Running with the Bulls: A Conversation with CNBC’s Sue Herera

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Hello,

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everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Joan Woodward. And I'm honored to lead the Travelers Institute, which is the public policy and educational arm of Travelers. Welcome to Wednesdays with Woodward, a webinar series we created during the pandemic to stay in touch with you and to interview leading experts on really hot topics out there in the world today.

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Text, Wednesdays with Woodward Webinar Series. Running with the Bulls: A Conversation with CNBC's Sue Herera. American Property Casualty Insurance Association, Insuring America. A P C I dot org. Travelers Institute, Travelers umbrella logo. CBIA logo Text, UConn School of Business, MS in Financial Technology

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OK, let's get started. Today, we have a truly special program with CNBC's Sue Herera.

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Text, Running with the Bulls: A conversation with CNBC's Sue Herera. Photo of Sue Herrara.

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I feel like today's guest has spent much of every day in the past few decades in my house, and in my office, and really part of the family. If you're an avid CNBC watcher like I am, you might feel the same way, too.

So Sue is a trailblazer in broadcast business news, earning the nickname, The First Lady of Wall Street. She began her career when cable was in its infancy at the brand new Financial News Network, covering the futures market. So something at that time, at the age of 20, she was asked to cover the futures market. And she said yes, not knowing anything about it.

She was an anchor on FNN by age 21 on camera, reporting on the markets eight hours every day from when the markets opened until they closed. Seven years later, she left FNN and became the first employee of CNBC where she went on to co-anchor the Business Center, the first nightly newscast televised live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

She is synonymous with CNBC where she also co-anchored the top-rated shows Power Lunch and the Nightly Business Report. She's won numerous awards, has interviewed First Ladies, CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and others around the world. She anchored and produced four award-winning documentaries charting the economic and political emergence of Japan, China, Russia, and India.

This past February, after 40 years in the business and 32 at CNBC, she stepped back from her day-to-day on-air duties and became an anchor at large there. She and her husband are parents to three children. And on top of all of that, she is an incredibly gracious, and down to earth, and a truly nice person.

So I'm beyond thrilled to welcome Sue to our session today.

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Split screen of Joan Woodward and Sue Herera's webcam feeds.

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So I really feel like I'm part of the CNBC family.

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Sue nods vigorously.

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Because I wake up and there's Joe, and there's Cramer, and there's Andrew Ross Sorkin. And you're in there. And Betsy Quick always gets the interview with Warren Buffett. So is it really-- doesn't that feel-- is it true that it feels like a family and it actually is there? Or is it probably just--

It really is. One of the most difficult things, I think, for all of us at CNBC was not to be together. It's such a strange feeling for all of us. I mean, I've known Joe for so many years. And our kids are all the same age. It really is like a family. I see Becky at the grocery store every once in a while. Her kids are a little younger than mine, but we all have so much in common.

And we've seen a lot of marriages. We've seen a lot of births, unfortunately some passings as well. But it really is a family. And it was an incredibly hard decision to step back when I made that in February, March. But I felt like I needed to spend a little bit more time with my family. But I was in the office just a week ago, and it was fantastic to see everybody and to catch up.

It's an extraordinary group of people in a business that does not necessarily engender a feeling of family.

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Joan nods and raises eyebrows.

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I've heard from my friends that at their television network, they don't even want to know if you have kids, whereas I used to bring my two daughters.

We adopted them from China. And then I had Daniel. And I used to bring them into the office. And they would take a nap underneath my producer's desk, while I was hosting Power Lunch. I mean, those people have seen my children grow up. And we all are very tight.

Well, we get that feeling. On the other end of the screen, we get that feeling that you guys-- 

I'm glad.

 --really do support each other. So thank you for sharing that as we start off. We're going to get into some hard questions about financial reporting and all the places you've been in the world. But first, I want to share with our audience a wonderful tribute video that CNBC put together for you. It's fun synopsis of all the highlights of your amazing career. So I know you've seen this already, but my audience hasn't. And it's just fantastic. Let's roll that video.

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Text, CNBC Consumer News & Business Channel. "Power Lunch" logo in the bottom left corner, CNBC peacock logo in the bottom right corner. A younger Sue Herera speaking in the studio.

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[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

This is the new home of CNBC, now under construction. We're building more than just a studio. This is a broadcasting first, a network designed to help you cope with your life.

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CNBC FNN anchor desk, Market Wrap appears on the screen between the two male anchors. Sue is seated next to them.

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Let's bring Sue.

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The speaking anchor points at Sue as everyone laughs.

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[LAUGHTER]

Let's bring Sue in here.

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Various clips of Sue's broadcasts throughout the years.

