What does it mean to lead a big company now? This week on Everybody’s Business, Max Chafkin and Brad Stone rifle through the medicine cabinet of the most important pharma giant in the world, and uncover the growing resentment towards CEOs of all stripes.<br>Zip up your fleece vest and strap on your understated sneakers, because there’s no worse time to be in the corner office.<br>See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Hard Out Here for a CEO

Everybody's Business

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Everybody's Business

## Transcript

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Humans will never be more intelligent than AI. There's going to be two types of companies. Those are great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't. How do we build a future that is human-centered? I'm Rana Elkalyubi, and on my podcast, Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone.

Every week, I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future, and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives. Find Pioneers of AI wherever you tune in. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcast. Brad Stone. Max Chafkin.

You speak to CEOs all the time in your capacity as editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. Is there a vibe shift? Are the CEOs feeling more down than usual? Max, they're tired. The job of CEO has become exhausting due to the chaos of tariffs and the war and oil shocks and, of course, AI and dealing with this White House. The job of CEO, despite the large paycheck, is becoming stressful. I didn't know workers could become tired.

That's very interesting, Brad. We all have our limits. From Bloomberg Businessweek, this is Everybody's Business. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Brad Stone, in for Stacey Mannock-Smith. And this is what we're going to get into this week. Two stories that look at both the inside and the outside, the up and the down of being a CEO now. First, we have the business of weight loss. It is huge. That's the upside. Eli Lilly has catapulted to a trillion-dollar valuation.

And while these CEOs are managing their eye-watering profits, we'll look at what their workers think about those that run their companies. Newsflash, folks, it's not that good. Brad, you had your hands all over this big cover story that just went out as we're recording this. It's about Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company that has basically just been on a roll,

thanks largely to the popularity of its blockbuster GLP-1 drug, ZepBound. Can you just real quick explain why this story right now? Well, I mean, first of all, Max, I don't know if you've consulted your Bloomberg terminal recently, but Eli Lilly is worth over a trillion dollars. It's plugged directly into my brain. So you might want to look at that. And look, I mean, that is largely on the strength of its anti-obesity drugs, ZepBound and Manjaro for diabetes.

But there's a reason why pharmaceutical companies aren't valued this highly. Patents expire. Competition comes in. Prices fall. And so Madison Muller,...

It’s Hard Out Here for a CEO

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

It’s Hard Out Here for a CEO

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.