July 16, 2024 • 24 mins
In this episode John Hope Bryant sits down with CEOs Doug McMillon (Walmart), Dan Schulman (PayPal), and Tony Ressler (ATL Hawks, Owner) to discuss the intersection of business success and social responsibility.
They share insights on how their companies strive to create opportunities and contribute positively to society while maintaining profitability. The conversation covers practical strategies for businesses to both "do well" and "do good," highlighting initiatives that promote inclusivity, sustainability, and community engagement.
Follow us: @hopeglobalforum and www.hopeglobalforums.org
They share insights on how their companies strive to create opportunities and contribute positively to society while maintaining profitability. The conversation covers practical strategies for businesses to both "do well" and "do good," highlighting initiatives that promote inclusivity, sustainability, and community engagement.
Follow us: @hopeglobalforum and www.hopeglobalforums.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Hope Global Forms, thedialogue where we bring exclusive conversations with extraordinary
leaders directly to you. I'm yourHope Essence Scant and you can find me
on Instagram at the Essence of Underscore. This podcast is powered by Hope Global
Forms, an initiative of Operation HopeDesigns to inspire, educate and empower you.
(00:22):
Visit us at Hope Globalforms dot organd follow us on social at Hope
Global Forum. In today's episode,we have CEOs Doug McMillan of Walmart,
Dan Shulman of PayPal, and TonyWrestler of the Atlanta Hawks on how to
create opportunity, do well, anddo good. So, Doug, do
(00:44):
you understand up from nothing? It'syour story, you understand. I mean
you're running Walmart's like running the biggestI mean it's like running a country.
Two main employees almost how many customersin the US one hundred and sixty million
a week? How many about aroundthe world to forty what two hundred and
forty million a week around the world. So you you are, I want
(01:06):
to get into some of the stuffyou're doing to operationalize opportunity. All of
you within your respective enterprises. Butwhen you think about this issue, how
does it relate to I mean financialliteracy. Does that relate to Walmart and
its business? In what way doesit? What's the connection? Yeah,
let me start with just saying thatI think John, you represent the most
(01:29):
important voice in the country on thisissue, and this is a strategic significance
to our country, and I appreciatethe role that you play in that process.
Yeah, you are art here,You're educating people and you're relentless,
and I admire that about you.In terms of our responsibility, We've got
(01:49):
two point three million associates around theworld, and we start out thinking about
what do they make? What's theirpay I started at six fifty an hour.
Our wages have been going up.We want to keep raising our wages.
That's foundational. Secondarily, what kindof cash bonus do they get?
Many of our jobs pay a cashbonus. Then what does healthcare look like?
Then there's a four oh one K, Then there's a share repurchase plan.
Then there's Live Better You, wherewe pay for education for people to
(02:12):
get college degree, and seventy fivethousand people have enrolled, eleven thousand people
graduated so far. So there's awhole system of things, but our associates
frequently don't even know about them.They're coming to work, they're doing their
job, they're going home. Forwhatever reason, our communication is not working
as well as we would like forit to work. And at the end
of the day, what we wantis to create opportunity. Bishop Jakes was
talking about to give us an opportunity. Seventy five percent of our management team
(02:35):
started as hourly. The guy thatleads our warmer Us business now, John
Ferner, started out working in lawnand garden. The guy that leads all
of our stores start Dacona Smith startedassembling bikes. It's opportunity. So it's
not where you start, it's whereyou finish and how you go through the
system. But as you go youneed to save some money. You need
to understand what interest rates do tosavings, You need to understand what the
tools are. You need to knowthe rules of the game. And so
(03:00):
we want to invest all this moneyin our folks, but we want them
to do well, have a retirementthat is something worth looking forward to.
And so this is really important tous. And what happened when you and
I got engaged is what happened.I think with a lot of these CEOs
is we said, yeah, wehave a program where we to teach financial
education and wellness, but it's justone thing that we do out of so
(03:20):
many and we're not as effective.So we have dialed it up since you
and I started spending time together.And I think that's what Financial Literacy for
All has done, is now you'vegot all these leaders that are accountable for
making sure that not only do youhave the right tools, but you also
are communicating effectively and getting more peopleto use them. And you and I
have committed, but really you inspiredme to say we should try to get
(03:43):
eighty percent of the fortune five hundredinvolved with this in the next couple of
years committed to it. So thegoal that he set and now that we
set as coach here is is veryvery high and we hope to do with
this. What really Dan Schulman inspiredafter George Floyds, I think that sixty
two billion dollars in corporate commitments wasin large part inspired by the Dan Schumanns
(04:04):
of the world who made early commitmentsand Ed Bashon who was here yesterday,
and other CEO role models who areshowing that you're gonna have social justice to
an economic lens, and even insideyour company, you're showing that financial literacy
can lead to other things. What'sright? This whole issue of financial competency
and economic opportunity is broad base,is what I meant to say, Like
(04:26):
what you did with Roz Brewer,so telling audience, and it may not
be obvious. Where did ros startat, where does she go and where
she at now? Roz is anengineer by training, chemical engineer by training,
and she was part of our company, worked in a Walmart US business,
got promoted delete Sam's Club, andshe's currently the CEO of Walgreens.
