Market Uncertainty, Leadership Lessons, and Competitive Dynamics with David Pivnick of McGuireWoods LLP 4-19-25
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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. We're joined today by one of our brightest guests, one of the most listened to guests, David Pivnik. David's a partner at McGuire Woods, but he's multidimensional, multifaceted. David, I don't know if you recall this, but back in the day, the set of YouTube videos or posted videos called Rap Battles of History. And in rap battles of history, they would pit historic figures against each other. Great comedic output. Fantastic stuff. And this might have been before your time because you're still a younger person. But rap battles of history. But my son and I used to love it. And as I watch the dialogue in the financial press today, I'm going to talk to you about two different questions.
First, you've got Scott Besant, who's Treasury Secretary, saying – Don't worry, stop panicking, telling Fortune CEOs you're all whining and it's all going to be okay. You got Fed Chairman Powell saying we're not taking rates down anytime soon because of inflation, you know, tariffs can cause some inflation and so forth. Then you got President Trump, where on every single day, it is unclear what he is saying. What do you make of all this financial news and talk? And does Besant have this right? Does Powell have this right? Do they both have this right? And is Trump just a master negotiator with no equal, or is he problematic in how he's approaching this?
Perfect. Thank you, Scott. I think it's an interesting question, and I'm going to answer the substance in a second. I think All aspects of that question are somewhere in the middle ground between the extremes you described. But I want to just note that I'm not sure how you possibly started that question with rat battles of history on YouTube, which feels very far afield from the rest of it. But I think in terms of the market and what the Fed chairman and others are saying, I think the biggest takeaway for me is I'm in my low 40s and unfortunate that I have a fortunate and unfortunate, I guess, but I have a long runway to retirement such that I'm not actively monitoring and losing my mind over the market day to day, which I recognize is something I have the benefit of and others don't. But I think there are, you know, the market is going to be impacted and continue to be impacted by uncertainty. That's just part of what happens with the stock market.
And so as long as there is a level of uncertainty, whether it's relative to tariffs, rates, international relations, the potential for a looming recession. There's enough headwinds that I think it's going to be tough for the market to become fully stable right now. But I don't know that there's any sort of magic solution. I don't think it's a situation where just don't worry about it is the answer, nor do I think it's one where overall panic is the right answer either. But again, easier for me to say than for someone who's approaching retirement or currently retired and is looking at those funds in their retirement account more actively and concerned. And in terms of President Trump as a master negotiator versus something else, I mean, I think like with many things, he's just unpredictable. And I don't think there is a simple answer I think some of it might be grand strategy. I think some of it might be power plays and feeling out how it will work. And I think that lack of cohesion isn't helpful, but I think in some ways it's strategic as well.
But here's the issue, David. I'll just make a couple of comments in response to what you said. I would warn you to be careful about this ageist commentary about how much time you have to retire, where some of us don't have that much time to retire. It sounds a little bit offensive, but I hear you and I get the point. The point is I'm old and you're young. No, I know that's not what you're saying. Second is on the rare battles of history. I read the underlying current of it, yes. And one of the other concepts of, and this concept of, we don't know if he's already retired or not, is absolutely offensive.
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