🛢️ “‘Bottlenecking” — Iran’s Strait of Hormuz. Tesla’s robotaxi vs. Waymo. Dallas Cheerleaders’ 400% pay raise.

0:28This is Nick. studio out of a mattress, a suitcase, and 43 different coffee table books. All right, I see wonderful beach scapes of Nantucket, and I see Dr. Seuss books in your pile of books right now. One sec, Jack, my microphone is leaning on the 100 Seashells Encyclopedia, Northern Martha's Vineyard Edition. Yeah, it is. We tossed on Nick's bootlegged podcast studio on Instagram at tboardpod. But the pod must go on, and Jack, we have prepared quite the perfect pod, have we not, my friend? For our first story, Nick, there's one place Wall Street is looking at during the war in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz.

1:04So Jack and I will tell you everything you need to know about the world's most valuable bottleneck. For our second story, we just got the two biggest self-driving car stories of the last decade. Tesla's RoboTaxi just launched in Texas, and Google's Waymo RoboTaxi is coming to New York City. And Volkswagen? Eh, they're not doing anything. And our third and final story is the most important thing you can do for your career right now. Follow the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders because Jack and I will tell you how the Dallas Cowboys cheer squad got a 400 % raise. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of three stories.

1:40One second, Jack. My Nantucket impressionist painter's book needs an adjustment. There we go. We're back in action, baby. Check, check, check. Yesterday, we asked you a trivia question. 140 years ago, what product was invented by a pharmacist, but it's not a medicine? It's not Advil or Tylenol. It's not OJ or ginger ale. No, no, no, no, no, no. The answer is Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper is the oldest soda in America, and it was created in a pharmacy. That's right. Dr. P was invented a year before Coca-Cola. That is an early concoction right there, Jack. Dr. Pepper was invented in 1885 with a mix of 23 ingredients that remains a trade secret today.

2:21Jack, it is so insane that recipe hasn't leaked. It must be protected by the CIA. How is that recipe not leaked? If you tell, they will kill you. But after 140 years, Dr. Pepper just became the second best-selling soda in America. And Dr. Pepper pulled it off with a wild plan. It partnered with its biggest rivals. It partnered with Coke and Pepsi. Jack and I call that the Switzerland strategy. Don't pick sides. Go for strategic neutrality. And besties, you can hear all about Dr. P on our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. Side note, I actually tried my first Dr. Pepper last year as we prepped for this episode.

3:00Jack, can you describe the flavor for us on the pod, please? Yes, I can, Nick. It tastes like a soda that couldn't decide what it wanted to be when it grew up. So it became all of them. That is precisely the point. It's a wild story. Check it out. We got a link in the episode description. But in the meantime, Jack, we got three fantastic stories for today's T-Boy. When do you say we hit the pod?

3:44Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:52That's 50 % off your first year at monarch.com with code TBOI. Zip Recruiter. Yetis, maybe you multitask your breakfast making and your newsletter reading. I mean, who doesn't? Or maybe you mow the lawn while listening to the earnings call that your boss had signed. Or maybe you send voicemails all day instead of texting anyone. You're that guy. We all have our own time-saving hacks for the everyday life. But if you're a business owner, how can you save time hiring? ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter has a new feature that quickly lets you see the most interested qualified candidates first, so you save time by meeting the right people faster.

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5:51Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. For our first story, with the U.S. attacking Iran's nuclear sites, the price of oil has risen to a five-month high. Because the most important place in the world right now is a 21-mile-wide body of water, the Strait of Hormuz. And we'll tell you all about it. But yet it is late Saturday night. We all got the same push notification, didn't we, Jack? The U.S. has entered the war with Iran. Now, there is still a lot we do not know 72 hours after those push notifications. For example, Trump says that Iran's nuclear sites were totally obliterated by the attacks, but the rest of his administration is more cautious in saying how effective the attack was.