(04:46):
I think there's something like twenty fiveto thirty current CEOs that came through Walmart
with part of their career, whichis great. We've got big jobs and
people learn a lot and then theygo on to do other things, and
so it forms a bit of acommunity where we can help each other.
But what he didn't tell you isthat Rols brewers a system. It's a
powerful black woman who had all thetalent in the world. But if it
(05:08):
wasn't for a fair minded person whoused to stock shelves, who saw somebody
with talent and gave them a shot. Then the doors wouldn't be open.
This is the same thing with theTdjason and I were talking about. We
need the James Brown version of affirmativeaction. Open the door. I'll get
it myself, but we need somebodyto open the door. You've been a
(05:30):
door opener for so many people,and I want to thank you for your
kind of leadership. And now onthis topic, Tony, why did you
think this issue was so important?Why'd you keep nailing me on it and
hammering me to focus on this?You focus on your players at the Hawks,
(05:50):
to focus on not just making moneybut building wealth and to use these
contracts, these once in a lifetimeof contracts to actually have wealth, sustainable
wealth, creating our opportunities. Youalmost get angry, I mean about waste
of these opportunities. It seems tobe in your bones. Why why did
you press me so much? Whyis this just so important to you?
(06:14):
Well, again, having the privatesector lead by example, I will say,
just a statement of the obvious.If you do want to create a
remarkable organization, you do want thefortune fifty or the fortune one hundred to
say yes, I would urge youto have Doug McMillan and John Bryant call
the CEOs of these various institutions,which is a pretty remarkable response in itself.
(06:36):
But please understand, if you wantto create wealth in this country,
or you want to even the playingfield, if you think about it,
take a step back. You wantto find a good job, you want
to buy a home, or youwant to build a business. Any of
those endeavors requires basic financial literacy andthe vast majority of kids coming out of
(06:57):
high school don't have it. Sothe ability for the private sector to lead
by example, to highlight the importanceof financial literacy, to actually institute methods
by which people can create access reallyfor free basic financial literacy is as Bishop
Jake said, it could be transformational, not just inspirational, And to me
(07:21):
that is so important for people thatcan to have that kind of influence.
And yes, do you get frustrated. Again, I don't want to use
individual examples, but whether you're makingtwenty five thousand dollars a year or as
we see in a whole lot ofparts of the world, twenty five million
dollars a year in certain sports businessesor entertainment businesses, these are people with
(07:46):
extraordinary access to wealth, extraordinary wealth, but not with basic financial literacy.
And the folks sometimes, and Iwould argue in the professional sports business,
they don't just make very very goodin homes, which they do, of
course, but they should be positionedto be the business leaders, if you
will, or moguls of their communitieswhen they're done playing. And with basic
(08:11):
financial literacy that happened. So Idon't get a I just find it a
bit of an obsession for me,which is for things that people can actually
impact. I think the private sectorwith something along the lines of financial literacy
for all can really have this enormousimpact and should And to me, that's
(08:35):
the private sector leading by example,and I couldn't be more proud to be
part of it. What was inthe water at the Wrestler house you and
Richard you know, yes you're sympatical, but you went in two different directions.
Both of you are now these outsidesuccess. Was financial literacy part of
the formula that was in the waterand the Wrestler household? Did somebody teach
(08:58):
you about how money worked? Withsomebody reading the Wall Street Journal? I
mean, what was where did thatunderstanding of how markets and money come from.
I don't have a good answer.There was no I didn't grow up
the way I live. I justthought, and frankly, growing up I
did think anything was possible. ButI had no financial background. I had
(09:22):
no basic financial literacy at the time, but I did have access to a
decent public education, and for thatI thought anything was possible. But again,
to what helped me create success,I have no idea. You know,
it's sometimes being lucky, sometimes beingin the right place at the right
time. But I do know theposition I'm in now and the ability to
(09:46):
help if you will level the playingfield for most. Maybe it's not possible
for all, but it is possiblefor most, and we've got to We've
got to do something and it's notmaybe it's a whole bunch of things,
actually, but I really do believefinancial literacy, accessing financial literacy is one
of those core foundations that can changethat playing field. So I know something
(10:15):
similar about all three of your stories. All three of you came from very
humble beginnings. No one gave youanything other than you had the privilege of
having a different hue than I have, which you all have acknowledged is an
advantage. But you do understand whatit's like to not have that credibility and
that moniker that just gives you success. So I think that's part of the
(10:37):
reason why you care so much forothers. Dan, I met your mother.
