Speaker 1:
From the library of the New York Stock Exchange, at the corner of Wall and Broad streets in New York City, you're Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange on markets, leadership, and vision and global business. The dream drivers that have made the NYSE an indispensable institution of global growth for over 225 years. Each week, we feature stories of those who hatch plans, create jobs, and harness the engine of capitalism. Right here, right now, at the NYSE and at ICE's 12 exchanges and six clearing houses around the world. And now welcome Inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Josh king of Intercontinental Exchange.
Josh King:
Even without the participation at last month's World Economic Forum in Davos of UK Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump, along with the rest of the white house delegation, the curtain went up, and we all watched. This year, it was perhaps a throwback to the origin of the conference 48 years ago in 1971, then named the European Management Forum, when corporate leaders gathered under the auspices of Klaus Schwab, a German born business professor at the University of Geneva. Back in that summer of '71, Schwab gathered over 400 executives from Western Europe, to introduce them to American management practices. His goal, have them embrace the stakeholder management approach.
Josh King:
Urging corporate leaders to think about all of their constituents, not just shareholders, when making the calls that would drive Europe's ongoing post-war advancement. Very quickly, 1973, world events intervened. The collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate mechanism, the Arab Israeli war, I mean, suddenly Schwab's creation became a sort of extra governmental UN, with the added participation of the good and the great, from global business to chip in their 2 cents, on world events. In 1988, the so-called Davos Declaration, signed by Greece and Turkey, brought those two nations back from the brink, and in 1992, South African President F.W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela, made their first joint appearance outside of Africa, signaling the end of apartheid. 1993, Israel's Shimon Peres, and the PLO's Yasser Arafat hammered out their agreement on Gaza and Jericho, against the backdrop of the snowy Alps. A productive gathering judging by these turning points in history. But, behind the scenes, as always, the global Confab for corporate kibitzing continued to grow.
Josh King:
This year at Davos about 2,500 of the world's elite showed up in Switzerland to swap stories, do deals with the direct impact on the economies, from the Americas, to Europe, and Africa, also in Asia. Along the way they hope to learn a thing or two, about how the rest of the world reacts to corporate behavior. The Pi Piper of business trust at Davos is our guest today. My old friend, Richard Edelman, president and CEO of marketing and communications firm Edelman, a longtime attendee of the forum, who punctuates each gathering, with the latest installment of the Edelman Trust Barometer. Richard stock and trade is reputation brand building, helping the world's largest companies, tell their stories and connect with consumers for over 40 years. Our conversation with Richard on Davos, corporate reputation and his 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, the go-to measurement of what stakeholders care most about, this year when they do business with companies, including those listed here at the NYSE. That's right. After this.
Speaker 3:
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Josh King:
Our guest today, Richard Edelman, is president and CEO of Edelman. The world's largest privately held PR firm, with over 60 offices and 6,000 employees worldwide. A family owned business, it's been Edelman's mission, to understand audiences and partner with leading corporations to promote, and protect their businesses, for over six decades. After receiving his MBA from Harvard, Richard joined the firm his dad founded in 1978, becoming president of the company in 1985, and adding the CEO title in 1996. Edelman came on my radar a few years earlier, when I was at the White House, and Richard's then vice chairman, Michael Deaver, who was Ronald Reagan's Deputy Chief of Staff generously offered to mentor me in the early months of the Clinton years. And I've known Richard for a long time. In fact, my old colleague, former the White House press secretary, Joe Lockhart, a recent guest on this program, has taken on Deaver's old role as vice chairman of the firm.
Josh King:
You follow Richard's Facebook or Twitter feeds, which you can find @richardwedelman, you quickly discover the world through his eyes, during his visits to his offices and clients, at distant points of the planet. Carrying his suitcase, if he didn't carry it himself, would make for a virtually nonstop world tour. He's become a fixture at Davos, where he stages his annual release of the Trust Barometer, and shares and collects insights in the cozy dens, of the global community that gather there. Now back in the States, he's here, at the NYSE to report on what he said, and what he saw. Richard, welcome inside the ICE House.
