fortune--2020-08-31--“He has figured out how to have followers”: A top dealmaker on Trump’s leadership

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David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of the private-equity shop Carlyle Group, has had an admittedly self-serving epiphany about successful leaders.
Many, like himself, surged in the second and third phases of life, the times focused on building up the skills of a career and then reaping the benefits. They were not the hot shots of the first phase: class presidents, captain of the football team, and so on.
“It may be a rationalization for my inability to be as successful in the first third of my life as I wanted to be,” he says. “Later, when I got more successful, I looked back at all these people who were so successful early on. None of them turned out to be so successful by conventional standards.”
Rubenstein’s new book, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, is out this week. It’s a compilation of some of the interviews he has done for the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and his Bloomberg TV show Peer to Peer. Rubenstein is an affable and purposely unthreatening interviewer, and the tidy chapters in his book are digestible distillations of his chats with the likes of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Condoleezza Rice, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others.
“The point of the book is really this,” he says. “How did they do it, and can you get any lessons from them? Particularly for young people. They are looking for heroes. Can you learn anything from them?” He has distilled the qualities that make great leaders into a baker’s dozen of attributes, including desire, a strong work ethic, ability to focus, persistence, having a humble demeanor, and integrity.
The current president of the United States shows up only in passing, and I ask Rubenstein to assess Donald Trump’s leadership. He says that he did interview Trump, though he didn’t include it in the book. “In the green room, he said, ‘Ask me anything you want, but ask me if I’m going to run for President.’ And I said, ‘Donald, president of what?’”
I expected Rubenstein, who worked as a young lawyer in the Carter administration, to rate Trump’s leadership poorly. Instead, he flashes diplomatic skills honed from a lifetime inside the Beltway, where he started Carlyle.
“I didn’t want to make the book about if you’re like Trump or you’re different from Trump,” he says. “I set out the qualities of leadership in the book, and he has some of them. To be a leader you have to have followers. He has figured out how to have followers.”
Adam Lashinsky
@adamlashinsky
adam.lashinsky@fortune.com
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
NEWSWORTHY
The future is going to be weird. I don't know if one lived in a straw house, one in a stick house, and one in a brick house, but three little pigs were the star of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Neuralink event on Friday. “In a lot of ways it’s like Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires,” Musk said, as brain recordings from one of the pigs with the device implanted were displayed on a big screen. Fitbit sounds kind of basic for Elon, but fear not, the conversation quickly veered in sci-fi territory. “You can store your memories as a backup," Musk said. “You can potentially download them into a new body or a robot body.” Maybe that will help stop future Russian hackers trying to steal Tesla data?
Game over. As permitted by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Apple on Friday made it impossible for Epic Games to keep any of its own games in the iPhone app store, including Fortnite, though it did not cut off Epic's Unreal Engine, the software underpinnings of many other publishers' games. Wonder if that will have any dampening effect on the active blackmarket for stolen Fortnite accounts?
The eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round. Another difficult apology from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week. The social network failed to take down posts from "Kenosha Guard," the self-proclaimed militia group calling for armed patrols, until after an Illinois teenager killed two people at protests. Zuckerberg said Facebook had made “an operational mistake” because the page had been flagged at least 455 times before the shootings but moderators left it up.
You're not my homeland anymore. Some permanent economic fallout from the pandemic: Pinterest will pay $90 million to get out of a multi-year commitment to lease almost 500,000 square feet in a new San Francisco office development called 88 Bluxome. "As we analyze how our workplace will change in a post-COVID world, we are specifically rethinking where future employees could be based," explained Pinterest CFO Officer Todd Morgenfeld.
Breaking up is hard to do. Finally, a response from China on all the TikTok mishugas. While President Trump wants a quick forced sale with a big cut for the U.S. Treasury, China on Friday tightened its export controls in a way that may require ByteDance to get government permission to sell to an American company.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The doctor's visit went largely virtual during the pandemic. Associated Press reporter Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar takes a look at what went right and wrong and how much "telehealth" will continue in the future. Fraud could be a problem.
“Policymakers seems to be in a rush to pass legislation, but I think it is worth taking a little more time,” said Juliette Cubanski, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “Fraud is one big area that policymakers need to be cognizant of.”
Fraud-busters agree.
Telehealth is so new that “we don’t have at this point a real sense of where the huge risks lie,” said Andrew VanLandingham, a senior lawyer with the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office. “We are sort of in an experimental phase.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Rock the Vote enlists Instagram influencers to get young people to the polls By Danielle Abril
Buy or pass? The pros and cons of investing in 9 upcoming tech IPOs from Palantir to Asana By Aaron Pressman
Stock splits: Everything investors need to know in light of Apple’s and Tesla’s moves By Anne Sraders
DDoS cyberattacks have skyrocketed this year. Just ask the New Zealand stock exchange By Eamon Barrett
LG unveils a new high-tech ‘smart mask.’ But does it protect against COVID? By David Z. Morris
What I learned from 5 years of cleaning airplanes in the middle of the night By Shanice Joseph
The best things I bought in August By Rachel Schallom
(Some of these stories require a subscription to access. Thank you for supporting our journalism.)
BEFORE YOU GO
It was so sad to hear about Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman's death from colon cancer last week. Disney's Marvel Studios posted a sweet tribute video, and Michele Norris, founding director of The Race Card Project, had a moving essay on Boseman's cultural impact.
Aaron Pressman
@ampressman
aaron.pressman@fortune.com


fortune--2020-08-31--‘Severe lumber shortage’ is adding $14,000 to the cost of a new home

One university may have the best COVID testing operation in the U.S.—and tests students twice a week

Renovations already have the reputation of taking twice the time and costing twice as much as homeowners expect. Now there’s a new twist: Getting wood is going to cost you extra, too.
State lockdowns in the spring caused sawmills across the nation to close, leaving California redwoods and Southern yellow pine uncut and reducing lumber on the market. At the same time a surge in home renovations and do-it-yourself home projects during the pandemic—just look at the earnings of Home Depot and Lowe’s—and rebounding home construction have increased the demand for timber.
Reduced supply plus increased demand is the formula for soaring prices: The price of lumber has soared 134% year over year, according to figures provided by Random Lengths to Fortune.
“This is a severe lumber shortage…Demand is hot and continues to be strong. In the next month or two it’s going to continue to be elevated,” Dustin Jalbert, senior economist at Fastmarkets RISI, told Fortune.
At the onset of the pandemic, Jalbert says, it was largely assumed in the industry that housing would slump or crash. But housing and new home construction has surged back this summer: Sales of new homes hit their highest levels since 2006 in July, jumping 36% year over year, and home construction—housing starts—climbed 22.6% in July. A combination of lower interest rates, an influx of first-time millennial home buyers, and a 50% rebound in the S&P 500 has combined to create a hot housing market despite a double-digit unemployment rate.
Around 40% of all lumber goes toward repairing and remodeling homes, Jalbert says. During the pandemic, DIY projects exploded as Americans took advantage of their time cooped up at home.
And that 134% increase in lumber prices has added around $14,000 to the cost of building a new home, according to a calculation by the National Association of Home Builders provided to Fortune.
Most of that cost is getting passed from the builder to the consumer, Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, told Fortune. The median price tag for new homes sold in July was $330,600, up $22,300 from July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For every $1,000 increase in home price, around 150,000 U.S. families get priced out, Dietz adds.
Will the shortage let up anytime soon? Jalbert at Fastmarkets RISI says lumber supplies will be encumbered for months, but could begin to level off by the end of the year.
And trade disputes between the U.S. and Canada are also playing a role. In 2017, the Trump administration imposed 20% tariffs on most Canadian lumber. On Monday, the World Trade Organization sided with Canada, ruling that Canadians weren’t improperly subsidizing lumber production—as the White House argued when it imposed the tariffs.


fortune--2020-08-31--Institutional investors must take action on diversity in venture capital