Your mother in the nineteen sixties refusedto buy a house that had a
covenant in it restricting ownership from ablack Your mother was a civil rights advocate.
(11:01):
You were on the Marshall in Washingtonas a child, looking at Andrew
Young and doctor King. These arethings that people don't know about your story
that I think roots you in somefundamental values. Why do you care so
much? And why did you takewhat happened in the chemistry in your head
when we had that conversation. Clearlyit was your doing. You went on
(11:22):
with friends and others and created thisprogram that actually has sustainable legs. How
does it relate to financial literacy forall? And what is your and what's
the result so far? You know, my mom was a civil rights activist.
My dad was worried, I mean, the youngest kid to have his
picture in an FBI file, Sohe really did not like me being pushed
(11:46):
in my carriage at all these civilrights marches. But one thing you know
that my parents taught me, andit's kind of upstream I think to financial
literacy is so many people in ourcountry struggle. They struggle to make ends
meet. It's actually unbelievable. It'sseventy percent of adults in the US struggle
(12:13):
to pay their bills at the endof the month. They're juggling. What
do they do. Do they putfood on the table, what bills do
they pay? Do they get healthcarebenefits or not. People are financially stressed,
they leave their jobs, there's absenteeism, They radicalize because they don't think
that the system is working for them. And so, you know, my
(12:37):
view on this is that as greata system as we have in our country,
capitalism, it doesn't work for allparts of the population. I did
a survey of our employees because Ithought, well, PayPal, we're a
tech company, we pay out orabove market for all of our employees,
(13:00):
that they would not be financially stressed. And what I found is that over
fifty percent of our employees had onlybetween four and six percent of their income
available to them after they paid theirtaxes and essential living expenses. So they
were stressed. And we put inplace a whole program to take that four
(13:24):
to six percent up to at leasteighteen to twenty percent of their net disposable
income. We increase their salaries,We decreased the cost of healthcare by sixty
five percent for that employee base sixtyand we gave everybody in the company equity
(13:48):
in the company. We gave thereal stock every single person. So and
then we wrapped it all in afinancial education program. To your point about
financial literacy, because this is thefirst time people actually had savings, it's
the first time they had equity.It's the first time that they could actually
(14:11):
figure out what kind of benefit packagethey wanted for their family. First time
they could avail themselves a four toh one K plans, and so the
financial education part of this was crucial. And what we found, even though
it cost us hundreds and hundreds ofmillions of dollars to put this in place,
(14:33):
different than the five hundred million ortop of on top of it,
is what we found is that attritiondropped by something like sixty percent. Our
training costs went way down because weweren't replacing people. People weren't stressed of
the job, so their engagement scoreswent up, our customer satisfaction scores went
(14:54):
up. And for me, thisinvestment in our people was as important,
probably well more important than any investmentwe could make in marketing or R and
D, because the most important assetthat we manage appear is our employees.
(15:16):
Yep, it is the most welland Dan, you're making a point that
I want to make sure everybody getshere in this audience. These folks who
are not talking about charity, they'retalking about enlightened self interest. They're good
people. But correct me if I'mwrong. You need your employees, and
(15:39):
your customers and your communities to befinancially literate in order to have a saying
success Yes, true, true,no doubt true, completely obvious. Well,
it's not obvious if you're a predator. So if you're if the old
model is you have a check cashnext to a petty loan linden, next
(16:00):
to a rental store, next toa title linder, next to a pawnshop
that's preying on a five hundred creditscore neighborhood, whether it's black and brown
urban or white rural, that model, in my opinion, should die.
And we found it's iculous. Aconversation. It's ridiculous to think that corporations
(16:26):
are an island to themselves. Weoperate in our communities, Our employees are
part of our communities. We operatein a bigger economy. If it isn't
working for everybody, that sub optimizesbusiness as well. This whole idea of
profit and purpose being at odds witheach other is ridiculous. That's it right,
(16:48):
They actually work hand in hand witheach other. If we have a
purpose, if we are satisfying multipleconstituencies, our businesses are stronger as a
result. And so this idea ofpeople coming after companies because they have purpose
or they have a sense of valuesabout them, it's ridiculous that it is
(17:10):
suboptimal. So to build on thatis actually statistically true that companies that are
more diverse and inclusive are more profitable. Yep, It's also true that regions
of the country that are more diverseare more profitable. Atlanta is the biggest
economy in the South, the onlyinternational city in the South, and the
(17:33):
tenth lartest economy in the country.It's also the most diverse place in the
South. And wherever you find diversityinclusion in a business or an enterprise,
it's actually good business. You cando well and do good at the same
time. That's what I hear yousay. It's the only way to do
(17:53):
it over time, the only wayto do it over time. And we
are trying to build things that beyondus and lasts for generations. Walmart's sixty
years old and we would like tobe here in another sixty years and beyond.