Richard Edelman:
Thanks Josh. Good to be here.
Josh King:
Davos, you're surrounded by many of the world's influential leaders, economic policy makers, business magnets, including Edelman clients. Take us inside the preparation that you undertake for your firm and your client before you head over there.
Richard Edelman:
Well, the most important thing we do is try to understand the dimensions of trust. And we report every year out on a study in 26 countries, and we talk to people who are elites, meaning informed publics, college plus educated, 75K plus income, read three or four media a day, and then everybody else. And one group is 15%, the other is 85%. And so our homework in a sense, is to try to understand which is the optimistic part of the world, trusting in institutions, which is not, and what the attitudes are towards chief executives, and also what their attitudes are towards various media channels. And finally, what's the big story of the year. Is it about populism, or is it about employees or that?
Josh King:
You did the first report I think in 2000. Right? What spoored its creation?
Richard Edelman:
Basically the battle in Seattle in 1999, when the NGO stormed the World Trade Organization meeting, and said globalization's a fundamental evil. And that jobs were being lost, and it was unfair, and the wealth was all going to the rich. And that was the beginning in a way of the populism.
Josh King:
What's the work that goes into creating it?
Richard Edelman:
The work is actually... it starts in the summer when we try to come around to a couple of areas of interest. And actually two years ago, we focused on fears, fears of immigration or fears of innovation. Last year we focused on the media. And this year we focused on employees and the workplace.
Josh King:
Whether it was the battle in Seattle or something after that, when did you get a sense that this was really starting to break through? Bring me back to that moment when the headlines really started popping from the research you were uncovering.
Richard Edelman:
I think it was 2009 when the great recession hit. And we really understood the big rise in government, the decline of business, the demise of trust and CEOs, and the consequence of loss of faith. And how long it takes for there to be a recovery. And a second moment of "aha" was around 2015/2016, when we started seeing the mass class divide and all of a sudden, the elites had a fundamentally different view of the world than everybody else.
Josh King:
So you said this year you're focused on employees? What were the big headlines coming out of Davos that have been written about the Trust Barometer in the last few weeks?
Richard Edelman:
The big headline is trust at work. That in fact trust has moved. Initially it was vertical, from the top down, from CEOs, or heads of state, then it moved to horizontal, about 10 years ago, to a person like myself, peer to peer. And now it's moved to local. And trust is actually at work, because the most trusted institution is my employer. Which is a stunning 20 points higher than normal business, 25 points higher than government, 30 points higher than media. And it's big change in the ecosystem. Because I only trust that which is close to me. And that which I feel like I control, which is my employment situation, because it's a full employment economy, I don't like my employer. I leave, I get another job.
Josh King:
One of the attendees in Davos was our own president, Stacy Cunningham, making the rounds on Squack Box, on CNBC and Maria Bartiromo show on Fox business news, talking to also Eric Shutster on Bloomberg, all of that magnificent Alpen backdrop behind her. I want to hear a part of an exchange with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, a debate that continued when the cameras went dark.
Andrew Ross Sorkin :
But one of the things that's fascinating is so far at least, neither of the two major exchanges, which basically have a monopoly over this whole franchise, have not taken any... what I would describe as have made any value based decisions about who lists on your exchange. Explain that.
Stacey :
I will explain that. I think it's really important that we avoid making requirements and regulations that prevent companies from coming to the public markets. The public markets serve a social good. Our mission is to help companies raise money, so then go out and save the world.
Josh King:
Richard, Stacey he wants to let investors do the talking with their free choice of what they buy or sell, but someone like Larry Fink has staked out a very different ground.
