← The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Does Wealth Make You Selfish?, How Scott Stays Informed, and Negotiating Equity Deals
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Scott Galloway
Support for the show comes from vcx,
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Podcast Narrator
Bare walls, Clear surfaces. The minimalist aesthetic is having a moment and for some it's a form of resistance.
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Podcast Guest or Commentator
I think a lot of people have a sense that like, we live in this very consumerist society and feel kind of a desire and need to like push back against that.
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Podcast Narrator
How to Live with Less that's this week on Explain It To Me New episodes Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts.
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Scott Galloway
Welcome to Office Hours with Prof. G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to Office hourspropertymedia. Com. Again, that's office hours@proPGMedia.com or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we just might feature it on our next episode. Question number one hey Scott, Sam from
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Listener or Caller
Joshua Tree, California here. Go ahead and cue the mushroom chocolate jokes. I know you got some. I have a question about the future billionaires and CEOs in this country. Like many people, and I think, including yourself, I've been a bit baffled that the rich and powerful aren't speaking out more against Trump and Ice. As you and Kara pointed out in a recent episode together, turns out that having fuck you money just leads to wanting more fuck you money. How do you think we can fix this type of selfish behavior for the next generation of billionaires and CEOs or more importantly, do you think this type of behavior is fixable once you get to such an extreme level of wealth and power? Is this a parenting issue at a young age, or is it an issue of not having required public service and the connective tissue as a nation? Or maybe it's just a side effect of a baby boomer generation that's overall viewed as being pretty selfish. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. And I'm also curious for you personally, what was the catalyst to you being more generous and outspoken once you started having a lot of money? On a side note, thanks for making me unsubscribe from five different streaming services. My wallet loves you. My family hates you. Keep up the good work boss.
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Scott Galloway
Thanks for that. I love that My wallet loves you. My family hates you. By the way, when I suggested we unsubscribe from all our seven streaming media services, I got one of those looks for my boys of Memo to Self Smother dad and Sleep tonight. Okay, so first off, my Joshua Tree and Mushroom story. I went to UCLA and I had two groups of friends. I had my fraternity friends, the guys in my ZBT Alpha Rose zbt, who are still very close friends. And then I ended up connecting with a group of guys and women who were sort of my artsy gay friends. And the thing I loved about them was that they were just really good at life. One of the trips they said is we're going to go camping in Joshua Tree and we're going to take a shit ton of mushrooms. So we're in Joshua Tree and the sunset's going down and say, okay, this is the time. I had never done mushrooms before and I took these things and of course within about 30 minutes I'm throwing up like crazy and I'm like, this wasn't a great idea. And then my friend put on a hoodie and someone made a joke that he looked like, I don't know, the unabomb or something. And I could not stop laughing for a half an hour. It was the hard. At one point I thought I was gonna suffocate. I was laughing so hard and it just is such a fond memory. It was so beautiful and I was tripping with the colors and the sunset and laughing hysterically and with these wonderful people that were so unlike me. I was this. I don't know, I was just this fraternity jarhead and they were much more interesting than me. And I don't know, I just have very fond memories of Joshua Tree because it's so beautiful and my first and I Think my last experience with mushrooms, although I've done mushroom chocolates, but the next day it gives me a bit of a mental hangover. Daddy needs all those cells. Daddy needs all those cells for the podcast so he can pay his people. Anyways, that's my Joshua Tree mushroom story. To your question, I. I have no fucking idea why. I don't get it. I think once you get to a certain point of wealth, you have an obligation to give back and an obligation to protect. And even the robber barons who were just brutal on their way up wanted to give all their money away. Mackenzie Scott has given more money away than the Ellisons, Bezos and Musk combined. I'm going to be sexist now. And it's okay to be sexist as long as we demonize men and sanctify women. So see above, it's okay to be sexist. But there is something different about the female brain around when you become a billionaire. What is it about femininity or the female brain that is just more philanthropic and more civic minded? Whereas these dudes start paying $45 million for Melania documentary so they can kiss the ass of the President and stay out of his way or ignore the civil rights that let you be a CEO despite being gay. By the way, Tim Cook, I think I'm going to say it. I think Tim Cook and Sam Altman are standing on the shoulders of people much braver than them who took risks to promote and advance the rights of different special interest groups. And for you to engage in this sort of or enable this type of fascism, bigotry targeting special interest groups is especially, especially grotesque. Again, I don't