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Mellody Hobson · The David Rubenstein Show

0:03
Speaker 1: One of the most impressive people I've ever met in
0:05
Speaker 1: the business world is Melody Hobson. She's the co CEO
0:08
Speaker 1: of Our Own Investments, a leading minority owned investment firm
0:10
Speaker 1: in Chicago. She's also chairman of the board of Starbucks
0:13
Speaker 1: and a member of the board of directors of JP Morgan.
0:16
Speaker 1: I had a chance to sit down with her recently
0:17
Speaker 1: talk about an incredible business career and now an incredible
0:20
Speaker 1: philanthropic career as well. Right now, you are the chairman
0:24
Speaker 1: of Starbucks. You are I think the only black female
0:28
Speaker 1: who's the chairman of a major fortune company. Is that right?
0:32
Speaker 1: Is that surprised to you in this day and age
0:34
Speaker 1: that not one other black female is the chair of
0:37
Speaker 1: a major company in public company? Yes? Absolutely. I think
0:40
Speaker 1: it's quite disappointing. And you see any progress in this
0:44
Speaker 1: area in terms of being chair I I don't know, Um,
0:48
Speaker 1: there may be people are out there who are headed
0:51
Speaker 1: for the chairmanship, but right now, just the idea that
0:53
Speaker 1: out of five companies in the Fortune I'm the only
0:56
Speaker 1: one today, the second only in history. Urslamburne was the
1:00
Speaker 1: executive chair of Xerox. That is just a poor statement
1:03
Speaker 1: about our society and where we need to be when
1:05
Speaker 1: it comes to race in this country and gender. You
1:08
Speaker 1: have been very active and trying to get more African
1:11
Speaker 1: Americans on corporate boards. And in fact, you have a
1:14
Speaker 1: conference that you host. You've at that and you interviewed me.
1:18
Speaker 1: I say, grilled me about my own situation. So I
1:23
Speaker 1: got through it, But your husband said I did better
1:26
Speaker 1: than most in any event. So why are you so
1:29
Speaker 1: interested in this area and what progress do you think
1:31
Speaker 1: you've made in getting African Americans on corporate boards. This
1:34
Speaker 1: has always been a big deal to us at Ariel.
1:36
Speaker 1: I think it has a lot to do with our
1:38
Speaker 1: founding as the first minority owned investment company in the nation.
1:42
Speaker 1: Back will be thirty nine years old um in a month.
1:46
Speaker 1: And I think it also has a lot to do
1:48
Speaker 1: with the fact that we recognize the boardroom is where
1:51
Speaker 1: all the power is and at the end of the day,
1:54
Speaker 1: and for in order for a company to be world class,
1:56
Speaker 1: and that's what we aspire to invest in. We think
1:59
Speaker 1: you need all perspectos around the table, and you certainly
2:02
Speaker 1: need to understand all of the potential preferences of the
2:05
Speaker 1: customers that you have, the buyers that you have, what
2:08
Speaker 1: have you and So at the end of the day,
2:09
Speaker 1: we think a diverse boardroom is essential to the well
2:13
Speaker 1: being of a company and it's stewartship. And I say
2:16
Speaker 1: this all the time that companies that don't really understand
2:19
Speaker 1: this are committing corporate suicide. And so we advocate in
2:22
Speaker 1: a very strong way in terms of the companies that
2:24
Speaker 1: we own, the smaller nitcap Us names for there to
2:28
Speaker 1: be diversity in those boardrooms. It may not be there
2:31
Speaker 1: when we first make our purchase, but you better believe
2:33
Speaker 1: we're going to be pushing and saying, you know, what
2:36
Speaker 1: is your plan for having a diverse boardroom? And at
2:39
Speaker 1: the end of the day, in the last thirty nine years,
2:42
Speaker 1: almost we can point to I think somewhere in the
2:44
Speaker 1: name of fifty companies where we've had diversity added to
2:47
Speaker 1: the board. So let's talk about a company. Arial that
2:50
Speaker 1: you started out as a person right out of Princeton
2:53
Speaker 1: and then you worked away to be Coco. But where
2:56
Speaker 1: we get it. Let's talk about your background. You are
2:59
Speaker 1: from where should cago and you grew up in a
3:01
Speaker 1: very wealthy family, No, just the opposite. Um, I grew
3:05
Speaker 1: up as the youngest of six kids. My mom was
3:07
Speaker 1: a single mom, I was really late in my family.
