The Daily Signal - #429: Gary Shapiro's Secrets to Success in Our Rapidly Changing World

Episode Date: March 31, 2019

On today’s podcast, we feature an interview with Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association. Shapiro is the author of “Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation” and organizer of a world-renowned consumer technology trade show.Also on today’s show:• Mykala Steadman has an update on the Medal of Honor letter-writing campaign that she told us about a few weeks ago.• Our favorite letters to the editor. Your letter could be featured on our show; write us at [e-mail] or call 202-608-6205.The Daily Signal podcast is available on the Ricochet Audio Network. You also can listen on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts.If you like what you hear, please leave a review or give us feedback. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, April 1st. I'm Rob Lewy. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. Today we're featuring an interview with Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association. He's the author of the book, Ninja Future, Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation, and organizer of a world-renowned consumer technology trade show. We also share your letters, and Michaela Stedman has an update on the Medal of Honor Mail call that she told us about a few weeks ago. Before we begin, we'd like to ask you,

to help us spread the word about the Daily Signal podcast. Please give us a five-star rating on iTunes and share this episode with your family and friends. That will help us make sure that we are continuing to grow and reach more listeners. Stay tuned for today's show. Coming up next. We're joined on the Daily Signal podcast today by Gary Shapiro. He's the president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association

and author of the book Ninja Future, Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation. Gary, thanks for joining us. Well, thanks so much for having me. I'm honored to be on this podcast. Very famous one. Well, thank you. We appreciate that. Now, before I delve into your excellent book, which I've really enjoyed, I want to share with our listeners a little bit about your organization. Each year, Consumer Technology Association produces one of the most exciting events in the technology world. That's CES. But you also do a lot more. So can you begin by sharing with our listeners what it is CTA does? Sure. We are a trade association of over 2,000 American technology companies. U.S. and Canadian. We count Canada as being part of the U.S. for our purposes. And we produce the largest business event in the world. The CES has held each January in Las Vegas attracting about 180,000 business people,

including 7,000 reporters, 4,500 companies, 60,000 people coming from outside the United States, helping our economy. And it's a central meeting place for those focused on the business of innovation. It goes way beyond consumer products. because into virtually every major vertical industry involving technology. And we're in a world today where you really have to go across vertical segments to do business and to succeed and to prosper. And that's what makes the event the most phenomenal, successful event. We also have an event in Shanghai. It's five years old and growing in events in Paris and Amsterdam.

But we also focus on innovation because we have a very specific philosophy, which I think the heritage type, listener or member would be very interested in, and it's unique in Washington. We figured out about a dozen years ago that our success as an industry with volunteer leaders from big and small companies depends upon the health of the U.S. economy. And the health of the economy, in our view, was being threatened by the deficit that we have every year and the debt that is accumulated. So we figured out that there's only three things that can happen that will make a difference. to deal with that. One is we could cut spending, two is we could grow taxes, and three is we could

grow the economy, which will help deal with debt and a deficit. We figure out there's not much we could do about spending or taxes. However, we don't ask the federal government for money as a matter of principle because we care so much about the deficit and the debt. So other than supporting broad educational initiatives, we have not ever asked for money for hours. industry, which keeps us focused in Washington. We have a lot of lobbyists in states and in Washington, and we do a lot of other things as well. But on the growth of the economy, we have concluded that we can make a difference because innovation helps grow our American economy. We've done everything we can to focus on innovation in public policy, from encouraging highly skilled immigration,

the right type of immigrants, which can make a difference and create businesses and fill the gaps we need, to trade laws and things like that, which will make a difference so that we can be innovative. In promoting American companies and American businesses, we've managed to create the most creative ones in the world, and we want to make sure that the rest of the world doesn't beat up on them. Well, Gary, thank you for sharing that. That's exactly the direction that I think many of us want to see the U.S. heading as well. Let's jump into the book. Again, it's called Ninja Future.

and you say in the book that you have a sign in your office that actually says innovate or die. And it's certainly something that I believe as well. I mean, as conservatives, we're always finding ourselves with hurdles to overcome. And certainly in the communication space in particular, innovation is necessary as the landscape's constantly changing. So why do you say it is so critical not only to our country's survival, but also individual industries or businesses? Well, I've been saying innovate or die publicly, fairly strict. years now. In fact, I just got a text with a photo this morning from one of our members' phone to action on this day. We're celebrating women in business. We have a one of our members is a female, Hispanic, PhD, immigrant, business owner and creator with dozens of employees now.

