Nelson Peltz, CEO & Founding Partner, of Trian Management, L.P., in conversation with Miami Herbert

[Music] [Music] [Music] you okay hello good evening thank you for coming out in the rain I'm an olazabal I'm the interim Dean here at the Miami Herbert business school and I'm just up here to welcome you to tonight's event uh this is pretty exciting we've got quite the lineup before we get started uh thank you so much and welcome to alumni who are here I see some alumni in the in the room I see faculty of course students our staff I see members of the Board of Trustees man Cadre uh who else is here uh Marshall Ames from lenar uh Dave liberman who many of you may know um some years back retired um from the University of Miami so thank you for coming back to visit us uh Joy chevara who's our CEO thank you for being here president Frank of course uh we don't do these things without you um and many many others who are here so thank you so much for coming um I I'm just going to introduce uh one of the pair of dignitaries up here uh and he almost needs no introduction as he and his family have been longtime friends and generous supporters of the university the executive chairman of lenar Stewart's relationship with the University of Miami spans many many years and in many roles he's an alumnus of the Law School class of 1982 a parent of a University of Miami graduate a Hurricane fan a member of the UN Board of Trustees chair of the U Health Board Bo chair of the University's ever brighter the campaign for our next Century fundraising effort and many in many other ways he is a big supporter of the University today he's the moderator of our fireside chat with Nelson pels we are very grateful to steuart for introducing his friend Nelson to us and bringing him to Miami Herbert to headline today's distinguished Leader's lecture with that said I'll turn the mic over to Stuart to introduce our keynote speaker well hello everyone let me see what I got here so let me tell you this is a privilege for all of us to have Nelson Peltz uh who I consider a friend here with us and I want to I want to introduce Nelson by telling a quick story and he might disavow he might say this not exactly accurate but I'm going to tell you my recollection because it goes back ways and so let let me just say I I met Nelson back in the 1990s um and I can't even tell you the circumstances under which we met but it was back in those days that from time to time I would get a call and we would end up having a lunch and it was generally a lunch Nelson honored Me by wondering what's going on in the housing business wanted to get a perspective from somebody who was in the business and we kind of got to know each other and you know we would get together from time to time I was an aspiring young evolving public company executive and Nelson was Nelson pelts I mean he was an activist shareholder he was known by everybody he struck fear in the hearts and minds of leaders in the public company world yes you did uhhuh not new steward you weren't scared no I figured if I could stay a little friendly maybe he'd stay away that's why you bought lunch right well at one lunch he had an idea and he broached the concept that perhaps perhaps we should go and try to buy a particular homeb Building Company together and we do it jointly I knew the CEO of the company I knew him quite well and I welcomed the possibility of doing it with Nelson and his Partners what an opportunity to learn up close personal get to see it firsthand and we agreed to go visit strike up a conversation and to see if we could make something happen I had actually tried before with this company and I failed so I figured we give it another try right so this I have I presume to counsel my friend Nelson on an approach I know the CEO he's a very very nice man let's start with some nice ities let's let the conversation develop and mature and then we'll migrate to a more serious conversation a discussion I felt like the aggressive approach would be a little overwhelming and it probably wouldn't work so well okay so we go to Naples we meet at the restaurant restaurant and I whisper one more time on the way in don't forget the niceties because CEO is a very nice guy is's very proud and Nelson said with certainty as if this is not my first rodeo don't worry I got this so okay great deep breath I'm ready to learn from the master right so we arrive at the table we all introduce ourselves to each other we sit and before the bread hits the table Nelson announced with his overwhelming presence and his strong self assured voice which you'll see in a minute Al we want to buy your company we think it's going to be a good deal for you we think it's going to be a good deal for your shareholders and it's going to be a good deal for us as well what do you think well so much for the niceties the lunch was short the deal didn't get done and I was a little shell shocked but boy did I learn I'm pretty sure that the deal wouldn't have gone gotten done anyway it just wasn't the right circumstance but I did have a front row seat to a straight shot hard-hitting direct conversation no waste of time clear not confusing sharp Focus targeted determined approach to a clearly defined Target it was an engagement that to this day I've never forgotten the reality is that this is Nelson pelts today he's a friend and have had the joy and the honor to have learned a lot about the business World from a