Conversations with Mike Milken

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Ep. 35: Access, with Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon May 01, 2020

Show notes

“This is a demand shutdown in the economy that's affecting all businesses….If you're a small business, your access to capital in some cases can be limited, [so] that's why getting resources to these small businesses that employ so many is so, so important.”

For David Solomon and Goldman Sachs, helping small enterprises navigate the crisis requires access—to expertise, education, and capital. The firm continues its 10,000 Small Businesses program and has pledged more than half a billion dollars to support community lenders.

These days, Solomon’s particularly focused on creating outcomes that are sustainable and equitable: “Whenever you go through a crisis,” he tells Mike, “disadvantages are amplified. We continue to try to find ways that we can make sure that resources, including capital and business allocation, are directed to women-led businesses.”

Ep. 34: Upside Down, with Vivek Ramaswamy May 01, 2020

Show notes

Vivek Ramaswamy

Founder and CEO, Roivant Sciences

“Seeing my own family members in New York go through what they're going through has...not only turned our personal life upside down, but also has turned upside down...the near-term priorities of our company to help do our part in addressing this pandemic.”

When Vivek Ramaswamy was only 28, he founded the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences. When COVID-19 hit New York City, his wife was a frontline medical worker—and pregnant with their son. The child was born healthy, but his wife and father-in-law soon tested positive for the virus. They are still recovering.

As Ramaswamy manages his company from a home in Ohio, the man who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard muses on life’s hard-earned lessons: “Things don't always go as you expected, but you rise to the occasion in the best way you can.”

Ep. 33: Public-Private Partners, with DFC’s Adam Boehler Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

Adam Boehler

CEO, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)

There are places in the United States now with little to no cases, and if the states have the ability to do contact tracing with some testing to ensure that if there's a flare we can move quickly, then I think it's fine to open up now as long as one could take very quick action.

“We're testing 200,000 Americans a day. That's an 80x increase, and we've done 5.2 million tests to date. That's not only number one in terms of number of tests that we're at from a country basis, it's number one on a per capita basis.”

As CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Adam Boehler focuses on using finance to solve challenges in the developing world. These days, he’s also helping his own country navigate the crisis by accelerating testing and strengthening supply chains.

An entrepreneur himself, Boehler’s been especially proud of the private sector’s response: “We get asked all the time, how come we're not throwing Defense Production Act orders all over the place and just commandeering and taking over. It's not necessary when you have our private market taking all the right actions.”

Ep. 32: Sequencing, with Illumina’s Francis deSouza Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

Francis deSouza

President and CEO, Illumina

“The first genome sequence of the virus that was published on January 12th online was done on Illumina machines, and so we have been working on this outbreak [since] well before it became a pandemic.”

Sequencing DNA quickly and cheaply has revolutionized medicine with new cures and therapies that have extended and saved lives. As president and CEO of Illumina, Francis deSouza has been at the forefront of these advances and is leading his company toward new applications that can help fight a pandemic.

He and Mike discuss how to get the world back to work, how many genomes may actually be present in our bodies, and a novel way of safeguarding the world’s data: “DNA has been optimized by nature to be the best storage medium out there and it's only a matter of time before we use it ourselves for the data that we generate.”

Ep. 31: Backstop, with the Veterans Administration’s Richard Stone Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

“As we began to see in January the evolution of this virus...we began reorienting ourselves to our inpatient responsibilities and to the potential that the nation would need us to be its backstop in a healthcare system.”

Dr. Richard Stone’s job title is as clear and direct as the man who occupies it. As the executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, he carries the awesome responsibility of protecting the health of more than 320,000 veterans and 360,000 employees.

A combat veteran himself, he offers simple advice to address a worrying trend: “Early on in this pandemic, we began to see veterans canceling their mental health visits….If you know any family member, any friend, who is going through intense social isolation, pick up the phone today.”

Ep. 30: Values, with Kroger’s Rodney McMullen Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Rodney McMullen

Chairman and CEO, The Kroger Co.

