FRIDAY WRAP: Conference roundup, conservative ESG month, Iger's self extension, auto-besity, Florida insurance, and anti-woke-cancels

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LIVE from ESG Month, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at July 14th Studios, featuring all your favorites: Ari the data queen, Jessie the money whisperer, and BS-man Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: Conference stories, ESG Month, autobesity, and men from Florida! 

Conference Wrap

1. DR

1. Favorite food: a hard, white demi-circle bowl of trail mix, featuring wasabi peas, M&Ms, walnuts, and mostly stale pretzels. Lunch looked moderately good except they put it out at 12:40 and forced 4 staffers to guard it until 1:30.

2. Favorite pointless event: from the Super fireside | Corporate Innovation Summit: How to lead in times of seismic change: What impact have the past three years – a period of significant disruption – had on corporations, and what lessons have been learned? Join these industry leaders as they discuss how you can identify the key strategies for leading in times of seismic change.

1. Rob Francis, CTO ,Booking.com

2. Rupal Hollenbeck, President, Check Point Software Technologies

3. Steve Clemons, Founding Editor at Large, Semafor

4. My notes: NOBODY TALKING ABOUT LEADERSHIP”

3. DEI Events

1. Culture and belonging: What actually works? [Hosted by Velocity Global]

1. Linda Lee, Chief People and Culture Officer, Velocity Global

2. Nzinga Shaw, Global DEI Expert, 20+ Years in Corporate America

1. Former Global Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer (NYSE: SBUX)

2. Harnessing the power of DEI to drive business value [Hosted by EY]

1. Antoine Mindjimba, Partner, EY; Muriam De Angelis, DEI, EY; Farah Qasemi, Partner, EY

2. Started with a corny EY-made video showing people of color and overtly gay men praising EY DEI… felt like a training video from The Office

1. “First of all, how good was that video?!”No response from audience

3. Said they didn’t rehire Chief Diversity Officer role in order “to honor the role”

1. Global Team listed online: 

1. Karyn Twaronite, EY Global Vice Chair - Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness: WF

2. Trent Henry, EY Global Vice Chair – Talent, WM “Hockey dad and coach”; former EY Canada CEO; chairs the EY Canada Inclusiveness Steering Committee

2. US “Team”:

1. Leslie D.J. Patterson, EY Americas and US Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness Leader

4. EY US: 24 DEI reports listed online under “our latest thinking”: 

1. 2023: 1

2. 2022: 2

3. 2021: 0

4. 2020: 6

5. 2019: 10

6. 2018: 5

3. Two thoughts

1. DEI at a tech conference is still a no-man zone with questions asked by moderator like “Raise your hand if you were forced to come here.”

2. Primary takeaway for FFA: LACK OF DATA METRICS

4. Biggest success (for my daughter)

1. CENTRE STAGE: Marketing in 2024: It’s time for a marketing masterclass. Join this session as industry experts discuss the trends of tomorrow

1. Sairah Ashman, CEO, Wolff Olins

2. Josh Richards, Founder & Chairman, CrossCheck Studios

1. 26M TikTok followers

3. Jonathan Yaffe, Co-founder & CEO, AnyRoad

4. JD DUnkin, Anchor, TheStreet

2. JS

1. Favorite food: Vegan chocolate brownie, served at lunch on the second day. Although, I must say- the lunches were awesome. There were great salads, lots of veggies, some nice chicken dishes.

2. Most valuable session: Sustainability in the Boardroom: Developing Key Competencies…mainly because I enjoyed listening to women that would actually stay on track. Moderation was great. BUT I will say…all of the people on the panel sat on private boards. We tried to look them up in our data and couldn’t find them. We couldn’t corroborate just how competent they are, if you know what I mean.

3. Session w/ the most misleading title: Unpacking Decision-useful Nature Data for Investors…okay this was the THIRD session Ari & I went to in the span of like 6 minutes. We were really trying to find something valuable from 1:30-2:30 on Tuesday but it was hard. I didn’t glean 1 insight.

4. Coolest part: Meeting some of our listeners IRL! It was kinda cool when people would come up to us, already knowing us/ our personalities from the show. And cool to know we actually have listeners!