3:11
Speaker 1: So my siblings are twenty plus years older than me. Uh.
3:14
Speaker 1: They always joked that I was found on the doorstep.
3:17
Speaker 1: And my mom worked extraordinarily hard. She was in the
3:21
Speaker 1: real estate business, and it was I don't even call
3:23
Speaker 1: it feast or famine or food not feast, um. And
3:27
Speaker 1: she really struggled a lot. We used to get evicted.
3:29
Speaker 1: I told these stories all the time because they were
3:32
Speaker 1: foundational to who I am. We used to get our
3:34
Speaker 1: car repossessed. And because your mother was supporting the family
3:39
Speaker 1: and the business wasn't so wonderful sometimes, and also she
3:42
Speaker 1: was a black woman trying to do something on her own.
3:44
Speaker 1: It was very very hard during those times. There was
3:47
Speaker 1: a lot of um Uh. There was just a lot
3:49
Speaker 1: of obstacles for someone like her. She didn't have my education. Um.
3:55
Speaker 1: But she was very very wise, and she imparted I
3:58
Speaker 1: hope that wisdom and that allowed me to be the
4:01
Speaker 1: person that I am, as did my siblings. You were
4:03
Speaker 1: able to overcome all this by doing well in school.
4:06
Speaker 1: You did pretty well in high school. I guess school.
4:08
Speaker 1: I was very good at school. Yes, So you applied
4:10
Speaker 1: to college, and you applied to Harvard and Princeton and
4:14
Speaker 1: you got in right, Yes, And Harvard is a great place.
4:17
Speaker 1: I'm on the board of the Harvard Corporation. So why
4:19
Speaker 1: did you choose to go to Princeton, which is a
4:21
Speaker 1: great school over Harvard. Harvard is a great place. I
4:24
Speaker 1: loved it. My mom really wanted me to go there.
4:26
Speaker 1: I told the story all the time that she told
4:28
Speaker 1: me Harvard was like Coca Cola, that anywhere in the
4:31
Speaker 1: world that I would go, including an African village, if
4:33
Speaker 1: I said Harvard, people would know what I was talking about.
4:36
Speaker 1: And Princeton was like sprite, she said, we only knew
4:39
Speaker 1: it in America. And at the end of the day,
4:43
Speaker 1: after visiting both, a Princeton alum named Richard Missner called
4:48
Speaker 1: me every single day after I got into Princeton and
4:51
Speaker 1: told me why Princeton was the better school for me,
4:54
Speaker 1: and he ultimately invited me to a lunch with Bill Bradley.
4:57
Speaker 1: In between the two of them and John roger Is,
5:00
Speaker 1: the founder of Ariel, I was triple teamed, and ultimately
5:03
Speaker 1: I said, any school where people would be this uh
5:07
Speaker 1: fanatical about the school and having someone go there must
5:11
Speaker 1: be a really great place. And so against my mother's wishes.
5:14
Speaker 1: I chose Princeton and you never regretted it, right, Oh?
5:17
Speaker 1: I loved Princeton in every way. You know, Princetonian's we
5:20
Speaker 1: were hardcore, as we say, we bleed orange and black. Okay,
5:23
Speaker 1: So you graduated from Princeton what year and then you
5:28
Speaker 1: decided to go back to Chicago. I assume you could
5:30
Speaker 1: have had a lot of jobs in New York or
5:31
Speaker 1: the East Coast, but you went back your hometown and
5:33
Speaker 1: joined a then relatively small firm Aria Is that right?
5:37
Speaker 1: It was tiny and at one point six billion dollars
5:39
Speaker 1: in assets, maybe one billion at the time. And I
5:43
Speaker 1: did an interview on Wall Street. But one day, after
5:46
Speaker 1: making lots of trips into New York on the train
5:48
Speaker 1: to do the interviews, one day I just called John
5:51
Speaker 1: Rogers that then he had the title of president, and
5:54
Speaker 1: I said, I want to come to Ariel because I
5:56
Speaker 1: could see what I could learn from working with him
5:59
Speaker 1: up close versus the layers down that I would be
6:02
Speaker 1: in some of the other firms. I think he was
6:04
Speaker 1: surprised by the call. He told me I didn't open
6:06
Speaker 1: invitation to joined the firm after I was an intern,
6:09
Speaker 1: and I eagerly went there. I knew from the first day.