This is the web version of The Broadsheet, a daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Mutual funds with women behind them post stronger results in 2020, Iowa is a coronavirus hotspot, and institutional investors can wield their power to diversify venture capital funding. Have a productive Monday.
– Institutional power. The Broadsheet pays a lot of attention to how the venture capital industry treats female founders, from the minuscule percentage of venture funding (2.7%) that goes to women-founded businesses to the even tinier pool of money investors have dedicated to backing Black women.
The conversation around diversifying the startup world often focuses on the steps VCs and female founders might take to address the problem. (Think of All Raise, the Silicon Valley organization that has made change among “funders and founders” the crux of its mission.)
But what about other stakeholders? In this Harvard Business Review piece, former CEO of Catalyst Ilene Lang and Carlyle Group chief transformation officer Reggie Van Lee argue that institutional investors have an important role to play in the future of the venture landscape. Foundations, family offices, college endowments, pension funds, and insurance companies should all, they say, wield their power to change the face of corporate America and Silicon Valley. These stakeholders “can make a meaningful difference by holding venture capital funds accountable,” the duo write.
While the authors say they have seen progress in seed-stage investing, they want these big-money investors to take action for later-stage investments—where larger sums are at stake and there’s potential to make real change. They suggest institutional investors create new requirements related to diversity for VC managers at their organizations, hire for better racial and gender representation within those internal jobs, and invest in funds where diversity is a top priority.
Lang and Lee say that many—but not all—venture capitalists have already turned their attention to this issue. Now, as female-founded businesses feel the sting of the pandemic, it’s up to these large institutional backers to get us to the next stage.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Justice for Breonna. The New York Times spoke to dozens of public officials and people who knew Breonna Taylor—and reviewed 1,500 pages of police documents—to learn how Taylor's past relationship with a man whom police had been in search of led them to arrive at her house that night. The Times also writes about how Taylor was set to hit several milestones in her 27th year, which she wrote on Post-It notes around her house, from buying a home to trying to have a child. New York Times
- Falling out. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was Melania Trump's best friend for more than a decade and followed the first lady to the White House as her adviser, before she was fired amid a controversy over money her company was paid to plan President Trump's inauguration. Winston Wolkoff is no longer friends with Melania, and her new book shares insights on her decade in the first lady's orbit. New York Magazine
- Mutual benefits. New data from Goldman Sachs show that U.S. mutual funds with at least one-third of manager positions held by women this year have beaten those with no women by 1 percentage point. That's a change from the three prior years, when gender had little influence on mutual fund performance. Bloomberg
- She's the man. At last night's MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift won the best director award for her music video for "The Man," making her the first solo female artist to earn the directing nod. Past winners of the VMA award include Melina Matsoukas for Beyoncé's "Formation" and Erykah Badu and Mr. Roboto. People
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Invoca hired former Hootsuite VP of marketing Dee Anna McPherson as CMO and former Imperva SVP Jennifer Lovette as SVP of customer success.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Hawkeye shutdown. Iowa reported a spike in coronavirus cases last week, prompting Gov. Kim Reynolds to shut down bars in six counties; according to a NYT analysis, Ames, Iowa now has the highest rate of new cases relative to population in the country. The governor had allowed bars to open with no capacity restrictions in June. Des Moines Register
- Repping the cause. The movement against hair discrimination has seen success in large part thanks to lawmakers who have put the issue at the top of their agendas. Rep. Jahana Hayes, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, New Jersey Assemblywoman Angela V. McKnight, and California state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell are at the forefront of the effort. Glamour
- Debt ceiling. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to convince her country to take on debt to fight the coronavirus. "Anything else would mean we would be in the grip of the pandemic for a lot longer," she says. Fortune
ON MY RADAR
Alysia Montaño is the hero of this story Runner's World
Keke Palmer keeps a check New York Times
Central Park just unveiled its first-ever statue of real women Marie Claire
J.K. Rowling is returning a human rights award connected to the Kennedy family Fortune
PARTING WORDS
"May you have a beautiful return, King. We will miss you so."
-Ava DuVernay on the death of actor and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman at age 43


fortune--2020-08-31--In election years August tends to deliver for investors—but September and October not so much

After a blistering August which saw new highs in the S&P 500, including a rare “perfect week,” much of Wall Street is wondering: What now?
The outlook, at least according to some analysts, may be less cheery.
LPL’s Ryan Detrick notes that the August preceding an election is typically a strong month for investors, while September and October tend to falter slightly (although any pullbacks are typically “very minuscule on average,” Detrick says, as LPL’s chart shows).
Interesting to note that August historically has been strong during an election year.
While September and October haven't been.
2020 hasn't been normal at all, but could there be some usual pre-election jitters? pic.twitter.com/Yz9P7Aznh7 — Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) August 28, 2020
For investors “the biggest thing is there’s going to be a pullback eventually. People need to prepare; we’ve been so spoiled,” Detrick tells Fortune, suggesting investors take advantage of that pullback by looking for buying opportunities when the market dips. “Embrace the volatility and pullbacks,” he says.
Meanwhile, the VIX, or fear index, has also been sending out some warning signals of late that all is not well in the markets, rising overall in the past week alongside the markets. That typically doesn’t happen “unless the VIX is signaling a reversal to the downside,” Randy Frederick, Charles Schwab’s vice president of trading and derivatives, recently told Fortune.
But this fall in particular could prove especially volatile. While August will presumably close out strong, analysts emphasize that markets have largely been buoyed by the expectation of continued stimulus from Congress and the Fed to boost the recovery out of the recession brought on by the pandemic.
The problem is that “some lawmakers are…taking some solace in the stock market, and certainly the President is,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, recently told Fortune. “And that is a huge error because the market is taking its cues from lawmakers, expecting them to pass a rescue package.”
Indeed, some analysts predict as much as a 10% correction if Congress doesn’t pass another stimulus bill in September, Wedbush’s Dan Ives recently told Fortune.
Meanwhile, the 2020 election may prove especially controversial, and experts are already anticipating the results could be contested. In that case, “if history is any guide, we would expect to see some initial equity market volatility as investors grapple with the resulting policy uncertainty,” Thomas McLoughlin, head of Americas fixed income at UBS Global Wealth Management, recently wrote in a note. “Markets abhor uncertainty.”
Bulls may have had a hot summer in the markets, but much of the continued rally may now be in Washington’s hands.


fortune--2020-09-01--Old Navy will pay employees to work at voting polls on Election Day

Elon Musk is now the third-richest person in the world .
Here ’ s how much he ’ s worth

Tuesday, Sept. 1, marks National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, and the U.S. is facing a shortage of 250,000 poll workers for the 2020 election, as many at-risk individuals are opting out of serving this year because of health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
To engage field employees across the country in the voting process and ensure that polling sites operate efficiently this year, Old Navy announced it will pay its store employees who wish to work the polls on Election Day in November. The retailer is working with the Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan coalition of businesses encouraging voter turnout, and Power the Polls, a nonpartisan initiative to recruit poll workers for the 2020 U.S. presidential election to ensure a safe and fair election for all voters. The Civic Alliance is leading all corporate partnerships for Power the Polls in a national effort to enlist a new wave of poll workers.
“Voting is for everyone, regardless of beliefs or affiliations, and we believe we are all better when we engage in the process,” a company spokesperson tells Fortune. “We felt this opportunity was a new and unique way to provide the opportunity and encouragement to our employees in stores across the country to become more involved in the democratic process without worrying about sacrificing a shift at work. This election has the potential for a historic turnout, and our teams can help make a difference in our communities.”
The initiative is completely voluntary, and it is the first time the company has conducted an event like this. Old Navy field employees will be able to apply to join Power the Polls through internal communication channels. Upon completing the application, Power the Polls will connect individuals with their local counties to continue the process. Poll workers are ultimately selected by the election commissioner of each county, depending on the needs of the jurisdiction.
Old Navy says it will compensate associates who serve as poll workers with a day of pay, regardless of whether they are scheduled to work on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Employees who serve at voting sites can also be paid by their county election commission, and it won’t conflict with wages paid out by Old Navy. (Local jurisdictions often pay poll workers a stipend via check for participation. In some cases, poll working may be voluntary and unpaid.)
Old Navy says all employees are welcome to apply to serve as poll workers in their communities, but pay coverage is available only for in-store, hourly employees, not employees on the corporate side of the company. The retailer is also offering shift coverage on Election Day for store employees who cannot or do not want to work at polling sites, but still need time to vote. Store managers will be directed to work with their teams to provide up to three hours of paid time off on Election Day to allow employees to cast their ballots in person. And the company says Nov. 3 will be designated as a “no meetings day” for employees who work in corporate functions to provide flexibility to vote in person and/or to serve locally, as best fits their schedules.
“As a company, we believe that participating in the democratic process is a vital right, and we are committed to removing roadblocks so employees don’t have to choose between serving or voting and work,” says a spokesperson for Old Navy.
According to Power the Polls, most poll workers in the U.S. are over the age of 60. But that demographic is also much more at risk of severe health problems if one contracts COVID-19. To mitigate that issue, Power the Polls is focusing on recruiting healthy, low-risk candidates without preexisting conditions to ensure that those workers who would be most susceptible to the worst effects of the coronavirus are given the space to take care of their health, while still keeping polling sites open for in-person voting.
Old Navy says it wanted to engage its field employees, and approximately 64% of the clothing seller’s field employees are between the ages of 18 and 29. Simultaneously, this is also the segment of the population with the lowest voter turnout. Thus, Power the Polls is hoping to better engage this demographic especially to become more involved in the election process than in years past.


