NE Biz Report: The Health of Small Businesses

On today’s program, we speak with the CEO of Alignable, Eric Groves,  about the health of small businesses. Grant Welker, reporter for the Boston Business Journal, takes us through the top business stories of the week. Andrew Brinker, business reporter with the Boston Globe, examines the high cost of housing. Rob Fitzgerald, an executive with the company Blue Mantis talks about AI and security concerns. And finally Skip Perham. Sports management program Director at the Suffolk University Sawyer school of business,  examines the Rafael Devers trade

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Shortsleeve
and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of the
top business news impacting our New England economy.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
And good morning and welcome to the New England Business Report.
On this Sunday, it would be the first Sunday of
summer June, the twenty second. Joe shorts lived here with
a smiling Kim Kerrigan. Yes, Kim, the summer of twenty
twenty five is officially underway.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well, and you know what I got to tell you.
I know that you say that the summer. Your mother
always said the summer comes to an end on the
fourth of July. But at my house we always say
that the seventeenth of June is the day that mother
Nature flips the switch career in New England. And this
last week it was. It was a day later and boom,
the weather got warmer and it started to get nicer,

(00:46):
and here we go with the summer.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh yeah, no. The weather guy, Ed Carroll, I worked
with the Channel four for many years. He always talked
to how quick time goes. Ed Carroll is now saying, well,
we're carving pumpkins and rake and leaves at this point.
But yeah, summer kicked in Friday night, ten two pm.
And Kim, I'm also here to report that the week
before that, on Saturday, June fourteenth, my daughter did get married. Yes,

(01:10):
and everything was fine. The weather was not fine, which okay,
but the wedding itself was perfectly fine and it was
a big success, fantastic. Well, congratulations to you and your daughter.
And I'm sort of glad for you that it's in
the history books.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I know it's a lot of stress.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Boy, yeah, it is something in the day is over.
You're kind of like, what just happened?

Speaker 4 (01:36):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Okay, today's program, we're gonna be talking with the CEO
of Alignable, Eric grows Now. Alignable is an online referral
network for small businesses, and some eight million businesses use
this referral network. And while small businesses aren't really happy
these days, in fact, they're pretty miserable. John Hurst, the
head of the Retailers Association in this state, says they're

(01:58):
flat out angry. Right, I mean, that's basical good it's
been saying that's right.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, and I think that when we see this survey
that Alignable has done, we get a real sense of
how tough these times are for these small businesses.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, Grant Welker, a reporter with the Boston Business Journal.
He's going to be along to talk about a whole
basket of headlines, one being market basket, you know, and
the ousting of the CEO there. But it's actually been
kind of quiet. In fact that BBJ has an article
about why is it so quiet and not so angry
and loud like it was back in twenty fourteen. He

(02:33):
also was going to talk to us about real estate
sales and some of them aren't as exactly as they
had hoped. That is, for saying, buying low and selling high,
that's not happening.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Can it be more frustrating than buying something and selling
it for less?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
All Right?

Speaker 3 (02:49):
In the second half hour, Joe Andrew Brinker is going
to be our guest. He's from the Boston Globe. Andrew
has been following the housing crisis here in Massachusetts, and
this past week he wrote a piece explained, I mean,
why the state is facing the magnitude of housing issues
that it is, and by the way, I noted that
he also later in the week updated the town of

(03:11):
Milton and how they finally have come into compliance with
the MBTA Communities Act. Of course, that's that act that
requires towns that have MBTA stations in them to zone
a certain amount around those stations for housing. Milton really
fought that and it looks like they finally have come
into compliance. Right, so we can talk to Andrew about

(03:35):
how they finally came to a resolution when it comes
to that issue. Then Rob Fitzgerald wlu Mantis will join
us for a discussion on how businesses can protect themselves
when it comes to AI. You know, not everything about
artificial intelligence is great. Now, there's a lot about it
that is really good, but there are some issues the
businesses need to keep track of and be aware that

(03:57):
could possibly happen. So we're going to talk to him.
I'm about some of those.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know, people get scammed without AI, and now with AI,
I mean it takes it to a whole new level.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know, it really does, Joe. You know one of
the things I was actually just talking to someone about
how they were looking for a job and AI was
going through all the resumes and picking people. But they
did it by buzzwords. Well, if you're smart enough to
use those buzzwords, you may not be qualified for the job,
but you'll get an interview, so you know, is AI
really helping some of these businesses? And finally talk about

(04:29):
a whirlwin. While you were down there enjoying the wedding festivities,
the Red Sox were making some pretty big decisions last
week and ultimately I think we all know Raffi Devers
has been traded to the Giants. What was behind this decision?
What does it mean financially for this team? And will
this change things so that they're playing baseball in October?

(04:51):
Skip perm is going to join us to talk about that.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, the Business of Sports from the Sawyer School of
Business there at Suffolk University along and he's taking a
close look at this and you know one question he's asking,
did the Red Sox get a maximum return on this trade?

Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Okay, all everybody has an opinion about the trade, but
what did we get? What did we get for this
prolific hitter?

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, Joe, first, you know, we've made a mission here
on the New England Business Report to help our listeners
stay up to date on the small business environment during
what I think is really uncertain economic times. And we
are joined once again by the CEO of Alignable, and
that of course is a platform for small business owners
across the country to network. Eric Groves is with us.