3. AB

1. My panel: I moderated a panel on the first day of the conference, but it wasn’t until 4PM so I was cool calm and collected the whole day. JK i was an anxious mess about my first panel ever. At first I was concerned no one was gonna show up, then when I got there I was concerned we were breaking all fire codes for room capacity. The panel I moderated was called “ESG Data: A Defense Against Greenwashing?” which kinda sounds like a Hogwarts class “defense against the dark arts”, and it definitely had a depressing dementor moment when one of the panelists was like “ESG HAS DONE NOTHING FOR NO ONE”. I had to remind him that data by itself can’t do a thing, people are the ones that do stuff SO WHY ARENT WE? Anyway, after the panel, one of the comments I received was that this person enjoyed that I spoke more than other moderators, at which point i realized I had effectively made myself a panelist and not just a moderator lol WHOOPS.

2. Most surprising event I liked: “A New Conception of ESG That Builds Common Ground” 

1. I thought it was gonna be a snoozefest! But it was lead by Bob Eccles and Leo Strine. Leo Strine is a FIRECRACKER. He is a retired Delaware judge and he said he will never be invited to be a board member because he can’t keep his mouth shut and would ask too many Qs. Anyway, these two dudes just ripped on the ESG culture wars, kinda like you guys, and made it entertaining but also made a point that no matter where on the political spectrum you are, corporate governance affects you and your livelihood.

3. Definitely have to agree with Jessie on favorite food. Those brownies were AMAZING. I had three.

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Hollywood actors to begin historic strike at midnight after studio talks break down

1. Leaders of a Hollywood's actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry after talks for a new contract with the studios and streaming services broke down.

2. Disney extends CEO Bob Iger's contract through 2026, two years longer than planned; Bob gives himself a raise while calling striking workers who want wage increase disturbing MM DR

1. Millionaire Disney CEO Bob Iger finds strikes for fair wages ‘disturbing’

2. target annual incentive bonus opportunity will be 500% of his annual base salary, up from 100% 

1. Pay committee:

1. Maria Elena Lagomasino* (13%)

1. Coca-Cola board member

2. CEO of several non-public entities

2. Mary Barra CEO GM (9%)

3. Calvin R. McDonald CEO lululemon (5%)

4. (Incoming member) Carolyn N. Everson (6%)

1. Coca-Cola board member

3. ESG Month

1. This week

1. How Mandates Like ESG Distort Markets and Drive Up Costs for Insurance and Housing

2. Oversight of the Proxy Advisory Industry

3. Reforming the Proxy Process to Safeguard Investor Interests

4. Protecting Investor Interests: Examining Environmental and Social Policy in Financial Regulation

2. Next week

1. Potential Consequences of FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Rulemaking

2. Oversight of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance

3. Climate-Risk: Are Financial Regulators Politically Independent?

4. FDA approves the first over-the-counter birth control pill AB

1. the first hormonal contraceptive pill available in the U.S. without a prescription.  

2. OTC birth control is available in over 100 countries

3. The FDA said it is approving the over-the-counter version for all users of reproductive age, including teenagers, a move that is expected to remove barriers to access and reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. Working women's record-setting comeback DR AB

1. Remote work! Is helping out women's employment! After women were losing or quitting their jobs in droves during the pandemic, with some even calling 2021 a “she-cession”, work-from-home has helped as many as 1.3 million women return to the labor force!!! 

2. There was worry that this she-cession could “wipe out a generation of progress for working women” but today 78% of women between 25 and 54 are in the labor force, surpassing the previous peak in 2000. Hopefully they are also getting paid appropriately.

2. Europe doing carbon things

1. Airline boss wants you to take the train

1. Dutch airline KLM’s CEO Marjan Rintel told POLITICO “We are moving our customers from plane to train." She said this as she is under pressure to cut carbon footprint, especially for short flights like Amsterdam to Brussels. These flights have a climate impact that is 14 times higher than rail. 

2. The Dutch government is trying to reduce noise pollution by limiting the number of takeoffs and landings by limiting the number of takeoffs and landing from Amsterdam’s main airport, KLM’s hub

3. Rintel is actually a former state railway CEO so she may know a thing or two about how to make these 55 minute flights less attractive and a 100 minute train ride work better for her customers

2. Paris to charge SUV drivers higher parking fees to tackle ‘auto-besity’

1. A council member said the goal of the higher parking fees was “to focus on an absurdity: auto-besity … the inexorable growth in the weight and size of vehicles circulating in our cities, and particularly in Paris”

2. IS THERE SOMETHING MORE FRENCH THAN THIS? Can’t wait to see articles in Vogue France talking about how to slim down your car

3. Insurer’s Retreat in Florida Signals Crisis With No Easy Fix

1. First, it was State Farm in California, now it’s Farmers in Florida!!! “Farmers is ending some policies in the Sunshine State as insurers struggle with the rising costs of covering climate change-related damage.”