“We made the decision to share publicly all the work that we were doing internally in case it could be helpful….We're trying to pay it forward just like others paid it forward to us.”

When Rodney McMullen took a high school job bagging groceries at his local Kroger, he had no way to know he’d go on to lead the company—now one of America’s largest employers. Another surprise in his American Dream story: that his associates would one day be frontline heroes in a global pandemic.

And the company itself is playing a hero role. As so many businesses struggle and lay off workers, Kroger’s hiring 60,000 new employees. “A lot of those people...come out of the food-service industry, come out of working in small medical professions, or for veterinarians….People that are naturally inclined to serve others. So that's one of the things that's really helped us maintain our values.”

Ep. 29: Powerhouse, with Siemens USA’s Barbara Humpton Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Barbara Humpton

President and CEO, Siemens USA

“We often talk about Siemens as being a company that was built to serve society. And that mission really hasn't changed….We have real expertise in electrification, automation, and digitalization. And that's all coming into play right now as the nation wrestles with COVID-19.”

Hospitals. Factories. Data centers. Government facilities. If it’s an essential service or industry in this country, chances are Siemens USA is helping to power and maintain it. As president and CEO, Barbara Humpton has overseen major changes to how her 50,000 employees stay safe as they #KeepTheLightsOn for everyone else.

Throughout the pandemic, she has not lost sight of what is truly at stake: “We're going to find ways to accommodate, ways to adapt, but the really critical thing is to connect and care because I think the empathy we show one another right now is going to be the most important medicine we can offer.”

Ep. 28: Triage, with Ray Dalio Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Ray Dalio

Founder, Co-CIO and Co-Chairman, Bridgewater Associates

“A financial bomb has gone off. And then you have to say, okay, who are you going to help first?...Choices have to be made. The real question is whether we can do that together in a bipartisan way, in a skillful way, because there's enough money and credit to go around and this can be done.”

For master investor Ray Dalio, COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity to create greater fairness in our system. The founder of Bridgewater Associates—the largest hedge fund in the world—sees outright threats to the American Dream rising from wage disparities and environmental degradation.

Top among his preferred national reinvestments would be the great equalizer: “You want to enable as many people as possible to have equal opportunity [for] education. That's number one. And then establishing a minimum acceptable living standard and poverty level that they can't go below, particularly their children….I think we could do that.”

Ep. 27: Reaching Out, with Humana’s Bruce Broussard Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Bruce Broussard

President and CEO, Humana

“Many of our members are alone and in their homes, and that can become quite an impact on their mental health. Having a phone call and being able to talk to somebody sounds so simple, but has been so impactful.”

As president and CEO of one of America’s largest health insurance companies, Bruce Broussard considers every aspect of care for Humana’s more than 20 million members. These days, he’s especially focused on making sure his 65-and-over members have their basic needs covered: access to food, prescriptions, and basic medical care—and helping them avoid loneliness.

Soon into the crisis, he initiated a 100-CEO roundtable to learn and share, and it’s given him hope: “The general business community has come together in so many different ways….This ability to create a system that is oriented to a common ground has just been so powerful, so powerful.”

Ep. 26: Greenlight, with Alibaba’s Joe Tsai Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

Joe Tsai, Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Alibaba Group; Governor, Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty -

“When we reopened, we were very tentative about letting people back into the office….You have to show your health code, which is attached to the Alipay app. It'll show a green, yellow, or red code; basically it reflects a lot of data—where you've been, who you've been with.”

If you’ve never heard of Alibaba, chances are you aren’t one of the 700 million active annual consumers living in China who rely on the company for e-commerce, online auctions, technology and business services, entertainment, and even grocery shopping. Keeping Alibaba’s 100,000 employees healthy is a priority for co-founder Joe Tsai, and he’s wary of going too fast, too soon.

“China doesn't publish testing data, but our estimate is that there are at least 20-25 million tests that have already been done….If you open up and you cannot detect, trace, and isolate infected patients, then it's going to be a disaster.”

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