(05:34):
Great to have you with us, Like always, Eric, certainly
before we get started, because you guys have a new
survey with some of these small business owners who are
on your platform. Before we talk about that. Am I
overstating when I say these are uncertain times for small businesses?

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Not at all? You know.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
I think when it comes to being a business owner,
you're always sort of focused on trying to understand and
forecast the future, right because you're buying products and supplies,
and you really have to feel good about where the
economy is going and have some guardrails around how what
your expectations are for that, and when those guardrails are

(06:13):
moving all over the place, it's incredibly disruptive to small
business owners.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Talking with Eric gros CEO of Alignable, why don't we
tell our listeners a little bit more about Alignable? What
are you? Who are you? I understand that eight million
small businesses use you guys, tell us how Alignable fits in.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well? Basically, if you think about as a business owner,
you're one of your most critical assets is your network.
And really understanding that people within your network not only
from the products and services they offer, but who they know.
And so Alignable is a platform that allows businesses to
kind of move that network that's a stack of business
cards sitting on a desk or in a drawer online

(06:53):
and really unlock all of the potential and see into
your network and your network's network. So if you're looking
to try and attract new customers, you can very easily
identify who are the three or four people in your
network that are actually connected to those people, and so
it's sort of like this really cool way to really

(07:13):
understand your network and activate it so you can start
driving your business to new customers and new services and
new suppliers and things like that. So it's across North
America and we've, like I said, we were adding about
eighty thousand businesses at this point.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Well, that's terrific. Congratulations to you guys.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Eric, that's incredible.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, it really is. It's fantastic. So recently you guys
did a survey that included about four thousand small businesses
who are on the platform. Give us an idea of
what they were saying.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, I think the big takeaway is that they're still
under significant financial pressure. According to the latest a Linable survey,
about fifty four percent of local business owners say they're
earning half or less than that than they did last
year at this time. So it's clear that tariffs, inflation,
and the unpredictability of consumer spending are creating a tough

(08:04):
economic climate for business owners to really think about the future,
especially for retail restaurants and service providers that have to
plan ahead for the summerset season and now even into
the back to school season. You know, they're trying to
figure out what to do and how to position their
businesses for success, and they're struggling.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
What evidence are you showing of that on your network? Alignable?
I mean, how does it manifest itself? How do you
how do you know they're so miserable?

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Well, we serve in them and we ask them, you know,
where are you from a revenue perspective, and then we
ask them what are you doing about it? I think
one of the most beautiful things about small business owners
is their resiliency. So they don't sort of just sit
still and say, oh, well, whatever will be will be.
They really focus on taking action and what we're seeing

(08:55):
them do in the survey results was they're prioritizing customer retention.
They're going to their existent customers and trying to figure
out how do they bring them back more frequently and
increase the revenue from each customer. They're focused on cost cutting,
so we see this a lot in the discussions between
business owners. You know, where are you identifying costs that

(09:16):
you can cut in a florist, in a bakery, in
a website design firm in order to continue to have
decent margin. And then finally, what we're seeing is they're
networking more. They are reaching into the people that they know,
activating relationships and using those to identify partners and customers,

(09:36):
and really being much more proactive at feeding that cycle
of word of mouth referrals. That's the number one source
of new customers for business is word of mouth. Right.
We surveyed them and they said eighty five percent say,
my best new customer comes from somebody I already know.
But you have to activate that, you have to invest
in it. And that's what we're seeing them do more
and more on the platform. We saw it during COVID

(09:59):
and we're seeing it now as well.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Really fighting back, I think is the term that you
guys used in the survey, which is amazing. Give us
a sense, you know, because you've been working with these
small businesses, you've been tracking them. Give us a sense
of the difference between where they are now versus maybe
where they were were eighteen months ago.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well eighteen months ago when we served them, there was
an enormous amount of optimism because they thought they could
see forward to a path of economic conditions improving. And
you know, they saw the new administration, they thought, you know,
taxes would get addressed from a small business owner's perspective,

(10:40):
and then, you know, I think what happened was they
got into a situation where that it changed from how
do we make lives easier for small business owners and
reduce their tax burden to now a situation where their
costs are going up because of tariffs and uncertainty, and

(11:03):
they're scrambling to try and figure out how do I
maintain my margins when my costs are going out without
pushing too much of it to my customers because they've
got to keep their customers coming back. And so you know,
how much will you repay for a hamburger? You know,
if it goes to fifty bucks at burger. People are

(11:23):
going to stop going to restaurants, and so they're constantly
treading that tight line of you know, trying to make
margin when the costs are going up and they're seeing
you know, consumers to the start to claw back, and
it's just a ripple effect across the whole economy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Eric grow is the CEO of Alignable.

Speaker 7 (11:42):
Now.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
I know you're a national platforms you deal with national issues,
but at the same time, here in this state, John Horris,
president of the Retailers Association, identified three topics. I want
to talk about employer funded unemployment insurance which is so expensive,
talked about rising healthcare costs, and in this state, he
talked about the mass save energy efficiency initiatives. Tell those
three topics, how important are they to small business owners?