fortune--2020-09-01--This year’s top Labor Day destinations might surprise you

With the recent lifting of the U.S. State Department’s “Do Not Travel” advisory, grounded travelers are itching to get out on the open road or in the friendly skies. But would-be travelers have a lot to consider before leaving home.
TripIt recently published new data revealing this year’s top locations for Labor Day weekend travel. Big metros like New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta still rank in the top 25 destinations, but each of these cities has dropped in popularity. While Las Vegas and Denver still represent top picks, the data shows that more travelers are vacationing in Orlando and Phoenix compared to last year, despite major outbreaks of COVID-19 this summer in Florida and Arizona.
“Travel has changed a lot in the past few months. Many Americans still want to take advantage of summer vacations but have had to plan their trips around new factors beyond price and timing,” says Kelly Soderlund, TripIt’s travel trends expert. “As Labor Day weekend approaches, we’ve seen travelers who are open to flying opt for different locations than they did last year. This year’s data reveals a flavor for beachy locations, with Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Hawaii representing the biggest increases in rank year over year.”
Twelve percent of all Labor Day flight reservations include a trip to the Sunshine State, with Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale landing in the top 25 travel destinations. Fort Myers jumped 59 spots, up from No. 88 in 2019 to No. 29 this year.
Usually one of the busiest airports in the tristate area, Newark dropped 43 spots, from No. 17 in 2019 to No. 60 this year. Courtesy of TripIt
TripIt also analyzed hotel bookings within the same booking parameters and found five out of the top 10 hotel travel destinations landed in Florida, with four of them—Orlando, Lake Buena Vista, Bay Lake, and Kissimmee—located in the Disney World vicinity.
Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean are also seeing big year-over-year increases for travel this coming holiday weekend. Cancun shows one of the largest increases in popularity, up 28 spots, from No. 37 to ninth place.
On the flip side, aside from the aforementioned destinations, most international travel is out the question for Americans while border restrictions stay in place. Among the cities that saw the largest drops for bookings were Tokyo and Frankfurt, a major travel hub for connecting to dozens upon dozens of destinations throughout Europe.
As to be expected, destinations where travel for Americans has been restricted or which have been hit hard by the pandemic have seen some of the largest drops in bookings. Courtesy of TripIt
While many travel companies work to stay afloat and promote traveling right now, Trafalgar, a guided vacation company, is sticking with its stance on what it truly means to be a responsible traveler—and that is putting the breaks on all trips through at least the end of the year.
“It’s clear people are becoming frustrated with the recommended guidelines and restrictions, but just because people are ‘over it’ does not mean we can dismiss our civic responsibility to humanity to social distance and give the world a chance to heal,” says Trafalgar president Melissa DaSilva. “We, as a global tribe of travelers, need to understand the implications of our personal decisions right now—whether that’s attending a large gathering in a neighbor’s backyard or hopping on a Labor Day flight.”
How we act right now, she continues, will impact how—and when—we’re able to travel safely and freely again. The longer this fractured mentality drags on, the harder it will be for the travel industry—which employs roughly one in 10 people—to spring back. DaSilva says we need to think and work collectively to avoid contributing to new waves and spikes—and that, for the time being, means staying close to home and following all physical distancing guidelines.
“Our global priority right now is stopping the spread of the virus, and that especially means avoiding hotspot states, mask or no mask. The correlation is clear: When we don’t adhere to social distancing guidelines, the numbers go up,” DaSilva says. “We’ve certainly made progress in controlling the virus in certain parts of the globe, but we’re not out of the woods yet. While restrictions have eased in some parts of the country, the situation—particularly as we head into cooler fall weather and back to school—is proving to be fluid.”
Many people have been hesitant to travel, at least at the start of the pandemic. In April, survey software provider Qualtrics conducted a study that found 75% of Americans didn’t feel comfortable flying on an airplane at the time. But some Americans have since warmed to the idea. Qualtrics asked the same question in July and found that number had dropped to 62%. Within that time frame, airlines, hotels, and home-sharing providers started rolling out new policies to protect travelers’ health. Travel companies also began developing new regulations and programs designed to allow people to travel safely with coronavirus risks in mind.
That same study asked travelers what they needed to feel comfortable boarding an airplane, and the top three responses were mandatory masks, seating spaced six feet apart, and pre-boarding temperature checks. Some airports, airlines, and hotels have started to make these practices part of their standard protocol, which could explain the rise in trust.
“TripIt’s Labor Day travel data shows that some people are willing to travel, but their comfort varies. Some people are comfortable with flying while others are sticking to road trips to get from point A to B,” Soderlund says. “The holiday season is typically synonymous with the busiest travel season. While total volume may look different, we predict travelers will continue to make plans based on their individual safety standards and comfort level.”
Trafalgar’s DaSilva suggests thinking about that bucket list vacation now so it can become a reality in 2021, and to invest travel dollars in the companies that support local communities that rely so heavily on tourism.
“While staying grounded is unusual for us and the desire to explore is intrinsically ingrained in all of us, the best science suggests that we remain vigilant and use this time to plan for our future trips,” DaSilva says. “When we do begin traveling again, it will be imperative that we choose to rebuild the cultures and structures that have been so decimated in this time without tourism, so do your research and choose wisely.”


fortune--2020-09-01--9 new books to read in September

9 new books to read in September

Including a new novel from the lauded Italian author Elena Ferrante, a memoir from celebrity chef David Chang, and analysis from BuzzFeed’s Anne Helen Petersen about how millennials became the burnout generation at work, here are nine new books being published in September.
Courtesy of Europa
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Available September 1
Elena Ferrante fans, rejoice. The anonymous and lauded Italian author of My Brilliant Friend has a new novel coming out this fall, once again set in her beloved Naples. In The Lying Life of Adults (Europa), our new protagonist Giovanna is searching for her identity in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples for the rich and the Naples for the poor. She moves between these two cities, disoriented by the fact that, whether high or low, the city seems to offer no answer and no escape.
Courtesy of Park Row
The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Available September 1
Told through the intimate lens of a Los Angeles–based Korean mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee (Park Row) is Jooyoun Kim’s powerful debut novel illustrating the devastating realities of being a working-class immigrant in the United States while exploring issues of identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong. Interwoven with Margot’s present-day search for her mother, Mina, is the titular character’s first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention.
Courtesy of Penguin
Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher
Available September 1
Paola Mendoza, who served as creative director for the Women’s March, makes her young adult (YA) fiction debut with writer and performer Abby Sher on a dystopian novel that isn’t actually that far off from present day. In Sanctuary (Penguin), the year is 2032, all citizens are chipped and everyone is tracked—from buses to grocery stores. And in this America, it’s almost impossible to survive as an undocumented immigrant, but that’s exactly what 16-year-old Vali is doing. She and her family have carved out a stable, happy life in small-town Vermont, but when Vali’s mother’s counterfeit chip starts malfunctioning and the Deportation Forces raid their town, they are forced to flee—to California, a sanctuary state being walled off from the rest of the country.
Courtesy of Clarkson Potter
Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang and Gabe Ulla
Available September 8
In 2004, Momofuku Noodle Bar opened in a tiny, stark space in Manhattan’s East Village. But lo and behold, the eatery would become one of the restaurants that changed dining in New York City as we know it—and would make David Chang one of the most influential (and famous) chefs of his generation. Eat a Peach (Clarkson Potter) is an intimate account of the making of a chef, the story of the modern restaurant world that he helped shape, and how he discovered that success can be much harder to understand than failure.
Courtesy of Gallery/Scout Press
One by One by Ruth Ware
Available September 8
If you’re looking for a literary escape, Ruth Ware’s novels will do the trick. Her latest psychological thriller, One by One (Gallery/Scout Press), takes off from an ill-fated corporate ski retreat in the French Alps—where survival soon trumps synergy. When the cofounder of trendy social music app upends the agenda of a weeklong getaway by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. After staff and guests are cut off from all access to the outside world by a devastating avalanche, resentments are laid bare as the corporate food chain unravels and office politics take a deadly turn. If, for some reason, you’ve been missing corporate retreats, you won’t after this.
Courtesy of Grand Central Publishing
The Little Book of Life Skills by Erin Zammett Ruddy
Available September 15
We all have areas in our lives that make us feel disorganized, unprepared, or stressed out. The Little Book of Life Skills (Grand Central Publishing) strives to solve all those problems in one book. It’s an ambitious task, but it covers the basics, from getting you on track with a morning routine and managing household chores with your work calendar (a must if you’re working from home) to keeping a houseplant alive and advice on how to end an argument. An easy subtitle for this could have been “How to Do Adulting Better.”
Courtesy of Clarkson Potter
The Home Edit Life by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin
Available September 15
After months of being cooped up at home, you might find yourself looking for tips, tricks, or any little bit of help in sprucing up a space and making it more livable. Or maybe you need some kind of change to stay sane right now, however small that change might be. In very colorful The Home Edit Life (Clarkson Potter), Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin—New York Times bestselling authors of The Home Edit and stars of an upcoming companion Netflix series—teach you how to apply their holistic approach to your work life, on-the-go necessities, and technology. In the next phase of the home organizing craze, they go beyond the pantry and bookshelf to show you how to contain the chaos in all aspects of your life, from office space and holiday storage to luggage and pet supplies.
Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin
Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen
Available September 22
Anne Helen Petersen’s long-read on millennial burnout was Buzzfeed News’ most-read article in 2019—and for good reason. Whether it’s the gig economy or the experience of layoffs during the Great Recession and again during the COVID-19 pandemic, millennials have been taught that work is precarious and that their jobs will not provide them with the benefits needed for a decent standard of living. As they’ve become parents, millennials—especially millennials of color—have faced impossible standards as they’ve often been required to work full-time, and women are still expected to do most of the housework. And in the face of apps monetizing our attention, as well as social media that pressures us to “perform” our beautiful vacations and well-behaved families, true leisure has become a distant fantasy.
And the devastating effects of the coronavirus have drawn Petersen’s findings into hyper-focus. In the course of reporting Can’t Even (Houghton Mifflin), Petersen conducted thousands of interviews with millennials across the race, gender, socioeconomic, and ability spectrums. Reading this book is to be reassured that our struggles are connected and systemic—not a result of our individual efforts.
Courtesy of Viking
Big Dirty Money: The Hidden Cost of White Collar Crime by Jennifer Taub
Available September 29
Big Dirty Money (Viking) details the scandalously common and concrete ways that ordinary Americans suffer when the rich and powerful use white-collar crime to gain and sustain wealth, social status, and political influence. Profiteers caused the mortgage meltdown and the prescription opioid crisis, and they’ve evaded taxes and deprived communities of public funds for education, public health, and infrastructure. Legal scholar Jennifer Taub tracks how we got here—from post-Enron failure of prosecutorial muscle to the growth of “too big to jail” syndrome—and pose solutions that can help catch and convict offenders.


fortune--2020-09-01--Investors are pouring record amounts into Wall Street’s new favorite ‘safe haven’