And the only way to do thatis if it is a participative,
inclusive process where everybody can win.So we're systems designers trying to figure out
(18:15):
how do you put all the piecesin place so that everyone has the opportunities
so this thing lasts forever and everybodybenefits. And that is a perpetual,
ongoing, terrific challenge to try andsolve. Walmart being a good member of
the community, PayPal being a goodmember of the community is both good business
and I would hope the future ofour private sector. That's something that the
(18:36):
US will benefit from and is startingto And the simple answer is how do
we make it more compon and embedit. That's why you three are on
the stage, is I think yourrole models for other corporate leaders. I
think that's I want the lead withrecommendations or advice you have for corporate leaders
business leaders. But before we getthat, we've had these powerful examples from
(19:00):
you and and you also Tony abouthow you're operationalizing is beyond just a concept
of financial literacy to inclusion and howthat's good for your business. And again,
Doug, it's not enough to say, well, I was a box
boy, I made it. Youhave done things to embed this. You
have increased the wage level, youhave given the opportunity for education paid for
(19:25):
by Walmart. As I understand it, is that right, correct? I
see this as the same narrative.This is a couple of things that I'm
saying, you're in trying to embedthis. So this is a Walmart's a
good place to work, not tosurvive, but to actually thrive. And
what you've done is what we've donewith financial lucy. For all I've been
told is inspired true at CEO togive every one of their employees financial literacy
(19:48):
plus a seven ary fifty dollars checkfor a savings account ed just announced it
yesterday that January he's doing to doone thousand dollars for every employee who goes
to financial literacy at Delta, shouldWatt his ninety thousand employees. How does
this operationalize for you at Walmart?Give us a quick sense of what you're
doing there. Yeah, well,I think education is one component, but
the other one's tools. So wefound a product called even where associates can
(20:14):
basically pull forward their compensation if theyneed to, so they don't have to
borrow money. And they've had sincewe put the program in place in twenty
eighteen, hundreds of millions of dollarsof savings that didn't go to bank fees
that our associates have been able tokeep. That same tool helps them be
able to save money and put overthree hundred million dollars aside for savings since
we put that in place in twentyeighteen. Each one of you, as
(20:34):
a close what's what advice do youhave to the CEO that's watching this,
the leader that's watching this, thec suite of how you can do well
and do good too. I wouldjust say you have to be personally involved.
This is one of those issues thatif leaders are not seeking to understand
(20:56):
looking at kind of the detail ofhow this all works, nothing will happen.
And in bigger companies. You know, if you take your eye off
of it, it drifts down andsomething else gets everyone's attention. So my
advice would be get personally involved andstay involved. And by the way,
each one of these gentlemen do that, because we're emailing, texting, Yes,
(21:18):
Julie, you and your team andall the other team members I want
to give them if we can't doanything with our teams. But Doug is
personally sending notes and personally if I'mmaking phone calls. All three of these
gentlemen do that same thing. TonyOh, I generally just would agree with
whatever the head of Walmart would say. Actually, no, no, no,
I would say this, which yougot to be careful. But it's
(21:40):
back to your earlier point. Iactually believe every CEO in America should have
a plan, and preferably a tenyear plan that's right on how to have
a more financially competent workforce which isgood for their workforce long term and short
term for that matter, and howto become more diverse. Again with a
ten year plan to do it properly, because it's both good for the community,
(22:03):
good for the country, but goodfor the business. Yeah, I
got my tenure idea from you.By the way, Dan, Well,
I just don't think that we asCEOs can leave all the problems of our
society to the public sector to fix. We have a huge amount of resource.
I think we have a obligation,maybe even a moral obligation, to
(22:26):
address the issues in front of us. And I think we need to encourage
each other to stand up. Ithink we need to measure what's really happening,
and then each of us can figureout that game plan. But we
all need to take action and it'sour responsibility to do that. So,
Dan, what I hear you saying, when I hear all you're saying,
(22:48):
is for all you watching online,we're not trying to make CEO social engineers
of the universe. That's not what'sgoing on here. That's not their job.
But what we are saying is there'ssomething they can do. If you're
canna help people devote, why wouldn'tyou want to do that. If you
can help people get better healthcare,why wouldn't you do that. If you
can lower their their financial stress,why wouldn't you do that? Why would
(23:10):
you do things that are good forcommunity, good for customers, good for
workers, which are good for you. It's just enlightened self interest. It
makes perfect sense, and we needto knock off this ridiculous conversation. And
somehow you're penalized because you care andyou have character. Please make join me
in saying thing. Thank you,the three CEOs who care and who have
(23:33):
cared. Thanks for the scare share, Thanks for listening to Hope Global Forms
the dialogue. We hope today's episodehas inspired you. Keep the conversation going
by visiting Hope Globalforms dot org andfollow us on social at Hulp Global Form.