And she has a big sign that says, Innovator, die quoting me because she feels like prior book where I met her helped inspire her to grow her business. And she's done amazingly well. Why? Because, you know, we're human beings. beings, and as human beings, we're very focused naturally on preserving the status quo. It's very difficult for us to innovate things changing. In the business world, things are changing rapidly. And when we plan in businesses, the tendency is to assume, yeah, we could do that. We could have a strategic plan. We could think five or ten years out and have plan of variables, but we don't consider that every other business is doing the same thing. So you have to be a ninja, which is a phrase I use in this book in the prior book I wrote, Ninja Innovation. And you have to be able to

not only plan, but you have to recognize that that plan like military leaders know, once you hit the battlefield, it's going to change because circumstances change. So what we have in my office, for our team, and we have almost 200 employees, is we don't have a strategic plan that goes, you know, with all sorts of details and thousands of pages long and it's on a shelf. We have a five-year plan with a page and a half long with a few big goals. And then we keep innovating to try to reach those goals as things change in the marketplace. And that's been a very important part of our success. And it's why I say innovate or die.

I mean, the companies in our industry that litter the field of the has-beens from Eastman Kodak to Circuit City to Radio Shack and others where their brand name has just been resold like Polaroid, many others, the companies just went out of business. They were not able to adjust quickly. and some of these large companies that had tens of thousands of employees just don't exist anymore. So I believe in the old Intel CEO quote of Be Paranoid always change. And never, you can't be lying down. You have to go out there and do something different every day.

And resting on your laurels is the biggest fear that I have. And I convey that to our team and I convey it to the entire industry. Well, in the book, you certainly share some examples. And one that comes to mind that's probably going to be familiar for nearly all of our listeners. is Amazon, which as a company has successfully innovated and continues to do so, what would you say it is about Amazon's culture that has allowed it to grow and thrive in the ways that it has? He's a little bit controversial lately, but Jeff Bezos certainly, I remember he was coming to one

of our meetings and we asked him to speak because he was talking about, you know, he's been very successful as a bookseller and then other stuff, and all of a sudden his books were his big thing, and he had this idea for this little Kindle. and he was just introducing and he came to talk to our members about it. And I remember thinking how crazy he was. And I was wrong, obviously, because he is willing to attack his own business model. And that takes courage. I mean, it's the same similar to what Steve Jobs did where he recognized every company has one successful thing if it's around.

And every muscle in that company's body is fighting against anything. other than supporting that cash cow. So he created romp groups. Basically, he didn't tell anyone where they were. They went inside. They kept secret. And they were allowed to grow. But I see that all the timing companies.

Everything's about the big thing that makes the money and everything else is differently. 3M is trying a strategy of saying we want a certain percentage of our products to be a certain percentage of our revenue in three to five years. And that's gotten them a lot of new products out there. But you always need new things because you're all the existing. things isn't going to make it. And unless you, you know, amazingly can improve upon that or provide a phenomenal level of customer service, which is responsive to changing market needs, or create new products, your company is going to go away because there are always other smarter people out there. I mean, what's amazing about the Chinese is not only have they

managed to block a lot of American technologies and then replicate themselves, but they've made them better. And in our event there in five years, it's five years ago, was everything was American or European. With some Chinese interesting things, now it's the Chinese innovation is taken off on its own, and they are so hungry, and they have thousands of businesses trying to replicate something that exists and make it better, and it's an intensely competitive marketplace.

Despite the fact we call them communist. The reality is they're more capitalist than we are. We're talking to Gary Shapiro, who's the author of Ninja Future. Gary, I want to stay on that topic. You cite in the book several hot spots of innovation that are happening around the globe. Beyond China, What are some other examples that you would share with our listeners?

Well, I'm pretty entranced with France. They, under Emmanuel Macron, the minister of the economy, who became the president, he was focused on CES and innovation like a light. He'd come to our events. And we have now 400 companies from France that exhibit in CS. They have a lot of entrepreneurs there. And, you know, as I remind them, entrepreneurs are a French word, but so is bureaucrat. And he's recognized that.