Richard Edelman:
So I think this is actually going to be determined, not by the investors as much as it is by the employees. And I think that's the fundamental change in this year's Trust Barometer. That, employees are going to vote with their feet. And is starting with the tech industry. And employees at Salesforce, for instance, saying, "We're not going to work on a border patrol piece of software." Or Amazon, "We protest working conditions." Or other. So if you want the best and the brightest, you've got to have a mission that is understood, and is a societal based, not just monies based.
Josh King:
In this year's report, continuing on this theme, 76% of those surveys said they wanted CEOs to take the lead on change, instead of waiting up for a government. Here's PayPal's CEO, Dan Schulman, talking about that at one of your events.
Dan Schulman :
I think we as CEOs, not only have the opportunity, but the moral responsibility to step up and lead in areas that are consistent with our company's values, and its mission. We can't be about everything, but we should have a mission that inspires. We should have values that support that, and we need to stand up for that.
Josh King:
Richard, you're probably going to leave the library here at the New York Stock Exchange any minute to go uptown, to meet with another CEO. What is the moral responsibility of a CEO as Schulman was laying it out?
Richard Edelman:
Well, in Schulman's case, because he's a client, he's trying to get a billion people in the world who don't have access to finance, connected through their phones. And he's trying to connect them to the real world that way. So the unbanked, he's going to connect. And that kind of big mission that is going to make money, but also going to serve society, is what I think a CEO should be aiming for. So in the case of Under Armor, it's maybe to get kids to exercise. Or in the case of Microsoft is to get kids to feel comfortable with innovation and technology. And so these are all companies... and by the way, Microsoft, I have to give a big credit to, they put 500 million dollars, into low and middle income housing in Seattle, because it's now an unaffordable place for cops and firemen and teachers. And so if you want to have a good workforce, you extrapolate to, "Well, how are these other people going to live? Who support us?" And that's a broader definition, but one that I think is consistent with Larry Fink's letter about the broader view of capitalism.
Josh King:
Another CEO on one of your panels was Penny Pritzker, who of course served under President Obama, as the Secretary of Commerce. Here's part of what she said at one of your events.
Penny Pritzker:
And I'm a huge believer in multi-lateral engagement, and it's hard, and it's messy and it's difficult, but if there's one lesson I learned when I was in government, which is, it's absolutely essential to solve the most challenging problems. So I don't think it's in either/or but I think CEOs cannot solve all these problems.
Josh King:
Is there a limit to what a CEO can do?
Richard Edelman:
Absolutely. A CEO though, in a city like Chicago can make sure that his or her company is partnered with community colleges. So that in fact that experience is improved. Or can be involved in the anti-violence campaign. By direct donations and also funding non-profits, that are helping kids get educated after school and whatnot. So I think, it's essential that every company have roots in a community, and also that the company look at ways to connect its employees into that kind of work.
Josh King:
Let's leave the continental United States for a second because you are a prolific traveler and writer of your journeys. Let's take a quick trip around the world and have you share some of the thoughts for those that follow you @richardwedelman and get it in real time, Japan, you wrote that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe still exhibits passion for his country, as a leader in technology for sustainability, with scientists working to make hydrogen and energy option, priced on par with natural gas. Are they up to that based on what you saw?
Richard Edelman:
So, he also was very keen on robotics, because he has a declining birth rate, demographics that are that are difficult. But I find the Japanese deeply focused on a clean society. In the wake of Fukushima. They almost have no choice, after that disaster in 2011 of the nuclear plant. And in fact, Japan ranks as the second lowest trust country in the world, which given its economic performance, wouldn't be indicated, but since Fukushima, they've never recovered. And so a lot of what he talks about, hydrogen-
Josh King:
The land is recovering but the trust is not.
Richard Edelman:
But the trust is not. A lot of what he talks about is prompted by a trust failure.
Josh King:
Moving over to Europe, Germany Chancellor, Angela Merkel, her patients with President Trump continuing to thin, proposes a European Security Council, as a hedge against NATO's future, to take Europe's matters into their own hands with regard to Russia, China, and the US. You're feeling more of the schism when you're over there.