You can find me Essen Scan onInstagram at the Essence of Underscore.
(23:59):
Join us next time for more insightsfrom leaders who are shaping a better world.
Welcome to Hope Global Forms, thedialogue where we bring exclusive conversations with extraordinary
leaders directly to you. I'm yourHope Essence Scant and you can find me
on Instagram at the Essence of Underscore. This podcast is powered by Hope Global
Forms, an initiative of Operation HopeDesigns to inspire, educate and empower you.
(00:22):
Visit us at Hope Globalforms dot organd follow us on social at Hope
Global Forum. In today's episode,we have CEOs Doug McMillan of Walmart,
Dan Shulman of PayPal, and TonyWrestler of the Atlanta Hawks on how to
create opportunity, do well, anddo good. So, Doug, do
(00:44):
you understand up from nothing? It'syour story, you understand. I mean
you're running Walmart's like running the biggestI mean it's like running a country.
Two main employees almost how many customersin the US one hundred and sixty million
a week? How many about aroundthe world to forty what two hundred and
forty million a week around the world. So you you are, I want
(01:06):
to get into some of the stuffyou're doing to operationalize opportunity. All of
you within your respective enterprises. Butwhen you think about this issue, how
does it relate to I mean financialliteracy. Does that relate to Walmart and
its business? In what way doesit? What's the connection? Yeah,
let me start with just saying thatI think John, you represent the most
(01:29):
important voice in the country on thisissue, and this is a strategic significance
to our country, and I appreciatethe role that you play in that process.
Yeah, you are art here,You're educating people and you're relentless,
and I admire that about you.In terms of our responsibility, We've got
(01:49):
two point three million associates around theworld, and we start out thinking about
what do they make? What's theirpay I started at six fifty an hour.
Our wages have been going up.We want to keep raising our wages.
That's foundational. Secondarily, what kindof cash bonus do they get?
Many of our jobs pay a cashbonus. Then what does healthcare look like?
Then there's a four oh one K, Then there's a share repurchase plan.
Then there's Live Better You, wherewe pay for education for people to
(02:12):
get college degree, and seventy fivethousand people have enrolled, eleven thousand people
graduated so far. So there's awhole system of things, but our associates
frequently don't even know about them.They're coming to work, they're doing their
job, they're going home. Forwhatever reason, our communication is not working
as well as we would like forit to work. And at the end
of the day, what we wantis to create opportunity. Bishop Jakes was
talking about to give us an opportunity. Seventy five percent of our management team
(02:35):
started as hourly. The guy thatleads our warmer Us business now, John
Ferner, started out working in lawnand garden. The guy that leads all
of our stores start Dacona Smith startedassembling bikes. It's opportunity. So it's
not where you start, it's whereyou finish and how you go through the
system. But as you go youneed to save some money. You need
to understand what interest rates do tosavings, You need to understand what the
tools are. You need to knowthe rules of the game. And so
(03:00):
we want to invest all this moneyin our folks, but we want them
to do well, have a retirementthat is something worth looking forward to.
And so this is really important tous. And what happened when you and
I got engaged is what happened.I think with a lot of these CEOs
is we said, yeah, wehave a program where we to teach financial
education and wellness, but it's justone thing that we do out of so
(03:20):
many and we're not as effective.So we have dialed it up since you
and I started spending time together.And I think that's what Financial Literacy for
All has done, is now you'vegot all these leaders that are accountable for
making sure that not only do youhave the right tools, but you also
are communicating effectively and getting more peopleto use them. And you and I
have committed, but really you inspiredme to say we should try to get
(03:43):
eighty percent of the fortune five hundredinvolved with this in the next couple of
years committed to it. So thegoal that he set and now that we
set as coach here is is veryvery high and we hope to do with
this. What really Dan Schulman inspiredafter George Floyds, I think that sixty
two billion dollars in corporate commitments wasin large part inspired by the Dan Schumanns
(04:04):
of the world who made early commitmentsand Ed Bashon who was here yesterday,
and other CEO role models who areshowing that you're gonna have social justice to
an economic lens, and even insideyour company, you're showing that financial literacy
can lead to other things. What'sright? This whole issue of financial competency
and economic opportunity is broad base,is what I meant to say, Like
(04:26):
what you did with Roz Brewer,so telling audience, and it may not
be obvious. Where did ros startat, where does she go and where
she at now? Roz is anengineer by training, chemical engineer by training,
and she was part of our company, worked in a Walmart US business,
got promoted delete Sam's Club, andshe's currently the CEO of Walgreens.