It was kind of his platform to become the president. After a minute, I'm not thrilled today that he's proposing to tax major American companies, internet companies, because he's trying to raise money to deal with the fact that he's tried to bring change to France. But he's run into some serious, serious roadblocks there from people who want to maintain the status quo. And people maintaining the status quo is the biggest change. I was focusing today on Philadelphia, which is just passed a law that says, you must, as a retailer, accept cash. You can't only go to technology or credit.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh, Europe and China are way ahead of us and this one in Philadelphia is trying to preserve the status quo. The way the train companies tried to preserve cabooses and jobs there. Or when cars came, there was a lot of laws past preserving horses, and the cars couldn't go faster than a horse and things like that. We have to focus on the future. We have to have a strategy as a nation that's focused on innovation. because that's what we're really good at.

If you think about who we are as a country, we are, for the most part, we are coming from people. We are descendants of people who wanted a better life. We are genetically people who saw a better way. We are problem solvers. We are people who are fortunate enough to have this amazing U.S. Constitution, which preserves our right to challenge the status quo, to say what we think, to go against our own government,

and challenge those who try to use government existing businesses to preserve their place. And we're having these battles every day today with Airbnb fighting the hotel industry or Uber and Lyft fighting cab drivers and things like that. We are a disruptive as a country and we're disruptors with our businesses. And that's what makes us strong. And that's a culture and a tendency and mesh in this wonderful constitutional framework that we always have to remember.

And we judge the countries around the world. We do this as an organization now, C-T. We judge how innovation-friendly they are, and we beat up on China. Why? China has no liberty, no freedom of press, no freedom to marry, no freedom in a sense to do what you want, and they're really tough on their citizens in a way Americans would never accept. Plus, they have very dirty air and water. So we look at criteria like that. We judge countries, and we're not the top country.

I mean, we look at things like broadband speeds, competition. We don't have a lot of competition here in broadband. We look at some of the other rules. And we also judge every state by how innovation-friendly they are. It's a different set of criteria because we all share the same U.S. Constitution. But states do different things, whether their tax structure or whether they have right to work, laws, flexibility in how we employ people. Broadband as well, deployment, STEM graduates.

We look at different things like that and the laws of state, whether it's too bureaucratic. One of the reasons we did that, honestly, is everyone says, oh, California, Silicon Valley, they're the best. And they've certainly produced a lot. But California is a horrible state to do it. business and to live in if you're making money and things like that. They've had a good run because only because of successful California businesses. But I know a lot of businesses are moving to Nevada or Texas otherwise because it's tough to do business there. So look, states and countries can't rest on their laurels either. And my fear, as someone who represents

2000 technology companies, but is really what I view as myself as a patriotic America, I don't want to see our country fall behind. I don't want to see the Europeans beating up on us with crazy fines because they're jealous of us and they can't produce the type of innovative companies, what we call the unicorns, the billion-dollar valuation new companies that we produce here. And so, you know, we're out there. Europeans are our natural allies militarily

and from a freedom standpoint, but they are attacking us in some ways because they can't do what we've done from an innovative standpoint. But we have to keep it up. We need the smart people. We need the business culture. We need the pro-business culture.

We need to protect our best, crown jewel companies around the world so that others don't just steal from them or find them. And we have to realize the Chinese have a great strategy now. They have a strategy where there's no privacy. And you need data for artificial intelligence, which is the great battle film. I'm not saying we should take away our citizens' privacy. I'm also saying we shouldn't be, but like Europe that way, we should recognize that artificial intelligence is the new economic battlefield

that's going to affect every business. You know, going forward, that's what I talk about in the book. AI is really important. Well, I want to get into that. And by the way, I also want to say that I really appreciated your chapter on American Ninjas where you went through some of the innovation hubs happening in cities. But without giving too much of the book away, let's jump to President Trump's inauguration address in which he talks about the forgotten men and women of our country. Now, oftentimes what he's referring to is those who have seen their own jobs change because the work itself is changing. And that could be because of things like AI or robots or some other form of technology.

But it can be alarming for some people. So what is your advice to them and Ninja Future about how to adapt? In terms of the forgotten man, he really struck a chord there, especially in rural America. I mean, look, a lot of rural America doesn't even have the most basic broadband speeds. And I think that's something we have to focus. I mean, that's step one we should be working on today. You know, we talk about 5G and it's coming and it's great, and it is. But it's mostly American cities and suburbs.

It's not in the rural areas. So there's a proposal actually Microsoft has to use some unused airspace the broadcasters have, that is being deployed in countries around the world. And actually, in some places now, it's serving two million Americans, we should be focusing on broadband. But in terms of generally, the AI and the threat of causes to peoples and jobs, we have to be very understanding of that, and we have to really have some empathy.

