No Mercy / No Malice: Role Models - The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

Episode: No Mercy / No Malice: Role Models
Date: February 14, 2026
As read by George Hahn

Overview

This episode focuses on the concept and importance of role models in American society—particularly in the context of leadership, politics, and business. Through a mix of cultural observations, personal anecdotes, and academic insights, Scott Galloway critiques the current state of America's role models, contrasting historical and positive examples against the damaging effects of figures like Donald Trump.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Presidential Role Model Crisis

Defining the Issue:
- 90% of Americans believe the president should be a good role model, yet Donald Trump stands as a stark counterexample ([03:04]).
- Trump's repeated failures as a role model are shaping the values of future American generations.
Trump’s Role Model Influence:
- Trump’s behavior—such as posting racist material, doubling down in crises, and displaying performative outrage—is normalized in American culture due to his prominence ([03:41]).
- His crisis management strategy, learned from Roy Cohn: “Admit nothing, deny everything, and always claim victory, no matter the actual outcome.” ([04:33])
Illustrative Quote:
- “Trump isn’t making America great again. He’s clear cutting American values.” ([03:19])

2. The Mechanics and Power of Role Models

Origins and Studies:
- Sociologist Robert K. Merton coined "role model" in 1957, distinguishing it from "reference groups" ([07:23]).
- Psychologists Morgenroth, Ryan, and Peters identified the three motivational functions of role models: they serve as behavioral models, represent what’s possible, and inspire ([08:31]).
- Historian Pamela Walker Laird identified role models as crucial for the accumulation of social capital ([09:18]).
- Steve Jobs as a modern business archetype—a case study in style and workplace culture ([10:01]).
Cultural Learning:
- Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich: humans are hardwired to follow high-prestige role models for “cultural survival skills” ([10:51]).

3. Prestige and Emulation

How Influence Spreads:
- High-prestige individuals set group agendas—if they contribute positively, others follow, and vice versa ([11:30]).
- Modern phenomena, such as world leaders copying Trump’s signature dance, demonstrate the peculiar and pervasive influence of high-visibility figures ([12:08]).
Memorable Analogy:
- “To paraphrase Mel Brooks, it’s good to be the authoritarian.” ([12:19])

4. Personal Role Models and Mentorship

Scott Galloway’s Story:
- Early financial mentorship from Cy Sero, a broker at Dean Witter, who selflessly guided a young Scott into investing and kept his mother updated ([13:02]).
- The profound and lasting effect a caring adult can have—a call to increase male mentorship, noting the troubling imbalance in Big Brothers/Big Sisters participation ([14:44]).
Poignant Quote:
- “You don’t need to be a baller or have your own family to mentor a young man. Just a guy trying to lead a virtuous life who has the most important thing to share: your presence.” ([15:01])

5. Role Models in History and Politics

Comparisons to Weimar Germany:
- Drawing troubling parallels between Trump-era political rhetoric and late-stage Weimar Republic Germany, focusing on propaganda, dehumanization, and business complicity ([15:42]).
Business Silence and Responsibility:
- Critique of Fortune 500 CEOs for their public silence on Trump out of fear, under the guise of defending “shareholder value”—a deflection from moral leadership ([16:31]).
- Private fears don’t excuse public inaction; role modeling requires courage.
Summative Challenge:
- “When the people you love are at your side by your deathbed, how will you answer the ‘What did you do?’” ([16:48])
- The episode ends on a call for Americans—especially those in power—to act as true role models, standing up for values even when difficult.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they’ll never sit under. There’s an inverse to that wisdom: Great societies decline when old men chop down forests meant to provide shade and oxygen for future generations.” – ([03:14])
“Trump’s performative concern over bad role models–‘Won’t someone think of the children’–is rich from a man who appears in the Epstein files 38,000 times. More times than Jesus is mentioned in the Bible.” ([05:43])
“My intellectual Sherpas these days are the historians Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder. Whenever they’re on my podcast, I’m reminded: history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” ([15:12])
“America doesn’t yet rhyme with the Third Reich, but the late-stage Weimar Republic.” ([15:18])
“America’s CEOs aren’t acting in the interest of shareholders by staying silent about democracy and the rule of law, they’re acting out of fear.” ([16:39])
“Life is so rich.” ([16:58]) — Galloway’s closing mantra, underscoring the richness of a life lived with conscience and courage.

Timestamps for Important Segments

03:04 — 90% of Americans think the president should be a role model; Trump’s failures discussed.
04:33 — Trump’s “Cohn playbook” and how crisis responses shape consequences.
07:23 — Academic origins of the term “role model.”
10:51 — Joseph Henrich on prestige and cultural learning.
12:08 — Trump “dance” emulated globally as an example of high-prestige modeling.
13:02 — Galloway recounts early mentorship experience.
15:12 — Parallels to Weimar Germany, dangers of dehumanizing rhetoric.
16:31 — CEOs criticized for their failure to act as moral leaders.
16:48 — Personal accountability: “What did you do?” challenge.