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Me. Bond market. Barbara Boxer will win in California. And absolutely soar. Leaner and meaner.

Dow 10,000.

Monday, March 29, 1999. Intel was the stock of the day on Wall Street. The insurance industry wouldn't talk to us on camera. Welcome to the Great Wall of China. Now, consumers here have an even wider choice. The most influential businessman in India.

Live from the New York Stock Exchange with Sue Herera and Ron Insana.

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard reports its earnings. Doing 2/3 million dollars is going to go over well on the expense report, honey.

That's Business Center. Thank you, my love.

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Sue takes the helping hand of a man on the ground as she exits a helicopter.

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There you are.

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Sue and a man are seated at a table facing the camera, as two plates of giant pink cotton candy are set down in front of them.

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I love this. It's cotton candy.

Cotton candy.

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Sue in a formal black dress approaches a podium with a man in a suit.

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CNBC's Sue Herera.

We introduce you to our extraordinary global headquarters, a building we're very proud of, run by people we love to work with.

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Will Ferrell walks behind the anchor desk as Sue and her colleague are on air.

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Hey.

Hey.

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Will is now seated at the anchor desk.

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Sue Herera.

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Will and Sue both stand up and reach over the man seated between them. Will grabs her face and kisses her very close to her lips.

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How are you?

Yeah. Wait, hold on.

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Will tries to pull her back for another kiss, as John McEnroe pulls him away.

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This is Nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and Sue Herera.

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Sue at the anchor desk of "Nightly Business Report." Clips of Sue from various broadcasts. Sue tries curling on the ice.

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Good evening, everyone, and welcome.

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CNBC in Brazil.

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The largest trading partner.

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Sue at the anchor desk with colleagues.

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We celebrate Sue's 30th anniversary with CNBC.

[LAUGHTER]

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Sue laughs in surprise. A cake is rolled in with the CNBC logo and Congratulations Sue written in icing.

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That's what the cake is for.

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The entire crew of around 100 people stands up to applaud.

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Thank you, guys.

[APPLAUSE]

I'm Sue Herera. Sue Herrera. Sue Herrera, CNBC business news.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[END PLAYBACK]

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Back to webinar split screen of Joan and Sue.

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I still tear up. I really do.

It's an incredible career. And I especially love the Will Ferrell kiss.

I know. He is an incredibly nice guy. And just for background, he and John McEnroe are very-- or were very good friends. I think they still are. And John was launching an evening program on CNBC. And Will Ferrell came on to help us promote that, but that was all spontaneous. I had no idea. We were just told Will Ferrell may show up, roll with the punches.

And you did.

And we did.

[LAUGHTER]

And you did on the fly. And I love how several people commented over the years. And I get this all the time, because my hair is the same as it looked as high school. But the hairdos hardly change.

It's all about the hair. It's always been all about the hair. And I think for women, especially in broadcasting, it probably always will be. I don't know that that's a good thing. But, yes, I have had many renditions of differing hairstyles over the many years. Now, I have to do it myself. I don't know what to do.

Oh, no. All right. Let's get into the meat of our discussion here. So tell us how your career began. How did you get into business news, specifically broadcast business news when there wasn't-- being really the first employee of CNBC, I mean, you took that big risk on your career. Right?

Right. Well, it started with Financial News Network. I had just graduated with a degree in journalism from Cal State Northridge. And incidentally, Bill Griffeth was there with me as well. That's when I first met him and Ron Insana, which is an unusual story, too.

But after graduation, I needed to find a job. And it was that simple. Financial News Network was starting. And being in Los Angeles, the most competitive-- next to New York-- media city in the world, I was willing to try anything. And Financial News Network was hiring, so I applied. And they said, well, you can get the job if you will cover the futures markets.

And when you're 20, you say yes to things that maybe if you had more background to them, you would not have said yes. But I said, sure, I'll cover the futures markets. And I really had no idea what they entailed, but I learned. I got the job. And the rest is history. I grew to really love business news. It was very intimidating at first-- incredibly intimidating. Because I had to talk to all these traders on the floor in Chicago.

And they didn't quite know what to make of me. And eventually, they were very helpful. I can't say that many of them were at the beginning. But I just knew that I had to learn these different markets. And I had to learn them quickly. And that's what I did. And then I started to really enjoy it. So that's how it all began.

And how was it, though? You said some men along the way really helped you, and propped you up, and gave you confidence to take it on. And others weren't so helpful. How is it now? And it's still a male dominated-- look, financial services is still male dominated.

Yes, it is.

The insurance industry certainly is, the banking industry. We all know this. How do you navigate that and not just survive, but thrive in that? And you surely have thrived.