get it. But here's the thing. What's the solution? I don't think it's trying to. If you were waiting on the better angels of these guys, don't hold your breath. I'm now under the impression that these guys would fuck their sister for an additional nickel. Need is regulation. And that is fine if your board wants to give you a trillion dollars. I'm actually down with unlimited compensation for people, but for God's sakes, let's have an alternative minimum tax where you pay at least a minimum of a 50% tax rate, take all your crazy deductions, 1202, borrowing against yourself, whatever it is, but boom, alternative minimum tax. So I think it just needs to be regulation where it's like, okay, if you put in place an algorithm that makes you a billionaire and it ends up that we can directly prove that teen suicide has gone up 60%. You might end up in jail. So just think twice before you do that. What's been a catalyst for me being more generous and outspoken? Once you start having a lot of money? Just self awareness. I decided once I hit my number, I was either gonna spend it all. I'm a selfish person, I love to have a good time. And I was gonna give the rest away. There's no reason. In my opinion, if you wanna be a billionaire, that's your business. I don't think these guys. I know these billionaires. Elon Musk sleeps with a loaded gun next to his bed and is addicted to ketamine. Do you think he's happy and he lives alone? I don't. I mean, Bezos. Yeah, Bezos seems pretty happy. He seems like he's having a pretty good time. What I think is when I give money away, it's because I want to reverse engineer to the things that are not my fault. That made me successful. The moment it happened was when I realized I'm not going to be around that much longer. I have taken more than I've given. I have a debt. All these people that came before me, the University of California Regents, California taxpayers, darpa, all of these people who stormed the beach, Omaha beach, or Pell Grants, or assisted lunch or bodily autonomy. My mom terminated pregnancy when I was 17. Had she not done that, I wouldn't have been able to go to college. I would have done the right thing. As the only man in the house, I would have gone to work. So all of these amazing things that America has brought us, we have a debt to. And I realized that as I got older, I realized I hadn't been very philanthropic and I wanted to give back. And it also. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel important. I want to be remembered as a good man and a good citizen. There's something that has infected this community in technology, young billionaires. What is it? Is it because we've never had an existential threat? They've never been drafted into war? I don't know what it is, but I love your idea. And it's. If I could have one policy, magic wand policy moment, it would be mandatory national service. Because the great legislation in the 50s and 60s around civil rights was because the majority of our lawmakers had served in the same uniform. Most of them were from the military. So I think that if we have one or two years of mandatory national service after high school or one year after high school, similar to what the Mormons do with Mission, where effectively you get great young Americans to See how wonderful other young Americans are, whether they're from different income groups, different ethnicities, different sexual orientations. Just give them a chance to see how wonderful America is and how wonderful other Americans are. And that rich kid from Alabama is a nice. She's a nice woman. And the gay kid from the Bronx, well, guess what? They have the same concerns that you have and you're all going to come out of this. I would like to think with some skills and a fidelity not to a Democratic party or religion or political ideology, but some fidelity to the flag. The lowest levels of young adult teen depression are in Singapore and in Israel, and they both have mandatory national service. And the guy who ran Singapore was a visionary and said this is the most religiously diverse country in the world. Singapore, huge danger or risk of ethnic violence. So we're gonna get them all focused on another religion and that is the country and they have mandatory national service. I just think it's a huge idea because America is the most powerful country in the world. The way we fail is we collapse on ourselves and that is we start eating each other from the inside out. But I don't think that we should be thinking about how we instill more character in these people. I do think the national service in instilling a sense of patriotism across young people is a good idea. And I think more regulation that says, fine, you want to be an asshole and have 14 kids by five different women and cut off aid to HIV positive mothers, fine. But be clear, boss. You are going to pay 50, 60, 80% of your income above $10 million to the government, similar to what we did in the 60s, 70s and 80s where economic growth was greater than it is now. Oh, that was a mouthful. Thanks for the question. Question number two comes from Chris in Toronto who emailed us. Hi, Scott, longtime listener, first time asker. How do we identify the benchmark for when we've entered an echo chamber? What is your personal stress test for staying truly informed? Additionally, who are the credible voices on the other side of your arguments that you think are worth a listen to ensure that you aren't just breathing your own exhaust? That's a really good idea. People constantly ask me for their for my information sources and I always say, well, it's my people I work with and people send me shit. I try to read the Wall Street Journal. I occasionally flip on Fox every once in a while just to say what ridiculousness or conspiracy they're spreading. Although actually, is that true? Supposedly more moderates listen to Fox