Richard Edelman:
Absolutely Josh, I mean, in fact, at the Munich Security Conference this week, the evidence split between the Americans and the Europeans could not be broader. Because the Europeans believe that they have to have their own option now. And that's a big change.
Josh King:
You were on a panel with Danish foreign minister, Christian Jensen, talking about the fourth industrial revolution. What are the prospects for mandatory pension plan for employees of sharing economy firms with the costs split between business and government?
Richard Edelman:
Well, Denmark, is a interesting small experiment, in everything from alternative energy to social safety net, and how applicable that is to the US, for instance, brawling, sprawling economy is hard to say, but he was making the case for a very mobile workforce on the basis of knowing that their backs are covered. That they're willing to move. But how far can you move in Denmark? I mean, it's a hundred miles. But the bigger premise is, to move between industries. And that they're therefore agile between going from Lego to a drug company, because they know they can fail forward, and not have a problem.
Josh King:
You mentioned earlier the work that Microsoft is doing to build housing in the Pacific Northwest, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was talking about the next generation of jobs being less about resumes, and more about skills. With 47% of jobs, were used to potentially being disrupted in the next 20 years, something's got to give. I think Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan said, we let attrition be our friend. You walk in the doors of these companies all the time. Is this a trend?
Richard Edelman:
So my big message to companies is, retraining and threat of automation is the existential crisis. We found that in fact, the number one fear this year, was fear of automation. And so if people are always looking behind them, they don't run very fast forward. And so the question for companies is, "How much am I going to spend on retraining? How am I going to do it? Who am I going to retrain? Is it just the people who are going to stay here or am I responsible for the broader workforce? And what am I doing to get those people connected to community colleges or other?" And I think essentially, this is capitalism's big challenge, in the next couple of decades. Because all the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution at the moment seem to be going to capital. And labor is going to get very aggravated.
Josh King:
In the end you wrote that, as I'm going to quote you, "I left Davos so the clear understanding that corporate Chieftons are prepared to step into the void left by a dysfunctional and dyspeptic government sector." Might we be on the cusp of a new Renaissance in corporate trust?
Richard Edelman:
So Josh, if companies take the difficult nettle of retraining, and absorb their share of the cost, and not try to all pass it on to go government, what's going to happen here is, it's either going to be, wait for government to do it, and then government overreacts. Or business takes it on, takes it in stride, starts to really be bold in this. And that's a better outcome. Because otherwise you'll have a big overreaction
Josh King:
After the break, Richard and I dive a little deeper into the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, and explore Edelman's 60-year history, from Richard's over 20 years at the helm of the company, to what lies ahead for the future of marketing and communications. That's right after this.
Speaker 9:
We discover lifesaving and life transforming medicine. We are working in the field of oncology, neuroscience, rare disease, gastroenterology, but we have about 50,000 employees in the world, we are present in 80 countries. Well driven by very strong values, our company was created in 1781, and hopefully a long future in front of us. Takeda is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Josh King:
Welcome back Inside the ICE House, Intercontinental Exchanges podcast with business leaders, innovators, and profits of capitalism. Our guest today, Richard Edelman, president and CEO of the world's largest privately held PR firm, Edelman. Richard, you recently released your second annual special report, Edelman Trust Barometer, institutional investors. Can you explain for our listeners how this version stemmed from the original Edelman Trust Barometer?
Richard Edelman:
Well, we wanted to focus on those people who are the holders of wealth and whether or not they cared about ESG in a serious way, or whether it was simply, window dresses.
Josh King:
Larry Fink clearly does.
Richard Edelman:
Yeah, well he does. And we wanted to prove out that others do or don't. And the stunning finding was, 90 plus percent of people said, "This is a major risk-come-opportunity, and we've got to take this seriously." And it is a core part of our decision-making about buying shares.
Josh King:
Is that the polite answer for surveyors and survey researchers, or is that what they're really thinking? Did you get under their skin?