(12:06):
And are you seeing those topics on the national level.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Those are not specifically topics that we've surveyed about, so
I can't speak to them specifically, but when we do
talk to them, you know, a lot of the regulations
really are at the state level, and so each state
will have sort of a varying response to that type
of situation where they're looking at either costs that are

(12:32):
borne by the small business owner or added regulations that
they have to deal with. And you know, it's a
very common topic and a frustration for business owners. And
it's not surprising that this individual was focused on that
because that's one of the places where there is a
lot of legislative effort to try and curtail those costs
and reel them in a little bit. So it's not

(12:54):
surprising to hear that about the Massachusetts business owners.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
And Eric. A last question from me, I'm just wondering,
can you guys see this state by state or region
by region? Do you get a sense that some, you know,
some areas are stronger than others, or some are less optimistic.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Absolutely, we do look at it by by state and
by industry because we have four thousand responses, you know,
across North America. We consider to see exactly what's happening
in Massachusetts and what's happening in the country. You know,
this this sort of response that we got in the
latest one was both in Massachusetts and equally across the country.

(13:32):
But next time we'll we chat. I can pull together
a bunch of the regional things to talk about differences
between East Coast, West Coast South. If that would be
an interesting to your listeners, we'd love to do that.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, I think they would love to hear that, and
I know Joe and I would too, Eric Growth, thanks
so much, continued success. We really appreciate you being a
part of the New England Business Report this morning. All right,
still coming your way, Gret, Welcome from the BBJ. He's
going to join us. We're going to get the very
latest on that market basket. Saga.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston w RKO six't eighty. Joe and
Kim will be right back.

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Speaker 2 (16:26):
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, the first Sunday of summer. A little
law you know, in this spot we usually talk about
business stories and the top five business stories of the week,
and for that we bring in the experts for the
Boston Business Journal. This morning, we're lucky to have with
us a Grant Welker. He's a reporter with the BBJ.
He's been on the program many times. Grant, Welcome to

(16:46):
the New England Business Report. All right, let's talk about
some of the headlines of the week. And this one
was sort of interesting to me because it's a headline
about a non headline, I mean basically the headline. We're
talking about market basket and it goes like this public
outrage is missing from the market market basket story this
time around. Tell us about that.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
It is.

Speaker 10 (17:07):
So if anyone who was around, if you remember in
twenty thirteen and especially in twenty fourteen, everybody was fired
up about market Basket. The CEO, Arthur T. De Mulis,
had been fired, and everybody rallied around him, and they
rallied around market Basket. They saw market Basket kind of
as theirs, the customers and employees especially, and it was

(17:30):
that outrage at the time. People stopped shopping there, Many
people walked off the job, vendors stopped shipping to market Basket.
That all helped bring about forced really the sale of
the company to Arthur T, and brought him back in
this time around. So far Arthur T has not fired,

(17:50):
he's on a leave. It is different. There's a little
bit more muted response, and in talking to some shoppers
the last couple of weeks, it's a little bit more
of a feeling of they wish they would just settle this,
unless a feeling of they that are not messed with us,
at least so far, there is a different tenure to it.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
So why didn't you update some folks because it's been
so quiet about what's happening right now and how this
all came about.

Speaker 10 (18:21):
Right and it doesn't seem quiet because right now the
board of directors is investigating what they called credible allegations
that Arthur T, the CEO, was planning a work stoppage,
which of course would echo what it happened in twenty fourteen.
He has denied those allegations. The two sides are also
arguing are also fighting over centory, a power struggle. Arthur

(18:44):
T wanting to make a lot of decisions more unilaterally
and let the board know about it. That the fact
the board feeling like he's not giving them the information
or the share of the say they're that they're looking for.
And so we're waiting for that investigation to play out.
And in the meantime, I've talked to a lot of
family business experts who feel like this could be an

(19:06):
important inflection point for the company of deciding what to
do for a next generation the succession plane for the company.
A lot of people compared to the Succession TV show
also comes into play here. So though it is quiet,
there really is a lot potentially at the stake in
the short, shorter term, and longer term.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Great Welcome is a reporter with the Boston Business Journal,
and you're sort of touching on it right now, but
there's another headline with your name on it, and it's
what makes market Basket unique and the business lessons it's taught.
Maybe we can just dive a little bit into that.

Speaker 10 (19:38):
Of course, anyone who has shopped at market Basket knows
it is so much different than going into a lot
of its competitors. For one thing, there's no self checkout aisles.
They have no shop or loyalty cards because they say
that everybody should be on the same plane. And you
walk in and the customer service really is it's kind
of night and day compared to a lot of others.

(20:00):
It feels like there's i don't know, multiple times as
many workers there. Everybody is willing to help out. Every
checkout aisle seems to be open, and it's staffed with
someone scanning groceries, someone's bagging groceries. Of course, anyone who
has shot there also knows about the low prices. They're
as low or lower then you could get really anywhere else.

(20:23):
And people feel like, especially up in the Merrimack Valley
North Shore kind of market Basket's core area, feel such
as a kinship with market Basket. They feel like the
company is sort of theirs. And I've heard countless stories
of people who's multiple generations of their family have shopped
there or worked there.

Speaker 11 (20:44):
It's a type of.

Speaker 10 (20:46):
Cult following of sorts that their companies would sort of
die for hard in market bask that has had it
through generations of this very shopper focused and employee focused
way of operating.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, it is. It is a very interesting business model,
to say the least. I'm getting back to the situation
right now at hand. Why do you think it's been
as quiet as it's been this time around versus the
first time that this came.