I think it comes down to your performance. And I think for women in television, it may be a little easier because you have high visibility. And when you're talking to people on the trading floor, whether it's the New York Stock Exchange or, at the time, the Chicago Merc or the CBOT-- Chicago Board of Trade, I had something that they wanted, which was television.

And I think that helped me enormously in breaking through some of the barriers that other women who did not have the platform that I had. They encountered, I think, probably a lot more opposition. I used television to my advantage in that I would call the different guys on the floor to get the rundown of what was going on in a particular market.

And if the guy was a good television presence, really knew his stuff, had a good reputation in the business, and could offer my audience something, we would put him on air. And that, I think, made all the difference in my ability to continue to learn the markets. Because once it got around that Financial News Network was a good platform, then people were much more willing to talk versus, say, a print reporter where you might quote someone in a newspaper.

But people like to be, in general, on television. And I think that was something that really helped me. And you had to perform. You had to be good at what you did. And it didn't do them any good to be on TV with someone who wasn't knowledgeable.

So it was a trade-off in that way. I had to perform and bring my audience what they needed to know in terms of information. And the trader or analyst would enjoy being on television, and they benefited as well. So it was a give and take. It was hard at first. But eventually, it worked.

Yeah. And you had to learn all that. I mean, you probably went home and did a lot of homework, and looking into the markets, and understanding them.

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Sue nodding.

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Yes.

Because what journalism major graduating college understands financial markets. So you spent a lot of time understanding the content, right? And to be taken seriously.

I did. But that's where I think my path was a little different. There were some of my colleagues who went back to school and took certain courses in markets and economy and business. I chose to really cultivate my sources from the floor and because I was covering markets as they moved.

And I found a different perspective. I learned the way the markets moved based on rumor. I learned the way the markets moved based on economic reports. And in covering the bond market, a lot of times the market would perform in a way that was somewhat perverse.

You would get a good economic report. And the market would sell off. And you could take a class to understand the bond market. But

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Joan smiling and nodding.

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it's, I think, much more intuitive if you learn from the people who are trading the particular instrument, why it performed the way it did.

And I think that made a difference for me. I learned from guys who had money on the line and their clients' money on the line. And it gave me a really interesting perspective into how dynamic markets are and how forward-thinking markets are. And I still find that amazing. Markets are like living, breathing things. And they're reacting to all sorts of comments, and news, and headlines. And I found that incredibly exciting. I still do.

That's really interesting. So how does CNBC decide what content to present? So markets are complicated as you just said. There's probably a balance between making it understandable to the general public. Because you have a lot of individual investors out there watching you every day, versus you don't want to turn off those market pros, the market professionals that also tune in. So how do you find the right balance?

It's difficult, I think. And I think that's one reason why cnbc.com and CNBC PRO have done so well. Because the general broadcast that you see-- it's a delicate balance between what David Faber or Andrew Ross Sorkin is hearing from their insiders and then translating that to the general public. So there is that balance that goes on every day and especially if it's a very complicated story. Think about the GameStop story.

Oh, yeah.

The meme stocks. Try explaining that. I had to do that for WNBC. And they said, you've got 15 seconds. And I went, OK.

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Sue raises upturned hands and looks around the room as if confused.

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It's difficult. But if you really understand the story, it makes it a little bit easier. And what I think David Faber does extremely well is take a complicated story, give you the highbrow stuff that is very valuable to traders, or sophisticated investors, or hedge fund managers. And then in the next sentence, he can say, generally speaking, the implications of this deal are X.

So we try and include both sides of the story, which is why sometimes our interviews run longer than on other networks. Because we do try and let a story breathe, especially if it's a complicated story. And there are a lot of people who weigh in on that. You've got an executive producer, a producer, bookers, associate producers. And sometimes the story meetings get a little heated, but that's good. That's the give and take of a news organization.

It's really fascinating to get behind the scenes and try to figure out what you present. And I love what you said. You spend a little bit longer on a topic that's really complicated. Because you want to break it down in a way that the average person can consume it. That's great. You have to fight for that sometimes. That's the other aspect. I remember during the 2008 financial crisis, which was extremely complicated.

For example, one of the things that CNBC does that I think, up until the pandemic, that is, is extremely valuable is we do what's called a deep off the record briefing. And whatever the topic is, we bring in the top person in that particular area. We all go up to the boardroom. There's about 50 people that sit around. It's all off the record, but it's background for us.

Wow.

And at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis when things were extremely complicated and we were getting the idea or the feeling that there were some Wall Street firms that were really struggling, we invited Ben Bernanke, the Fed chief in. And to our surprise and delight, he accepted.

And so here we all are sitting around the table. And he said the reason I'm here is because you need to get this story right. Because if you don't get this story right, it will be an incredible disservice to the country. And--

Wow.