legendary leader Nelson began in business a lot like I did working for and with his father and his grandfather's company and learning and evolving to be his own unique style of business participant years later Nelson had become an extraordinary operator he sold the business and then he and his Partners built an equity Capital Asset Management business focused on investing in a small number of businesses that could benefit from some warm but hard-hitting direct conversation no waste of time clear and not confusing sharp focused and targeted advice in order to improve the business Nelson and his Partners have worked with companies like Snapple Hines craft Foods Bank of New York ingersol Rand Wendy's Dupont mandes and PepsiCo Proctor and Gamble GE Disney these are the kinds of companies that Nelson chooses to identify and to work with many would call Nelson pelts an activist investor I think I've read that Nelson would better refer to himself as a construction a constructivist investor meaning that he has the strong Foundation of being a real operator he leans on that Foundation to look for Extraordinary companies that can build and enhance shareholder value with some strong targeted focus on bottomline accountability and operational Focus he invests and he seeks to influence management he often makes stren strong friendships and business relationships along the way although it doesn't always feel friendly at the beginning but let me tell you am I wrong no you're right that I'm proud of that very much though but let me tell you let me tell you that Nelson is a force and Nelson is a joy and Nelson is a friend and if you have an opportunity to learn as we do here today hang on every word because every engagement with Nelson pelts is a business school class ladies and gentlemen let me introduce Nelson [Music] pelts that was so nice is that what I did time you don't remember yeah I do remember you remember okay let's let's talk I I decided to use the uh the sweet approach with Al okay I had bread and then I said it you know well you didn't have bread first you just got right down to it so so listen I I I want to start I want to start with a couple of things and then I want to migrate to a couple of areas because there's a lot to talk about and Nelson I can't help it with Britney sitting here right in the front row um tell us a little bit about your family and a little bit about your history but let's start with the family because I don't think that you got the memo that in in a modernized society generally two to three children is about the right amount is the TV was [Laughter] broken what can I tell you I have 10 kids okay and I'm Jewish my wife is Catholic it made no difference we had my first marriage I had two my current and last marriage I have eight two sets of twins and they range in age from 40 to 20 and I want to tell you something I learn so much from from my kids so much they are they don't even know how much they teach me I'm 81 years old I have friends who are 81 years old they go to dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon okay the day is over okay I'm not kidding you maybe five if they're going to have a late night I got I I'm I'm I set up with two of my kids and one of their friends last night to 1:30 in the morning we just with talking do you know how much you can learn from talking one was 30 one was 20 and their friend was 35 we talked for 3 4 hours do you know how much you can learn from that I can learn so much I can learn what what products they use I can learn what they're thinking about their concerns the opportunities they see it's amazing how much I get from all my kids so I want you to know I have all these kids for business reasons Britney I'm sorry to tell you that I got a grandson here too Ben okay and maybe I might have even a son here but I haven't seen that redhead anywhere uh he's heard me speak so many times he's sick of it there's a red head in the middle he's not the one is he no okay sorry about that but you know look J depose your kids are a learning experience but I just watched as Britney came up to you uh missed rashish on a dinner and got a big warm hug yep that you're leaving town tomorrow not going to be here for the weekend and there's a clear because I've been around I don't think I've been around all your kids yet but I've been around most of them lot of and the affection the engagement the the the mentoring that you share with each of them is really remarkable so let let's go back a little bit because I think it's worthwhile to take a look at your history your business trajectory um you don't make you don't words about the fact that you didn't graduate college no um you like skiing you didn't like class so much and so tell us a little bit about that migration from those early years starting with college migrating on and developing your business career well I I I don't want you all to take a lesson from what I'm going to tell you and I know the dean is not thrilled about this that you guys might leave after hearing this story uh but I went to Wharton and I had a wonderful time in my short period there I just didn't get the class that much and when I did get the class I couldn't figure out when I was going to use accounting and finance and economics it just was a blur I was way too immature to be in a place like that so I dropped out and I went up to Maine and skied and so I washed dishes and I got a ski ticket and