6:14
Speaker 1: And I know it's going to sound crazy that I
6:16
Speaker 1: would work there my whole life. I knew it. You
6:18
Speaker 1: have worked at Ariel your whole life. In fact, I
6:20
Speaker 1: think you're the only person your class or prince who
6:22
Speaker 1: has the same telephone number that you had when you graduate.
6:26
Speaker 1: Is that right? That's right? Out of people, So you
6:29
Speaker 1: can tell that loyalty means a lot to me, as
6:31
Speaker 1: well as consistency and stability, which is the opposite of
6:35
Speaker 1: what my childhood experience was. So Ariel, for those who
6:38
Speaker 1: don't know, is I guess it's the oldest minority owned
6:42
Speaker 1: investment firm of its type, and it's a value oriented firm.
6:45
Speaker 1: Is that right? You buy stocks that are let's say,
6:48
Speaker 1: value oriented cheap In other words, that's right. We cut
6:50
Speaker 1: our teeth in the small and mit cap space US dots,
6:53
Speaker 1: and in two thousand and eleven we branched into international
6:56
Speaker 1: and global with a New York team in a New
6:58
Speaker 1: York office. So we do small and it kept investing
7:01
Speaker 1: in US stots, and then we do all kept investing
7:04
Speaker 1: in international and global, and then very recently we went
7:07
Speaker 1: it to your business. Now you're in the most important
7:09
Speaker 1: business of the law private equity, right I don't know
7:11
Speaker 1: if it's the most important, it's the hottest one right now.
7:14
Speaker 1: We're trying to do it differently. So your firm specialized
7:16
Speaker 1: in what's called value stocks, which means cheap stocks. You're
7:19
Speaker 1: not into the high technology high flyers. But the high
7:22
Speaker 1: flyers have done so well crushed it in recent years.
7:26
Speaker 1: So I've made you think maybe you should get into
7:28
Speaker 1: that business as well. As a contrarian, I think just
7:30
Speaker 1: the opposite. Whatever worked in the past won't work in
7:33
Speaker 1: the future. Most people fight fight last year's war. That's
7:37
Speaker 1: not how we think about things. You want to look
7:38
Speaker 1: and see what hasn't been successful, and that's where you
7:41
Speaker 1: want to be. So when we look at this past
7:43
Speaker 1: decade where large caps and growth have dominated in a
7:47
Speaker 1: way that we've never seen before, selling it valuations that
7:51
Speaker 1: we've never seen before relative to value or or cheaper stocks,
7:57
Speaker 1: we see a tremendous opportunity. People think we're sucking our book.
8:00
Speaker 1: We're not. I'm just looking at data. I love that line.
8:03
Speaker 1: Map has no opinion. When you look at the map,
8:07
Speaker 1: the differences in returns over long periods of time between
8:10
Speaker 1: growth and value and the divergence that we've had recently,
8:14
Speaker 1: you can't help but to see a tremendous amount of
8:16
Speaker 1: opportunity and value, especially with the backdrop of rising interest rates.
8:21
Speaker 1: Warren Buffett has often said that people will be better
8:24
Speaker 1: off just put their money in stock index funds rather
8:26
Speaker 1: than people who are picking stocks, as your firm often
8:29
Speaker 1: does you pick stocks. So what do you say to
8:31
Speaker 1: Warren about that. Well, first of all, he's outperformed by
8:34
Speaker 1: not owning an index, so he's proved positive that it's
8:38
Speaker 1: possible that you can outperform the broad market. But more importantly,
8:42
Speaker 1: in our world, we believe in the efficient market theory,
8:45
Speaker 1: and the inefficiency is in areas that are the that
8:49
Speaker 1: are overlooked, misunderstood. People don't follow it very well, and
8:54
Speaker 1: so that's smaller companies. They tend to be less widely followed.