--I remember sitting-- I was sitting two people over from him. And I remember sitting there, thinking, oh, my gosh, things are not good. And it was incredibly helpful and enlightening. And he answered every single question that we had. It was supposed to go about an hour. We went at least two hours.

And that really helped us, I think, outperform the other networks in terms of covering the fall of Bear Stearns, the rapid decline of some of the firms on Wall Street. And we were ready for that. But we would not have been if we had not had access to the people that really wanted to make sure we got that story right.

I think that's incredibly thoughtful of the network to do that, to bring you all in a boardroom and have the experts come in off the record. That's incredibly useful. I mean, as you said, you don't need to go back and get an MBA, because you're living and breathing it.

And so having those experts in, I think that's incredible. And of course, I didn't know that they did that. And I think that's-- especially for items like cryptocurrency and just explaining what that means to the average person or, like you said, the meme stocks.

Well, it's helpful. Because whoever that expert is, they will be very blunt and tell you exactly what they think of your coverage. And most of the time, it's complimentary, but not all of the time. There was one CEO who came in and said, listen, you guys do a great job, but I think you missed the mark on this. And this is why.

And that is equally as helpful as someone sitting there and saying, you guys just really hit it out of the park. You're not going to hit it out of the park every time. You want to, and you strive to. But given the complexity and connectivity of all of these markets, when there is a market event in the United States or a market event in Europe, it doesn't just stay in the US and Europe as you well know.

And so it's important to really understand the global implications of whatever story you're covering. And I do think CNBC is exceptional in reaching out and trying to invite in as many high-level people as possible. Pandemic, unfortunately, has changed that. But hopefully, we'll be able to get back to that.

Good. Good. I imagine the recession, the financial crisis was really, again, difficult and sad. Tell us where you were on 9/11 and how you dealt with that personally and professionally.

9/11-- it was a defining moment, obviously, in all of our lives. But having spent every day down on Wall Street, it was a very personal event for me. I lost a number of friends, unfortunately, on 9/11. I was not downtown that morning. I was supposed to be, but things changed.

And so I was going into the office when the attacks happened. And so I covered 9/11 in the studio for, I think, the next 48 hours. And my anchor partner at that time, Ron Insana, was downtown. And for quite a few hours, we couldn't contact him. And we didn't know if he was OK. They didn't see him down on the floor of the exchange where he was supposed to be. So that was very frightening.

But my role that day, along with Bill Griffeth, was basically to keep the network on the air. We changed our ticker, which runs along the bottom of the screen, to the latest emergency information so that people could see what was going on, what part of Manhattan was closed, which was obviously most of it. But there were parts of the upper part of Manhattan where a number of financial services companies are. That was still open.

No one knew what was going to happen next. And so I think we shifted gears and tried to become a source of emergency information, instead of financial information. And so my job, along with Bill, was just to stay on the air until we were told we're not on the air anymore. And that was, I think, close to 48 hours.

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Joan shakes her head in sympathy.

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And you get numb. I also had the complication. My husband is a doctor. He was, at that point, in the last year of his residency. And he was based at Columbia, up on the upper west side. And he had been on call, was home sleeping. I called him, and I said this is what's going on.

And he got paged. And they asked him to come into the hospital to treat casualties. And he got across the bridge. He got into Columbia. Everybody was on standby. And they didn't get any patients. And I said to him, wow, that's amazing. And he goes, no, it's horrible. It means there are no patients.

And I had never thought of it like that. And I said, oh, my god. That's just horrible. And so about four days later, we reconnected. He stayed at the hospital. I stayed at the studio. And that's what we did. I mean, you just-- a news organization is a living, breathing organization. And you have to switch up what you do. And that's what we did.

But 9/11-- I mean, when we finally went back downtown, Ron and I, it was horrible. It was really horrible. We tried every which way to get into Manhattan, because it was basically locked down. We tried the ferry, which we took. We were based at that point in Fort Lee.

So we took the ferry down to Weehawken and then went across the river. Halfway across, we were boarded by the Navy and searched. And then at one point, we had to lay down on the floor with our hands up on the ground and go past the World Financial Center. Then they stopped that run for a while.

I mean, everything was changing every day. And so then we went down the west side. And we basically had to bribe people to give us rides into the stock exchange, but that's what we did. And we were there the night before the market reopened after 9/11. And we convened a group of CEOs and talked about what was going to happen the next day. Because nobody knew what was going to happen the next day as you well know.

Wow. That is just an amazing story, so thank you for sharing it. Really, just tragedy.

It was. Yeah.