Speaker 10 (21:14):
About, Well, the first time in twenty fourteen, after Arthur
T was fired, it did take a couple of weeks
for people too, as I saw it, kind of get
their bearings, figure out what they wanted to do or
how they wanted to do it in terms of walking
off the job or a shopper boycott. This time, it's
not so severe in the case that Arthur T is

(21:35):
not fired. He's on a leave, so maybe people want
to be a little bit more on their best behavior
and not necessarily inflame tensions. I think there's also a
couple key differences if you're a shopper. A couple of
those that are many of those that I talk to.
I don't think they feel that same sense of outrage

(21:55):
or or feeling offended that in twenty fourteen, it was
the Arthur Stimollis the family. I know it's hard to
remember all the Arthurs, but the rivaling side of the family,
Arthur s is the cousin of Arthur T. That side
then was very clearly looking to operate the company very differently,
with higher profit margins, higher payouts to shareholders. They are

(22:17):
the shareholders. This time it's Arthur T's three sisters and
the directors who represent them on the board who are
awaiting this fight of sorts against Arthur T. And there's
not that same easy villain I think for people to
kind of wrap their head around. And I think there's
also I've said this before that but not to be overlooked,

(22:38):
is that a lot of Market Baskets employees are immigrants,
and especially so in the warehouses, but in the stores
as well.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
I think people are.

Speaker 10 (22:49):
How careful they're being of not wanting to be detained
is do they really want to risk their standing in
the country to boycott of business. It seems unlikely to me,
And of course, with the last week just quickly is
that shoppers to go out on their own out of
principle and shop at say Stop and Shop or Shaws

(23:11):
or somewhere else and pay more money. People are already
pinched big time when it comes to grocery prices and
other prices with inflation, and I think a lot of
people would be apprehensive about doing that a second time.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Sure, Grant, Well, here's our guest, the reporter for the BBJ.
Moving on to some of the other headlines. So stories
you've been covering. This has to do with well, Kim
and I when were hosting the Bloomberg Radio program in
twenty twenty and twenty one and twenty two and twenty three,
one of the things we know, we're always talking about
new lab space is being built, New lab space is coming,
and everybody was saying, well, at what point do we
have too much? Well, I guess well, we know when

(23:46):
it's happened. And I remember when the muzzy Ford site
was sold and they talked about, oh, the lab space
is going to be Well, tell us what's going on
with that that location and this topic in general.

Speaker 11 (23:57):
Yes, you're right, yeah, it was.

Speaker 10 (23:58):
It was very much a lap time. And now we
have too many labs by a lot and so guess
the needam site right off one twenty eight a huge
potential there for development once it's done. The developer went
through years going through the permitting process, which is never
quick or easy, wanting to have a development mostly of labs,

(24:24):
and they have made a decision in recent weeks to
start all over again really and switch to something that
would be largely residential, but it would also have in
their plan a hotel, the medical offices in the senior
living community. It's a great illustration of how much things
have changed that developers, who often can have a very

(24:48):
long view of something like what the potentral would be like,
not just once the development opens, but years down the road,
are satying there's not going to be a quick or
meaningful rebound in demand for all ab space in that
they really have to in this case, I could start
over again.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
There you go. He's Grant Wildgery's reporter with the BBJ.
We do appreciate you taking time in joining us on
the New England Business Report on this Sunday morning. Later
on the program, we're going to be talking with Skip
Perham is the business of sports. We're going to talk
about that trade of Raphael Deepfers. You're listening to the
New England Business Report.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Kim and Joe will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.

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Are you a brother or sister of one a Greater
Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of
working your tailoff. Congratulations, you worked hard to build your
retirement nest egg. But now what Let me help you
break through the nonsense and financial speak so we can
get to the questions that are important to you. As
you know, nothing gets built without a set of plans,

(26:56):
and neither will you a financial future. My name is
Mike Marshall, Present and CEO of Marshal Wealth Management and
creator of the Marshall Plan, a comprehensive, customized plan that
will help you answer important questions in all seven key areas.
You don't have to do it alone. There is no
cost or obligation. Call us at eight five seven three
four two ten thirty. That's eight five seven three four

(27:19):
two ten thirty. Well check us out online at Marshallwealth
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Speaker 9 (27:26):
Advisory services offered to Capital Analysts or Link Investment registered
investment advisors. Securities offered through Lincoln Investment Broker Dealer member
FINRA SIPC. Lincoln Investment dot Com, Marshall Wealth Management and
the above firms are independent and not affiliated.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Welcome back everybody to the New England Business report Kim
Karrogan along with your short sleep, so good to have
you with us. Coming up in this half hour, we're
going to talk about the housing crisis, Joe, here in Massachusetts.
You know, we can laugh about a lot of things,
but the housing crisis is not a funny situation here
in Massachusetts, that's for sure. It really is a problem
for people trying to move in, people trying to stay,
and of course business is trying to recruit individuals. So

(28:03):
that's coming up. We like to check on some headlines
maybe that you might have missed. And I saw this
headline on Thursday morning, and I had missed it up
to this point, but oh I know it now. Wayfair
just opened a new physical outlet in Attleborough. It's the
first physical location for Wayfair in this state. There was

(28:25):
a pop up at Natick Mall that was back in
like I don't know, closer to COVID, but that has
subsequently closed. But this is their first actual physical store.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, because you can buy a lot of things online,
but furniture really isn't one of them, at least not
for me. I mean, I think with furniture, you want
to go there, you want to sit in it. You
want to roll it looks in otherwise you're gonna end
up with a chair that's about six inches tall and
you had no ideas that's small.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Well, there are other outlet stores and they are in
other states. So as I said, this is New England's first.
They were asked the company was asked if this would
be the only and their response was, at this point,
it's too early to say. But you know what's so
interesting about wafair if you remember Joe.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
How much money you spend there?