Gold has drawn plenty of headlines this summer, as that most coveted of precious metals has been on a historic rally that saw prices break the vaunted $2,000-per-ounce barrier in early August.
But it’s the less lustrous silver that’s having a moment. Silver prices have climbed roughly 60% since the start of 2020 and closed at more than $28 per ounce on Monday, with the metal trading at levels not seen in more than seven years.
Silver’s rally has been motivated by many of the same market factors that have driven gold prices to historic highs this year. Just as gold has long been considered a “safe haven” for investors wary of tumultuous macroeconomic conditions, silver has similarly emerged as an option for those uncertain about what the future may hold for equities and other riskier bets.
Sure enough, the precious metal was up nearly 2% in early European trade on Tuesday, outperforming stocks.
Even as the stock market continues to climb in the face of a coronavirus-hit U.S. economy, other indicators have pushed many investors into such safe havens. For one, the U.S. dollar continues to slump, having fallen to its lowest levels in more than two years.
While the Federal Reserve’s massive stimulus measures in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic contributed to a sagging dollar (and helped push gold and silver prices upward), the Fed’s recently unveiled higher-inflation, low-interest-rate stance has pushed the dollar down further. Super accommodative monetary policy is also pounding Treasuries, limiting the appeal that bonds—another traditional safe haven—would hold for investors.
The cumulative effect has been an unprecedented amount of money flowing into exchange-traded products (ETPs) backed by silver. According to financial news and data website Kryptoszene, investors have poured $4.8 billion into silver ETPs, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs), since the start of this year—more than the total inflows seen in the previous seven years combined.
As with a similar boom in gold ETFs, the heightened interest in silver-backed funds owes much to the increased prevalence of ETFs in general over the past decade. Such passive investing vehicles have provided investors with an easier and more affordable means of tapping the market for commodities like gold and silver—with retail investors, like those on the popular stock trading app Robinhood, having taken notice amid the current rally.
But silver’s draw could be for more practical reasons. Bank of America analysts recently pointed to silver’s application in industrial uses—including renewable energy applications, such as solar panels, that feature prominently in Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s climate plan. The analysts see a $35 per ounce 2021 price target as “feasible.”
“As silver is not only a capital investment, but is also used in numerous future technologies such as electromobility and renewable energies, further price rises are anything but unlikely,” according to Kryptoszene analyst Raphael Lulay.
So while it remains to be seen whether silver prices approach the highs witnessed during the silver boom, and bust, of 1980—when they soared to $50 per ounce before crashing back down to earth—it appears this current rally may have some life left in it for investors.


fortune--2020-09-01--All Raise fights ‘manels’—all-male panels—with the  launch of its own speakers bureau

All Raise started as a group of female venture capitalists who got together once a month for breakfast. The gatherings soon grew into a call to action, dedicated to increasing representation of women among both VCs and entrepreneurs.
That was back in 2017. Today the organization has chapters in several U.S. cities and runs a variety of programs, from mentoring and coaching to boot camps that prepare female-led startups looking for investment. Now the nonprofit is also launching a speakers bureau called Visionary Voices, made up of female and nonbinary founders and funders who are interested in speaking opportunities—a key piece of building a reputation in technology and investment circles.
“This feels like a very logical extension [for All Raise], and the time is right,” says Pam Kostka, CEO of the organization. “This is a bold move to say that we need to amplify the voices of women and nonbinary individuals.”
Just one in four speakers at technology events are female, and only 14% of keynote speakers are women of color, according to a recent analysis by Ensono, an IT services management company. You’d think that transitioning to virtual, as nearly all events have been forced to do, would open doors for underrepresented voices. But that’s not necessarily the case. “In this time of COVID, when we’re all stressed, the danger is pattern recognition,” says Kostka. “What is in our muscle memory? That is our biggest concern at this point in time.”
All Raise describes Visionary Voices as an “easy resource for reporters and event organizers to connect with female and nonbinary founders, funders, and operators who are visionary leaders and domain experts.” Anyone can apply or nominate someone female or nonbinary for the speakers bureau. These applications are then vetted by an All Raise volunteer task force. At launch, All Raise has nearly 1,000 names in the database, which is freely accessible to anyone interested in taking a look. The organization also has a short list of launch partners, comprising media outlets and event producers like Fast Company and Startup Grind. These companies have committed to All Raise’s principles—no “manels,” for example (conference-speak for all-male panels).
All Raise’s database, if successful, could do away with manels because it provides event organizers an easy-to-use source for more diverse—and already vetted—speakers. “It is not a pipeline problem but a network problem,” Kostka says about the dearth of women and women of color on event stages. But when asked if there is a place for manels in the future, the CEO says that a panel that happens to be composed solely of men isn’t necessarily a problem in the long run, once more progress has been made. “That point,” says Kostka, “isn’t right now.”


fortune--2020-09-01--Trump to visit Kenosha on Tuesday, despite protests from local leaders

Claiming the mantle of the “law and order” candidate, President Donald Trump is offering himself as the leader best positioned to keep Americans safe, a day after Democratic rival Joe Biden assailed him over the deadly protests that have sprung up on his watch.
Trump is diving head-first into the latest eruption in the nation’s reckoning over racial injustice with a trip Tuesday—over the objections of local leaders—to Kenosha, Wisconsin, which has been riven by protests since the Aug. 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, seven times in the back by police. Trump has defended a teenage supporter accused of fatally shooting two men in Kenosha last week and accused the former vice president of siding with “anarchists” and “rioters.”
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, who deployed the National Guard to quell demonstrations in response to the Blake shooting, pleaded with Trump to stay away for fear of straining tensions further. The White House said the president was expected to meet with law enforcement and tour “property affected by recent riots.”
“I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together,” Evers wrote in a letter to Trump.
Trump insisted his appearance could “increase enthusiasm” in Wisconsin, perhaps the most hotly contested battleground state in the presidential race, as the White House said he “wants to visit hurting Americans.” He was expected to take credit for calling in the National Guard—an act taken by Evers—and for surging federal law enforcement to the city to restore the peace. The White House said Trump was not going to meet with Blake’s family.
“I am a tremendous fan of law enforcement and I want to thank law enforcement,” Trump told Fox News in an interview Monday night. “They’ve done a good job.”
Trump suggested that some police officers “choke” when faced with challenging situations and compared them to golfers who “miss a 3-foot putt.”
Biden, in his most direct attacks yet, accused Trump earlier Monday of causing the divisions that have ignited the violence. He delivered an uncharacteristically blistering speech in Pittsburgh and distanced himself from radical forces involved in altercations.
Biden said of Trump: “He doesn’t want to shed light, he wants to generate heat, and he’s stoking violence in our cities. He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.”
Trump, for his part, reiterated that he blames radical troublemakers stirred up and backed by Biden. But when he was asked about one of his own supporters who was charged with killing two men during the mayhem in Kenosha, Trump declined to denounce the killings and suggested that the 17-year-old suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, was acting in self-defense.
After a confrontation in which he fatally shot one man, police say, Rittenhouse fell while being chased by people trying to disarm him. A second person was shot and killed.
“That was an interesting situation,” Trump said Monday during a news conference Monday. “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like, and he fell. And then they very violently attacked him. … He was in very big trouble. He would have been—you probably would’ve been killed.”
Biden saw Trump’s impact far differently, accusing the president of “poisoning” the nation’s values.
In a statement after Trump’s news conference but before his Fox News remarks, Biden said: “Tonight, the president declined to rebuke violence. He wouldn’t even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder because of his attacks on others. He is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it.”
Trump and his campaign team have seized upon the unrest in Kenosha, as well as in Portland, Oregon, where a Trump supporter was shot and killed, leaning hard into a defense of law and order while suggesting that Biden is beholden to extremists. Trump aides believe that tough-on-crime stance will help him with voters and that the more the national discourse is about anything other than the coronavirus, the better it is for the president.
In the interview with Fox, Trump insisted that if he were not president, “you would have riots like you’ve never seen.”
In Pittsburgh, Biden resoundingly condemned violent protesters and called for their prosecution—addressing a key Trump critique.
“It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden said. And he leaned on his own 47-year career in politics to defend himself against Republican attacks.
“You know me. You know my heart. You know my story, my family’s story,” he said. “Ask yourself: Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?”
The former vice president also tried to refocus the race on what has been its defining them—Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has left more than 180,000 Americans dead—after a multi-day onslaught by the president’s team to make the campaign about the violence rattling American cities.
Worried Democrats, including some inside his own campaign, have pushed Biden to deal with the violence head on and at greater length, though he had previously condemned it. With Trump pounding the issue in his convention speech, which was then followed by more bloodshed over the weekend, many in Biden’s party, still shell-shocked by the 2016 loss, urged Biden to get ahead of the rare issue that has broken through the national focus on the pandemic.
Biden declared that that even as Trump is “trying to scare America,” what’s really causing the nation’s fear is Trump’s own failures.
“You want to talk about fear? They’re afraid they’re going to get COVID, they’re afraid they’re going to get sick and die,” Biden said.


fortune--2020-09-01--Levi’s CEO on why it’s important to take a stand as a business leader

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In the onslaught of pandemic-related retail bankruptcies, Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh isn’t too worried. It turns out, lots of people are still wearing jeans—even during coronavirus lockdowns. On the latest episode of “Leadership Next,” Bergh spoke with cohosts Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt about his business, COVID-19, purpose-driven leadership, his political views, and more.
“I really do see that the pandemic is further separating the winners from the losers,” Bergh says of the pandemic and recession. “And we’re determined to come out of this as a winner.”
He says that the brand has never been stronger, with a robust balance sheet and ecommerce that’s trending up by double digits despite worldwide closures of storefronts during the lockdowns. And as consumers are becoming more conscious of quality and sustainability, Bergh says, Levi’s will be well-positioned to meet their needs and continue its 167-year success story.
Part of that long history, the CEO says, is “doing the right thing.” And to Bergh, that includes speaking out on gun control. He says the company waded into the issue by asking customers to leave their guns at home when shopping after a customer in an open-carry state discharged his gun, injuring himself in a Levi’s store. But the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was a tipping point for Bergh and the company, he says.
“I see the gun violence epidemic as something that is ripping society apart at the seams,” he says.
Murray asked Bergh what he says to those that believe a CEO’s job is to run a business, not worry about the safety of school kids. Bergh says that he firmly believes CEOs and companies have roles to play in making the world a better place. And Levi’s customers—young consumers—and its employees care about gun violence, which makes speaking out about the cause an even easier choice, Bergh says.
Bergh has also paid special attention to getting people to the polls. This year, Levi’s is reupping its commitment to getting out the vote, which it started with Patagonia in 2018. To date, over 700 companies have now joined the Time to Vote coalition created to encourage voter participation. Along with that, the Levi Strauss Foundation is donating around $1 million dollars to help minority communities overcome the myriad barriers they face to get to the polls. One of the organizations receiving funding is She The People, which works to bring together a national network of women of color to change U.S. democracy and create “politics grounded in love, justice, and belonging.” Around the 24-minute mark, McGirt interviews the organization’s founder, Aimee Allison.
The episode also includes discussion on the hard choices Bergh made around layoffs, a look into the ambitious diversity and inclusion plan he published in June, and leading a multinational corporation through the uncertainty of a pandemic. Listen at the link below.


fortune--2020-09-01--Michelangelo vs. MacGyver: Who will design the offices of our post-COVID future?