But rebuilding and rebuilding not just physically rebuilding Lower Manhattan, but the markets rebuilding, and confidence in the US, and global disruption, really similar to what we're in today with the pandemic. Right? Just living through that.

Exactly. Exactly. And I think once you go through something like a 9/11, it changes you, obviously, forever. But once you get through that and you get to the other side of that, you take everything else in stride, I guess. I mean, the pandemic has been horrible. It's been awful. But I often think of my 95-year-old mom-in-law who I adore. And when the pandemic first started, I called her. And I said it's going to be OK. We'll order your groceries. We'll do whatever we need to do.

And she chuckled and she said, honey, I'm a child of the depression. I was the West Coast version of a Rosie the Riveter during World War II. She lived through the polio epidemic. She said, we'll get through this. We'll get through this. We'll be changed, but we'll get through this.

And she's just the most resilient woman in the world and a source of strength to me when the pandemic hit. And as you know, New York was hit very hard as many communities were. But I thought of her often. And I talk to her at least two or three times a week. And she has the optimism that keeps us all going, certainly.

Yeah. No, I hear you. My parents lived through the Great Depression. And they taught me to be frugal and embedded that frugality in my life, which has served me quite well throughout. So let's go around the world. Because CNBC plucked you off the anchor desk. And they sent you out to Russia and China and India. This is many, many what? Decades ago when those economies were just starting to bloom. So tell us about some of your experiences in Russia or China or India.

Sure. Well, they were all very different and all, especially in India and China, pretty life changing. We started with China. At that time, Bob Wright was the head of NBC, and Jack Welch was the head of GE. And Jack loved CNBC. So he always had his fingers in the CNBC pie.

And he called me one day. And he said, we're going to send you to China. And I said yes. I mean, who wouldn't say yes? I mean, some people probably might not have wanted to go at that point in time, but I did. And I thought that it was going to be an amazing trip and it was.

And that is actually what led to our adopting our twin daughters from China. Because I realized that there were a number of children that needed to be adopted. And I was having trouble having my own biological children. And it was amazing. First of all, it was amazing going as a woman and going as a tall, blonde woman, which in the countryside didn't go over well.

We would attract a crowd wherever we went. It was five of us. And here's this tall, white, blonde woman. And the people in the villages and in the farms-- and we're talking way out in the hinterland of China-- had never seen a blonde woman. And they would come up and touch my hair.

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Sue strokes the side of her straight, shoulder-length hair.

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Oh, yes, and lift it like this.

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She takes a fistful of hair and lifts it up.

(SPEECH)
And I said to our fixer-- he was our interpreter. That's the television word for that. I said, why are they doing that? And he said, well, they think you're a witch. And I said, what?

[LAUGHTER]

And he said, they've never seen anybody tall like you and blond hair. They've never seen that. So they're very suspicious. After they got the idea that I wasn't a witch, then everybody wanted to talk. It was so amazing. And the people were so lovely and very open, which I had not expected.

And it gave me a very interesting perspective on the dynamic between government and support systems that were in place for people and what life really was like at that point in time. And the contrast between Shanghai, which is an amazing city, and the countryside-- I mean, you get outside of Shanghai at that point-- it's different now.

But at that point, if you go out very far out of Shanghai, there was no electricity, no running water. The roads were not paved. They were dirt. And then you would go into Shanghai. And people are walking around. The women are walking around in stilettos. And the nightclubs are open all night. And the amount of money that was being generated in Shanghai was stupendous.

So China was, I think, my first documentary. And I found out that I enjoyed that format. I had not done that format before. The other country that was, I think, very moving to me was India for a variety of reasons, some of them good and some of them tragic.

India was an economy and is an economy that is very dynamic. And it was front and center on the world stage at that point. And their biotechnology area was one area that we focused on. And a number of big corporations were investing heavily in India.

So it was very much a success story on the economic front. But the social challenges and the poverty were extremely difficult for me to take. Poverty in India where it exists-- it's staggering. I had never experienced anything like that before.

And I remember coming home after finishing the documentary. I came home. And I looked around my house. And it's not a big house. It's modest by US standards. And I thought to myself, do we really need all of this? Because I had seen so many people who had nothing. And the poverty, I think, was one of the things that I felt might hold India back. And it did eventually hold India back a little bit. So I think those were the two countries that had the biggest impact on me in my life.

Yeah, I also visited India and China in the rural areas as well. And it really is stunning, the poverty and just people not even having toilets and bathrooms in their houses, especially in India. It's a real public health crisis there. And the COVID pictures of the India situation were just--

I know.

--heartbreaking. OK, let's go back to the US. A few more questions on the markets here and media. So the media has faced a great deal of skepticism over the last couple of years.

Yes.