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Well, no, it's the fact that you know, they really
got their start, if you will, when the pandemic hit,
because people did start ordering everything online and man, they
went nuts, they went nuts. And then they've had a
real slow down, maybe because other online stores have caught up,

(29:31):
maybe because people are backed away from spending that kind
of money. So it's interesting that now they're going to
go back to these actual brick and mortars.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
And you know, Kim is another thing we'd like to
do on this program, and that is to follow real
estate trends, the buying, the selling, what's going on with
first time buyers and so on and so forth. So
this headline sort of jumped out at us in the
Boston Globe an article written by Andrew Brinker, a headline
being want to understand why the Massachusetts housing market is broken?

(30:00):
Look at this chart. The second headline, the price to
income ratio here has reached a level that's twice what
experts consider healthy. Andrew, welcome to the program. Tell us
about what you found here.

Speaker 12 (30:11):
Thanks for having me. So, yeah, this is a really
interesting one. It's actually one of my favorite charts, So
I just wanted to write a story about it. You know,
every time we look at the data, we're sort of
constantly stunned by the rate at which house price growth
in our region is outpacing the growth of made in
household incomes. And so this chart, if you can imagine,

(30:33):
it is just sort of this growing gap between you know,
incomes that are growing relatively slowly in house prices that
are really just exploded, especially over the last couple of years.
So essentially, what we found is that, you know, economists
tends to consider a house to income, sorry house price
to income ratio of about three to be a sign
of a somewhat healthy housing market. In Greater Boston. It's

(30:54):
something like or in Massachusetts, or something like six point
three right now, and in Boston, Greater Boston it's closer
to seven. So our housing market is quite out of lack.
It's sort of what test statistic is telling it.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Well, and you say here that really, for middle class families,
home ownership is just a dream at this point, they
cannot get in.

Speaker 12 (31:13):
That's right, especially if you consider mortgage rates right now.
The amount that you're paying for a monthly payment on
a house right now is just something that a lot
of middle class families can't it can't even dream of.
And then you factor in, of course, a down payment.
And really, what this charge is telling us is that
home ownership sort of used to be this tool for

(31:35):
you know, middle class families and even you know, working
class families to sort of you know, grow their equity.

Speaker 10 (31:42):
It's not anymore.

Speaker 12 (31:43):
Home ownership is this thing that is sort of becoming.
It feels like reserved for you know, the upper middle
class and wealthier folks.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Andrew Breaker, the Boston Globes, our guests, you know, and
working all those years at Channel four, when we would
discuss what story to cover, our news director off said
to us, Okay, ask yourself, why why does it matter?
Why does it matter? And I guess I come back
to your headline. I say, well, obviously we get an
idea of why it matters. But at the same time,
the housing market seems pretty healthy in this state, and

(32:13):
it seems like every time we hear about it, you know,
prices continue to go up, and I know there are
a lot more listings on the market, but sales keep
going up. I mean, so where's the you know, why,
why does it matter in this.

Speaker 12 (32:25):
Why does it matter that the prices are so out
of why with incomes? I mean, it's a good question
because you know, a lot of the data do show
us that, you know, our housing market, especially if you're
looking at Yeah, you're right, sales lately shows that our
housing market is, you know, by a lot of economic
metrics at least pretty healthy. It matters because I always
tell people that I think the Cape is a really

(32:46):
good example of why this matters. You have a lot
of businesses in the Cape that can only operate a
few days a week these days because it's so expensive
to live there that they can't have their they're not
hiring workers on the Cape anymore. At a lot of
certain stanzas. Obviously, you know, there's some geographical constraint involved
in that specific example, But I think, you know, in

(33:07):
broad strokes, I think it's I think it is a
good example of, you know, what happens to a place,
a region, a state when working class folks, middle class folks,
can't afford to live there is not a good thing.
That the average commute to Boston is getting longer and
longer by the year. You know, eventually, you know, it
gets to a certain point when people realize that they

(33:28):
can't afford to live here, Well, they just won't live
here anymore. You know, They're not going to keep renting
for their whole lives. People will move away. And you know,
the thing that makes our regions so good and so
strong is, you know, the fact that we have a
lot of smart people who are able to live here
and sort of power our local economy. And if we
lose those people, then we sort of lose the thing
that makes you know, our region work.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Andrew, I know that you wrote by the way well said,
and I noticed that you wrote that the really the
basis of this this gap really is the fact that
there's such a shortage of homes and affordable homes in
this state. That's something you have to be following, right, Yeah.

Speaker 12 (34:06):
Definitely, that is that is the reason that we are
in this situation. I mean, you know, the housing market
is a complicated thing, but the very simple, very simple
mass cells that you know, the laws of supply and
demand or work here. We have not built enough. You know,
Greater Boston persistently, consistently is one of the lowest producers

(34:27):
of new homes out of any region.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
In the nation.

Speaker 12 (34:30):
And at a certain point, you know, we're a region
that's grown, right, you know, you need to build homes
to keep up with the with the with the rate
of growth, and we haven't done that.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
You know.

