Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:32:19 · Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
And they were tied together because at the time we had 10% unemployment and the goal was job creation. And it's funny when you ask people what they need for help, they're willing to tell you. And so then you try to figure out how can you be of assistance. So it's... The other thing about the job is the scope. The scope is large. And so I've never worked on things that were as Massive. Big. But the reality is it's still all about human relations. You wanna get something done, you really have to build trust and relationships with people both inside the government and outside the government, inside The United States, around the world. [00:33:03] S0: You once told me that what you learned about diplomacy is that as long as you're talking, things are working. And I will never forget that.
00:33:03 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker
[00:33:03] S0: You once told me that what you learned about diplomacy is that as long as you're talking, things are working. And I will never forget that. [00:33:10] S1: I asked, what are these dialogues? I don't get all these dialogues because I'm used to like you. Let's have a meeting. Let's figure out the outcomes, and let's go, go, go. But countries, for them to work together, they have to work through really knotty issues often. And I'm not talking about war. I'm talking about just even in times of where everything is calm. There's issues. We worked, for example, the digital connection between The United States and Europe was at risk, and the agreements that we had had fallen apart. And so we had to renegotiate what was going to be the digital trade between The United States and Europe during my tenure. That was probably one of the most significant things it was worth about at that time, and it's only gotta be multiples of it now, at the time, two eighty, two ninety billion dollars. Wow. At that time, I'd never worked on something that large and that big. And... But we were very serious working with the European Union to create what's... Was called the privacy shield, which allowed for digital trade to continue and grow. There were all kinds of issues you mem... You know, privacy. Remember privacy used to be something we were there? [00:34:25] S0: I... You know?
00:34:25 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker
[00:34:25] S0: I... You know? [00:34:26] S1: Well I also worked on cybersecurity. The beginning days of... We put together a blueprint that actually the Trump administration, the first term, used for cybersecurity. We also did all the groundwork for the CHIPS Act, basically. We were very early in in terms of understanding what was coming. You know, today we take Waymo or things like that, autonomy in vehicles or in drones and things for granted. But in order to... Actually, for those things to function, you need access to the airwaves. You need all kinds of infrastructure that has to be put in place. We worked on all of that. So it was fun and exciting, but it was also opened my aperture to the technologies that we're living with today.
00:35:20 · Alexa von Tobel, Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker
[00:35:20] S0: Truly, basically, you're building the policy such that we could have the things that we have today happening in this country. A few things I want to make sure I say. As The US Secretary of Commerce, your job was basically to be able to dialogue and be in touch with every major CEO, not just in The United States, but around the world. And that access is pretty wild if you really think about it. And I feel like as your partner, I've seen some of that access being just profound, how quickly people... And and and I think there's something to that, which is that people really do wanna help. And the response time to people that are trying to do really good things is very quick often. And being alongside you, I've seen that. Just how quickly people wanna reply and help. I'm going to move on, but I want to quickly confess one fun thing, which is I remember when you invited me to come to the White House, I obviously picked my fanciest dress. And I was going to get to meet President Obama in the Oval Office. And we're all standing in there, and it was these incredible other CEOs, and I did feel like sort of a younger CEO in the room. And President Obama gets in front of me, and it's my time to [00:36:34] S2: get to meet him. And he gave me a [00:36:36] S0: fist pump, and I almost just died of how cool [00:36:39] S1: that moment just like the president of The United States just fist pumped me. And I [00:36:43] S2: was just like, what a cool guy. And I don't get nervous often. And that was probably one of the only times I've been nervous in the last decade.
00:36:43 · Alexa von Tobel, Alexa von Tobel
[00:36:43] S2: was just like, what a cool guy. And I don't get nervous often. And that was probably one of the only times I've been nervous in the last decade. [00:36:52] S0: I want to move on before we get to some of the things that you've been tackling in just the last few years. But not only after being US Secretary of Commerce, you know, you joined the Microsoft board, you chair Harvard's board. But I just wanna take a minute. You did some really important work on Ukraine. And I remember when you called me and said, hey, Alexa, I'm gonna, you know, I just wanna inform you I'm gonna take a short term role where I'm gonna help the Ukraine... Help Ukraine rebuild, which is pretty wild if you think about that after such a, you know, tragic time to be asked to go and do that on behalf of our country. Can you just like share one thing you learned about seeing a country through devastation have to think about rebuilding? I mean, there... That's resilience on a different level. And what did you learn?
00:37:49 · Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
[00:37:49] S1: Well, so I was a special representative. I... During that time, it was about ten or eleven months, I went to Ukraine six times. But what I learned was a couple of things. What I learned about our government is is when we put our mind to helping a country, and this was basically... I was asked to help them with their economic resilience. So everything from helping to figure out how do you open the Black Sea up to how do they get their exports out to, frankly, you're seeing today, I'm really... You know, feel proud of The United States that we did this, and I was very much involved in this. We've helped them stand up their defense industry. And I think if you... You know, when Ukraine is done with this war, it will be one of the great defense industry centers in Europe, if not the number one center. But what I saw was... So one thing I learned was air defense is essential for security, is essential for prosperity. [00:39:07] S0: Yep.