And in many cases, it's become quite ugly to watch and hard to watch as someone who just wants the facts in the news How do you navigate these times? And what do you think the responsibility of the media, in general, is, to deliver quality news to people versus opinion?

I think it is extremely difficult in this environment to do that, I guess predominantly because of cable. And you have this fracturing, if you will, of the audience. And you have the conservative arm for one cable network, the liberal arm for the other cable network.

I really enjoyed being able to just do business news through all of this, because it is-- I mean, it's mostly dealing with economic facts and economic figures. And you do get into politics a little bit. But certainly, that is not our daily plate of news.

So as a result of that, I felt blessed that way. I didn't have to get into the fray. I do not believe in putting my opinion in my newscasts. I have two editors. And I asked for two editors for that reason. Because when I started doing more international and general news in my news updates, it happened at a time when the campaign was going on.

And I wanted to make sure that we were very careful about what we put on the air. And we put it out there to our audience and said, if we run a sound bite from the Republican candidate, the next hour we will run a sound bite from the Democratic candidate. And at that point, there was still some independents running. And so we tried to incorporate that if we went into politics at all.

But there were so many issues facing the US economy at that point, that a lot of it did spill over into our particular area. But that's why we had more than one set of eyes look at something. I firmly believe that one of the most important people in a newsroom is the editor.

And we have several levels of editing at CNBC to make sure that what we do is as accurate and as unbiased as possible. And that comes down to little things like editing a sound bite. You've got to be really careful where you begin that sound bite and where you end that sound bite.

To put it into context, right?

Yes, exactly. Your context could be thrown completely off if an editor just says, you know what? I need two more seconds. And they're not going to give me two more seconds. Well, yeah, they are. I'll talk faster. You'll get the two seconds, so just complete the sound bite. That push and pull was necessary, but exhausting.

And I find the fragmentation of news worrisome. I know people who will only watch one network and one network only. And some of my other friends will only watch this other network. I make it a point to watch all three of the major cable networks. I watch Fox. I watch CNN. I watch MSNBC.

And I think it's important to see how different stories are presented in different ways. That is not a popular thing to do. I don't have many friends that do that. But I have kids like you have kids. And they ask you questions. And their friends have opinions.

And you have to be able to answer their questions about why one newscast did it this way and one newscast did it that way. And they could be two totally different takes on a story. But if you don't know what the other station is doing, then you're in the dark. And I don't believe in doing that.

That was really well said and I think great advice for all of us out there to expand and explore other points of view and other news sources. So that's well said. All right. So we have tons of questions coming in from the audience as you might expect. So we're going to--

That's right.

--do a power round here. So first line-- you interview some of the world's most powerful business leader. Is there anyone out there that you have not interviewed that you would like to in the future?

Oh, that's interesting. I would love to interview some of the really young-- and I don't have a name for this, but some of the really young entrepreneurs that are not getting a lot of attention, but are out there creating content, and creating ideas, and creating different things for manufacturing. I would love to do that and be able to dig up some of those people.

I have never been able to interview Elon Musk. I would like to get inside his head a little bit. But he doesn't do a lot of media. But I think he would be an interesting and somewhat challenging person to interview, I think. But I think one of the things that we need to do as journalists is not just always interview the headliners, but interview the people who may be the game changers.

An example of that-- early on in my career when I was doing Business Center, Steve Jobs. I got a chance to interview Steve Jobs. And he is probably one of the most memorable interviews I ever did. And it was over the phone, because he wouldn't do TV.

Oh, wow.

And basically, he would call into the show and talk to us on the phone, talk to me on the phone. And then one day, he said, we're going to open an Apple store in Manhattan. I'd love to meet you in person. Why don't you come down to the store? I said, OK, sure. I met him, his wife, his kids. And we established a trusting relationship. And I said, what's something that I really need to know about you? And he said, I am going to change your world. And he did.

And he did. Wow.

But he wasn't really a headliner at the time. So that's an example of going a little deeper.

That's amazing, Sue. All right. Question coming in from Leslie Carlson. She asked, having such intimacy with companies and leaders and CEOs, what have you learned that could help women gain more confidence in themselves and take more risk in themselves?

I think the key is risk. I think a friend of mine, David Zaslav, who's the CEO of Discovery-- he and I started at CNBC the same time. We've been friends for many, many, many years. And he told me early on-- I think it was the first year we worked together.

He said, you know what? The reason this is going to work is you said yes. And I said, what are you talking about? And he said, well, it was a risk to leave FNN and come to CNBC, but you said yes. And I said, yeah, I wouldn't miss the opportunity.

And there was the difference, the definition of risk, versus the definition of opportunity. And I didn't really view it as a risk. I viewed moving to CNBC as an opportunity. When I look back at it now, was it risky to sell my house in California? We were living one block away from the ocean in Manhattan Beach.