6:39And the geopolitical situation is super complex, despite everyone on Twitter thinking they know the answer to it. But the economic impact comes down to one question. And here it is. Was this a one and done attack by the US that ends the conflict? Like the raid that killed Osama bin Laden? Or is it the beginning of a new and costly US war in the Middle East? Like Afghanistan. Besties, that question will determine so much about this conflict, and we just simply don't know enough about it yet. The latest is a limited retaliation from Iran on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday night, and there were no casualties.

7:16But besties, in the meantime, this event has revealed the most valuable real estate on Earth right now with an ocean view. And what is it, Jack? The Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz, because this 21-mile-wide waterway is Iran's economic leverage. It's a literal bottleneck to the world's oil market. It's a narrow shipping lane that connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. Jack, could you whip up some more geographic context for us, please? It's used by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar to export oil to the rest of the world. If you're looking at a map right now, basically envision a Tootsie Roll.

7:53Like, you know the end of the Tootsie Roll where the wrapper gets twisted, Jack? Yeah, that little point at the end of the wrapper, that is basically the looks of the Strait of Hormuz. And on one side is Iran, which could effectively close the Strait of Hormuz by force with rockets. And why is that such a huge deal, Jack? If they closed the Strait, it could stop one-fifth of all exported oil in the world. One-fifth of all oil would be paused by this Strait. So the Strait of Hormuz, it's like one of the five checkout lanes in the world's energy store. If it gets shut down, all the other lines are going to get longer, and everyone's going to have to pay more at the pump.

8:30But there is one catch we should also point out, right, man? If Iran shuts the Strait of Hormuz, it would probably hurt China more than it hurts the United States. Get this, yetis. 85 % of oil going through the Strait of Hormuz is destined for Asia. So if Iran shut it off, that would upset Beijing. Now, on Sunday, Iran's parliament voted to block the Strait of Hormuz, but the parliament doesn't have the final say on it. And if Iran does blockade the strait, Morgan Stanley says it could increase the price of oil to$100 a barrel, and stocks would probably then drop. Now, we should point out, America produces so much oil these days, we don't rely on the Middle East for oil anymore.

9:08America's actually a net producer of oil, a lot of people forget. But oil prices are global, and rising prices in the Middle East would end up raising our prices too. And investors don't like that. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone watching this war? Will Iran play the innocent victim, or will they play the revenge seeker? So yet is the whole world is watching. Will Iran retaliate or not? We got some of the answer on Monday. The limited strike on the U.S. military base in Qatar. Wall Street is betting that that's it. No further Iran retaliation. Instead, it expects Iran to cast itself in a sympathetic light.

9:47Iran will cast America as the aggressor of this war, much like Russia is the aggressor of the Ukraine war, and try to gain allies through sympathy. After all, the UN says preemptive attacks violate international law. But if instead Iran seeks more retribution with more attacks on the United States or blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Iran looks less sympathetic across the globe. So besties, add it all up and we don't know the future of this scary situation. Nobody does, but the ball right now is in Iran's court. So the question investors are watching this week, will Iran play the innocent victim or the revenge seeker?

10:25For our second story, the two biggest robo-taxi updates yet. Tesla is live in Austin and Waymo is testing in Manhattan. But Waymo and Tesla are pioneering robo-taxis completely differently. We'll break it down. Jack, to quote Herman Melville, the white whale of ride hail is the self-driving robo-cab. The self-driving taxi is the Moby Dick of big tech. Well, five years after Elon Musk pledged he would be there, he just arrived at his robo-taxi destination. Because on Sunday, 10 Tesla Model Ys started picking up pre-selected passengers who were invited to the Tesla robo-taxi launch. Tesla geofenced a small part of Austin for the test with Tesla employees in the passenger seat and they will not do these robo-taxis if it is raining.