Speaker 12 (34:40):
A couple decades ago, we were building at a pace
that you know, was able to you know, to a
certain extent, keep up with the amount of people that
we're moving here, and we're not anymore. And the way
that we know that is that prices are so high.
I mean, that is the number one indicator of the
fact that that we have not built enough. Is that,
you know, the fact that prices are so high is
thiccative of the supply demand and balance our number one

(35:03):
economic indicator for that.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
So, Andrew, would you say, then, this is why the
NBTA Communities Act is a good idea.

Speaker 12 (35:12):
Well, that's what the state's trying to do.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
You know.

Speaker 12 (35:15):
You know, there's there's Christians out there. The way that
the state has gone about doing it, and certainly there
has been a lot of process involved, But I think
the idea behind it is that, look, there are a
lot of suburbs and other communities that surround Boston that
have not built their fair share of housing over the
last couple of decades. And the idea is that, you know,

(35:36):
those towns are part of our region too, and so
they should contribute to the broader well being of the region.
In this instance, that means building more housing so that
you know, the broader region can be a healthier place.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Sure. So that leads me to my last question today, Andrew,
and that you also wrote a piece this week about
Milton finally approving the Community's Act. How did they finally
to a resolution?

Speaker 12 (36:01):
Well, I think it was partially. It's a couple of things.
One is that you know, obviously the Supreme Judicial Court
ruled in favor of the state in that case in
which Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued Milton for not complying
with the with the law. That's one piece of it.
And then another piece is the fact that there's been

(36:22):
some turnover on some of the local elected boards. So
like board has changed a lot, and the planning board
has changed a lot, And I think the town was
sort of staring, you know, sort of the legal implications
in the space and you know, some of the legal
bills in the face perhaps, and and so the planning
board came up with a couple of plans. One was,

(36:44):
you know, the plan that would be fully compliant with
the law, and one was, you know, sort of a
smaller plan in case the state came back and decided,
you know, Milton could be classified as a sort of
a different community that didn't have as much of a
housing obligation as the law. But you know, Tom meeting
the other day, ask the fully compliant plan. So unless
there is another referendum, which is we are souls in

(37:06):
the period in which that is possible. But unless there is,
then it looks like Milton is going to comply. So
it's been a couple of year long journey that Pound
has sort of finally come around to comply with his law.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Andrew Brinker of the Boston Globe, thanks for joining us
this morning on the New England Business Report.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Well, Joe, there's no question about it. AI is everywhere.
We like to talk about it on this show on
a regular basis because I think a lot of businesses
really want to hear the very latest about ITAI as
they adapt and they start to use it in their businesses.
And it can certainly be good and it can be
used for a lot of different reasons, but there are
also some downsides that businesses maybe need to be aware of.

(37:46):
Joining us right now is Rob Fitzgerald. He is field
Chief Information Security Officer of Blue Mantis, which is a
security first IT solutions and services provider. Great to have
you with us this morning.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
Rob, thank you very very much for having me on
the show. I appreciate it, you bet.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Let's talk about some of the positive ways that you're
seeing AI being used by businesses across the state.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
There's a lot of things that we're seeing when it
comes to AI. There's a number of just monotonous tasks
that needs that AI can take over and allow humans
to be more productive, more proactive in their thinking and
their strategy. We're seeing AI in places in manufacturing facilities

(38:31):
improving yield by identifying problems during the manufacturing line before
it hits the end, so that those problems can be
fixed and the yields ultimately can be improved. And that's
in food, that's in products. We're seeing AI help in
different areas across legal and finance, and even in healthcare

(38:53):
where where tools are having AI embedded in them, or
or people employees are using AI to improve their productivity.
For US support, it's been pretty positive from everything that
we've seen.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yeah, rob people get scammed today on very unsophisticated approaches
or scams, and now with AI, it takes it to
a whole another level, whether it's avatars or whatever, people
imitating your voice or I mean, talk to us about that.
I mean, how scary is it At this point, it's.

Speaker 5 (39:29):
Getting pretty scary. I think that that the height the
tools are available and they're there, and we are seeing
organizations and individuals fall for some scams. Haven't seen it
be as cervative yet as ransomware, but what I do

(39:49):
see it coming around the corner. And it's tough because
right now we're not even pugnizant of the idea. We
haven't experienced it enough that we could be talking to
a robot that we could be talking to a scammer
on the other side, and it's just hopefully here in Massachusetts,

(40:10):
but also across the country and around the world. It
really hasn't taken. People haven't come to realize that that's
a possibility.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
And so can you share with us, rob Can you
share with us one of those examples?

Speaker 5 (40:23):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean a very very easy one
is having AI call and impersonate an executive and request
the subordinate employee to complete attack. Go transfer this money,
go buy gift cards, cancel that flight, do a number

(40:47):
of things that could have long term financial and functional damage,
create functional damage to an organization, and those are we
absolutely have seen of those, and we're seeing those historically,
they're not historically. The past few years, there's been a

(41:09):
cyber trend for business email compromise attacks or BC attacks,
where malicious actors will impersonate another, impersonate someone typically someone
sending or receiving money and change where that money is

(41:29):
going to be sent from or received this and with
AI those specific types of attacks and using voice to
make the call to say, hey, I just want to
verify this before I send it. You will absolutely come
to the forefront, and I can imagine Secret Service and