Oh, nice.

I know, right? Not only do I not have that property anymore, but my poor husband is living in New Jersey, which is a lovely state, but it's not Manhattan Beach. I looked at it as an opportunity. But when you look back at it, yeah, it was a risk. And I think sometimes the biggest thing to be able to do in order to advance-- it doesn't always work, but is just say yes. They asked me to go to China. I said yes. Other people that were given that opportunity didn't want to do it, and that's fine.

But I do think that taking that risk, I think, is an important thing for women and for men, but especially for women advancing, I think, in the workforce. And it might not always work out. But you'll learn something from that if it doesn't work out. So I would say taking risk is really important. Think it through and weigh it, but don't just discard it, because it's a little scary.

I remember sitting in CNBC. And there was no set. That's what you saw in the beginning of that tribute video. There was no set. There wasn't even drywall up. And we were eight weeks from going on the air. And I remember calling my husband, saying, don't sell the house quite yet. Because I don't know how this is going to work.

So, yeah, it was scary. But I took the risk, and I viewed it as an opportunity. And I learned a lot from what worked at CNBC, what didn't work at CNBC. And that's what I try and tell my kids is if you think it's interesting, say yes. You never know where it's going to lead you.

Completely agree. Completely agree, Sue. OK, another question coming in. Can you provide us with some tips for women who have immense fear of public speaking, especially to the groups of men which I need to do frequently in my job? And I want to be more visible in my career. So how do you overcome that at any stage in your life, not just young women?

Absolutely. And I will tell you right now, I get incredibly nervous doing public speaking. And everybody says, well, why? You're in front of the camera. Yes, you're in front of a camera with the same people that you've known forever around you as your support system. When you're speaking in front of a large group of people, you don't have that support system. And you're looking at them, and they're looking at you. And I've been there. I've been there. It can be incredibly intimidating.

I just try and embrace it and realize-- I think it comes down to realizing that you have something to offer, and that you are enough, and that you are good at what you do. Because otherwise, you wouldn't be there. And that helps me. I wouldn't say I'm the greatest public speaker, but I always speak from my heart. And I find if you speak from your heart, and you try and really relate to the audience, and use a little humor to warm things up a little bit, that has helped me.

One of the most terrifying things that I had to do was I was the commencement speaker at Marist College. And there were about 20,000 people. And it was all outside. And you march in and you're wearing the robes. And I was so flattered to be asked. I was shaking. I was so nervous, because here are all these families. And for many families, this is one of the most important days of their life. Your kid is graduating. And on the student side, they've finally completed college. They're graduating.

This is a really important day. And I kept thinking to myself, oh, my gosh. If I screw this up, I am going to be spoiling the most important day for all of these families. And for days, my hands were cold. I was really nervous. It turned out fine.

But I went over that speech so many times, my husband finally said, you know what? You need to stop, because it's going to get stale. And he said, just speak from your heart. You always do. Just speak from your heart. And remember, it's a really happy day for these people, so just bring a little sunshine into their day.

And I tried to do that. But don't ever think that the person that's speaking to you isn't nervous. Because I would lay odds that they probably are. But that was the one time when I was super nervous. Because I just didn't want to let anybody down and spoil their day or have them say--

I'm sure you were fantastic, Sue. I'm going to go YouTube that and watch that speech, because I'm sure you're fantastic. And you're just authentic. You're an authentic person. And you're genuine and being the mom. And being the high-profile executive like you were, you are, imparting that wisdom and knowledge to those students on their day that they're launching the rest of their life, I mean, I'm sure it was very impactful and probably a lot more impactful than--

Well--

--some others.

--Senator Schumer interrupted in the middle of it. He ran up on the stage. And he was like, I just talked to you last week. And I was like, yes, you did. I was like, what are you doing here? But he likes to do that. He likes to show up and-- which was fine. It was very funny. And it was a big icebreaker. But all I could see from the side of my-- it was Senator Schumer. I mean, my head, I was going, is that Senator Schumer? And he came up to the stage. And it was a great day. But believe me, I was sweating that one.

[LAUGHTER]

I'm sure it was fantastic. All right. Another question. I'm going to try to do more rapid fire. This is from my friend, Matt Gunter. And Matt wants to know, as a financial journalist, how do you balance the stories with a lot of sizzle like crypto, or GameStop, or an NFT with the less sexy, but in many cases, much more significant parts of the economy? And he gives an example of-- such as insurance.

Right. Exactly. That is where your story ideas really, in the meetings, you have to push. And you're right. It is much sexier to talk about crypto, or the meme stocks, or whatever it is. But there's a certain part of your audience that's not interested in that.