Summary

In “Role Models,” Scott Galloway, via George Hahn’s reading, weaves together cultural criticism, social science, historical parallels, and personal storytelling to examine the vital function of role models in society. He sharply criticizes Donald Trump and other high-profile figures for degrading American norms and demands that business and civic leaders step up—reminding listeners that being a true role model often means taking the harder, more courageous path for the next generation, not merely for one’s own reward.

Transcript

A (0:01)

Hi, this is Bella Freud. I'm the host of Fashion Neurosis. This week on the show, Esther Perel is on my couch. Erotic recovery is part of trauma healing. God, that's interesting. It's not the reward at the end. Yeah, that's the difference. And I think we both come together around that construct. Yeah. Find fashion neurosis on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

B (0:35)

Does the winter weather have you feeling tired? Antisocial? Sad? You may want to take a cue from our friends in Norway.

A (0:44)

Really? They tend to orient towards the things that they like about the season instead of just sort of seeing it as a time of year to endure.

B (0:52)

How to embrace the winter that's on the next. Explain it to me. New episodes every Sunday. Wherever you get your podcasts.

C (1:04)

Ninety percent of Americans believe it's important for the president to be a good role model. For all but the most die hard MAGA cultists, Donald Trump is the furthest thing imaginable from a role model. The consequences of his deficiencies are creating lasting damage to future generations of Americans. Role Models as read by George Hahn. Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they'll never sit under. There's an inverse to that wisdom Great societies decline when old men chop down forests meant to provide shade and oxygen for future generations. Donald Trump isn't making America great again. He's clear cutting American values. Late last Thursday night, the president posted a video promoting his debunked 2020 election conspiracy theories. The clip includes images of Michelle and Barack Obama as apes. The following morning, the video drew widespread backlash, including from Senator Tim Scott, a Trump ally and the only black Republican in the Senate, who called it the most racist thing he's seen out of this White House. Note the implication Trump has provided other examples of racism for Senator Scott to benchmark against. Initially, press secretary Caroline Leavitt dismissed the criticism as fake outrage, insisting he hadn't made a mistake. Trump doubled down, calling the video very strong in terms of voter fraud and adding that he was the least racist president you've had in a long time. Trump's crisis management role model remains Roy Cohn, the lawyer who served as Senator McCarthy's attack dog, Cohen, taught Trump to respond to criticism immediately, using asymmetrical force. Admit nothing, deny everything, and always claim victory, no matter the actual outcome. I teach a session on crisis communications in my brand strategy course at Stern. The scale of a crisis isn't a function of the mistake, but how you react to it. The better playbook Acknowledge the issue in plain language. Take responsibility and don't just fix the problem over correct with force disproportionate to the mistake. As criticism of Trump's video continued to mount, he moved on to other targets, calling an American Olympic skier who criticized his policies a loser. Next, he attacked Bad Bunny's super bowl halftime performance, writing on truth social nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children watching. Not to worry, Kid Rock performed at an alternate halftime show, which felt like watching a Ford Pinto compete at F1 Monaco. Supposedly, the criteria for entrance to Kid Rock's performance was knowing the purchase limits on Sudafed or wearing an ankle monitor. Trump's performative concern over bad role models Won't someone think of the children is rich from a man who appears in The Epstein files 38,000 times. More times than Jesus is mentioned in the Bible. More times than the word meth is uttered in all five seasons of Breaking Bad. Awesome. Trump's depraved behavior is so omnipresent, it's been normalized. Worse, it's become the cultural context for an entire generation of future civic, business and nonprofit leaders. Trump has been running for president or in office for a decade. If 2024 was the first election you were old enough to vote in, that's more than half your life. According to a 2018 Quiniac poll, 90% of Americans believe it's important for the president to be a good role model. Sociologist Robert K. Merton coined the term role model in 1957 while studying the socialization of medical students, distinguishing between reference groups, the crowd you want to belong to, and role models, individuals you emulate in a specific social role. Merton found that we learn scripts from role models that teach us how to behave in a specific status doctor, leader, parent, etc. Emulating role models, the med students engaged in anticipatory socialization, adopting the professional values and norms of practitioners before officially becoming doctors themselves. Building on Merton's work, psychologists Thekla Morgenroth, Michelle K. Ryan, and Kim Peters argued in a 2015 paper that role models serve three motivational functions acting as behavioral models, representing what's possible, and serving as sources of inspiration. In her book Networking and Success Since Benjamin Franklin, historian Pamela Walker Laird argues that access to role models is essential for accumulating social capital and influencing the career paths of American business leaders. According to Laird, Ben Franklin, the prototype for an American inventor and entrepreneur, served as a role model to countless 19th century business leaders, including Thomas Mellon, B.F. goodrich, and Frederick Weyerhaeuser. For a contemporary example of a business role model, see the Steve Jobs uniform, black turtlenecks, Levi's 501s, and New Balance sneakers. Explaining the enduring popularity of Jobs coded looks on TikTok last year, psychotherapist Eloise Skinner told Fortune, zoomers have expressed confusion