I got two meals and it was great and you got to plan ahead you see and the snow melted which I didn't plan on then I what was I going to do so I had a job offered to me out in Mount Hood argon in July to teach some young kids skiing and uh I needed some money to get out and my dad had a a very small but nicely profitable produce business very small business they were doing about $2 million a year and uh supporting her family nicely on that and uh I asked if You' give me a job on a truck 100 bucks a week for two weeks and he said yes if I shave my beard off which I told him it was temporary and I did uh and he set me up because I said dad you know there are a lot of opportunities that were missing here he said so why don't you stay here and do them instead of running out to mount H oron and which I did and basically in a very short order he threw the keys on the table and said go fetch and we built that to million business into almost $150 million a year business took it public and then we were the largest in our industry in the Northeast at that point in time and I sold that business and I hired my Chief Financial Officer Peter May and he then became a partner and we were looking around for something new to do and uh long story short we started a little a little business that fixed companies that had financial difficulties and I learned a lot about cash so I don't want to go there just yet okay I want to back up a second $2 million company to $150 million company sounds like there's some operational grit and some focus and determination and accountability embedded in getting from one place to the next talk a little bit about that well my father went to work at 4:30 in the morning because that's what they do in the produce business in the old days and he came home at dinner time and he did that five and a half to six days a week and he supported a family nicely doing that with and he had a touch everything and when I told him I wanted to make an acquisition in Boston he said to me who's going to be there to make sure the trucks get out on time which was his way of thinking how the hell do you build a business when you're not there to touch everything I said Dad we're going to work it out and he he really gave me the reins and I was fortunate enough to be able to finance it and then I bought a company in Philadelphia and then I bought a company in Baltimore Washington and then we had the Northeast and we took it public and then we got an offer to sell it and I was thrilled to sell it because it wasn't a great cash flow business and I learned very very early on that cash flow is the most important thing there is the markets every now and then pay sales they pay eyeballs they pay for all of these other things but let me tell you something they ain't nothing like cash flow and that's what counts in business and so from there and Mike milin was became a good friend of mine at the end of the 60s a guy you may never have heard of who was a a Dennison of Wall Street back in those days well Steinberg who was a great friend of mine he introduced me to Michael I started trading with Michael and then I bought control of a broken down company called Triangle Industries was losing money but it had a good balance sheet and I needed a balance sheet and we put on the front cover that we were going to build that into a major industrial Force it had a market cap in those days of maybe 20 million bucks and we did we then bought financed the company up bought National can bought American can built lots of new factories around the world and created the largest packaging company in the world and then we sold it to the French government when mitan was President okay so I'm still I'm still working with you here you 2 million to 150 million got to learn the business got to buy a couple of additional businesses and somehow Mike milin fits in there how' you meet Mike well first of all I I told my father we needed a computer he said what the hell he said you can't he said a computer's not going to work in this business you got too many prices too many items we probably had a 100 items you know 500 customers everybody had a different price different item He's just never going to work I thought he was right the night that we installed the computer because I stayed up for two straight nights and couldn't get a damn invoice out but ultimately we got it to work and and you know you do these little [Music] things and it's like going to business school it was a real teaching for me and and my my friend Saul in in introduced me to Michael I had a little tax loss carry forward and I told Michael I needed a capital gain he told me to buy Penn Central bonds of 29 he got me a par I said boy this a smart guy and Michael and I would speak every single day and he would always call me at 7: a.m. to make sure I knew that he was in the office in La earlier than I was in the office in New York that was standard procedure leave a message at 7 tell Nelson I called he should be at work uh and and Michael and I developed an amazing relationship and then uh I used him and others to finance Acquisitions and was able to pay ridiculous interest interest rates for businesses that were not being managed and from businesses that were not being man managed like American can and others I then went from there to becoming an activist and found out that are really big businesses that aren't being managed like Proctor and Gamble think