And you can't broadcast to the niche. You have to include the niche, but you can't just broadcast to the niche. And that's when you get into lively discussions with your executive producer who sometimes would like to spend 3/4 of the hour doing crypto. And instead, you need to cover something that is more impactful and more meaningful to a larger scope of the audience.

And you have to go into that meeting and make your case. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But a lot of times if you do lose, the audience will email in that we ignored this story or we should have spent more time on this story, instead of the sexy headline.

And that's a good thing that you have that relationship with your audience and you get that push and pull. Because they will call you on the carpet. And they should, right? They're paying for your service through their cable or whatever it is that they get you through. And you have a responsibility to give them as much information on as many topics as possible. And that's when standing up for your story idea becomes sometimes difficult, but it's just part of what you have to do.

Great. Great. OK, another question. One of the issues I know, personally, you're pursuing now is getting more women on corporate boards.

(DESCRIPTION)
Sue nods.

(SPEECH)
How has your time covering the business world informed your feelings about that? And we know that the NASDAQ has put out new guidelines as well to list on their exchange. So give us your thoughts on more women on boards.

Well, basically, I feel strongly about that. Because when I was covering major corporations for many years, there were no women on the board and just as there weren't many women in financial journalism. And a dear friend of mine, Susie Gharib, who was Nightly Business Report anchor for many years before she left CNBC and now is at Forbes, we talked about this many times about how corporations, especially publicly-held corporations-- they want shareholders to invest in their company.

But their board does not reflect their shareholders. It does not reflect the diversity of their shareholders many times. Not always, but many times in terms of either diversity through gender, or diversity through culture, or diversity through socioeconomic measurements.

So the more companies that I covered that did not have female representation, the more it made me think about the fact that they probably should, given the amount of capital that women control, that women invest. The role of women in the economy is incredibly important, yet it is not represented on the corporate level in the boardroom. And I think that needs to change.

Well, thank you for your efforts there. I'm one, certainly, that's following that issue.

I know. I know.

I'd like to join you in that effort. So I cannot tell you what-- and this hour just flew by. I cannot tell you what a pleasure it was to have you on and--

Thank you so much.

--share your perspectives, and just your life story, and inspiring all these young women. We have a lot of questions coming in from, I think, college students that have tuned in today to say, how could they be you?

[LAUGHTER]

And what does it take to get to those levels? And I just heard you say risk-taking, confidence in yourself. Don't think you've got imposter syndrome. It's all in our back of our heads. It's real, right?

Absolutely. And just reach for the stars, and it will happen. And as a journalist, a lot of people these days don't like journalists. And they don't necessarily think that it's a noble profession. I would push back on that and say true journalism is probably more important today than at any other time in our history. And not just here, but look at what's going on around the globe.

And if you don't have a free and informed press, it's a problem. So if you're interested in journalism, pursue journalism. The television side may or may not happen. But you have to have a love of journalism, and the rest of it will fall into place.

Great advice, Sue. Thank you so much. We're so excited--

Oh, the pleasure was mine.

--about this--

Thank you.

--really. I don't know how we're going to top that this hour. But

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Upcoming Webinars: December 1, The Cybersecurity Playbook: Creating Your Checklist. December 8, Economic Outlook, 2022 with Goldman Sachs' Chief US Economist December 15, Insuring the Rebuilding of America: What's in the $1.2 Trillion Law? What Will It Mean for the US Economy? Register: travelersinstitute.org

(SPEECH)
I do want to tell you about three upcoming webinars we have in December, December 1-- we have an encore cyber webinar with Jeff Klenk at Travelers again, top cyber breach coach Jennifer Coughlin. She's going to talk about what businesses can do to really go through that cyber protocols and hygiene on your own business so practical. This is all practical steps you can do in your own business on that webinar.

And then December 8, I'll be joined by the Goldman Sachs Chief US economist to discuss the Goldman Sachs economic forecast for 2022. Don't miss that. And then on December 15, we're going to get the latest on the newly signed $1.2 trillion infrastructure law and what it means for business. We're going to have the American Trucking Association's CEO Chris Spear talk about the trucking industry, the supply chain issues we're facing now.

And we're going to have the US Chamber of Commerce, Ed Mortimer, and our own surety expert talk about the impact on insurance. And that's Bob Raney. So again, join me in December for those three upcoming ones. I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving with your families. Please stay safe. And, Sue Herera,

(DESCRIPTION)
Blows kiss.

(SPEECH)
loved our session today. Thank you so much.

Me, too. Thank you so much. I'm going to tune in for all of the upcoming ones. Thank you so much, Joan.

Appreciate it. Have a good day, everyone. Bye.