(04:46):
I think there's something like twenty fiveto thirty current CEOs that came through Walmart
with part of their career, whichis great. We've got big jobs and
people learn a lot and then theygo on to do other things, and
so it forms a bit of acommunity where we can help each other.
But what he didn't tell you isthat Rols brewers a system. It's a
powerful black woman who had all thetalent in the world. But if it
(05:08):
wasn't for a fair minded person whoused to stock shelves, who saw somebody
with talent and gave them a shot. Then the doors wouldn't be open.
This is the same thing with theTdjason and I were talking about. We
need the James Brown version of affirmativeaction. Open the door. I'll get
it myself, but we need somebodyto open the door. You've been a
(05:30):
door opener for so many people,and I want to thank you for your
kind of leadership. And now onthis topic, Tony, why did you
think this issue was so important?Why'd you keep nailing me on it and
hammering me to focus on this?You focus on your players at the Hawks,
(05:50):
to focus on not just making moneybut building wealth and to use these
contracts, these once in a lifetimeof contracts to actually have wealth, sustainable
wealth, creating our opportunities. Youalmost get angry, I mean about waste
of these opportunities. It seems tobe in your bones. Why why did
you press me so much? Whyis this just so important to you?
(06:14):
Well, again, having the privatesector lead by example, I will say,
just a statement of the obvious.If you do want to create a
remarkable organization, you do want thefortune fifty or the fortune one hundred to
say yes, I would urge youto have Doug McMillan and John Bryant call
the CEOs of these various institutions,which is a pretty remarkable response in itself.
(06:36):
But please understand, if you wantto create wealth in this country,
or you want to even the playingfield, if you think about it,
take a step back. You wantto find a good job, you want
to buy a home, or youwant to build a business. Any of
those endeavors requires basic financial literacy andthe vast majority of kids coming out of
(06:57):
high school don't have it. Sothe ability for the private sector to lead
by example, to highlight the importanceof financial literacy, to actually institute methods
by which people can create access reallyfor free basic financial literacy is as Bishop
Jake said, it could be transformational, not just inspirational, And to me
(07:21):
that is so important for people thatcan to have that kind of influence.
And yes, do you get frustrated. Again, I don't want to use
individual examples, but whether you're makingtwenty five thousand dollars a year or as
we see in a whole lot ofparts of the world, twenty five million
dollars a year in certain sports businessesor entertainment businesses, these are people with
(07:46):
extraordinary access to wealth, extraordinary wealth, but not with basic financial literacy.
And the folks sometimes, and Iwould argue in the professional sports business,
they don't just make very very goodin homes, which they do, of
course, but they should be positionedto be the business leaders, if you
will, or moguls of their communitieswhen they're done playing. And with basic
(08:11):
financial literacy that happened. So Idon't get a I just find it a
bit of an obsession for me,which is for things that people can actually
impact. I think the private sectorwith something along the lines of financial literacy
for all can really have this enormousimpact and should And to me, that's
(08:35):
the private sector leading by example,and I couldn't be more proud to be
part of it. What was inthe water at the Wrestler house you and
Richard you know, yes you're sympatical, but you went in two different directions.
Both of you are now these outsidesuccess. Was financial literacy part of
the formula that was in the waterand the Wrestler household? Did somebody teach
(08:58):
you about how money worked? Withsomebody reading the Wall Street Journal? I
mean, what was where did thatunderstanding of how markets and money come from.
I don't have a good answer.There was no I didn't grow up
the way I live. I justthought, and frankly, growing up I
did think anything was possible. ButI had no financial background. I had
(09:22):
no basic financial literacy at the time, but I did have access to a
decent public education, and for thatI thought anything was possible. But again,
to what helped me create success,I have no idea. You know,
it's sometimes being lucky, sometimes beingin the right place at the right
time. But I do know theposition I'm in now and the ability to
(09:46):
help if you will level the playingfield for most. Maybe it's not possible
for all, but it is possiblefor most, and we've got to We've
got to do something and it's notmaybe it's a whole bunch of things,
actually, but I really do believefinancial literacy, accessing financial literacy is one
of those core foundations that can changethat playing field. So I know something
(10:15):
similar about all three of your stories. All three of you came from very
humble beginnings. No one gave youanything other than you had the privilege of
having a different hue than I have, which you all have acknowledged is an
advantage. But you do understand whatit's like to not have that credibility and
that moniker that just gives you success. So I think that's part of the
(10:37):
reason why you care so much forothers. Dan, I met your mother.
Your mother in the nineteen sixties refusedto buy a house that had a
covenant in it restricting ownership from ablack Your mother was a civil rights advocate.