and cnn, which kind of Shocked me. How do you know if you're in your own echo chamber? I think you just gotta. I find when I meet people who aren't are on the right, I used to live, and I'm still a resident of Florida, and it's not Trump country, but half the people are Trumpers. I just find I like to ask them a lot of questions. I just like to hear them out and try and understand. And I try and find smart conservative voices, but there really aren't that many conservatives anymore. It's all maga, which makes kind of no sense to me. But how do you know you're in your own bubble? Kind of when you start arguing with people in your bubble over the words they choose, it's like, well, okay, that's not the problem. And then expose yourself to different media sources. Try and follow some really thoughtful conservatives if you're on the left. Try and follow some really thoughtful people on the left if you're a con, if you're a conservative. But recognize just first off, it's like, hi, I'm Scott Galloway, and I'm an alcoholic. Actually, I'm not an alcoholic, am I? Maybe I am, anyways. But the first part of the problem or solving the problem is acknowledging it and just acknowledging that you might be in a bubble and maybe following some people who are thoughtful on the other side of the political spectrum. But if you even just recognize you're in a bubble, because what happens is the algorithms say, oh, Scott's right of center left, let's take him way left, and let's start showing him videos where someone on the right looks like a fucking idiot so he can get more and more enraged and go further and further left. And unfortunately, these algorithms aren't interested in moderates because they're harder to understand and enrage and keep engaged. So we move them further and further left and then serve them incendiary content or content that puts them further, further in their hermetically sealed bubble. I'm not really answering your question, other than to recognize you might be in a bubble and make a very concerted effort to find new media properties and new individuals to understand and also engage with people and not write them off because of their political ideology. I ask people, I know this fairly famous hedge fund manager who's really into Trump, and I'm like, are you worried about safe and fair elections? What is it you think about his economic plan? That's gonna work. I just start asking questions. A lot of my friends from college are Jewish and they're very much into Trump because they see Trump as being more supportive of Israel. And he has been what I'll call more resolute on Israel. But I'll ask a question, and my question is always, okay, there are 157 sovereign nations. On October 8, the day after the attacks on Israel, who is more supportive of Israel than. But Joe Biden. Name a single country that was more supportive of Israel than the U.S. under the leadership of Joe Biden, he deployed two carrier strike forces the next day. I just want to have a conversation. I want to understand what is it? And I'm going to sound very partisan now, but I, like, throughout history, aren't you worried that when there's a level of bigotry and racism as the kind we see right now, doesn't it always end up where they, at some point go after Jews? I just, you know, what is it that you think is so good for us as Jews in Israel with Trump? And they'll have positive feedback. Look at evidence of this. Look at, you know, he's just, I think a lot of them, by the way, were more troubled by Vice President Harris trying to have it both ways and coming across as just very mealy mouth. But anyways, I'll just start asking questions. I follow different media properties and I try and understand the conservative side. And even if you don't buy into it or it doesn't change your views, it makes your own views more bulletproof. But we all suffer from this. And I find myself occasionally realizing, like, I've signed up for an orthodoxy as opposed to just, okay, recognizing that there is a different, you know, sometimes I just ignored good judgment and rational judgment because it doesn't fit. It doesn't fit the orthodoxy of the left, which I've kind of signed up for. But I'm increasingly, what's the term? I think I'm increasing. I like to think of myself as a critical thinker and go issue by issue and to be unafraid and say, no, I don't think that makes any sense. Student loan bailouts, no fucking sense. Right? People are going to continue. Schools are going to continue to issue student debt to people who aren't going to be able to pay it back. People are going to continue to just sign here on the dotted line because they think, oh, maybe I'll never have to pay it back. Maybe I'll get bailed out again. Moral hazard. The tuition will keep skyrocketing because cheap credit that maybe people do or do not have to pay back until we cut off some of the oxygen around student debt put schools on the hook for 10, 20, 30% of bad debt and before you know it, they're going to stop loaning $200,000 to someone at a mediocre university to get a philosophy degree and go be a bartender. Okay, what is that going to do? It's going to starve the mediocre schools who are overcharging of cheap credit, which will bring down prices. Will there be some pain? Absolutely. But I thought the student loan bailout was a really bad idea. And it's like, oh, sorry boss, we thought we could trust you. This is part of the orthodoxy. Well, don't sign up for an orthodoxy. Go issue by issue and be a critical thinker and always try, if you can, take the other side and just try and think through and acknowledge what are the points on the other side. I almost really didn't say anything there. But anyways, the fact that you have recognized you're in a bubble probably means you're about to burst out of it. We'll be right back after a quick break. Support for the show comes from im8.