(41:49):
the FBI being actively involved in many many issues that
follow that, especially if they involve law firms, financial institutions,
or any other organization that moves large amounts of money
around in short periods of time.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
Real estate.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Rob Fitzgerald is our guest from Blue Mantis. It's a
security first, IT solutions and service provider. So, Rob, you've
talked about some of these issues. The businesses need to
be acutely aware of how do you help them protect
against some of.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
These so great questions. By the way, the first thing
is organizations need to understand what they hope to accomplish
with the AI that they bring into their organization. Right,
so there needs to be a strategy around AI. Because
there's AI for call centers, there's AI for finance, there's
AI for manufacturing. So one having a strategy of what

(42:45):
type of AI are we bringing into the organization and
what do we want that AI to achieve. The second
is creating governance so that all employees understand with policies
and procedures, understand what they should be doing, what they're
allowed to be doing with the AI, and how they

(43:08):
should be using the AI within their organization. In each organization,
it's likely going to have different types of use cases,
even with the same within the same industries, different types
of use cases based on their tolerance for risk and
their desire to lean into AI as a viable solution

(43:31):
to support employees and business growth. Along with that, the
third part, right, is so one have a strategy of
what we're going to use the a AI for two
governance to really dictate and guide how to use the AI.
And then three it's training employees on using the AI

(43:56):
and understanding when there could be AI aligned risks like
for example, is this a real phone call? Is this
a real video? Is this it should? Would an executive
actually be calling me to go and withdraw fifty thousand
dollars from the bank?

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (44:14):
Or no?

Speaker 5 (44:16):
Even would an executive give me their credentials to be
able to make a payment or move money? Because that
will be The next piece is Oh, it's not just
Larry the executive calling calling Rob as an employee. It's
Larry the executive reaching out to Rob. And by the way, Rob,
I know I'm not supposed to do this, but here's

(44:37):
my username and password. Can you please make this payment
for me and employees need to become cognizant through training
that that not every request is a valid request, and
to have ways within the organization to test and validate.

(44:58):
So if Kim is reaching out to me make the
payment on something and it's through an email, maybe I
would hit her up on teams or Slack to say, hey, Kim,
are you really doing this? Or better, maybe I would
text him and say, hey, Kim, are you really asking
me to move fifty ten or one hundred k or
five hundred thousand dollars? And setting up some governance around
that so that when you do have a question or

(45:20):
a concern that this might not be real, that you're
able to have a way to validate that, a back
channel or second venue to be able to validate that.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
All right, Rob, it is fascinating and it's a conversation
that we're going to continue to have, no doubt. We'll
have you back to talk more about AI and the
security associated with it, Rob, thanks so very much. Coming
up next, trading Raffi Devers. Was it a financial decision
or a personnel issue? And did the socks get what
they wanted? We'll discuss that right here on the New

(45:53):
England Business Report.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
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Speaker 2 (48:55):
And welcome back to The New England Business report on
this First sunday of. Summer. Yeah, well we couldn't let
it go. Unsaid we wanted to talk about the trade
Of Rafael, DEVERS i mean from a business, standpoint from
what the heck happened here and why did The Red
sox make the decision they. Did so we went to our.
Expert He's. Skipperham he's A Sports management program director marketing

(49:19):
instructor there At Suffolk University's school A Sawyer school Of.
Business skip for thank you very much for joining. Us of,
course you know the numbers are staggering in and of.
Themselves San francisco is assuming a whopping two hundred and
fifty four million dollar balance of the eleven year three
hundred and thirty one million dollar contract That dever signed
in twenty twenty. Three talk us through, This why did

(49:42):
The Red sox do this and did they get a good? Deal,
WELL i.

Speaker 11 (49:46):
Think what you said was the key there at the very,
beginning and thanks for having me on the. Show as,
Always San francisco took on the whole. Contract so there's
a lot of talk about whether The celtics With, Celtics i'm,
sorry The Red sox were doing it for a salary
dump AND i don't necessarily believe, that but my premise,
was AND i did think, that you, know it was

(50:07):
time to sell high On Raffie. Devers they just weren't
winning with, him and they had a lot of young
players coming. Up but the question becomes did they really sell?
High and, look we won't know until these prospects that
they got come up and prove. Themselves BUT i think
the theory is if if you trade a player and
that team takes on the full, contract a contract of that,

(50:28):
size then you're going to get a lower. Return if
The Red sox were willing to eat some of that,
contract say half of, it a quarter with three quarters of,
it they're going to get a better prospect back and
in this particular, case The Red sox chose to get
rid of the whole contract and get a maybe less
return as opposed to getting rid of half the contract

(50:48):
and getting a better.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Return why did The Red sox do? Though why did
they choose that?

Speaker 11 (50:53):
Route well, that you, know that begs the, question and
it leads to people saying that this Managed the management
philosophy of this team has, changed or the perception is
that it's. Changed AND i think you can really point
back to from my, observation when they wouldn't Sign John,
lester you, KNOW i, know ten years, ago because he

(51:16):
was getting, older he was a proven. Player they just
weren't willing to shell out for an older, player older.
Contract and that seems to have you, know started a
management philosophy here where they just weren't going to show
the investment in the. Team and AGAIN i think this
is from a fan perspective that they had before when
they were, winning you, know for A World.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
Series well and skip doesn't it also speak to the
Idea AND i think we've even heard some of the
management talking about this in an effort not to talk
badly about this, player but you, know he has attitude
problems in the, clubhouse and it was causing problems for younger. Players, well,
yeah And.