We have to change what we're doing in skills training. We have to focus on community colleges and change this crazy notion that a four-year college degree is more valuable and more important than a two-year degree or other skills training. We have launched with IBM something that we are hoping will take over and gather steam. We've already had like 50 or 60 companies join on as apprenticeship programs in technology. So we can get people involved without even having to go to even get that two-year degree where they could go right to a company and be trained in a skill that is a 21st century skill. There isn't a lot more jobs out there.

We're at full employment today. And certainly AI will reduce some jobs in driving. And in factories, they'll create so many more jobs in other areas, but we need people with skills through to them. We also need people that could ask the right questions, which Americans are really good at. I think we have a future in AI because we're creative and clever as a nation. The question is, as you ask, how do we get that to make sure all Americans are brought up? We are so interested in doing that in every way possible. But what we don't want to do is stop the United States from being a leader in AI because we have these fears that somehow

jobs will be lost. There'll be plenty of new jobs created every technology that's ever come along in the last 150 years has been concerns about jobs from factory automation to trade, to computers. Look, we talked about bank tellers and travel agents. And it turns out with bank tellers, we actually have more bank, little bank areas now, because time was freed up, money was freed up to create new locations. Even travel agents, which we thought would go away, have come back and resurgence and people are planning customized trips. But we still need people even with automated driving to move boxes to help with kids, to help with packages, to help with older people.

And certainly if you live in a rural area and you're disabled or older, self-driving cars will empower you to go to work, to do things, just the way Uber and Lyft have empowered people to young kids so they don't even want cars anymore. And they're living in different areas. They're not getting driver licenses. It's just technology changes things. And we're adaptable as a member.

Americans. And we have to adapt that. We have to stop our government spending money promiscuously on these university loans to kids getting degrees and things which may not, they can't get a job and shift some of that money to lowering the deficit or going to rural areas where you can train people for jobs that we need people for jobs. We have several hundred thousand truck driver jobs open today. We have millions of jobs open in technology industry. We don't have pupils for the skills to do it. We're, you know, our companies are actually going overseas because they can't hire Americans anymore in, frankly, we're because of the new immigration push. We can't even get immigrants to come in and do them because they're not allowed to come in anymore. So we have a shift that's not helpful to America. And our birth rate a couple of months ago just did a new all-time loan. So we have a job and skills shortage right now that's pretty severe. You know, there will be a recession because that's natural in the capitalist economy and it's healthy.

So this will shift in some ways, but in the long term, our strategy should be focused on the jobs of the future that we know are coming. And those involve artificial intelligence. And they also involve, frankly, people helping people, human skills. We have an aging population. We're living longer. There's fewer kids. We need people to take care of people, and we don't have them. And we'll need people to help with people in a whole bunch of other ways.

So I think the human skills are going to be more and more important as well. So I'm pretty optimistic about the future. Well, I appreciate that, Gary, and all the work that you're doing to, help us prepare for it. You know, in reading the book, I learned something about you that I didn't know, and I discovered that you're a black belt, and why you use the term ninja? So I want to close here by asking you, turning to the last chapter of the book, you outlined some principles for future ninjas. So can you both explain what the word ninja means and how that applies to innovation and maybe tease our listeners with what they'll find in that last chapter about the principles that they

might need to adapt? Well, sure. I have a black belt in Taekwondo, which is actually a Korean form. I got it with my wife and kids, and it was something that we all did together, and we learned discipline. And Ninja is actually, the word ninja is actually a Japanese fighter that overcame all odds and didn't have the tools, didn't have the Army, but they did certain things that really matter. They prepared, they planned. They chose a team that was diverse that complimented the weaknesses. You know, good leaders know their own weaknesses, and they don't just get people that agree with them. What makes us great as a country, part is our diversity. We get different points of view. I've been in Asian cultures and

meetings and businesses, and everyone agrees with everyone. The Japanese don't even have a word for no, and they do some things which don't make sense because they're always afraid to challenge the boss. I hire people who are willing to challenge me, and I hire people that have different skills. I know I'm not good at a lot of things, and that's important. So in terms of becoming a ninja innovator, a ninja competitor, you have to look at things like that and, you know, It goes back to the change your plan on the battlefield, be willing to adapt, empower your people, get to know them, trust them, treat them like humans. And also the thing that distinguishes the United States, and to a certain in Israel and Canada from every other country, is that we know we're going to fail. And we don't fear failure.

