The Exchanges

Q Well, and beyond that, I mean, let's go back to Hindu Kush, which, I mean, I think most people know you for MTV, such an iconic stretch of your career. Um, but you, you started by building an apparel brand out of India, right? And Afghanistan. I mean, Um, where it's not even clear what the rules were at times, right?

A I wanted to live there. I, I had been traveling, and I had developed this fascination with that part of the world. I figured, how can I afford to live here? I need to start a business, because I couldn't get a job, so I started this business in the garment business, knowing nothing, never wanting to be in the garment business, but it took off like a rocket, and then at the end, there was an embargo That Jimmy Carter put down that ultimately put my company out of business. Yeah. No more imports from India. And I sent three tons of clothes to, to, to Montreal and we smuggled them over the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was insane. I don't know what I was thinking, but, uh, I was kind of just looking for a little justice.

AI assessment note: “I wanted to live there... I need to start a business... in the garment business”

Q What's, what's a great lesson you learned from Bob?

A The, the, the, the key of the business is the consumer. You, you have to deal with a lot of different groups, advertisers, in our case, cable operators, artists, record companies, this and that. But if you could, if you could make a connection with the consumer, And know what's going on inside that consumer's head and maybe build up a research enterprise that gives you a lot of insights into what's going on and get that bond and build up some loyalty. That will allow the other things that have to happen in your business, getting distribution, getting advertisers, convincing people to do things that will allow them to fall into place. So it's consumer first, second, and third.

AI assessment note: “The, the, the, the key of the business is the consumer.”

Q or the job at the right company, and Um, and it, it, there's real fear about following something that's more of a passion or, or that they feel in their body just might be something worth trying and being a little bit more beboppy about their career. Um, when, when you're talking with young people who are in that mindset, how are you helping them understand that there's another path?

A Yeah, I mean, it's really a good question, and I, I really worry for the, first of all, it's really a, It's a tougher time for kids. You know, you're in your twenties these days, you want to start a career, and the office culture thing has sort of collapsed, and a lot of things that maybe we knew when we were that age are sort of gone. You know, step off the conveyor belt and embrace some uncertainty. No one's gonna miss you if you're gone for a while. You can maybe travel all around the world like I did, but I would say that, but travel, making that part of your, uh, you know, post-college experiences, It's like the world's greatest classroom. You learn a lot about empathy. You learn a lot about your country. When you come back, you know, you've had a, a better formed existence. You're probably going to be more attractive to someone who's a recruiter than someone who just went on the conveyor belt the whole time. Relax, for God's sake, you know.

AI assessment note: “step off the conveyor belt and embrace some uncertainty. No one's gonna miss you”

Q Well, that was one thing when you were, when you were leading and helping lead MTV. It's another thing when you were leading and helping lead Viacom itself. What was different for you going from overseeing one brand to a family of brands that have wildly different cultures?

A Well, we had a family of brands in the sense we, we, we became a big cable networking, uh, operation. We had Nickelodeon. We had Comedy Central. We had VH-One. We had Noggin. We had Nick Jr. We had TV Land. There's a country music television. So when I ascended to be the CEO, I became the president of Viacom, along with Les Moonves. We were like a big entertainment conglomerate. And I became co-president with Les. We got along well. You know, he had his fiefdom. I had my fiefdom. But then the digital revolution began to hit and break up this ecosystem, which we survived on the fact that we had this central operation where we were like editors. We could manage because of scarcity. We didn't have to put out a lot of things. And now all of a sudden we've got the internet.

AI assessment note: “he had his fiefdom. I had my fiefdom. But then the digital revolution began”

Q concept that's not even 60 years old at this point, um, uh, really minimizes stakeholders, uh, whether that's customers and clients, that's team members, that is, um, uh, society at large, our nation at large. Do you see a path to elevating Stakeholder interests in how companies are led? Is there, is there a way back to a world where corporations have responsibilities that are co-equal with the shareholder responsibilities?

A That's a good question. You know, I know I'm, I'm thinking of Milton Friedman, but you're right. We have really pretty much boiled it down to the shareholder interests. And, you know, uh, there was a lot of time. It wasn't that long ago when companies would do these purposeful things. And now they all got, uh, derided as, oh, this is woke stuff. Save the music, you know, like music libraries and music, instructing kids how to play musical instruments. These are good things. It ties in with our image. And what it did was it make everybody in the company feel good. One of the things I do when I go through this in the book, I'm, I'm the board chair of this thing called, uh, one campaign. And we, part of that is red, which is, I don't have my phone with me, but You know, we would partner with companies making products, and what we would find that the, you deal with Starbucks and others, they, the employees would feel good knowing that the company that they work for, that they devote their life to, is doing socially positive things as well as just marketing a product in the best way possible. So I hope it comes back. I hope we're just going through a phase, It would seem to be me to be a lost opportunity. I think more people would be doing it If they weren't fearful that somehow it's going to be lumped into this woke category that you're going to be attacked for.

AI assessment note: “So I hope it comes back. I hope we're just going through a phase”

Q and you know, you, you open the book with, with the, the MySpace story and, um, and it sort of being the catalyst for leaving Viacom. Um, not long after you left, uh, Oprah reached out as she does, you know, uh, uh, and, and asked you to help her build her company. What's a lesson you learned from working with Oprah that you haven't shared with the world before?

A She's the easiest person in the world to talk to, to be with, and she just radiates goodwill and goodness, and we all know that. We all know Oprah, so working with her was a pleasure. Oprah had a cadre of, uh, largely women who had surrounded her and worked on her syndicated show, which was this huge business, and they knew Oprah, and they knew what they wanted, and they, they kind of came as outsiders to Hollywood, and I helped mostly in the business side. Can we get a deal with Comcast for Interdistribution. Can, you know, how do we set up some of these departments? I would work on that kind of level. So I did that for a couple of years. It was interesting.

AI assessment note: “I helped mostly in the business side. Can we get a deal with Comcast”