(11:01):
You were on the Marshall in Washingtonas a child, looking at Andrew
Young and doctor King. These arethings that people don't know about your story
that I think roots you in somefundamental values. Why do you care so
much? And why did you takewhat happened in the chemistry in your head
when we had that conversation. Clearlyit was your doing. You went on
(11:22):
with friends and others and created thisprogram that actually has sustainable legs. How
does it relate to financial literacy forall? And what is your and what's
the result so far? You know, my mom was a civil rights activist.
My dad was worried, I mean, the youngest kid to have his
picture in an FBI file, Sohe really did not like me being pushed
(11:46):
in my carriage at all these civilrights marches. But one thing you know
that my parents taught me, andit's kind of upstream I think to financial
literacy is so many people in ourcountry struggle. They struggle to make ends
meet. It's actually unbelievable. It'sseventy percent of adults in the US struggle
(12:13):
to pay their bills at the endof the month. They're juggling. What
do they do. Do they putfood on the table, what bills do
they pay? Do they get healthcarebenefits or not. People are financially stressed,
they leave their jobs, there's absenteeism, They radicalize because they don't think
that the system is working for them. And so, you know, my
(12:37):
view on this is that as greata system as we have in our country,
capitalism, it doesn't work for allparts of the population. I did
a survey of our employees because Ithought, well, PayPal, we're a
tech company, we pay out orabove market for all of our employees,
(13:00):
that they would not be financially stressed. And what I found is that over
fifty percent of our employees had onlybetween four and six percent of their income
available to them after they paid theirtaxes and essential living expenses. So they
were stressed. And we put inplace a whole program to take that four
(13:24):
to six percent up to at leasteighteen to twenty percent of their net disposable
income. We increase their salaries,We decreased the cost of healthcare by sixty
five percent for that employee base sixtyand we gave everybody in the company equity
(13:48):
in the company. We gave thereal stock every single person. So and
then we wrapped it all in afinancial education program. To your point about
financial literacy, because this is thefirst time people actually had savings, it's
the first time they had equity.It's the first time that they could actually
(14:11):
figure out what kind of benefit packagethey wanted for their family. First time
they could avail themselves a four toh one K plans, and so the
financial education part of this was crucial. And what we found, even though
it cost us hundreds and hundreds ofmillions of dollars to put this in place,
(14:33):
different than the five hundred million ortop of on top of it,
is what we found is that attritiondropped by something like sixty percent. Our
training costs went way down because weweren't replacing people. People weren't stressed of
the job, so their engagement scoreswent up, our customer satisfaction scores went
(14:54):
up. And for me, thisinvestment in our people was as important,
probably well more important than any investmentwe could make in marketing or R and
D, because the most important assetthat we manage appear is our employees.
(15:16):
Yep, it is the most welland Dan, you're making a point that
I want to make sure everybody getshere in this audience. These folks who
are not talking about charity, they'retalking about enlightened self interest. They're good
people. But correct me if I'mwrong. You need your employees, and
(15:39):
your customers and your communities to befinancially literate in order to have a saying
success Yes, true, true,no doubt true, completely obvious. Well,
it's not obvious if you're a predator. So if you're if the old
model is you have a check cashnext to a petty loan linden, next
(16:00):
to a rental store, next toa title linder, next to a pawnshop
that's preying on a five hundred creditscore neighborhood, whether it's black and brown
urban or white rural, that model, in my opinion, should die.
And we found it's iculous. Aconversation. It's ridiculous to think that corporations
(16:26):
are an island to themselves. Weoperate in our communities, Our employees are
part of our communities. We operatein a bigger economy. If it isn't
working for everybody, that sub optimizesbusiness as well. This whole idea of
profit and purpose being at odds witheach other is ridiculous. That's it right,
(16:48):
They actually work hand in hand witheach other. If we have a
purpose, if we are satisfying multipleconstituencies, our businesses are stronger as a
result. And so this idea ofpeople coming after companies because they have purpose
or they have a sense of valuesabout them, it's ridiculous that it is
(17:10):
suboptimal. So to build on thatis actually statistically true that companies that are
more diverse and inclusive are more profitable. Yep, It's also true that regions
of the country that are more diverseare more profitable. Atlanta is the biggest
economy in the South, the onlyinternational city in the South, and the
(17:33):
tenth lartest economy in the country.It's also the most diverse place in the
South. And wherever you find diversityinclusion in a business or an enterprise,
it's actually good business. You cando well and do good at the same
time. That's what I hear yousay. It's the only way to do
(17:53):
it over time, the only wayto do it over time. And we
are trying to build things that beyondus and lasts for generations. Walmart's sixty
years old and we would like tobe here in another sixty years and beyond.