8:58
Speaker 1: You also see that inefficiency and in national markets. That's
9:01
Speaker 1: where we work and live at Ariel, and so we
9:04
Speaker 1: think we can exploit those inefficiencies in those areas, which
9:07
Speaker 1: is where we would say, um, we would respectfully disagree
9:12
Speaker 1: with Warren Buffett. Let me talk about Starbucks for a moment.
9:15
Speaker 1: You've been on the board for how long? Wow? A
9:17
Speaker 1: long time since two thousand and six. Okay, And when
9:20
Speaker 1: you got on the board, did you stop to go
9:21
Speaker 1: to Starbucks every day? And I got a lot. And
9:25
Speaker 1: when you check in, you have to wait in line
9:27
Speaker 1: like everybody else. I wait in line of like everyone else.
9:30
Speaker 1: That's a that's an important part of the process to
9:31
Speaker 1: see how everything's working, how long it takes with the
9:35
Speaker 1: what's happening in the store. But now that you're the chair,
9:38
Speaker 1: when you walk in any Starbucks in the world, they
9:40
Speaker 1: must have your picture there. They that does not happen.
9:42
Speaker 1: It's actually like being a secret shopper. It's pretty good
9:45
Speaker 1: not to be recognized in any way so that you
9:47
Speaker 1: can truly assess how things are going. I take pictures
9:50
Speaker 1: of the cases. I do all sorts of things when
9:52
Speaker 1: I go in. Now, what's your favorite drink? Can you say?
9:55
Speaker 1: Is that a state secret? I make a joke about this,
9:57
Speaker 1: So I like my coffee black like me? Okay, Now,
10:00
Speaker 1: Howard Schultz has been a mentor to you a bit,
10:03
Speaker 1: is that correct? He's the founder of for sure, very important.
10:06
Speaker 1: So what did he do that made Starbucks so successful?
10:09
Speaker 1: There are other coffee chains around the world. And wasn't
10:11
Speaker 1: like he invented coffee chains. What did he actually do
10:14
Speaker 1: that made it the biggest in the world. He really
10:16
Speaker 1: started off from the very beginning saying that he wanted
10:19
Speaker 1: to create a different kind of company and that he
10:21
Speaker 1: had this point of view about leading through the lens
10:24
Speaker 1: of humanity. It sounds like it could be a cliche,
10:27
Speaker 1: but it's not at all. It is very much in
10:30
Speaker 1: the dna of the company. How we look at things,
10:32
Speaker 1: how we do things, it's always through this point of
10:35
Speaker 1: view of people. And so at the end of the day,
10:37
Speaker 1: I think he put people first, not only in terms
10:40
Speaker 1: of the partners of the company, but also in terms
10:42
Speaker 1: of the customer, and at the end of the day,
10:44
Speaker 1: that is what has made the company so great. Okay,
10:47
Speaker 1: so today you're coming to UH New York for a
10:50
Speaker 1: board meeting of JP Morgan, which is I think the
10:53
Speaker 1: biggest bank in the world, at least by marketing largest
10:56
Speaker 1: I think in the world, the largest, and it's led
11:01
Speaker 1: by Jamie Diamond, who has been the CEO for quite
11:03
Speaker 1: some time. So UH, as a board member there, what
11:07
Speaker 1: is your responsibility is it to help the bank grow?