about what to wear for work, given that many started their careers working from home in their pajamas during the pandemic. In other words, more than a decade after his death, Jobs continues to provide a script for how aspiring business leaders should carry themselves. Medical students, aspiring entrepreneurs, and sartorially confused zoomers don't choose their role models at random, however. In his 2015 book the Secret of Our Success, Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich argued that what sets humans apart from other species is our capacity for cultural learning. According to Henrik, role models are storage units for cultural survival skills, and we're hardwired to identify high prestige role models. Explaining a scenario where players had the choice to contribute money or not to a community project, Henrik wrote, when the high prestige player had the opportunity to contribute money, first he or she tended to contribute to and thus create, cooperate in the joint effort and then the following low prestige player usually did as well. So everyone won. But when the low prestige player went first, they tended not to contribute and then neither did the high prestige player. In effect, high prestige people can initiate or veto collaboration, giving them power to set a group's agenda, whereas low prestige people have limited veto power and often follow the lead of a role model. One recent example the Trump dance phenomenon. The dance dates to his 2020 campaign, the nadir of Trump's appeal and prestige. Four years later, after Trump mounted the greatest political comeback in American history, professional athletes, the general public, and two world leaders, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Argentina's President Javier Milei, were emulating a septuagenarian's Village People impression. To paraphrase Mel Brooks, it's good to be the authoritarian. Last fall, my Pivot co host Kara Swisher and I did a live tour. The final stop was Los Angeles, my hometown. It was a full circle moment for me, as one of my early role models was in the audience. When I was 13, I walked into the Dean Witter office in Westwood with $200 my mother's boyfriend had given me with instructions to figure out how to buy stocks or return the money. Ean Witter Cy Sero, a good man with an irrational passion for the well being of a child who wasn't his, gave me my first lesson in financial markets. We decided to invest my bounty in 13 shares of Columbia Pictures ticker CPS at 15 and 3/8 dollars per share. Each weekday for the next two years I'd drop two dimes into a payphone and call SAI to discuss my portfolio. He made time for me. He also made time to call my mom. Not to pitch her for business. We had no money, but to let her know what we discussed in the calls and say nice things about me. Eventually I lost touch with Psy and sold the stock to fund a road trip to Ensenada with my UCLA fraternity brothers. But in 2021 I reconnected with my old broker. Our lives had moved along eerily similar paths. UCLA Financial Services both of us at Morgan Stanley via Dean Witter for psy, divorce, two kids and then entrepreneurship. I've made a good great living starting and selling companies. However, the bulk of my wealth is a function of one thing I've done since the age of 13 invest in stocks. Unfortunately, there are three times as many women applying to be Big Sisters in NYC than men applying to be Big Brothers. In sum, we need more science arrows. You don't need to be a baller or have your own family to mentor a young man. Just a guy trying to lead a virtuous life who has the most important thing to share your presence. My intellectual Sherpas these days are the historians Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder. Whenever they're on my podcast, I'm reminded history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. After re electing an insurrectionist grifter, America doesn't yet rhyme with the Third Reich, but the late stage Weimar Republic. One alarming parallel rhetoric that dehumanizes political opponents and out groups. In his speeches, Hitler deployed vermin and parasite to fear monger Germans into committing mass murder. Trump calls immigrants garbage from shithole countries, priming some Americans to want to throw out their neighbors. Meanwhile, the press is the enemy of the people and dissenters are the enemy within. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that the use of violent words in Trump's speeches has trended upwards since 2015, with an increasing focus on crime. The growing violence of Trump's language suggests a strategy aimed at spreading anxiety in order to boost demand for a strong leader who can combat the threats he invokes, wrote the study's authors, UCLA political science professors Nikita Savin and Daniel Treisman. Another alarming parallel with Weimar Germany business leaders who provide cloud cover with their silence. German industrialists might have stopped Hitler, but chose silence instead as they wanted his help crushing labor unions in public fortune 500 CEOs are silent about Trump. They prefer to wait him out, issuing watered down press releases through trade groups only when absolutely necessary and bending the knee in exchange for tariff relief and favorable regulatory treatment. In other words, they've chosen the path of zero resistance, creating a speedway for an authoritarian. In private, it's a different story. I've heard from several CEOs since we launched Resist and Unsubscribe. Their rap is always the same. Scott, I share your concerns, but my hands are tied. Shareholder value? That's bullshit coming from a cohort with a bipartisan history of criticizing presidents, especially on tax and regulatory policy. America's CEOs aren't acting in the interest of shareholders by staying silent about democracy and the rule of law, they're acting out of fear. My response to them is also the same. When the people you love are at your side by your deathbed, how will you answer the what did you do? Do? Those of us lucky enough to have built rewarding lives and companies owe a debt only to shareholders or to Americans who sacrificed for our rights. Are we willing to do the right thing, even when it's hard? Are we role models? Life is so rich.