11:19They're slow playing the launch of their robo-taxi to be safety first, and they'll gradually scale up as it proves to be safe. And the price for a robo-ride? Eh, it'll cost you$4.20, a flat fee. That sounds more right for an Elon Musk company. Yeah, you gotta throw a pot joke in there, too. And you can spot these robo-taxis in Austin because it says, Robo-taxi, ridden on the side. You can also spot them because there's no one behind the wheel. And the early reviews so far, Jack? So far positive. Although we should know, only influencers and Tesla retail shareholders have been invited to the launch thus far.

11:53But here's the big Tesla goal, Yetis. Push the button. At some point, Elon Musk wants to push a big red button at Tesla HQ that will allow every Tesla owner to flip their car into a self-driving car. The hardware is already there. Our Model Y back in San Francisco could literally become a self-driving RoboCab for us. It's like a clone army. Elon's just going to say, execute order 66. Tesla, their stock rose 8 % on Monday on the hiccup-free robo-Tesla launch. Congratulations. But yetis, just days before Tesla's robo-debut, Waymo tried to steal the moment. Get this, robo-taxis from Google's Waymo are coming to New York City, baby.

12:38Waymo is already doing 250 ,000 rides per week in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Phoenix. Waymo is already bigger than Lyft in San Francisco. Awkward. But New York City is a different animal. They've got the biggest population. They're the most dense. They're the most impatient. I mean, Jack, you got traffic, you got snow, you got jaywalkers, and you've got insults. Robo-taxi driving in San Francisco is like riding a bike on a flat street. New York City is like mountain biking. It's a different sport. If robo-taxi is the white whale, Jack, New York City is the Everest. I thought you were going to go mythical creature.

13:14New York City is like the Kraken. But Jack, as Frank Sinatra once sang, if Waymo can self-drive there, it can self-drive anywhere. So Tesla is self-driving in Austin. Waymo will soon self-drive in New York City. Hey, buddy, watch out. I'm self-driving here. It might look like Waymo and Tesla are driving the same car in a self-driving race, but they're actually completely different. And we have to tell you why. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tesla and Waymo? Tesla versus Waymo is a case study in master plans versus transparent plans. Yeti's Google, which owns Waymo, likes to brag that they drove 10 million miles before operating Waymo RoboCabs.

13:56They mapped every road in America. But guess what? Tesla did too. They did. Tesla has been mapping America's roads for 10 years through every Tesla they've ever sold. The key difference is this. Google spent money to map those roads, but Tesla made money mapping those roads. Without knowing it, every Tesla driver has been training Tesla's robo-brain. Another difference here, each Waymo costs Google$200 ,000 to make, and they need more of these cars to scale to each and every city. But Tesla just needs to activate the three to four million Teslas already on the road in America. Tesla has already scaled.

14:34Jack, it's just like you said, It's the clone army in Star Wars. All these Teslas can just be switched on in a second to turn into RoboCab mode. Now, I should point out, Tesla's Robotaxi project has been criticized for being opaque, but it's been stealthily underway for 10 years. Waymo's Robotaxi, on the other hand, is lauded for its transparency out in the open for all to see. Who will win? Tesla's master plan or Waymo's transparent plan? Hit us up in the comments. Let us know what you think. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

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17:05For our third and final story, the best career advice this week comes from the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Because America's most famous cheer squad just got a 400 % pay raise. Yeah. All right, Jack, let me list off the winners for you here. Florida won the Stanley Cup. Oklahoma City won the NBA Finals. Louisiana State University, boom. college world series champs. But the sports business story of the year goes to the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. We're talking cowboy boots, star spangled blouse, and big hair, huge hair. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are the Rockettes of the gridiron. But we should point out these cheerleaders are a sport in and of itself.

17:48Can you jump 12 feet in the air, be spinning because Has somebody spun you? Hang on to those pom-poms and land in some random human being's hands. I can't. Jack, I just pulled a hammy listening to you describe that. And here's the problem. These women are doing professional flips, but they are paid like burger flippers. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders get a$400 flat fee per event. And they collect that fee for rehearsals, home games, and promotional appearances. But if you add Lala, the average NFL cheerleader makes just$23 ,000 a year. That's the same income as a part-timer at Burger King. But here's the news.