11:11
Speaker 1: What have you learned from Jamie Diamond? Is he a
11:13
Speaker 1: mentor to you as well. So start off with any
11:16
Speaker 1: board role, you're a fooduciary for the shareholders. Howard is
11:19
Speaker 1: the one who taught me this best. He told me
11:21
Speaker 1: that every time he sat in the room, he pictured
11:23
Speaker 1: two chairs and that we're empty. One chair was a
11:26
Speaker 1: partner at Starbucks. Another chair was a shareholder, and he said,
11:29
Speaker 1: when you're in that boardroom, be proud of everything you
11:31
Speaker 1: say to those two chairs. And I've taken that to heart,
11:35
Speaker 1: and I do the exact thing, same thing. When I'm
11:37
Speaker 1: at JP Morgan. I assume that there's an employee sitting
11:40
Speaker 1: in the room of JP Morgan, and that there's a
11:42
Speaker 1: shareholder in that room, and I am supposed to look
11:45
Speaker 1: out for them. That is my job. And in terms
11:48
Speaker 1: of what Jamie has taught me, Um, Howard and Jamie
11:50
Speaker 1: have taught me different things. Obviously, I've been with Howard
11:53
Speaker 1: for a very long time, and I think he molded
11:55
Speaker 1: me as a person in terms of my my professional
11:59
Speaker 1: self from watching him, especially UM for so many years
12:03
Speaker 1: and so up closed with Jamie. I haven't been there
12:05
Speaker 1: as long, but what I can say to you is
12:07
Speaker 1: I've learned without a question how he has put a
12:12
Speaker 1: world class team around him to run an extraordinarily complex
12:16
Speaker 1: business and at the end of the day, you're only
12:18
Speaker 1: as good as your people. I think that is what
12:20
Speaker 1: I see and I've learned from Jamie another initiative you've
12:23
Speaker 1: been involved with, which is to um get JP Morgan
12:27
Speaker 1: and other companies to invest in minority owned businesses, and
12:31
Speaker 1: how is that going. So the initiative is really targeted
12:36
Speaker 1: at growing sustainable minority businesses by bringing two things together,
12:40
Speaker 1: capital and customers. We think people when they talk about
12:43
Speaker 1: growing minority businesses, they often rotate over rotate on this
12:47
Speaker 1: idea of access to capital. We think access to customers
12:50
Speaker 1: are just as important. And it's actually this became clear
12:53
Speaker 1: to me. John Rodgers used to talk about that all
12:55
Speaker 1: the time, saying customers, melody, customers, grow minority business is.
13:00
Speaker 1: And then I sat in the boardroom at JP Morgan
13:02
Speaker 1: and I realized very quickly and clearly, if you've got
13:05
Speaker 1: a fistful of receivable that receivables, that bank will lend
13:09
Speaker 1: you money. And so the idea is, how can you
13:12
Speaker 1: create sustainable minority businesses of scale? And we think you
13:16
Speaker 1: can do that by becoming Tier one suppliers to Fortune
13:20
Speaker 1: five companies. Because those companies are looking to diversify their vendorless,
13:24
Speaker 1: both literally and figuratively, especially after COVID. So how is
13:29
Speaker 1: that going? Are you raising the money or you started
13:31
Speaker 1: investing that fund? Yet we are. It's going very well.
13:34
Speaker 1: So we're just off to the races we announced on
13:37
Speaker 1: February seventeenth. We feel very good about our progress. We
13:40
Speaker 1: can't say a time because we haven't had our final
13:43
Speaker 1: clothes yet and there are a lot of rules around this,
13:45
Speaker 1: but we are. We are very very optimistic. Many people
13:48
Speaker 1: who are minorities feel, and African Americans, Latinos, others who
13:52
Speaker 1: are um not a majority status, not white, feel that
13:55
Speaker 1: the system is built against them. In fact, I believe
13:58
Speaker 1: when I was growing up in the American dream. But
14:00
Speaker 1: I'm white and I believed in it, and I've lived
14:02
Speaker 1: the American dream. But many people who are minorities don't
14:05
Speaker 1: any longer believe in the American dream. They don't think
14:07
Speaker 1: they can rise up. Your hometown of Chicago has had
14:09
Speaker 1: lots of problems, of course, what do you say to
14:12
Speaker 1: these people about whether this country really still exists for
14:15
Speaker 1: the American dream? Is it possible for people to do
14:17
Speaker 1: what you've done? So? First and foremost, I'm an example
14:20
Speaker 1: of the American dream being possible, and I can't in
14:22
Speaker 1: any way say that that's not the case. I didn't
14:24
Speaker 1: come from anything. I didn't know anyone. I had no
14:27
Speaker 1: relationships that I could leverage in terms of what I
14:30
Speaker 1: have become. It was just hard work and effort um
14:34
Speaker 1: and along the way I got lots and lots of
14:36
Speaker 1: breaks and miracles did happen. But the American dream, to
14:40
Speaker 1: me is alive. And well, now that's said. I'm a
14:42
Speaker 1: capitalist with a capital C, but I think capitalists should
14:45
Speaker 1: be working for more people. Right now, the system is limited.