This is the web version of Business By Design, a weekly newsletter exploring design’s transformative influence on industry and enterprise. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
The office of the future will be a “hybrid environment” with some people returning to the workplace but many continuing to work from home, and it will be intensely focused on “innovation and collaboration.”
That’s one of the insights from Fortune CEO Alan Murray’s conversation last week with Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen, co-CEOs of Gensler, the world’s biggest architecture firm. You can read more about that conversation here. (And if you don’t already subscribe to Alan’s CEO Daily newsletter, I’d highly recommend you sign up.)
A few days later, Alan sat down with Matthew Lock and Simon Pole, founder and global design director, respectively, of Unispace, a global business design firm, who told him they also see companies preparing for hybrid workplaces. Lock and Pole assume that even two years from now around 40% of office workers will insist on working from home at least three days a week—a big increase from pre-pandemic levels of 21% in Europe, 19% in APAC and 12% in the U.S.
Top-tier firms like Gensler and Unispace are at the vanguard of applying design and design thinking to the offices of tomorrow. The Gensler website, in particular, is a trove of information and insight about how designers can help reshape the way we work, complete with highlights from the firm’s 2020 Work from Home Survey and a “Back to the Office Guide” for firms trying to reopen safely.
But I am also hearing from some designers that they’re feeling a very specific form of pandemic fatigue. It’s not just that they’re weary from the uncertainty and anxiety of living in the shadow of deadly disease. (After eight months, who isn’t?) There’s also a sense of creative burn-out; all designers ever get asked to do any more is think about safety, hygiene, ventilation, and proper social distancing.
I’ve argued often in this space that those are areas where designers have a great deal to contribute. But, hey, I get it. There are a lot of grumpy, would-be Michelangelos out there who feel that somehow this isn’t “real” design—and isn’t what they signed up for. And anyway, in offices, restaurants, shops, schools, and other public spaces, many of the primary defenses against the spread of COVID-19 aren’t the work of professional designers or health professionals. They are do-it-yourself “hacks” improvised by ordinary folks using whatever materials they have on hand.
Washington-based writer Amanda Kolson Hurley captured this reality in a wry essay for Bloomberg earlier this summer. “As pundits debate how the long-term design of cities will be affected by COVID-19, here in the present, a cohort of mostly nonprofessionals is adapting urban space on the fly,” she wrote. “Plexiglass screens hastily installed at bodega counters. Painted circles indicating where to sit in a park. Fancified caution tape criss-crossing benches and playgrounds that are not considered safe to use. Anywhere you go as the country starts to reopen, there’s evidence of how small business owners, municipal employees and other people who aren’t trained architects or designers have MacGyvered their domains in the cause of public health.”
Thus COVID does make McGyvers of us all.
More design news below!
Clay Chandler
Clay.Chandler@fortune.com
NEWS BY DESIGN
Keep rolling
Rolls Royce has become the latest motor company to modernize its digital branding, following the likes of Toyota, Nissan and Audi. All have banished skeuomorphic logo renderings in favor of something flatter. The team at Pentagram led Rolls Royce’s redesign, shifting focus to a new two-tone drawing of the brand’s iconic Spirit of Ecstasy statue (an icon that will forever remind me of Kate Bush.)
Pig brain
Elon Musk unveiled a pig with a computer chip in its brain last week, a feat completed by his start up Neuralink. It doesn’t do much—the chip detects spikes in the part of the brain activated by smells—but Musk says one day Neuralink can help tackle degenerative diseases like Alzheimers and, ultimately, create A.I.-infused superhumans.
Jellies
There are a lot of interesting products being developed with algae at the moment, including carbon extracting air filters, high fashion and, perhaps most dramatically, plastic. A lab in San Diego is processing algae into polyurethane, which it is currently using to create fully biodegradable flip-flops.
Clear the air
Here’s a good read: how an air filter cobbled together from bits bought in a generic hardware store could make a useful—though not complete—stand-in for expensive HVAC filters in interior environments. With consensus that COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air, air purifiers can play an important role in infection reduction.
Lego for adults
Ikea has teamed up with Lego to produce Bygglek—a range of storage boxes designed specifically for keeping Legos. The white boxes are enhanced with Lego studs that allow young (or older) creators to attach their Lego pieces to Bygglek’s outside panels. Lego designer Rasmus Buch Løgstrup says, “Bygglek is more than boxes. It is storage and play intertwined.”
EVENTS BY DESIGN
September
London Design Festival has decided to go ahead September 12-20, with a stripped-down offline program that will target Londoners much more than international visitors. Other events will be online. The organizers are still figuring out how exactly to proceed.
Design Matters in Copenhagen appears to be carrying on, too, September 23-24, although it is now selling tickets to view a livestream of the event.
October
Dubai had, perhaps, the misfortune of hosting the World Expo this year. Originally scheduled to open in October and run until April next year, the Dubai Expo 2020 has been delayed until October next year instead. World Expos come but once every five years, so perhaps waiting one more year is okay.
November
Dubai’s inaugural architecture festival, d3 Architecture Festival, will run November 11-13 on the sidelines of Dubai Design Week. The event will focus on sustainability—an existential issue for the desert city.
QUOTED BY DESIGN
“Racism has always been embedded in design vocabularies”
So writes Mitchell Owens in Architectural Digest, highlighting a number of problematic terms that are prolific in the industry—especially interior design. Debate over the racist, sexist and classist history of the term “master bedroom,” for example, prompted several New York real estate institutes to retire the term last month. Less apparent, Owens points out, is the colonial exploitation that led to the popularity of silver and teak in British homes, for example. But it’s not enough for designers to simply move away from practices rooted in bad history, because exploitative practices continue today, of course.
This week’s edition of BxD was curated by Eamon Barrett. Email him tips and ideas at eamon.barrett@fortune.com


fortune--2020-09-01--CEOs aren’t promoting stakeholder capitalism for the publicity

This is the web version of CEO Daily. To get it delivered to your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning.
The debate over stakeholder capitalism is still going strong—at least in my inbox, as well as in the business press. Opinions range from Friedmanites who insist CEOs should focus only on shareholders, to cynics who think the stakeholder issue is a public relations smokescreen to obscure corporate misdeeds.
But interestingly, there isn’t much debate among CEOs themselves. I spent a couple of hours yesterday in off-the-record conversations with members of Fortune’s CEO Initiative, which reinforced my conviction that critics from both sides miss the mark. These were “Chatham House Rule” conversations, which means I can’t report specifics. But that also means that the CEOs weren’t in it for the publicity. Instead, they were genuinely struggling with their role at a time when employees, customers, investors and society are demanding ever more of them.
The social issues discussed—combatting climate change, creating training and employment opportunities, expanding diversity and inclusion, addressing COVID and other health care crises—once may have been considered the province of governments. But companies clearly have a role. And in the absence of government leadership, CEOs feel increasing pressure to step up. They uniformly insist that doing so is good for their business—and ultimately, good for their shareholders.
One CEO who exemplifies the trend is Chip Bergh of Levi Strauss, who is our guest this week on the podcast Leadership Next (Apple/Spotify). In the wake of the Parkland shooting, he took a strong stand in favor of sensible gun control—even though many Levi’s wearers own guns. More recently, he’s led an effort to ensure workers are given time off to vote—even though some believe such efforts favor Democrats.
“I firmly believe that CEOs have a role to play in making the world a better place,” Bergh told Ellen McGirt and me. “One of the reasons I joined Levi Strauss is that this company has had for its entire 167 years a practice where the CEO is expected to take stands on important issues of the day. It goes back to our founder.” He says the public stance on issues is important for his customers. “We target Gen Z and understanding where their mindset is on what’s important in this world. It’s gun control. It’s climate change.” And it’s also important to employees. “We sit in the heart of Silicon Valley and the reason we are able to attract great talent and retain great talent is because of the values we have and our fearlessness in taking these stands.”
By the way, Chip Bergh was one of 100 CEOs who accompanied Fortune to the Vatican in 2016, when we focused on the role the private sector can play in addressing global social problems. “I may be the only person who has met the Pope wearing jeans,” he claims.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Zoom outlook
Zoom has done so well during the pandemic that it has now twice raised its full-year outlook. For the July quarter, analysts expected $500 million in sales and $134 million in profit; they got $663.5 million and $185.7 million respectively. In the same quarter a year ago, Zoom's sales totaled $145.8 million. Shares are up over 20% in pre-market trading this morning. Wall Street Journal
iPhone demand
Apple is having roughly as many new iPhones made for this year's launch as it did for last year's, indicating that it expects demand to hold up despite the pandemic and recession. The upcoming iPhone, tipped for announcement next month, will reportedly feature 5G connectivity. Bloomberg
Facebook Australia
Facebook intends to block people and publishers in Australia from sharing news, so that the company doesn't have to pay media firms for their articles as a proposed law would require. A similar law has been introduced in Europe, where Google News is seen as the main target. Fortune
Trump odds
The odds of President Trump's re-election are rising, according to JPMorgan Chase, which reckons the odds are now fairly even due to public opinion regarding violence at protests. Strategist Marko Kolanovic: "Certainly a lot can happen in the next ~60 days to change the odds, but we currently believe that momentum in favor of Trump will continue, while most investors are still positioned for a Biden win." Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
.io controversy
The .io domain name extension may be associated with the tech and cryptocurrency worlds, but it is actually linked with Indian Ocean islands from which the U.K. expelled the inhabitants just half a century ago. Now the Chagossian people want their land back—and .io, perhaps the islands' most lucrative resource, with it. Fortune
Musk worth
Elon Musk has become the third-richest person in the world, slightly overtaking Mark Zuckerberg thanks to a rally following Tesla's stock split. Musk's net worth grew by $76.1 billion this year, as Tesla's share price grew by over 475%. Fortune
Systemic racism
TIAA CEO Roger Ferguson, one of the few Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, has four tips for how corporate leaders can help overcome systemic racism: own your part; set the tone at the top; empower your people; and strengthen your community. Fortune
Irish tax
Much of Ireland's business community is relieved that a top EU court scrapped Apple's $15.5 billion back-tax bill, because the charge was seen as a disincentive to foreign direct investment in the country. But the issue of multinationals' taxation isn't going away anytime soon. CNBC
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.