Speaker 11 (51:56):
I'm someone who, said, look it's time to sell On Raffie.
Devers you, know get as much return as. Possible they weren't,
winning and they haven't had a winning season since twenty twenty.
One attendance continues to be well below where they were
PRE covid peak of thirty seven. Thousand there were somewhere
around thirty three, thousand so there's almost a four or
five thousand difference between what they can bring in and

(52:18):
what they are bringing. IN i just think, that, Yeah
raffi wasn't willing, TO i, guess help the team out
in the way that they felt they needed. Help that is,
playing you, know going To dight initially without, argument and
then not refusing to play first, base which ironically he
says he will do For San. Francisco SO i don't,
AGAIN i don't blame management for getting out from under the,

(52:41):
player out from under the. Contract the question is did
you get good return that's going to ensure that the
team can win going?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Forward all, Right, well let's dive into. That are these
young players that they picked, up are they the real.

Speaker 11 (52:54):
DEAL i just don't, know to be honest with. You
and AGAIN i think you can get. Approven, say could
you had a number one or number two starter if
you eat half that? CONTRACT i think there's that. Chance
maybe that's not From San. Francisco and a lot of
people ask, me, well who would you who would you
have traded? For AND i can't tell. YOU i know
the league up and. DOWN i don't know that there's

(53:14):
a clear number one or number two starter that they've
picked up in this. Deal and they need. PITCHING i
think they desperately need. Pitching it's not something they have
a large stock of in the minor, leagues and it
may be what holds them back from sort of recapturing
that glory that they had earlier in the you, know

(53:38):
in the two.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
Thousands well you sent along to, us AND i was very.
Surprised a list of spending when it comes to Teams
New York mets at the top of, this and we're
talking about total payrolls, here and we Find boston at number.
Nineteen AND i know when they were, winning they were

(53:59):
right there the top with The, yankees and the is
have even dropped down. Some so talk to us a.
LITTLE i know you've you've mentioned, this and you know
the days of luster and the change in the. Management
but talk to us about, this this change in what they're.

Speaker 11 (54:13):
Doing, yeah The Red sox payroll this year sits out
or the. Allocations and this is according TO i think
The Baseball almanac one hundred and ninety one. Million The
mets sit at the top at three hundred and twenty.
Four you reference The yankees there at two eighty, nine
so they're considerably below. OTHERS i think what someone said

(54:36):
to me, yesterday BECAUSE i was making that argument That
i'm not sure that they sold high On raffi devers
in that person, counted, well tell me what they do
with the two hundred and fifty million that they're saving
from The raffi. Contract so, again there's an opportunity for
The Red sox to go out and sign a big
name free. Agent if they want you down the, road
to make a trade for a, blockbuster number one, starter

(54:58):
they can do. That they've got payroll quote unquote payroll flexibility. Here,
Now i'm not a big believer that The Red sox
are really ever hamstrung in terms of. Payroll it's a
big market it's a gold mine that Is Fenway. Park
if they want to, spend they can. Spend that might
inde eat into profit, margins but you know what's best

(55:18):
for the, investment then that's For John henry and his
group to. Decide but they do now have some payroll.
Flexibility tell me what they're going to do about? It
are they going to sign someone and really show that
they're in it to win? It we're going to find.
OUT i think perhaps as early as the trade. Deadline.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Yeah, Well rafiel was certainly. PERFORMING i mean he was
performing at the, plate, okay so you, know and in
twenty twenty three they make the decision to spend three
hundred and thirty one million dollars and here we are
on twenty twenty, five and because he won't play, well
they took him on a third base and because he
wouldn't play first. BASE i don't, know it just seems
like a thin reason to do what they.

Speaker 11 (55:54):
Did, yeah, LOOK i can hit for, sure without. QUESTION
i don't, know you, know you can't look at it
from the. Spective IF i was in raft Fee devers
and they would pay me two hundred and, Fifty i'd
do whatever they asked.

Speaker 12 (56:05):
Me to do.

Speaker 11 (56:06):
Right i'm not sure they have that. MENTALITY i think
the bottom line for, me IF i was in their,
Position i'm just not winning with, him, Right And i'm
not sure that He's it was clear that he wasn't
a team. Leader maybe he, was you, know saying whispering
in the ears of the younger players that were going

(56:26):
to create. Problems and you guys remember when The Red
sox used to be sort of twenty five players twenty
five cabs, mentality, right it just wasn't a cohesive group
and that dog disfranchised for.

Speaker 5 (56:37):
A, long long long.

Speaker 11 (56:38):
Time you, know they killed my grandfather and they're coming after.
Me but are they back in that?

Speaker 2 (56:46):
MODE i don't.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
Know that would be my.

Speaker 11 (56:48):
Concern i'm not willing to say.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
That but, okay he. Skipperam he is The Sports Management
program director Of Suffolk University Sawyer school Of business and
an expert on the business of.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Sports, Well, joe that's going to do do it for
this edition of The New England Business. Report so let's look,
ahead of, course to Next, sunday The sunday before fourth
Of july. Week everybody looking forward to, that and as a,
result we're going to be talking with the head Of Meet.
Boston That's Martha. Sheridan she's going to join us THE.
Ceo she's going to talk about some of the great

(57:18):
events that are going on in the city During fourth
Of july week and then we can look ahead to
the rest of the summer With. Martha so we'll look
forward to that coming up Next sunday here on The
New England Business report at eight, am right here on
The voice Of boston W RKO am sixt eighty