14:49
Speaker 1: It is not as good as it could be. It's
14:50
Speaker 1: gotten better over time, but it can be better still,
14:53
Speaker 1: and it will be better still when more people of
14:55
Speaker 1: color can participate in the system. When everyone can a
15:00
Speaker 1: the game gets better. We have learned that time and
15:03
Speaker 1: time again. Reverend Jesse Jackson says that about baseball, it
15:06
Speaker 1: wasn't as good as it could be until Jackie Robinson
15:09
Speaker 1: can play. When everyone can play, when you can have
15:12
Speaker 1: the best competitors competing, you ultimately end up with a
15:15
Speaker 1: better outcome globally, domestically, inside of a company. And so
15:20
Speaker 1: to me, the American dream is possible, but it is
15:23
Speaker 1: failing a lot of people because of some of these
15:27
Speaker 1: racial blinders that exist. So today CEOs are under pressure
15:32
Speaker 1: to say something publicly about public issues. Do you think
15:35
Speaker 1: that's a good thing that Jamie Diamond or or the
15:38
Speaker 1: CEO of of Starbucks should say things about policy issues
15:42
Speaker 1: that are really outside of their domain of their company.
15:44
Speaker 1: We are human beings. We have opinions, and I don't
15:47
Speaker 1: think being CEO, co CEO, chairman, et cetera means that
15:52
Speaker 1: I can't have an opinion about something, and so I
15:54
Speaker 1: always put that in the concepts of context when I
15:57
Speaker 1: am giving my opinion. This is my opinion. It doesn't
16:01
Speaker 1: have to be an opinion that represents Starbucks or Ariel
16:04
Speaker 1: or JP Morgan. But I think I'm allowed to say
16:06
Speaker 1: what I think. It doesn't also mean that I'm right
16:09
Speaker 1: and Ariel I talk about truth. There's truth with a
16:12
Speaker 1: capital T and there's truth with a small T. And
16:15
Speaker 1: if it's my opinion, it's truth with a small T.
16:17
Speaker 1: Now this country is bitterly divided between the left and
16:21
Speaker 1: the right. It seems the government is not functional in
16:23
Speaker 1: many ways. Are you optimistic about the country's future or
16:27
Speaker 1: you think we're heading to a dark path where we
16:29
Speaker 1: won't be able to bring the country together. I'm very
16:31
Speaker 1: worried about the polarization, and I think that we all
16:34
Speaker 1: have to work harder to be more um willing to
16:39
Speaker 1: listen to other points of view. At the same time,
16:42
Speaker 1: I take that Warren Buffet view. I think that if
16:45
Speaker 1: you're born in America, you've won the birth lottery, as
16:47
Speaker 1: he says. And I think that America's promise remains very, very,
16:52
Speaker 1: very great because we've had a certain spirit in this
16:57
Speaker 1: country that I don't I think it's in our DNA.
17:00
Speaker 1: And I think if we can realize our best selves,
17:03
Speaker 1: which is what America was founded on, inclusion in terms
17:07
Speaker 1: of religion, in terms of people from all walks of life,
17:09
Speaker 1: all of these things being a melting pot, if we
17:12
Speaker 1: can realize that our future and our possibilities are truly endless.
17:17
Speaker 1: The question is will we allow ourselves to realize that. Now,
17:20
Speaker 1: some people would say, uh, Melody, you are a lot
17:23
Speaker 1: of corporate boards, you're a lot of nonprofits, will talk
17:25
Speaker 1: about you've also married a very very wealthy, famous person
17:29
Speaker 1: named George Lucas. They creative star wars, among other things.