fortune--2020-09-01--Levi Strauss’s Chip Bergh on why he’s taking his most direct stance yet against structural racism

Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., is not afraid of tough talk.
In November 2016, he wrote an open letter asking that gun owners not bring firearms into Levi’s stores or facilities, after a customer accidentally discharged their weapon while trying on jeans. “So, while we understand the heartfelt and strongly-held opinions on both sides of the gun debate, it is with the safety and security of our employees and customers in mind that we respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores, offices or facilities, even in states where it’s permitted by law,” Bergh said.
Two years later, Bergh ramped up the company’s support for gun violence prevention by asking other business leaders to join Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety, a coalition dedicated to ending gun violence in the U.S. “While taking a stand can be unpopular with some, doing nothing is no longer an option,” he wrote in Fortune in September 2018.
That same month, Bergh decided to address voter apathy by encouraging employers to give workers time off to vote and backing initiatives for Levi’s employees to get registered and informed on the issues. “For a democracy to thrive, it must reflect the will of all the people—not the most powerful people, or the most vocal people,” he wrote. “Otherwise a vocal minority get to make the decisions for the majority.”
Bergh is back this week with a new Fortune op-ed that starts with an unflinching view of the recent shooting of Jacob Blake, Jr., an unarmed Black man, at the hands of the police in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 23. Shot seven times in the back in front of his children, “[Blake’s] name was added to the tragically long list of Black men and women killed or nearly killed by police,” Bergh writes. By way of contrast, Kyle Rittenhouse, the white 17-year-old who drove from Illinois to confront protesters in Kenosha with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle —and who shot three people, killing two — was welcomed by police. “He later turned himself in, but this incident highlights that the right to bear arms in this country was initially and still is intended largely for white people.”
Bergh tells Fortune that this latest opinion piece, which touches on many aspects of the Black experience, reflects a deeper thinking on company’s commitments to social justice and the structural racism that makes their advocacy work necessary. “All of it has been happening for hundreds of years,” he tells Fortune. “It’s holding the country back from being our best possible selves…and it’s all interconnected.”
Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Fortune: Why did you feel this particular opinion piece was necessary now?
Chip Bergh: Well, it’s this whole thing [gestures at the world]. I do a lot of my best thinking just by writing, and I’ve thought deeply about racism in this country, and the impact that it’s having on the country right now.
But over the last couple of weeks, what I’ve really come to believe is that a number of these other issues that we’ve stood up for, in a way, are all interconnected to racism, to structural racism in this country — we say “structural,” not “systemic,” to remind everyone that these are manmade structures.
Fortune: The issues in the past being gun violence and voting rights?
CB: Yes. We didn’t take a stand on ending gun violence and the gun violence epidemic because of the impact that it has on perpetuating racism in this country. We took a stand on it because it’s ripping the country apart. And it’s one of the biggest issues that young people of this country are concerned about. We know we can make progress there. We haven’t taken a stand to get out the vote because of how it contributes to structural racism in this country. But now I’ve come to realize that the dots really all do connect here, that there is a link between the issues that we’ve taken a stand for historically and perpetuating racism in this country. And that’s why that’s why we wrote this piece.
Fortune: Who did you write it for?
CB: We talked last week (on Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast) about stakeholder capitalism. You know, one of the most important stakeholder groups I’ve got is my employee base. And this is a really hot topic right now. Number one. And number two, as I say [in the podcast] I straight up acknowledge we are not where we need to be in having a diverse, inclusive culture. And I’ve got a lot of work to do there. The fact that we’re not as diverse as we need to be, and particularly in the management ranks and at the senior management ranks, it’s holding us back…I say that it is probably the biggest blemish on my report card over nine years as a CEO. So, we do have a lot of heavy lifting to do. Authenticity is so important to who we are and what we are as a company, and it’s important that people know my authentic voice around this issue and my personal commitment to making progress.
And the same thing is true for us as a country. We’ve got racism issues in this country and these other issues of gun violence and voter suppression. The ability of people of color, particularly Black and brown people, to be able to access the polls and vote and have their voices and their vote count, are fundamental to making the kind of progress we need to make us as a country.
Fortune: You mentioned the op-ed came together quickly, over the weekend. Did you run it by Levi’s board first? I get the feeling they’re pretty clear about how you feel.
CB: No. It wasn’t necessary in this instance because we’ve talked through these issues with the board before, and they’ve been fully supportive of the actions we’ve taken and the statements we’ve made.
Fortune: You say in the piece that there can “be no bystanders in this effort” to end structural racism. But the call to action is implied, not fully stated. Ideally, what would you like to see from other CEOs or executives right now?
CB: I think other CEOs should step up and give their employees time off to vote, and join our Time to Vote campaign, which now has over 700 companies, over six million employees, including some of the country’s biggest employers. That’s number one. And then, number two, be transparent with your diversity data internally. And if you’re not where you need to be, take a stand on what you need to do to get where you need to be. And I would say if every CEO did those two things, as a country we’d make a lot of progress in starting to break down some of these racist barriers.
Fortune: You’re no stranger to taking bold stands. But the rhetoric and violence around these issues have clearly heightened in the last few years. Can you talk about the backlash you’ve received in the past and what you might expect now?
CB: I am blessed that I work at a company where there is a long tradition of our CEOs not being afraid to take stands on important social issues of the day. It’s part of who we are as a company. You know, when we took first our stand on ending gun violence, I had death threats. I had unmarked police in front of my house for weeks, and following my wife driving my daughter to school. I mean, that comes with the job, I think. And you know, this issue is also pretty hot and topical right now. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some blowback from it.
But, you know, you can’t be driven by fear. You have to be driven to do the right thing. And I really do believe that CEOs have a responsibility to make to make this world better and to take a stand for the issues that really do matter most in society. And this one is is a big one for us as a country and for us as a company.
Fortune: That said, this has been an unusually stressful time. I’m increasingly worried about the mental health of the workforce, and that includes chief executives. CEOs need to stand up in ways they may have not before. Any advice for surviving that?
CB: We’ve actually started to spend a lot of time talking as a leadership team about mental health and wellness overall. Just working from home — or sleeping in the office — as people are now jokingly calling it. My office is about five steps from my bed. We have a number of initiatives going… for me it’s all about balance, prioritization and prioritizing the time for the things that are important to me, my family, my own health and well-being. I work out every day, and that really helps a lot. Because every minute is scheduled with video calls, we’ve lost the spontaneity of walking down the hallway and dropping in on somebody, or that casual stairwell conversation—a lot of that is gone. And I think it adds to the stress because you don’t have those casual moments to interact where some of the best ideas come from.
All that said, I’ve had my moments, too, where I’ve gotten really really bummed out, or depressed, or wherever you want to call it, about just the situation, because there’s so much uncertainty. Not knowing what’s around the next corner, will we have a second wave [of the coronavirus]? That’s completely beyond our control. So, it is by far the most stressful period I’ve ever navigated in my 40 years of doing what I’m doing.
The only other two things I would add is eat healthy and get plenty of sleep.


fortune--2020-09-01--Levi Strauss CEO: We can’t solve racial inequality if gun violence and voter disenfranchisement pers

Levi Strauss CEO: We can’t solve racial inequality if gun violence and voter disenfranchisement persist