It will not define this for the rest of our lives. We fail. That's an education. That's a great American trait that we have. We look at somewhere. We look at their experience. They don't have to have a college degree. They don't have to.

If you've tried to create a business and you've done. failed, wow, that's better in my view than having gone to a prestigious private school. You've done something. And we're also working. We work really, really hard as people. We have a work ethic here that's really good. I also talk about some other things about curiosity, about collaboration, about how to work on a team, about standing by your principles. These are the kind of things that the Heritage Foundation stands for in the heritage that I really admire.

is that we have fundamental principles that we still follow and ethics. But I would just add a commitment to innovation to growth, the personal growth, the business growth, to economic growth for our country, to giving our kids a better life. And that's what I consider important. Well, Gary, thank you for that. The book is called Ninja Future, Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation. It's by Gary Shapiro, and he's the president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association.

We'll be sure to leave a link in the show notes. Gary, thanks so much for visiting with The Daily Signal. Thank you for having me. Do you have an opinion that you'd like to share? Leave us a voicemail at 202-608-6205 or email us at Letters at DailySignal.com. Yours could be featured on the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor.

Each Monday, we feature our favorites on this show and in our Morning Bell email newsletter. Rachel, what's up first? Lawrence Applebaum writes to us about freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the socialist policy she is pushing, such as the Green New Deal, which incidentally did not receive one yes vote when the Senate took it up on Tuesday. Lawrence writes, every time I read something about Ocasio-Cortez, I have to ask myself, how can a college graduate spew out such nonsense? Socialism doesn't work, especially in the USA.

People attend colleges and universities to learn how to learn how to do that. how to think and use logic to solve problems. I am convinced that AOC did not learn how to think. However, she did learn how to shoot from the hip and in doing so completely missed the target. The newbie on the block certainly engages her mouth before she engages her brain. And Molly Dahl of Nevada writes about Rachel's story on House Conservatives who are attempting to force a vote protecting abortion survivors. Thanks to Rachel Del Judas for writing about the abortion survivors bill. Please do what you can to get this information to as many people as possible.

I am sharing it with whoever I can. This is the saddest display of humanity I have ever read about. How can this even be a question open for discussion? I thank Rachel for her contributions to the Daily Signal. It is my primary news source. Well, Molly, thanks for reading the Daily Signal. Rachel, I want to ask you, this is a big week in the House for that abortion bill. A discharge petition is coming to ripen, and that means that conservatives will find.

finally have the opportunity to sign it. Can you tell us about what you'll be covering this week? Yeah, so I will be covering the discharge petition. I think when it ripens on Tuesday, that's the latest date I've heard, and this is so sad, Molly, you're right. Democrats have blocked this vote 23 times so 23 times and counting. They'll be taking it up, the discharge petition on Tuesday. We'll see where that goes, but it's tragic that so many lawmakers can't get behind giving medical care to babies who are born alive after an abortion. Well, your letter could be featured on next week's show, send an email to letters at dailysignal.com or leave a voicemail message at 202-608-6205.

Want to get up to speed about the Supreme Court? Then subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a podcast about everything that's happening at the Supreme Court and what the justices are up to. For the good news portion of this podcast, Michaela Stedman has an update for us on Janine Stange's inspiring project to celebrate Medal of Honor recipients. Michaela? Thanks, Rob. As some of you will remember, we interviewed singer and motivational speaker Janine Stang a few weeks ago on this podcast.

Janine was asking our listeners and citizens nationwide to write letters to Medal of Honor recipients to thank them for their service. Last week, I heard from Janine that she had received over 12,000 letters for the Medal of Honor recipients. These letters were delivered in mail call style at a dinner in their honor on March 23rd. Janine said that, quote, the outpouring was incredible. From elementary students to senior citizens, letters were sent from veteran groups, corporations, hospice centers, special education classes, police departments, and even from those who served alongside our recipients. Janine also shared part of one of the letters that was written by a young student to one of the recipients. It said, I know you say you don't consider yourself a hero, but you found yourself in a situation where you had a choice to act selfishly or selflessly, and you chose the latter. I want you to know that I want to be the same way.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to write these impactful letters. And most importantly, thank you to our brave veterans for your service. If you'd like to learn more or participate in next year's mail call, you can visit Janine's website at www. janine stang.com backslash join. Janine is spelled J-A-N-I-N-E. Michaela, thank you for doing that story originally. I hope that people saw it on the Daily Signal and maybe we're inspired. to write a letter themselves. I hope so too. You can find an update on daily signal.com

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