about that the biggest consumer company in the world I felt it needed help that was pretty Brash so I I'm going to be a little presumptuous again I got I've got a shepher I've got a Shepherd you a little bit because you said something that's really interesting to me and it's reminiscent of some things that I I've seen as well and that is that computer what do we need a computer for your dad said M and um and you said that you know pricing was all over the place for all the things and everything but migrating to that first computer was a lot of tinkering a lot of working a lot of technical stuff and you'll learn a lot it's like going to business school just in my I I I had that experience I did we we we we were buying a home Building Company we were a little company at the time buying a little Home Building Company and we're up in barard County doing due diligence and my father walked in the room walks in the room we're we're all getting together and he says oh my God God the waste in this company it's unbelievable do you know what they have they don't have one they have two PCS they call those those are personal computers what are they going to do with those that He I think your father was talking to my father that's right but but the the the the question I I have is that migration from what was done to start a business to what goes on to elevate a business and the Business School componentry of that I think about that as I think about what you did later on as a stepping stone and I just thought maybe you could take a minute and talk about learning about the operation let let me interrupt you for a second I'm I'm going to get back to your your your question you're right I mean that those first days of trying to get a computer to work I had the pleasure of spending time last week with Sam Alman from AI I mean when I think in my lifetime I went from we all went from handwriting invoices to a contor operator trying to get out statements at the end of the month to open Ai and they all think that this is going to be smarter than all of us in the room which I cannot accept okay they all think it's going to be smarter than us eventually that in my life time I've seen that that movie is truly amazing it gives me goosebumps at my age to see where we have come as a world technologically and yet we've left so much behind socially it's it's amazing now let's go back to your question so the the migration from bookkeeping to the compu to the world world of computers and the evolution of a young Nelson pelts to learn operational excellence accountability how the numbers fit together how does that Evolution that was my Wharton School stward right that was my Wharton School that was my MBA I mean when you do it when you make a sale make sure it gets there on time and then you collect it collecting it sometimes is the hardest part of all okay you now have gone to business school and that's how I learned my trade I learned it the hard way I felt a great disadvantage AG because I didn't graduate from college and in the 60s not having a college degree was a real negative today sometimes it's glorified a little bit but back then if you didn't have a college degree you were a truck driver uh but that's how I that was for me and not for every anybody else it was my way of learning and for from that experience I could go Steward to a company like Proctor and Gamble and tell him what I think they're doing wrong how dare I go to them and tell them what they were doing wrong and you know something they told me to take a hike so I went to shareholders and we had a proxy fight and we won and the company really prospered it really prospered market shares went up and margins went up nobody got fired nobody there was no new acquisitions no new devages no new debt it was just running the business more logically I don't want to waste everybody's time unless they want to hear what happened no that's what that that's what we're here for okay it's Stepping Stones you learn about operations and then you can teach operations when you have that foundation and you know what to do you can invest and you can affect so how did that happen let let me tell you what it was this was a company of 100,000 employees it was 100,000 employees when I started and it was a 100,000 employees when I finished so nobody got fired but here was the structure of the company there was a CEO and in reality 100,000 people reported to this one CEO there were people who had sales responsibility market share responsibility accounting responsibility manufacturing responsibility but nobody had a p&l except the boss what we wound up doing after we won the proxy fight and they were great they then brought in uh McKenzie to vet our proposal McKenzie accepted about 85% of it and they made some good changes as well but what we wound up with was seven CEOs not one but seven CEOs internally who had everything manufacturing distribution marketing advertising everything and they had 11,000 people in corporate when we got there we wound up we wanted 1,000 we got down to 4,000 those 7,000 weren't fired they were put in the businesses so now you had accountability for everybody except 4,000 people and that's what drove that company forward just logic just logical it was badly structured and that's what we did at dupan and that's what we did at Hines and that's what we did all over the place we're just an unpaid consulting firm so would it own stock would