“Daddy changed the world!”
That’s what Gianna Floyd said about her father, George, after he died in Minneapolis police custody in May.
She was right. George Floyd’s death spurred worldwide outrage and a wider reckoning with structural racism in America. Black Lives Matter activists awakened millions to the killings of Black Americans by those sworn to protect them. More and more people, especially white people, started to grasp how pervasive racism remains and the constant danger Black Americans face every day.
Companies like ours also came to understand that we must play a role here. For Levi Strauss & Co., that started with elevating a focus on racial justice alongside our work on gun violence prevention, voter turnout, and voter rights. For me personally, it meant committing to more deeply examining my own privilege and improving diversity throughout our company. This also reinforced for me the sense that we can’t speak of issues like gun violence and voter disenfranchisement in isolation without also addressing the structural racism they both stem from and propagate. [Editor’s note: Bergh spoke about this and other issues in an interview with Fortune on Monday.]
It was clear we had a lot to do.
Then came the Aug. 23 police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wis. According to a video, an officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed, as his children watched. As Blake’s name was added to the tragically long list of Black men and women killed or nearly killed by police, we had another reminder that the world, in many ways, was still very much the same.
Something else became very apparent a few days later—the glaring inequity in the way law enforcement views gun possession in the U.S. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old, traveled from Antioch, Ill., to Kenosha with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to, in his words, protect local businesses and people. He reportedly received a warm welcome from local law enforcement: “We appreciate you guys,” one officer told him in a video, referring to Rittenhouse and other armed people he was with. After that, Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two of them, then walked away right past police and drove home.
He later turned himself in, but this incident highlights that the right to bear arms in this country was initially and still is intended largely for white people, while minorities can be killed if they’re suspected of even having a gun.
Tamir Rice, 12 years old, was killed while playing with a toy gun in Cleveland in 2014. John Crawford III, 22, was killed the same year inside an Ohio Walmart because he was carrying a BB gun he’d picked up at the store. Philando Castile, 32, was killed in 2016 by police outside Minneapolis after he told them he had a licensed gun in the car. And this past March, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was shot dead in Louisville, Ky., when her boyfriend used his firearm to defend her from plainclothes police entering her apartment with a no-knock warrant.
There have been many other examples. A study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that in the years between 2013 and 2017, Black people were two to six times more likely to be killed during encounters with the police than white people, depending on the region of the country.
Black people are not only more likely to be killed by police for possibly carrying guns, they are also more likely to be convicted of gun-related felonies and receive harsher sentences. That’s partly why the number of Black people with felony convictions increased fivefold between 1980 and 2010, and why one-third of Black men now have felony records.
Because many states block people with felony records from voting, the reality that justice is not in fact blind drives voter suppression. Structural racism influences voting in more direct ways as well. During the recent primary season, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Kentucky closed numerous polling places in minority-heavy districts, forcing residents to travel farther and wait for hours, at increased risk because of the coronavirus pandemic. Eligible voters have been disenfranchised in purges of voting rolls in several states.
After Florida restored voting rights in 2018 to those previously convicted of felonies, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new law requiring payment of all outstanding case fees before casting a ballot—a modern poll tax affecting more than 775,000 people. Looking ahead, the validity of mail-in ballots is being preemptively undermined, while armed groups are vowing to “defend” polling places.
I’m the first to admit that I’m still learning and that we have work to do in our own house. But the more I comprehend how structural racism intersects with gun violence and voting policies—as well as with environmental justice, financial opportunity, education, and other aspects of life—the more I am committed to using my and our company’s platform to highlight and address the human-made structures that nurture America’s racial caste system.
There can be no bystanders in this effort. Amid the recent tragedy, I was heartened to see images from the March on Washington on Friday and to hear NBA and WNBA players push owners to use publicly funded arenas as voting places. I especially appreciate the chorus of voices urging people to vote and raising the alarm on voter suppression efforts (as we’ve been trying to do through the Time to Vote coalition, by helping people get registered and by supporting groups working to secure the right of all citizens to participate in our democracy).
I know Black Lives Matter. I want my children to think the world of their dad the way Gianna Floyd thinks of hers. I assume Jacob Blake’s dreams and love for his children are as vivid as the love and dreams I have for mine.
There can’t be racial equality as long as gun violence and voter disenfranchisement persist. It’s on all of us to confront both racist acts and the structures in our society that enable those acts, to make our voices heard, to vote, and to work to ensure others can vote, too. It’s the only way to honor those we have lost, to uphold the ideals this country is supposed to rest on, and to build a stronger, fairer republic for everyone.
Chip Bergh is the president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. and serves on the company’s board of directors.


fortune--2020-09-01--These investments powered a record-setting month of stock market gains

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Good morning, Bull Sheeters. September is starting where August left off—global stocks and U.S. futures are mostly gaining this morning. That’s after Wall Street notched its best August since 1986.
Let’s see where investors are putting their money.
Markets update
Asia
The major Asia indexes are clinging to gains in afternoon trading, with Shanghai up 0.4% .
are clinging to gains in afternoon trading, with up . Some good news for the world economy: Global trade is heading for something closer to a V-shaped recovery , says Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, as the economic shock so far hasn’t been nearly as deep and severe as that of the global financial crisis a dozen years ago.
for the world economy: is heading for something closer to a , says Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, as the economic shock so far hasn’t been nearly as deep and severe as that of the global financial crisis a dozen years ago. Facebook announced it plans to block its Australia-based users from sharing news on its platform as the government there considers a law requiring big digital firms to compensate publishers for their work. Dear readers Down Under: let me know if you have trouble posting Bull Sheet to your feed this morning.
Europe
The European bourses opened mostly higher with Germany’s Dax up 0.8% in the first hour of trade.
opened mostly higher with up in the first hour of trade. Germany will release its 2020 economic forecast today and the engine of the European economy is expected to show the recovery is proceeding better than expected.
forecast today and the engine of the European economy is expected to show the recovery is proceeding better than expected. AstraZeneca shares were up 1.2% in London this morning on news the UK drugmaker has begun a large-scale human trial of its coronavirus vaccine in the U.S.
U.S.
The U.S. futures point to a positive open. That’s after the S&P 500 and Dow slumped in the final hour of trade on Monday, hurt by bank stocks.
point to a positive open. That’s after the S&P 500 and Dow slumped in the final hour of trade on Monday, hurt by bank stocks. Tech stocks again soared on Monday with Tesla and Apple leading the charge. Both companies are riding high on their respective share-splits , but there’s plenty of reason for investors to be cautious about future performance.
again soared on Monday with Tesla and Apple leading the charge. Both companies are riding high on their respective , but there’s plenty of reason for investors to be cautious about future performance. Speaking of tech…Zoom shares are up nearly 23% in pre-market trading after the video-meeting platform registered a monster beat on Monday, outperforming on revenues, EPS and users.
Elsewhere
Gold , volatile as ever, is climbing, trading near $2,000/ounce .
, volatile as ever, is climbing, trading near . The dollar is down.
is down. Crude is higher with Brent trading just shy of $46/barrel.
***
What’s hot, what’s not
Welcome to September. Again, we’re going to look back at the past month to tally up the big winners and losers.
Last month at this time, we were hailing the bull run in gold and Chinese equities, and we were marveling at the dollar’s sharp sell-off. European equities were the other asset class in the dumps in July.
And then we turned the page on a new month, and, voilà, the script flipped with it. August turned out to be a truly risk-on month.
Let’s go to the leader board.
Tech stocks and blue chips led the way in August. In fact, equities across the board did pretty well with European stocks (with the exception of the FTSE, which was largely flat in August) having a late run. In fact, Germany’s Dax, which has been trading much like the Dow in recent weeks, is nearly break-even for 2020.
Advancing 7% in August, the S&P 500 recorded 16 “up” days, and two winning streaks of at least six days. That’s a first for an August performance.
And what about gold and the dollar? The shiny yellow stuff hasn’t been a great bet over the past 30 days. It’s been trading in a tight range, with a load of volatility. It finished the month up 0.4% (compared to an 11% surge in July). Gold is up strongly this morning, however.
And what does history tell us about the months ahead?
“Be aware September is indeed the worst month of the year on average,” says LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But what caught our attention was both September and October have a negative return during election years, with October the worst month of the year. Could investors get election jitters again in 2020?”
Don’t get too worried about that. Goldman Sachs, for one, had warned back in July that the month of August is historically a low-volume dud.
History sure didn’t repeat itself last month.
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
As always, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
Turning Japanese. Warren Buffett's courtship with Japan had more than a few market observers shaking their head in confusion on Sunday night. But his $6 billion bet on a quintet of Japanese companies (mere months after bailing on U.S. banks and airlines) is not really all that outlandish when you consider recent market moves. Fortune's Eamon Barrett breaks down Buffett's rationale here.
Wood for the trees. Anybody who's gone to Home Depot and Lowe's recently has no doubt seen the crazy prices in the lumber aisle. In fact, the price of lumber has soared 134% year-over-year. Is this some kind of freak pandemic-pricing phenomenon? Fortune's Lance Lambert explains what's behind the price rise, and how much it's going to add to the price of a home renovation.
Trump's quandary. By a host of key indicators, the American economy is improving—from disastrously weak levels, of course, but it's still improving. But Americans are convinced things are still bad, and getting worse. That's according to the latest survey of Americans jointly produced by Fortune and SurveyMonkey.
Some of these stories require a subscription to access. There is a discount offer for our loyal readers if you use this link to sign up. Thank you for supporting our journalism.
Market candy
Quote of the day
We don't want it too high./ We don't want it too low./ When inflation is stable/ and predictable/ that's the way to go.
Every year, the Bank of Jamaica calls on local musicians to record a music video about the importance of stable prices for its public education campaign on inflation. And every version rocks! This latest one—featuring Denyque "and the low, stable and predictable inflation dancers"—I cannot get out of my head. Don't hate me. Just give a listen.


fortune--2020-09-01--‘The Dream Architects’: Inside the making of gaming’s biggest franchises