And the only way to do thatis if it is a participative,
inclusive process where everybody can win.So we're systems designers trying to figure out
(18:15):
how do you put all the piecesin place so that everyone has the opportunities
so this thing lasts forever and everybodybenefits. And that is a perpetual,
ongoing, terrific challenge to try andsolve. Walmart being a good member of
the community, PayPal being a goodmember of the community is both good business
and I would hope the future ofour private sector. That's something that the
(18:36):
US will benefit from and is startingto And the simple answer is how do
we make it more compon and embedit. That's why you three are on
the stage, is I think yourrole models for other corporate leaders. I
think that's I want the lead withrecommendations or advice you have for corporate leaders
business leaders. But before we getthat, we've had these powerful examples from
(19:00):
you and and you also Tony abouthow you're operationalizing is beyond just a concept
of financial literacy to inclusion and howthat's good for your business. And again,
Doug, it's not enough to say, well, I was a box
boy, I made it. Youhave done things to embed this. You
have increased the wage level, youhave given the opportunity for education paid for
(19:25):
by Walmart. As I understand it, is that right, correct? I
see this as the same narrative.This is a couple of things that I'm
saying, you're in trying to embedthis. So this is a Walmart's a
good place to work, not tosurvive, but to actually thrive. And
what you've done is what we've donewith financial lucy. For all I've been
told is inspired true at CEO togive every one of their employees financial literacy
(19:48):
plus a seven ary fifty dollars checkfor a savings account ed just announced it
yesterday that January he's doing to doone thousand dollars for every employee who goes
to financial literacy at Delta, shouldWatt his ninety thousand employees. How does
this operationalize for you at Walmart?Give us a quick sense of what you're
doing there. Yeah, well,I think education is one component, but
the other one's tools. So wefound a product called even where associates can
(20:14):
basically pull forward their compensation if theyneed to, so they don't have to
borrow money. And they've had sincewe put the program in place in twenty
eighteen, hundreds of millions of dollarsof savings that didn't go to bank fees
that our associates have been able tokeep. That same tool helps them be
able to save money and put overthree hundred million dollars aside for savings since
we put that in place in twentyeighteen. Each one of you, as
(20:34):
a close what's what advice do youhave to the CEO that's watching this,
the leader that's watching this, thec suite of how you can do well
and do good too. I wouldjust say you have to be personally involved.
This is one of those issues thatif leaders are not seeking to understand
(20:56):
looking at kind of the detail ofhow this all works, nothing will happen.
And in bigger companies. You know, if you take your eye off
of it, it drifts down andsomething else gets everyone's attention. So my
advice would be get personally involved andstay involved. And by the way,
each one of these gentlemen do that, because we're emailing, texting, Yes,
(21:18):
Julie, you and your team andall the other team members I want
to give them if we can't doanything with our teams. But Doug is
personally sending notes and personally if I'mmaking phone calls. All three of these
gentlemen do that same thing. TonyOh, I generally just would agree with
whatever the head of Walmart would say. Actually, no, no, no,
I would say this, which yougot to be careful. But it's
(21:40):
back to your earlier point. Iactually believe every CEO in America should have
a plan, and preferably a tenyear plan that's right on how to have
a more financially competent workforce which isgood for their workforce long term and short
term for that matter, and howto become more diverse. Again with a
ten year plan to do it properly, because it's both good for the community,
(22:03):
good for the country, but goodfor the business. Yeah, I
got my tenure idea from you.By the way, Dan, Well,
I just don't think that we asCEOs can leave all the problems of our
society to the public sector to fix. We have a huge amount of resource.
I think we have a obligation,maybe even a moral obligation, to
(22:26):
address the issues in front of us. And I think we need to encourage
each other to stand up. Ithink we need to measure what's really happening,
and then each of us can figureout that game plan. But we
all need to take action and it'sour responsibility to do that. So,
Dan, what I hear you saying, when I hear all you're saying,
(22:48):
is for all you watching online,we're not trying to make CEO social engineers
of the universe. That's not what'sgoing on here. That's not their job.
But what we are saying is there'ssomething they can do. If you're
canna help people devote, why wouldn'tyou want to do that. If you
can help people get better healthcare,why wouldn't you do that. If you
can lower their their financial stress,why wouldn't you do that? Why would
(23:10):
you do things that are good forcommunity, good for customers, good for
workers, which are good for you. It's just enlightened self interest. It
makes perfect sense, and we needto knock off this ridiculous conversation. And
somehow you're penalized because you care andyou have character. Please make join me
in saying thing. Thank you,the three CEOs who care and who have
(23:33):
cared. Thanks for the scare share, Thanks for listening to Hope Global Forms
the dialogue. We hope today's episodehas inspired you. Keep the conversation going
by visiting Hope Globalforms dot org andfollow us on social at Hulp Global Form.
You can find me Essen Scan onInstagram at the Essence of Underscore.
(23:59):
Join us next time for more insightsfrom leaders who are shaping a better world.
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