it would it be would it be relevant to say that some of these companies some companies Great Brands great programs find themselves on evolutionary track where little by little they Meander away from bottom line accountability and it's almost like a corrective surgery to get them to realign and rethink and take some bitter medicine to get to a better place and build shareholder value steuart you know what's amazing you go into these companies and every board I've been on there was no one on that board that actually wrote a check to buy stock except us every board they got stock they got options they got this they got that they sold some options they bought some stock they paid their tax no investment from the CEO on down every single company I was the only guy on the board who wrote a check to buy stock that clears your sinuses really does when you got $35 billion dollars in a company like PNG you got you're going to work every day let me tell you you're going to work every day to make sure you you get that company and start to dance and everybody was so polite so nice once the proxy fight was over they were welcoming and they were nice and when I got off the board they gave me a beautiful award and said the nicest things about me in the Press you know why because most of the compensation at PNG was stock-based and they had made millionaires out of employees a decade ago but for the prior decade they hadn't made any millionaires you know and and it was a proxy fight it was the biggest one ever off the beaten path a little bit I mean you I'm always off the beaten path no no no I'm going to ask a question that's off the beaten path you go in you you you go you buy some stock you have a little proxy fight you go through some agitation and you walk into a board uh or to an executive's office these are these are these are people that are quite accomplished yeah and you say hi I'm Nelson pelts I'm here to help what what happen it's 100% right here's what we do I mean we've had 35 of these engagements only three of them wound up in a real fight think about that they didn't love the fact that I was there but they figured you know it's better to work with this guy than to fight with this guy I mean PNG spent aund million to keep me off their board a100 million a lot of these companies don't want to do that so they give me a board seat they expect me that maybe I'll sit in the corner give me one board seat oh that's a mistake you're not going to sit in the corner I know that and one thing you say what can one board seat do out of 12 people well let me tell you something every chairman wants every decision to be unanimous God forbid it goes the wrong way 100% of the board is culpable I can give you chapter and verse story after Story on things that none none of you would vote for none of you and yet they're being proposed so it kind of goes back to my lunch where we looked at buying a company together that straight discussion the willingness to break through a wall and say I'm not going to follow the herd big part of you being a Constructor activist thinking and doing not just Ravel rousing but in fact crafting solutions that actually have long-term impact and make for a better company and shareholder value is a core value of what you're doing that's correct let me tell you if you look at what we do what most activists do a balance sheet related sell something leverage up buy back stock all balance sheet related that's not what makes companies great but companies what makes companies Great is to get sales up keep the margin or expand the margin simple as that and get more market share that's what makes companies Great okay you've got to be in business you've got to understand business in order to talk to one of these people every one of the companies that we've invol been involved with with have had that same thing we've had that kind of in effect I've made mistakes we made one big one which my buddy here is going to bring up so he bring it up early G but I want to tell you something we eat when I right to yes you okay okay we eat our own cooking then all of a sudden we hear stories okay that something they did listen to this 2002 they changing the accounting entry on their on a business they sold on retiree health benefits this was 2017 15 years later we went back to make sure we didn't miss anything in any of 10ks was never ever mentioned that they kep kept this liability back the stock starts to sink Jeff calls me up at 6:00 in the morning and said Nelson I'm thinking I said Jeff don't finish the sentence goodbye stop thinking go because he was lying to the public the whole time and take your CFO with you okay I'm s I'm try to be a little gentle most of the time but that time I couldn't help myself so he left they tried to guy from inside the company didn't work meantime the the stock keeps dropping dropping dropping we need a new CEO I got my eye on a guy called Larry kulp he just retired from danaher he's enjoying life teaching at the Harvard Business School I go up to Boston I said Larry this isn't for you he said what do you mean I said this isn't for you you you look you're not a teacher you got to go back to work he said my wife will kill me I said Larry please he came to work he wanted to kill me after that but let me tell you something this guy took this company that should have gone bankrupt I've never met an industrial executive as good as Larry Cole he they had I told