Good morning.
Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian joined me yesterday for a conversation with members of the Fortune CEO Initiative about programs to bring struggling young people into the work force. He began by referring to the “fallacy of full employment.” In 11 zip codes in the Chicago area, he said, the unemployment rate is over 10%, and for young people age 16 to 24 in those neighborhoods, it is 20%. “There are two different realities.”
A year ago, Hyatt started a program called RiseHY (pronounced “rise-high”) that sought to bring out-of-school, out-of-work young people into the Hyatt workforce. Hoplamazian felt a targeted workforce initiative would have more “bang for the buck” in community building than many of the education initiatives the company had pursued in the past. Today, he has brought nearly 1,300 “Opportunity Youth” into his work force, and learned some lessons along the way. Among them: the most basic life skill–showing up at work on time–is often the most difficult, in part because people have complicated living arrangements and uneven access to transportation. Another: post-employment support is critical, as people struggle to fit into an unfamiliar work environment.
Hoplamazian believes such efforts are critical, both for his company—it needs a bigger and more diverse pipeline of employees—and for the communities it operates in—they need better pathways to success for the poor and disadvantaged. His final comment: “The thing I would leave people with: there are many things you can be proud of in life, but few things provide as much inspiration and hope for the future as watching one of these young people come into the workforce and achieve success.”
What’s interesting is how is how frequently I find myself in conversations like this these days with corporate leaders who are building similar training and workforce programs across the U.S. If you are looking for clear evidence that the business community is more focused on the needs of society than in the past, this is where you will find it. Something important is afoot.
More news below.
Alan Murray
alan.murray@fortune.com
@alansmurray
TOP NEWS
Apple in China
Chinese state media has laid into Apple for carrying a "poisonous" app in its App Store—specifically, HKmap.live, which shows the crowdsourced locations of police in Hong Kong. "Protecting rioters — Has Apple thought clearly about this?" was the headline of one People's Daily commentary piece. Meanwhile, Apple has removed the Taiwanese flag emoji from iPhones it sells in Hong Kong and Macau. Fortune
NBA in China
Also meanwhile, the NBA's woes in China—precipitated by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeting support for Hong Kong demonstrators—are deepening. Sponsors are walking away: smartphone maker Vivo, food firm Master Kong, and more. Bonus fact: ESPN has banned its presenters from discussing the political context of Morey's tweet. Bonus bonus fact: Gaming giant Activision Blizzard stripped a pro gamer of his tournament winnings because he expressed support for the Hong Kong protestors. Bloomberg
Twitter Ads
Twitter may have "inadvertently" used for advertising purposes information that users submitted to enhance their security, the platform admitted Tuesday. People gave Twitter their email addresses and phone numbers to use for "two-factor authentication"—where a code is sent to the user, so they can prove their identity when logging in—but the data was possibly used to target ads at those people. Twitter says it fixed the problem in mid-September. Reuters
PlayStation 5
Sony has finally given details about PlayStation 5, the next generation of its gaming console. It will be out for next year's holiday season, it will sport a complete hardware overhaul, and it will have a 4K Blu-ray player, for those who still use physical media. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Big Tech
What does Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust commissioner who is now also becoming its digital policy chief, think about breaking up Big Tech companies such as Google? It's on the table, but only as a last resort, she said in a confirmation hearing yesterday. Fortune
Impeachment Polls
Most Americans now support the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, per a new NBC/WSJ poll—and nearly a quarter say Congress should remove Trump from office. While half of those polled said in July that Congress should let the president complete his term, the figure is now down to 39%. CNBC
Hunter Biden
So what exactly do the many business interests of Hunter Biden—the figure central to Trump's allegedly impeachment-worthy misdeeds—entail? The Financial Times provides a breakdown, including a list of the companies in the portfolio of BHR Partners, the Chinese-state-bank-backed investment fund of which Biden is a director. FT
Bond Buying
The Federal Reserve will buy more short-term Treasury securities in order to ward off scarcities in funding markets. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled the move yesterday, but didn't say how soon it would happen, nor how many bonds the Fed would be buying. Wall Street Journal
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.