Richard Edelman:
I think that the consensus is, the risk of big environmental problems, or, people look at what happened to that utility in California, PSEG, and the fire and the bankruptcy, and they think "That's catastrophic. And that's all caused by climate change." And so, "I want to be safe from those kinds of risks. I also want to invest in companies that are five to 10 years out on delivery or... what's going to happen to retail?" All this is somehow tied to sustainable development goals.
Josh King:
Cyber security, income inequality, workplace diversity ranked at the top of this list, while immigration ranked fifth out of a list of five. And yet we just witnessed the longest government shutdown in our country's history. Due mainly to a stalemate on immigration. Where's the disconnect?
Richard Edelman:
I think that the executive branch in Congress are behind the people. And that we're fighting the last battle. And I would hope that our elected officials update their focus onto cybersecurity.
Josh King:
The report also found Richard, that most companies don't fully acknowledge the new risks to their business, from the current political climate. What must companies do to take action and educate their board, employees and consumers, about what's going on in Washington?
Richard Edelman:
Well, what became evident to me in Davos is that, politics is now a serious, big risk factor. A serious inhibitor to growth that trade deals, and tariffs, and somehow the rise of nationalism causing there to be the risk of boycotts, of brands from America or whatever. That is a new phenomenon in the last two or three years. And it's now reached a point where people are saying, "Maybe I'll in source manufacturing." Or, "Maybe I'll refocus on developed markets, as opposed to developing." So, it's having a big impact on behavior.
Josh King:
Often when the phone rings at Richard Edelman's desk at Edelman, it is from a CEO who is suddenly beset by an activist investor. And 87% of institutional investors say their firms are more interested in taking an activist approach to investing, and yet your report also found that most companies aren't prepared to handle these campaigns. The headlines are full of activist moves right now. Why are companies often so flat foot that you have to start from scratch when they make the first call to you?
Richard Edelman:
Activist investors prompt corporate behavior, and corporations are somehow unwilling to reinvent or, "It too risky." Or, "My tenure as CEO is too short anymore." And I think in a way, Clay Christensen's idea of obsolescence of forcing yourself to replace yourself, all the time, with the Kodak story and others, is so important. In fact, I'm trying to do this at Edelman. I'm trying to say, "Look, the media and communications business is so changed. 40% as many reporters as a decade ago. We have our oxygen supplies being choked off. So if we hadn't invested in creatives who allow us to tell stories, and in a digital business that allows us to go direct to the end user of information, we'd be choked." And so I saw this six or seven years ago, and we've moved in that direction. There's 25% of our business going up to 50, probably.
Josh King:
I mean, in fact, last week Richard, you announced that Judy John, the current chief creative officer and CEO of Canada for Leo Burnett, would join Edelman as your first ever global chief creative officer. In announcing this new position, you said, and I quote, "Now it's time to go to the next level. To make the case for Edelman, as the lead creative partner, when a brand or business wants to disrupt the market by taking a stand." What's your hope for this new role to help strengthen Edelman's reach across many different platforms and communications functions?
Richard Edelman:
So basically, a company like CVS, when they take cigarettes off the shelf, is making a statement. When REI closes its stores for Black Friday, and says all the workers need to go out and exercise and be with their families, that's making a statement. And when Dove creates a studio for women to produce ads, when there are none, that's a statement. And so we want to be the firm when a company wants to do something. So, our theme line is, act with certainty. And we really think that smart companies are going to start to rely on what I call, earned creative. And that means that the idea is so strong, that in fact, it's carried in earned media, then in your own media, I mean your own web channels, then in social, and paid, meaning buying ads is only to support and accelerate the rest of it.