18:26Those Dallas cheerleaders are getting a 400 % pay raise. And they announced it in the final episode of their Netflix docuseries that just dropped. But 400 % more than$23 ,000 is a$115 ,000 salary. That's not Tony Romo money, but it's pretty good for a part-time gig. And since we know you're listening, Jerry Jones, we gotta ask, why did higher pay take so long? Well, to answer that question, let's rewind a couple of reverse handsprings and go back to when this squad started. Okay, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, officially founded back in 1960. Interestingly, the first squad was made up of mostly local Dallas high schoolers.

19:04And the inflection point for their brand was in the 1976 Super Bowl. That's when all of America saw America's teams cheerleaders. But we think the inflection point for the business was 1990. That's when Kelly Finglass, a former cheerleader herself, took over the squad and commercialized things. Most of the cheerleaders' job is to enhance the game day atmosphere. That is not something that's monetized for the Cowboys organization. But off the field, these girls monetize. They got a swimsuit calendar. They got merchandise sales. They have a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Barbie doll. In fact, one of the first moves Kelly Finglass made with the cheerleaders was with the U.S.

19:44Patent and Trademark Office. They trademarked the midriff, fringe-cut, star-studded outfit. Add it all up, and the Dallas cheerleaders brought in$1 to$2 million a year on those initiatives. But they also have TV shows. They've had two TV shows. For 16 seasons, the Dallas cheerleaders had a CMT deal for a show about cheerleading auditions. Netflix picked up the mantle a couple years ago. It's basically hard knocks, but for cheerleaders. These media opportunities were the third inflection point because season one was a top 10 show on Netflix and season two just dropped. So the cheerleaders make way more money off the field than what the cowboys pay them for what they do on the field.

20:21But Jack and I think Netflix's show just gave them the greatest gift of all. It gave the cheerleaders the most valuable asset in business. It gave the cheerleaders leverage. So Jack, can I get a T? Can I get an A? Don't finish. You're lucky I'm not a professional. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in business? You can't ladder up your career without leverage. Yetis, from pay raise to promotion, the best tool in your negotiating toolkit is leverage. Leverage. It's the individual power you have to influence the decision maker. Positive leverage is having something the employer wants.

21:00Like, I'm the only one on the team with that certain important skill. Negative leverage is having something that your employer wants to avoid. Without me, this project would fall apart. Well, for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, they didn't bring in enough revenue to have financial leverage, but they gained publicity leverage. Over 2 million people watched the first week of that Netflix show, and it created a public outcry about their low pay. So before season two, the squad got together and demanded higher pay from the Cowboys. They had the leverage, and they got what they wanted, a 400 % raise.

21:33And that reminded Jack and I that you just can't ladder up your career without some form of leverage. Find your leverage point.

21:46Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? After the U.S. attack on Iran, oil prices rose to a five-month high. But here's the economic question going forward. Will Iran play the innocent victim or will it play the revenge seeker? For our second story, Tesla RoboTaxi launched in Austin, and Waymo RoboTaxi is launching in Manhattan. Who will win? Tesla's master plan or Waymo's transparent plan? That's the question. And finally, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad announced a 400 % increase in their pay. They had leverage with their Netflix show, so they laddered up their career.

22:22But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Pixar just had its worst movie opening ever. Elio brought in just 21 million bucks at the box office Apparently it's a sci-fi tearjerker About a boy who wants to be abducted by aliens Now interesting reason for the fall here Kid competition Apparently everyone at the movies was going to see How to Train Your Dragon But this is a big week coming up for premieres You got the bear on Wednesday Wow The F1 movie on Thursday Bought the tickets And Squid Game Season 3 Which I know you're watching Nick On Friday Actually I'm scared So I'm not.