I always liked hanging out with weirdos.
When I was a teenager, my friends were either skaters, art-rockers, painters or wannabe writers, and together we spent way too much time smoking in parking garages, rehearsing dark music in dingy basements or pretentiously discussing philosophy in cafés where the coffee was cheap and no one complained when you overstayed your welcome drinking free re-fills until midnight. I was fully convinced that we were all doomed to be outsiders for our entire lives, and secretly, I was kind of proud of that.
Little did I know that my rebellious attitude would eventually lead to a position right at the heart of the birth of the most powerful entertainment medium of today: video games. In the beginning, making games was just another exciting arena for experimentation, play and self-expression, but when I made a small game that was essentially no more than a blow in a petty street-fight with an established investigative journalist, everything changed. The bright spotlight switched on mercilessly, and there I was, on stage, seen by others as someone with a vision and a voice.
Courtesy of Oscar Näsström
I became instantly aware of the immense potential and seductive powers that comes with interactive entertainment, and I decided to grab the unexpected opportunity and embark on a career that turned out to evolve in parallel with advancements in hardware, software and an ever-growing market. For every small step I made, the industry took a bigger one. Learning the hard way, I eventually caught up with the competition, and then, I learnt how to get a step ahead of them. Once I had arrived at that point, the doors to movie industry magically opened, and I was invited right to the epicenter of Hollywood to meet the legendary writer/director James Cameron.
This is the story of the birth and rapid growth of the video game business—an industry that has become the largest and most significant entertainment medium on the planet. The amazing evolution is described through the lens of an un-assuming dreamer who has seen it all, from two-man basement projects to 100-million-dollar disasters.
Below is an excerpt from my book The Dream Architects, available September 1.
I don’t believe much in luck. Sure, there are those moments in elite sports when the ball bounces off the post and off a defender’s foot into the goal, but still, luck is not supernatural. Luck starts many, many years before scoring a goal that ricochet’s off a defender’s foot. Luck started when that player was seven or eight years old and began playing football several times a week, and it accumulated over a decade of practice and intense dedication before the person had a chance to play with the best. My opinion is that it takes a large part of your lifetime and a fantastically long string of personal choices to even be in a position where you can experience a few seconds of good luck.
Sadly, and for the record, I don’t believe that bad luck works in the same way. Bad luck seems terrifyingly unreasonable, arbitrarily striking anywhere, out of the blue.
At E3 in 2012, we showed the Far Cry 3 co-op mode at the Sony press conference. It went reasonably well, but it was a close call, and we knew it. Tuesday passed, and just as I was beginning to accept that the meeting wouldn’t happen, I got a text from Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO and one of the founding brothers of the company, telling me when and where to meet him tomorrow.
The next day, we traveled in a shiny black car with darkened windows toward Manhattan Beach.
“Well,” said Yves, “you know we made a couple of games with Hollywood, right?”
“Yes, of course,” I replied, and thought of the elegant King Kong game Ubisoft had developed with Peter Jackson a few years earlier.
“We don’t normally like to invest in IP that we don’t own, but if the opportunity is very good, we sometimes engage in collaborations like this,” he continued.
“Makes sense. And this is one of those opportunities?”
“Yes, correct,” Yves said with a discreet smile, as if he was about to give me a gift that he was particularly proud of picking out for me. “Do you know who the most successful movie director of all time is?”
“Yes, I do,” I said, but as the words came out of my mouth, I realized I’d mistakenly thought of George Lucas and the Star Wars movies. I stopped myself before I said anything else. The most successful movie director of all time? Hang on, it’d have to be James Cameron, writer/director of both Titanic and Avatar.
“So, then you can figure it out: We’ll be meeting James Cameron soon,” Yves said casually as he turned to something important happening on his cell phone.
Those words were the sweetest ones I’d heard in quite some time. We still had a bit of a drive through the never-ending highways of Los Angeles, so I quickly began reading up on Cameron and speed-watching YouTube interviews with him. Cameron talked about processes and work ethics. I needed to understand his thought process—fast.
We parked the car in a three-story garage right next to the Lightstorm office. A tough-looking guard let us in after some scrutiny and suspicious eyeballing. Once the elevator bell announced our arrival, we were led to a conference room, passing some of Cameron’s private memorabilia along the way. Original props from Aliens, Terminator, Avatar, The Abyss…I saw the original sword from Conan the Barbarian that Arnold Schwarzenegger had once given Cameron as a gift. It was impossible not to feel excited, and I allowed it all to sink into my memory. This might be the closest I’ll ever be to Hollywood, I thought. As a fan, it was priceless, but of course we weren’t there to be fans.
Jon Landau, the producer of both Titanic and Avatar, greeted us as we entered the typical American conference room, with the air-conditioning turned to “Arctic” and thick blue carpet that muted our footsteps. As I’ve since learned is typical in Hollywood, there were a few unnamed hang-arounds present too. It seems that famous people in the US attract a posse wherever they go. Is it because they want to? Or is it needed? I don’t know, and I haven’t attracted a posse myself, so I’m not able to tell.
Landau seemed incredibly nice, but I found the mood strangely tense. The famous director was late, and the small talk stuttered and spat like an old truck on a bumpy road.
“You guys having a good E3?”
“Yes.”
[PAUSE]
“Yes, it’s good.”
“Okay. Fine. Okay.”
[PAUSE]
[PAUSE]
[PAUSE]
“How’s Avatar 2 going?”
[AWKWARD SILENCE]
[PAUSE]
“Let’s wait until Jim is here, okay?”
[PAUSE]
[AWKWARD SILENCE]
[CLOCK TICKING]
Normally, I’d have helped to warm the social climate in the room, but I was the new kid on this particular block, and I was convinced that it was my role to remain quiet until I’d tuned in to everything. As a Swede, I have very limited interest in etiquette, but shutting up seemed like the polite thing to do even to me.
A baritone broke the uneasy silence.
“Hey, I’m sorry I’m late. You guys got coffee?”
Cameron had arrived and immediately took charge of the proceedings.
In 2009, when the Avatar movie premiered, Ubisoft had released a game based on Cameron’s space saga. With the luxury of hindsight and reading a few postmortems, it’s easy to understand why the first Avatar game was a complicated project that left a mixed bag of possible interpretations on the table. Lightstorm had drawn their own conclusions, while Ubisoft had come to others. But no matter how anyone viewed Avatar: The Game, the contract between the companies contained a clause that gave Ubisoft the rights to make a second game based on a movie sequel, assuming one was forthcoming. In Yves’s mind, it was a good moment to introduce a new Ubisoft studio (Massive!) to Lightstorm, hoping that this would lead to a fresh start on a collaboration that had a slightly frayed history but simultaneously a lot of untapped potential.
The contract clause had an end date that was slowly approaching, so the question of when Avatar 2 was expected to release was critical. If the Avatar sequel was very, very delayed, it would mean that Ubisoft’s contract would not cover the interactive rights. But a straight answer was not offered, and it seemed to me that Lightstorm was just meeting with us to be polite. It felt as if they were nowhere near knowing any dates for the next movie, and if so, they already knew that the contract would expire and release them of any obligations to make another game with Ubisoft. Or, I realized after some further thought, they might be planning to shop around for new partners as soon as they were liberated from the existing contract, exploring all the available options regarding studio, technology, publisher, and cash. If I was right about this guess, it would put us in direct competition with basically every good developer in the world. This might not be looking too good.
Yves did a great job of pitching Massive to Cameron, highlighting the many benefits of our engineering skills, which was the only part that made Lightstorm a little excited. But the famous director and the producer were guarded and opaque. Very difficult to read. The director powerfully in charge, driving the meeting to where he wanted it to be, almost directing us all as if we were actors. The producer jovial and warm, taking the role of the easygoing partner, but fully in control of every single beat. I could see how they made such great movies together.
I watched it all, feeling like a voiceless bride being offered to a skeptical prince.
Just as we were about to leave, Cameron suddenly looked me straight in the eye and asked me the first question that wasn’t related to technology.
“You. What do you think Avatar is about?” he asked.
Hooray, I thought. I’d been thinking a lot about this during my preparations for the meeting: James Cameron is a person who really cares about quality, ethics, and the creative process itself—not money or business. The question he directed at me was my cue, and in the back of the limousine I’d spent some time thinking about clever and unexpected answers to a million different questions about Avatar, although perhaps not this particular one. Nevertheless, with great self-confidence and pride, I answered him. I was waiting for the words to come out of my mouth, elegantly framing something philosophical and profound. All that was needed was for the internal copywriter to come up with the right words, but he seemed to be on a break…
“Avatar…,” I said and paused dramatically to gain time, and also to make sure I had everyone’s attention. “Avatar is about peace.”
Cameron held my gaze for a second and then (as I began to panic) shrugged disappointedly. He was not impressed.
“No,” he said. “No, it’s not. Avatar is about fighting for what you believe in.”
Shit, shit, shit, I thought. I’m such an idiot. And immediately I started the long emotional descent from the stratosphere of my imagined Hollywood career to the floor in the editing room, cut away like a piece of bad footage.
Before I knew it, we were back in the garage in the rear seat of the limo. I beat myself up for failing the most important audition I had ever been to. To my surprise, Yves didn’t seem worried or disappointed at all. He was busy looking at his emails on his phone, already moving on to the next thing, whatever it was. Almost absentmindedly he said, “Looks like you will have to win the confidence of those people, huh?”
I couldn’t possibly have agreed more.
Excerpted from the book The Dream Architects: Adventures in the Video Game Industry by David Polfeldt. Copyright © 2020 by Li’l Factory AB. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.