Richard Edelman:
That's a very unusual approach to business. It's something that you again, have done a lot in politics. And it's a very politics driven approach. And if you do an ad, you just do a one page print ad in the paper, and then you do free media all around it. Well, that's the same philosophy. Have an idea and have it be powerful enough that people want to debate it and talk about it. And that's why the Gillette campaign for instance, was so interesting a couple of weeks ago, or the Nike campaign with Kaepernick. All of these are on controversial issues, but they put the brand into conversation. And then it becomes, "How many people can we attract beyond our core, and get them to join us?"
Josh King:
I mean, in some respects, the Edelman Trust Barometer is earned creative of its own right. You have to sit there in the summer, and think about these themes that will generate conversation, that will generate argument, that will generate debate come January. I mean, before long, I imagine you'll be starting to work on the 2020 barometer. Last year marked your 40th year, with the firm that your dad started. Think about your dad. Did he know what he was getting into when he put his name on the shingle on that door? How did it all start for him?
Richard Edelman:
Well, he wanted to be the first marketing PR person. And he invented the media tour and he took the Tony Twins out on tour, and he did brand PR for Sarah Lee and for ReaLemon, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Wines of California. And he really put the power of the earned media behind brands for the first time. And he understood the power of television, because he'd worked at CBS and he appreciated that this was going to change football-
Josh King:
What did he do at CBS?
Richard Edelman:
He stayed up all night writing news copy for Arthur Godfrey. Yeah. In Grand central Station, in the glassed in area that you walked past. And that was his little desk from 10:00 PM until seven or eight in the morning. And then he'd go home, to try and sleep.
Josh King:
You recently wrote a letter to him, on the sixth anniversary of his passing. I want to quote from it. You said, "I find myself sitting in his office, as I try to do as often as I can, as business will allow, I feel close to him here and I feel I can connect with him." He left high standards to live up to didn't he?
Richard Edelman:
Yeah, he was a very demanding guy. But you don't start a business with four people in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and wind up with 6,000 people in 60 plus offices around the world, and stay private and independent without having a fierce will and a vision. And I've tried to live up to that standard. And, you know we work together for 35 years. And so I have him on my shoulder every day saying, "Why the hell did you invest in that market?" And, "Come on, boy."
Josh King:
I mean, you're very honest when you write that open letter to him about both the successes that the firm is facing, and also the challenges and the things you got to do better.
Richard Edelman:
Yeah. Well, look, I think that the-
Josh King:
That must be a value of being a private firm.
Richard Edelman:
You're correct. Listen, in my first year as CEO, I hired a CFO who put in a financial system that didn't allow us to send bills to clients. And that was real genius. And oh well, I thought he was going to scream the hell out of me, and he just said, "Look, just don't do it again." And we just replaced the system and the CFO.
Josh King:
In the hospital room with him, he'd want to see the monthly financial statements and rag on underperforming offices. If he was at Soldier Field on Chicago on January 6th, how would he have taken Cody Parkey to task for the missed field goal? Let's hear the replay.
Speaker 10:
... as it so often does. 43 yard attempt, from the right. And... oh he hits he upright again. That's impossible. And the Eagles run out into the field but there're still five seconds. So they've got to get-
Josh King:
What would your dad say to that?
Richard Edelman:
A moment that lives in infamy. He would've been berserk. He would've thrown both shoes at the TV set. And... I don't know, he was such a Cubs fan. I just wish he had lived to see the Cubs win The World Series. That was big.
Josh King:
Looking back 40 years, Richard, was there ever any doubt in your mind that you'd go into the family business? Working for dad is always a daunting task.
Richard Edelman:
Well, I mean, I was all set to go work for Playtex in Stanford, Connecticut. And he called me at Harvard B School and said, "I have an offer to be acquired by DDB advertising, and I don't really want to do it. And you should just come here for a year. And if you don't like it, you can do something else." And so I went to work in Chicago. And I was all set to go on a couple month European vacation with a very attractive person. So I was finishing my exams and he called and said, "We just won a client called Conti Commodity. You know about commodity futures, you're here on Monday." So I had to call the girl and say, "I can't come." Oh, well, I understood then that family business is the opposite of what the image is.