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Scott Galloway
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Scott Galloway
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Scott Galloway
You have an employee who gets promoted or moves Rippling can update their payroll taxes, manage any new app permissions, ship them a new laptop, issue a new copra card, and assign any required training all in one place without you having to put in all the legwork while you're switching between apps. With Rippling, you can run your entire hr, IT and finance operations as one, or pick and choose products that best fill in the gaps in your software stack. So if you or your company want to run the backbone of your business on one unified platform with people at the center, head to rippling.com profg and sign up today. That's R-I P P L-I N- dot com profg to sign up.
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Welcome back onto our final question. A listener emailed us. Hi Scott and team. Deeply grateful for the work you do. I'm helping launch a new AI startup.
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Listener or Caller
Thank you.
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Scott Galloway
After Months of negotiation. It's clear the founder is going to give me a raw deal on equity. Everyone tells me I'm getting screwed, but also that I shouldn't walk away. Should I take an opportunity, even it undervalues my contribution. And if I take it, how do I shake the feeling that I'm being exploited? Have you ever felt taken advantage of and been okay with it? I'll start with the last thing I was. I started coming a red envelope. I brought in Sequoia Capital, the most powerful venture capitalist in the world, ultimately took my job as chairman. He and I locked horns. He was using the company as a dumb stomping ground for the failed products of his portfolio companies. I called him out in a board meeting and on the way to the airport, I was kicked off the board. So I was basically kicked out of the band I started. I felt like I was totally. I want the term is wronged unfairly. And I was just so furious. And I spent the next year or two years basically trying to figure out how to replace the entire board, which I did. But anyways, it was a waste of time. Occasionally, if you're treated unfairly, the best thing to do is. I mean, if someone fires you because you're gay, okay, lawyer up. But the only thing I guarantee you in the corporate world is a series of small injustices. And I'm not saying being a doormat, but recognize every injustice is not a crime against humanity. And everyone endures those. And I'll give you an example. I feel like I've been wronged by people. I have never in my life sued anyone else or been sued. And one of my mentors was a guy named Warren Hellman from Hellman and Friedman and Hellman and Friedman, at least at that point, they'd never sued anybody. Huge private equity firm, never filed suit against anybody. He said, we just don't work with him again. And that's the approach I've taken. If I feel like I've been wronged, I just walk away and I don't work with that person again. And the best revenge is indifference, and that is to move on. And one of my another men of mine, Hamid Mogadon, said something that was profound to me. He said, scott, the best revenge is to live a fucking amazing life. So first off, going back to your question, there's two sides to this trade. If you're working in an AI startup, it means you have currency in the marketplace and credentials. So if you're feeling you're being exploited, then, boss, go get another job. Where you don't feel like they're exploiting you. So the fact that you're continuing to interview there means that while you think you deserve more, you don't think you can do better, which means they're paying you a market rate. So quite frankly, it sucks to be a grownup. It's a free market. If you're being exploited or you feel like you're being exploited, go find another job. And if you decide, well in fact this is the best opportunity to present it to me, then you're not being exploited. And you need once you start feeling like you're a victim that just feels that is not a good rap negotiating your package or whatever it is. That's an entirely different thing that you need to be coached by other people. But boss, there's two sides of this trade. The fact that you got a job at an AI company means you're skilled and if you think you're being exploited, then go somewhere else where they are not exploiting you. Otherwise get over it. Recognize it's probably it sounds like it might be the best opportunity presented to you, it's a free market and just get on with it and you know, do your best and hope and trust that if you adding a lot of value they'll recognize that and they will compensate you for that. Or you can leave and go somewhere else that will that will reward your efforts. Thanks for the question. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to office hours of prophetomedia.com again, that's officehoursoffertymedia.com or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Gennair.
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Cammie Rica is our social producer, Brad
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Williams is our editor and Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the propgy pod from propag Media.