17:32
Speaker 1: So why do you need to be the co CEO
17:35
Speaker 1: of Aria. Why don't you just do nonprofit boards, corporate
17:37
Speaker 1: boards and other things? Why do you still want to
17:39
Speaker 1: do this? Anyone who knows me knows that that question
17:42
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense for me, because my heart, my love
17:45
Speaker 1: is Ariel. Ariel's my first child. It was the thing
17:48
Speaker 1: that I did that I thought about every morning when
17:50
Speaker 1: I woke up, and every night when I went to bed,
17:53
Speaker 1: and all day long, and it really became a labor
17:56
Speaker 1: of love for me. John joke that he started it
17:59
Speaker 1: and that became a point that he thought, maybe I
18:01
Speaker 1: loved it more. I don't think that's true. We don't
18:03
Speaker 1: compete for the love of Arial, but I do think
18:06
Speaker 1: it became a part of my DNA, and so leaving
18:09
Speaker 1: it is not something I would ever consider. I've always
18:11
Speaker 1: wanted to be there. So let's talk about some of
18:13
Speaker 1: the nonprofit things you're doing. One of them, I just
18:15
Speaker 1: want to talk about the one that you're doing. Talk
18:17
Speaker 1: about first you're doing with your husband. You're building a
18:20
Speaker 1: museum in Los Angeles for narrative arts. I guess it
18:25
Speaker 1: would be dealing with his art that he's purchased and
18:27
Speaker 1: all the things he's done. Can you explain why you're
18:30
Speaker 1: building a museum and when it's going to open and
18:32
Speaker 1: what it's going to be. That's so unique about it, Well,
18:34
Speaker 1: it's the first museum that's ever been built that is
18:36
Speaker 1: dedicated to the art of storytelling, the narrative. So the
18:40
Speaker 1: way to think about it is a story that is
18:43
Speaker 1: told in one frame. Many directors can see this very
18:46
Speaker 1: clearly when you look at, for example, a Norman Rockwell picture,
18:50
Speaker 1: a painting, you can understand the story just in one frame,
18:54
Speaker 1: one shot. And that's what the whole museum is about.
18:57
Speaker 1: We dedicated this work to building this bill day. It
19:00
Speaker 1: will be the first of its kind. It's in Los Angeles,
19:03
Speaker 1: it is it is seated with the collection that George
19:07
Speaker 1: started collecting for a very long time. It also has
19:10
Speaker 1: a component of it that is dedicated to Star Wars.
19:13
Speaker 1: But the bigger issue is to create an environment, a
19:16
Speaker 1: place where anyone can walk in from any walk of life,
19:19
Speaker 1: from a scholar to a six year old, and feel
19:22
Speaker 1: not only like they belong there, but also that they
19:25
Speaker 1: understand what's on the walls. Now you are in effect
19:28
Speaker 1: self funding this, putting up most of the money for this.
19:31
Speaker 1: Such all okay, that's all right. So that's more than
19:35
Speaker 1: a billion dollars. Let's say, isn't that I don't know
19:37
Speaker 1: of anybody that's ever put up that much money for
19:39
Speaker 1: a museum. You ever think about the cost or you're
19:41
Speaker 1: just not worried about that so much. What we have said,
19:45
Speaker 1: and we really do believe this, is that we are
19:48
Speaker 1: holding society's money. So this money is not for us.
19:52
Speaker 1: We have great lives, so please don't in any way
19:55
Speaker 1: think that we're you know, struggling here. But it really
19:58
Speaker 1: was that the wealth that was created from Star Wars
20:02
Speaker 1: and Indiana Jones and all these things was really um
20:07
Speaker 1: quite significant, and we think it belongs back in society.
20:11
Speaker 1: So what's it like to be Melanie Hobson? Everybody knows
20:14
Speaker 1: you pretty much and your you can see anybody in
20:16
Speaker 1: the world you want to see. You have the best
20:18
Speaker 1: most famous friends the United States. So you ever just
20:21
Speaker 1: say I want to just chill out and relax, get
20:23
Speaker 1: away from all this, And how do you relax? Well,
20:27
Speaker 1: first of all, I just want to put in context
20:28
Speaker 1: that I get to spend time with people who I
20:30
Speaker 1: really admire and response to our world class people their fame.
20:33
Speaker 1: Many of them are not famous at all that you
20:35
Speaker 1: wouldn't know, but they are equally important to me. So
20:38
Speaker 1: that is not how I think about any person that
20:42
Speaker 1: I have a relationship with. What I would say is that, um,
20:46
Speaker 1: my life has exceeded my own expectations, and I think
20:49
Speaker 1: that's why it's very important not to put expectations around
20:52
Speaker 1: what is possible for you or anyone, and and so
20:56
Speaker 1: doing that, I have a great sense of gratitude about
20:58
Speaker 1: all that I've been able to experience and all the
21:00
Speaker 1: people I've been able to interact with and most importantly
21:03
Speaker 1: learned from. In terms of what I do when I
21:06
Speaker 1: am relaxing, UM, we are really basic in my house,
21:10
Speaker 1: so we do things like bench watch television, and we
21:14
Speaker 1: usually go to the movies, although we don't do that
21:16
Speaker 1: so much during COVID. George likes to watch in a
21:18
Speaker 1: movie theater with other people, and he likes to experience
21:22
Speaker 1: the crowd experiencing a film, not to watch on his
21:25
Speaker 1: own and your husband say, well, this isn't a good movie.