you PNG had 11,000 people in corporate you will not believe this number GE had 20,000 people in corporate can you imagine that you know how many Brick Layers that is that's it's a lot it's a lot you can build some homes that's right we should have given them a job right I just want to remind me are you talking about a mom and popop company or is this ge you're talking about G okay okay and Larry actually saved the company from bankruptcy we still held that stock we eat our own cooking we are about even healthc care is going next Aerospace is is going to be the final piece the pieces of the business are magnificent one man one woman can make an amazing in difference in a company so this was the this was a train wreck and this guy saved it so we're I I know we're going to run short on time and there are a couple of other things I want to cover but um you say one one person can make a difference oh yeah and Larry Culp is that person but I I I just want to editorialize for a second and say maybe it's just one step before Larry C maybe it's that person that calls them like they see them that sometimes says the emperor is not wearing clothes that the Glory Days of mergers and Acquisitions and accounting bad accounting bad accounting can cover a lot of ills in the largest and most renowned of companies and sometimes we have to come in and say I'm looking at a picture and the picture that you present to the world is not the picture that I see and change is needed and there's got to be an agent for change that says a CEO needs to leave a CFO needs to leave we have to start a new day and it seems to me that a lot of organizations go through that time Horizon of growth and greatness and then some sloppiness and maybe some reconciliation do you know the GE is the only company where we lost a CEO every one of our engagements the CEO stayed and became friends of ours in hind proxy fight that CEO became became one of our advisory Partners but you're right steart you can't you you you've got to look through things and all of us can be fooled but be careful of the guy who asks you to buy a stock that's L you can learn be careful that so so Nelson I I I I see the time going I I don't want to I don't want to keep everyone too long but there there's there's another theme here that I just got to I got to find my way to and is from humble beginnings $2 million company to $150 million company to a next Evolution to buying some stock becoming an activist taking all of your tools it seems to me that Underneath It All there's this landscape I think about my friend Armando codino Armando cadina was an immigrant to the United States and he lives his life with a theme he named his boat that theme what a country and if you think about somebody that came here from Cuba with not a nickel in his pocket and finds his way to Greatness the underlayment is an incredible landscape and incredible country what about the United States today is it does it have the world of opportunity that you grew up in are there better opportunities are there where where do we stand today and what do you think what it breaks my heart Stuart because this country still has such amazing maybe more opportunity than when you were younger and when I was younger more opportunity today people can do things I I see it in Tech you kids see it in Tech I mean because what the people that have been coming to my house the young folk I see what they do in Tech it's mindboggling what they have accomplished and they only come here to America they don't go anywhere else you know I I I was saying earlier that when we were standing in the hall few years ago you heard China saying 2028 bigger than the US 2030 bigger than the US and Europe together okay ain't happening now not happening that economy is going in the wrong direction they have deflation we don't know how to deal with deflation maybe you'll study that or you've studied already inflation we know what to do you take a hammer with it and just keep beating it with higher and higher interest rates I don't know what you do about deflation they got it they've been lying about their population the whole place is a figment okay this country has shown itself through this whatever we just went through this down cycle we're going through the greatest country in the world by far but look at the problems we have look at the the social problems look at and I'm not being political look at the two candidates we have potential candidat for president I don't care which one you hate or both I hate both of them so you can know that okay e equally hate them both okay so the the the point is that you people have to figure out a way to make this place better when I was a kid Ronald Reagan a Conservative rightwing Republican president could have a cup of coffee with tip O'Neal Who led the house as a left-wing Democrat they could have a cup of coffee and in 15 minutes they resolved all the difficulties there were these people won't even get in the same room together it's your job not mine anymore your job to change that you may have a friend who is of a different party affiliation than you talk to each other I grew up I spoke to everybody everybody spoke to everybody you didn't have to vote for the same guy and the and America was filled with Centrist Democrats and Centrist Republicans and there wasn't that much difference and that's what propelled this country going forward it's up to you folks to make sure