2. Farmers Insurance announced its decision this week to stop renewing almost a third of the policies it has written in Florida. They didn’t say why, but maybe it was the record-setting numbers of billion-dollar disasters and having trouble raising rates (since they need regulatory approval from the state)

3. OMG DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE A RISE IN TAXES IN FLORIDA? WILL PEOPLE FINALLY STOP RAVING ABOUT HOW WONDERFULLY LOW TAXES ARE OVER THERE?

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Jimmy Patronis DR

1. He only sounds like an extra in the Sopranos, he’s the Florida CFO who said this: “I sincerely believe that with today’s actions, Farmers Insurance is well on its way to becoming the Bud Light of insurance,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter, seemingly blaming the insurance company for being too woke.

2. Is it because they used a trans person to underwrite Florida insurance?  

1. Here’s where he’s right - Farmers Insurance is owned by Zurich Re, a European reinsurer!  Just like Bud Light is owned by AB InBev, a European beer manufacturer!  EUROPE!

2. And they ARE woke!  Free Float Analytics pull quote:

1. 50% female board, ZERO POWER GAP!  The ladies have the majority of the power at 53%!

2. Board team strength: carbon!

3. Only 25% of the board are BFFs!

3. Here’s the Orwellian follow up: “I have asked my team to put their heads together in holding Farmers Insurance accountable to Florida policy holders,” Patronis said. “I want additional scrutiny on this company.”

1. I WANT ADDITIONAL SCRUTINY ON THIS COMPANY

2. DeSantis world is pretty purely “we don’t like what you do, let’s investigate you and make sure it’s not because you’re gay”

3. Gay danger alert: Farmers does have a Chief People and Diversity officer, Mark Welch, and they state: Farmers works to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace to create and model an environment for employees of all cultures, backgrounds, experiences, and identities to bring their whole selves to work. We believe that creating an experience of inclusion helps encourage feelings of belonging, value, respect and empowerment.

1. They ship breast milk home to babies

2. Paid parental leave for anyone, including (whisper) the gays…

3. Tuition assistance

4. CEO signed the diversity pledge

5. They sponsor black golfers… does it get woker?

4. Farmers is one of many - 8 insurers have gone BANKRUPT in Florida thanks to climate change, and Farmers said in a statement “This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure”

5. Shut the fuck up Jimmy

2. AND THERE IT IS… don’t hire brown people or gays AB MM

1. Republican Attorneys General Warn Top U.S. Businesses Over ‘Discrimination’

2. “The Supreme Court’s recent decision should place every employer and contractor on notice of the illegality of racial quotas and race-based preferences in employment and contracting practices,”

3. YEAH, REMEMBER WHEN WE HAD NO INTEREST IN BROWN PEOPLE AND KEPT GAYS IN THE CLOSET?  THAT WAS LEGAL.  EVERY BROWN PERSON YOU HIRE IS PROBABLY AN IDIOT AND ILLEGAL.

3. Getting angry at stuff we just found out about, round two

1. Remember when we thought it was kind of stupid to pull up a Tweet from 2012 and cancel someone for it?

1. To remind you, here’s a NY Post article about “toxic” cancel culture of the liberals: What is cancel culture? Everything to know about the toxic online trend

2. They fought to keep the Washington Football Team’s name as racist as possible

2. Well…

1. Maybelline Suddenly Under Fire From Conservatives Over Using Bearded LGBTQ Influencer In Makeup Ad—Something It Had Done For Years

2. 2017!  THEY’VE DONE THIS FOR SIX YEARS AND NO ONE CARED!

3. Thank god we found it when we did, or they could have done it for decades and harmed our children!

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Women who live in states where they can get access to the OTC birth control pill

2. MM: Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly, college BFFs and owners of 4.3m and 1.1m shares of Activision.  Kelly is Board Chair and has been on the board for 27 years. Kotick has 56% of board influence and Kelly has 14%.  And because everyone is talking about Lina Kahn and the merger with MSFT going through, NO ONE is talking about how Kotick will avoid being the poster hanging on the wall of a Cosby Suite instead.

Predictions

1. DR: Iger leaves before end of contract because he realizes the obvious: running Disney kinda sucks

2. MM: Someone will discover that there was once a gay person working at a McDonald’s drive thru in 1994, and McD’s gets canceled