23:01And second, remember last month we told you the story of Dr. Squatch, the men's soap brand. We called it Gen Z's Axe Body Spray. Well, guess what? It just got acquired by Unilever, the company that owns Axe Body Spray. We don't know the selling price, but we do know that Dr. Squatch was doing$400 million a year in revenue. And finally, awkward update on artificial intelligence. But remember OpenAI partnered with iPhone's designer Johnny Ive a couple months ago? Well, they just removed the announcement of the acquisition from their website, including that strange picture of Johnny Ive and Sam Altman.

23:38Apparently, there is a startup named I.O. that trademarked the term I.O., so they're suing OpenAI about their new product. In the meantime, Johnny Ive and Sam Altman are still quiet about the hardware device that's AI native that they're apparently making. Now, time for the best facts. Yeah, this one's sent in by an anonymous Yeti, but it's a fantastic fact. Last week, we did a story on the dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung, which went viral in one of our Instagram posts. And we said that Din Tai Fung had the highest sales of any restaurant in America, 27 million bucks per location. We also said that every chef puts exactly 18 folds into each and every soup dumpling.

24:18Well, get this. Turns out the number 18 is a lucky number in both Chinese traditions and Jewish traditions. In Chinese, 18 is associated with success because saying 18 in Chinese sounds like the term get rich. And in Hebrew, the number 18 happens to be related to the word for life. So 18 isn't just the ideal number of folds in a soup dumpling. No, it isn't. It's a lucky and important number in both Chinese and Hebrew. So this Christmas, if you're Jewish, we know where you'll be celebrating. Din Tai Fung. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And we know exactly what you should go check out right now.

24:55Check out the link in our episode description to listen to the untold origin story of Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper. It's the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. I'm 90 % sure one of the 23 ingredients is barbecue sauce. You know, Jack burped so many times after that first Dr. Pepper, we actually had to pause the pod. We delayed the pod like a half an hour. When I cracked open my first can, it sounded like the can had been closed for a thousand years. Well, we did give you one, Jack, that actually was from 1986. I forgot to mention this to you. That was the reason for this tummy issues.

25:27It tastes like a pharmacy smell. If you know, you know, Jack and I will see you there.

25:36And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Tom Lanky in Naples, New York, on a new decade of looking fantastic. Happy birthday to Isabella Navarro in Panama City, Panama, who never misses an episode of the show or an Orange Theory workout. We got you on that treadmill, Isabella. And Josiah Acquinele in Los Angeles is listening for one year to this pod, T-Boyiversary, with Bridget Smith. Thanks for both being Yetis. Happy 35th birthday to Rika in Colorado Springs, who's sailing in Rhodes, Greece, to celebrate. Wow, I think Ulysses had the same birthday. And congratulations to our legendary Yeti, Joe Franco, who's got a new show on the National Geographic YouTube channel.

26:18It's called Big Little Italy, and we already watched the episode. It is delicious. Pecorino? Yes, please. And a shout out to Yeti Tommy, who realized we forgot to mention Johnny Tsunami in our surfing story yesterday. Thank you for that call out, Tommy. We regret that error. And a special shout out to Yeti Reed Johnson from Wyzada, Minnesota, who listened to two episodes of The Best Idea Yet while running a half marathon. How long did it take Reed to finish the half marathon? Two episodes. That's how long. If you want to run a marathon or a half marathon, just do it in The Best Idea Yet. We're officially a unit of measurement.

26:55This is Jack. I own stock in Netflix and Lyft. This intelligence podcast is sponsored by business travel on hotels.com. Does booking business travel feel like another job? Hotels.com makes booking work trips easy and rewarding. It's easy because you can set your preferences once and get results tailored to your business travel needs every time. It's rewarding because with hotels.com's free rewards program, you can save instantly on your next work trip and earn rewards for future travel. Book faster with confidence at hotels.com. Loyalty Members 18+.