21:27
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what they did wrong, or he
21:28
Speaker 1: doesn't do that. Well. Actually, I love watching a movie
21:31
Speaker 1: with George because he really breaks it down for you.
21:33
Speaker 1: It's not about it being good. I mean, it's much
21:36
Speaker 1: more than that. He will tell you why the story
21:37
Speaker 1: is is solid and the foundation of it is good.
21:41
Speaker 1: He'll tell you what's missing. He'll give you ideas of
21:44
Speaker 1: how the movie could be better. And um, I mean,
21:47
Speaker 1: I've watched a lot of films with George where he's
21:49
Speaker 1: broken them down for me in ways that are just
21:51
Speaker 1: so enlightening. Now, have you ever thought of running for office?
21:55
Speaker 1: You obviously have an outgoing personality, are very successful. You
21:58
Speaker 1: pres only get elected in your home state of Illinois,
22:01
Speaker 1: or running for president or anything like that, or serving
22:04
Speaker 1: in the cabinet, And the reason is too busy with
22:08
Speaker 1: other stuff or government is a little complicated for what
22:10
Speaker 1: you want to do. I'm doing what I'm meant to
22:13
Speaker 1: do and what I love. I'm not one of those
22:15
Speaker 1: grasses greener on the other side of the fence people by.
22:18
Speaker 1: You could see that, bevertue of the fact that I've
22:20
Speaker 1: stated Ariel for so long, that I have relationships that
22:23
Speaker 1: extend for decades, I just don't. I don't think about
22:26
Speaker 1: how do I trade up. That's just not how I
22:29
Speaker 1: think about life. And if I had that calling, I
22:33
Speaker 1: would do it, But that I don't feel that in
22:35
Speaker 1: my heart or soul, I feel I'm better off um
22:42
Speaker 1: contributing to organizations like Ariel and Starbucks and JP Morgan.
22:47
Speaker 1: So if somebody says, I want to bundle the optimism
22:50
Speaker 1: and enthusiasm for life that Melody Hobson has, what is
22:54
Speaker 1: the secret? How do you get to be so optimistic
22:56
Speaker 1: and and energetic? And what do you think is the
22:58
Speaker 1: key to that? For people want that gratitude. So when
23:02
Speaker 1: you have had the life that I have, every day
23:05
Speaker 1: is a gift. Every day seems like a blessing. Every
23:08
Speaker 1: day feels um beyond anything I would have ever expected.
23:13
Speaker 1: And so if that is the way that you have,
23:16
Speaker 1: you know, if you look at the world, I think
23:18
Speaker 1: it ends up being a much better life you can
23:20
Speaker 1: put that. That doesn't mean days aren't hard. I tell
23:22
Speaker 1: people at Ariel, my worst day is still awesome. I mean,
23:27
Speaker 1: I've had some really bad days, but in the context
23:29
Speaker 1: of what I know that can be really bad, like
23:32
Speaker 1: worrying about where you're going to sleep or where you're
23:34
Speaker 1: gonna eat, nothing is that bad. Nothing. And it also
23:39
Speaker 1: gives me a great amount of empathy for people who
23:41
Speaker 1: have those struggles. And so because I never forget I'm
23:46
Speaker 1: always very grateful, and because I'm grateful, I think that
23:49
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to work hard, I'm supposed to do better,
23:52
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be optimistic. Because the contrary is just
24:00
Speaker 1: doesn't seem right. Given all the opportunity that I've had,
24:04
Speaker 1: what do I have to complain about? It doesn't mean
24:06
Speaker 1: I don't have moments of complaint, but in the big
24:09
Speaker 1: context of my life, I have perspective, and that perspective
24:15
Speaker 1: allows me to have gratitude and therefore to have joy.
24:19
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You
24:22
Speaker 1: can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or
24:26
Speaker 1: wherever you listen.