Josh King:
You wrote about your dad's grandchildren in your letter to him. Only Amanda seems to be escaping the firm's pull at this moment, beyond places like the New York Times, rare that three generations of a family can keep their business private and each have a turn at the shop.
Richard Edelman:
Well, I think Amanda's now coming around to maybe going to business school and maybe working for us next year, so let's see. But I think that if I am successful, then one of them has a chance to succeed me, or maybe two of them together. Let's see. But I'm not going to put in jeopardy the business, let's be clear. I'm going to put someone qualified to run it, and if they're only owners, that's another way to go. That would be just fine.
Josh King:
So much changing consolidation, the advertising and PR world over the last year Richard with WPP and its subsidiaries being exhibit A. How much of this is Facebook and Google swallowing the industry whole? How have you resisted what I imagine may have been many offers to sell out and be part of a larger organization?
Richard Edelman:
Well, the first question is, what does the business look like? And by the way, the third part here is Amazon which is now taking up 10% of the marketing spend Josh. So those three together are 70 or so percent. There is a important fundamental shift here away from the purchased affinity. And so the classic ad agencies, JWT, YNR, in my mind, have to be paired with digital shops in order to be as fast and as clever about going direct. And the idea that we've had, which is pairing digital with PR, is a different way of looking at it. And I believe we have a very robust business and good opportunity to make that transition. And how have I resisted? Just say "No." Because we've had a lot of people who have made offers for us and neither my dad nor I ever wanted a boss. And I think the people who stayed at Edelman like my COO and the guy who runs the US... et cetera, CFO have all been there 20 plus years. And we like being the pirate ship. It's different.
Josh King:
In 2011, Edelman established the Global Women's Executive Network, recently rebranded as the Global Women's Equality Network. You've stated that you're taking steps to promote more women into senior management as well as to recruit racially diverse talent. Do you have any suggestions for businesses looking to take similar steps?
Richard Edelman:
Well, I can report that our executive committee is now 45% women as of... we're announcing next week, a couple of additions. And that's a huge change from the 20%. You just have to be deliberate about it, and you have to train people, hire people in and make it clear that you give the same opportunity to women. And by the way, I have three daughters who are going to succeed me. And so, the firm better be ready for that.
Josh King:
I mean, as we wrap up Richard, you called your dad who founded the firm in 1952, a champion of women. One of the key findings of the 2019 Trust Barometer is, women trust less. So on the flip side, they're more engaged than ever spiking, 23 points in engagement over the last year. If you needed an any optics to underpin that, nothing more appropriate than that pointed clap from Speaker Pelosi to President Trump at the state of the union. It spoke volumes.
Richard Edelman:
The truth is, in the United States, women trust business 15 points less than men. Why? The pay gap, the fact that there are very few female CEOs and the MeToo issues. And over time also Josh, women have processed that in their minds. "We are at greater risk to automation than men." The initial job loss was to guys in factories. The next is going to be in health services, in retailing, and so all this is a big warning sign to business. That they have to make sure that women get a fair shake.
Josh King:
Well, I know you got to run, you've got clients waiting for you uptown. Thanks so much for making a quick stop at the exchange and joining us Inside the ICE House Richard.
Richard Edelman:
Josh, you're a good friend and thank you for having me on.
Josh King:
That's our conversation for this week. Our guest was Richard Edelman. CEO, and president of Edelman. If you like what you heard, please rate us, on iTunes, so other folks know where to find us. If you've got a comment or a question you'd like one of our experts to tackle on a future show, email us @[email protected] or tweet at us @NYSE. Our show is produced by Theresa DeLuca and Pete Ash with production assistance from Ken Abel. I'm Josh King your host, signing off from the library of the New York Stock Exchange, thanks for listening, talk to you next week.
Speaker 1:
Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and do not sponsor, approve, or endorse any of the content herein. All of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell. A solicitation of an offer to buy any security or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.
