all communities, including the 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:23.320 sports community, kind of step up and help us get 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:25.320 through this. What do you see as kind of the 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.280 roles of of athletes and other leaders in the sports 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:33.400 industry when it's times of crisis. Well, really, it's using 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:37.200 your voice, using your platform for good, and it's wherever 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:40.040 you feel like you can make the most impact. I 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.640 think a lot of people have pivoted whatever their nonprofit 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.360 does to provide COVID solutions, you know, with the work 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:49.520 that I do with um you know the way I 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.280 blessed it on their board and my nonprofit in the 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:54.720 environmental space, we have to just trying to pivot to 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:57.840