Speaker 1:
From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go-to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business. For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth. Each week, we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism here at the NYSE and ICE's exchanges around the world. Now let's go Inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Lance Glinn.
Lance Glinn:
Each month on the Inside the ICE House podcast, we engage in insightful conversations with business leaders, CEOs of NYSE-listed companies, entrepreneurs and visionaries. We explore their journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and their aspirations to shape the future. You can tune in every Monday on all major podcast platforms to catch these discussions and watch full video episodes on tv.nyse.com and on the NYSE YouTube channel.
December is a month filled with good food and family get-togethers as the year comes to an end. With only a few days left in 2024, we, at the Inside the ICE House podcast decided to embrace a few things that make December so great with the month's three episodes, real estate, healthy eating, and gifts that embody the holiday spirit. We kicked off December with episode 449, featuring Richard Bloxam, CEO of Capital Markets for JLL, that's NYSE ticker symbol, JLL, a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company. The COVID-19 pandemic set the commercial real estate sector back. However, as more and more people return to the office, Richard makes sure to emphasize that the industry should not be written off.
Richard Bloxam:
First of all, the commercial real estate world is now very broad, and offices is one component of that, and certainly has attracted a lot of the headlines. I think that when you look at the demand for offices, we're actually seeing really strong demand in global gateway cities in particular for the very best buildings. And I think that that was a journey that had already started pre COVID. So COVID sped up that journey to what I would call a bifurcated market between those buildings that really will attract long-term tenants, providing the experience that's going to create the right environment for their businesses to be as successful as they can be, creating a space for collaboration, space for mentorship. So I think that is an important factor. So the numbers tell us that certainly in that category of office, there's strong demand.
Now clearly, there are some office assets, irrespective of COVID, that we're never going to have a future. And I think there's an enormous opportunity for the industry to look at how you repurpose those assets. How do you use the good bones of those buildings to be something other than what they had originally intended to be? So I think the write-off of the office was never an accurate view of the future, and it'll be interesting to see how companies relative performance, transpires over the next few years to those that have a largely collaborative in the office approach, versus those that have gone for a much more remote working approach. And I'm sure different businesses, different companies will have better or different outcomes depending on what they need to achieve. So this has got a way to go, but certainly, we're seeing resurgent interest from an investor aspect to investing in the offices sector as well. So that's another encouraging sign.
Lance Glinn:
Episode 450 features Ingredion CEO, Jim Zallie. As I traveled to the Garden State to speak with Jim at Ingredion's flagship Idea Labs in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Hosting the company's first texture innovation day, Jim emphasized the importance of texture alongside flavor in food. As consumers change and the number of gluten-free, dairy-free vegan and vegetarian customers rises, Ingredion, that's NYSE ticker symbol INGR, is at the forefront of creating ingredients that cater to all needs.
Jim Zallie:
I think it starts with the fact that we are a plant-based company. So as it relates to the drivers for gluten free, you talked about celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome. And when you are replacing wheat gluten, which is the allergen in that particular case, the way you need to do that is to replace it with something that's going to impart the functionality but does not have any inherent gluten. Rice does not have any inherent gluten, potato does not, tapioca does not. Well, we're basic in all three of those. And then there's other ingredients that you can add as well that will help with dough conditioning for a baked good, as well as ingredients that are going to help with the overall cell structure for a very great texture, but still be a gluten-free product. So the offerings that we have in rice, potato, tapioca and our knowledge of formulating really make us a great partner for gluten free.
On dairy free, the concerns are either mindful consumption when it comes to just avoiding dairy and the animal nature associated with it to be dairy free. There's concerns about inflammation with some dairy based products as well. And there, we have products that can replace non-fat skim milk, that can replace the casein in cheese or coffee creamers, for example. And so we basically, through our understanding of food science and technology and the plant-based offerings know how to reverse engineer the functionality that's inherent in a animal-based or dairy-based product. So that's how we're targeting the opportunities to develop offerings for both dairy free as well as gluten free.
Lance Glinn:
Inside the ICE House, for the final episode of 2024, episode 451, I welcomed Sharon Price John, president and CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop. That's NYSE ticker symbol BBW. We've all made our own Build-A-Bear memories over the years, from stuffing our favorite stuffed animals, to going to the store with loved ones to do the same. But under Sharon's leadership, the company has become so much more than just a retailer. The brand has taken on challenges, unanticipated and unexpected, and used them to find great opportunity.
Sharon Price John:
There's something that's really interesting about that, and I encourage people to do this if they ever want to be a CEO. There's only a few routes, and if it's a successful endeavor, you're probably an heir apparent. And if it's an unsuccessful endeavor, you better learn to be a turnaround agent because usually, that's where CEO opportunities open up. Something's not going right. It's usually not. It doesn't open up when everything's going right. So if you learn to be a turnaround agent, you're increasing your odds of having a CEO position open up for you. Of course, there's categorical specificity, but that, in a general way is something to think about if that's your objective.
Now, that being said, often, when these types of roles open up, it's not that they hadn't been trying to correct it for some period of time. And one of my favorite questions from an investor environment is, so what was the silver bullet? Well, here's the kicker on that. Usually, by the time you're asked to come fix something, whether it's a brand or a business unit, and that's where I learned how to do this, not as a CEO, there is no silver bullet. It's not something obvious. And what you have to be is a student of every single link of the value chain, just a strong understanding of how each one of those value chains are created, what's happening, where the money usually hides, how to read that spreadsheet, how to direct people, where to poke, and you learn a lot about that.
So once you have that sort of mastery of being able to basically look at a spreadsheet and say, "There's your problem, there's your problem, there's your problem, there's your problem," and where to dig in and counsel and guide the team, it's difficult. And that's what I did right out of the gate. It was finding those pennies on every link instead of, oh, there's your obvious issue.
One of the things that was changing that you may have thought was an obvious issue would have been the shifting consumer shopping patterns where the contraction of malls. But in each situation like that, there's usually an opportunity. Whether you're running a tight ship is in your control. Whether consumer shopping habits are changing is outside of your control, but from chaos is opportunity, from challenge is opportunity, from change is opportunity. And all of that activity is what led us to diversify our retail footprint, to rethink how we ran our stores, how big did they need to be, the driving of e-commerce and the bifurcation of the consumer, addressable consumer by saying, "Look. We're now multi-generational. I don't have to just be about kids. I can create a robust online business without cannibalizing my stores, without undermining the core point of difference, which is experiential retail, to focus on licensing, collectibles for this teen and tween consumer, which is now 40% of our business."
Lance Glinn:
You can listen to these episodes along with all past and future Inside the ICE House episodes, wherever you get your podcasts. Full video episodes are also available on tv.nyse.com and on the NYSE YouTube channel. Be sure to join us every Monday for inspiring conversations with leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season with friends and family. And of course, from all of us here at the Inside the ICE House podcast, I hope everyone has a happy new year.
Speaker 1:
That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen, and follow us on X, @ICEHousePodcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week, Inside the ICE House.
Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties expressed or implied as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and do not sponsor, approve or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.