we get back there and get realistic and logical about the next step forward I don't mean to be standing on a soap box here but I am very passionate about leaving a better country than I found for my 10 kids and their kids and I'm telling you right now I'm failing and you folks here you're the Next Generation you can help that problem so remember that if whatever party your friend is of talk about it talk so you look on a clo I don't want to leave it on a sour note because on a closing note there have been times I mean you grew up in the Vietnam War and McCarthy is M all of those remnants and we had a civil war and stuff like that all is not lost we going through a little bit of a rough patch here and we can fix some things um it has been a pretty interesting run I I will I will say just bringing it all together I was watching CNBC one day and on comes my friend Nelson pelts and he's talking about Disney he had just gone through a bit of a almost and almost a bit a bit of a a little a little turmoil and you you were ready to acques and to move on and to see better days and everything and I will not forget I was in like Houston or something like that and I'm watching this on a TV in the lobby of a hotel and Nelson comes on and explains his position where he started why he took on the fight and why he threw in the towel at a point where his point had been made and the point had been recognized he that was a proxy fight you didn't win is that right it was a proxy fight we didn't have you didn't have it was threatened though oh it was more than threatened it was more than threaten threat it was more than threatened I have more to say on that subject but go ahead well it it's certainly live as things sit right now because the is going through its turmoil bottom line is when we have an opportunity to sit to talk to chat to learn to understand the growth the trajectory when we listen to Nelson pelts and the trials that he's gone through the successes and some of the pitfalls and failures it is a business school lesson unto itself and so with that I say thank you Nelson for joining us here at the [Music] thank you so much sorry just quickly introduce president Frank who's going to make a few closing remarks president Frank we got a Sit has been president of the University of Miami since 2015 and he has many many accolades too many to name uh but professorships in the school of medicine in the school of health health and health and nurse nursing and health studies in the College of Arts and Sciences so for all of you students here um he is in fact also not just a medical doctor but a professor uh thank you so much for joining us president [Applause] [Music] Frank well I don't want to be anti climactic because this was a fantastic close I just want to really take this opportunity to say what what a privilege he has been to witness um this Duo uh uh dancing a very very subtle dance of ideas of uh wisdom flowing uh today uh this is what universities are all about and and I I I found Nelson that particularly your final comment is exactly what resonates with us uh because universities are this magical place where people from many generations come together and it's through the free flow of ideas the challenge of ideas and the ability to disagree respectfully which is what you were talking about talk to each other this is what creates this magic of universities where we take you know very promising young people like many of the ones who are here put them together with very talented faculty occasionally supplement that interaction with outstanding guests and leaders from our community you put that together in a context of staff and administrators who want to make this run and then magic happens those talented young people become outstanding leaders and then they go out to the world and change it for the better once in a while a few of them drop out and still go out and change the world for the better but it is just you know the proof of the concept that actually uh you can you can do uh great things through multiple paths but this is one path that uh that we're very proud to to have at this University and uh and I thought that that um that this last point about how a polarization gets people or stops people from talking to each other leads to the dismissal of alternative ideas this is something we're really committed to try to combat here and create a climate of absolute freedom of inquiry freedom of expression so that we can discuss ideas and then enrich each other through our differences not through our unanimity so I really want to thank you Nelson very much for sharing your wisdom tonight I want of course to welcome everyone I want to thank Dino Lael for being our great and gracious host that she always is and last but not least I want to thank Stuart Miller who's truly one of the most important figures in our University he and his family uh for having provided us the great gift of bringing Nelson pel with us tonight and making this moment that I think we have all enjoyed thoroughly possible thank you thank you very thank you everyone please join us outside for a reception very much that was really [Music] wonderful

Channel: Miami Herbert Business School

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Keywords: University of Miami, School of Business, UM, miami, Florida, College

Id: 4LRcce2rihg

Length: 54min 10sec (3250 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2024