Does Wealth Make You Selfish?, How Scott Stays Informed, and Negotiating Equity Deals

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1:44Scott Galloway:Welcome to Office Hours with Prop 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 officehours at PropGmedia.com. Again, that's officehours at 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 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.

2:16Like many people, and I think including yourself, have 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?

2:52Or maybe it's just the 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 unsubscribed from five different streaming services. My wallet loves you. My family hates you. Keep up the good work, boss.

3:19Scott 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 from my boys of Memo to Sell, 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, Alfa 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.

3:55Scott Galloway: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 sun sets going down and say, OK, 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. 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 Unabomber or something. And I could not stop laughing for a half an hour. It was the hard, at one point I thought I was going to suffocate.

4:26Scott Galloway: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 in my first, and I think my last experience with mushrooms, although I 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 we can pay his people.

5:02Scott Galloway:Anyways, that's my Joshua Tree mushroom story. To your question, 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 OK to be sexist as long as we demonize men and sanctify women. So see above, It's OK to be sexist. But there is something different about the female brain around when you become a billionaire.

5:37Scott Galloway:What is it about femininity or the female brain that is just more philanthropic and more civic minded? Whereas these dudes start paying forty five million dollars 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.

6:21Scott Galloway: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. What we 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.

6:53Scott Galloway:But boom, I'll turn it minimum tax. So I don't I think it just needs to be regulation where it's like, OK, 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 percent, you might end up in jail. So just think twice before you do that. What's been the catalyst for me being more generous and outspoken once you started having a lot of money? Just self-awareness. I decided once I hit my number, I was either going to spend it all. I'm a selfish person. I lived up a good time and I was going to give the rest away. There's no reason, in my opinion, if you want to be a billionaire, that's your business.

7:25Scott Galloway: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.

8:08Scott Galloway: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 then 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?

8:40Scott Galloway: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 are 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.

9:26Scott Galloway:And that rich kid from Alabama is a nice, she's a nice woman and a 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.

10:02Scott Galloway:So we're going to 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 and 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.

10:40Scott Galloway:But be clear, boss, you are going to pay 50, 60, 80 percent 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, long-time 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?

11:16Scott Galloway:That's a really good idea. People constantly ask me for 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, of, 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 there's, it's kind of, it's not Trump country, but half the people are Trumpers.

11:56Scott Galloway: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.

12:31Scott Galloway: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.

13:06Scott Galloway: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 and 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.

13:41Scott Galloway:I'm like, what, you know, are you worried about safe and fair elections? What is it you think about his economic plan that's going to work? You know, 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, OK, there are 157 sovereign nations on October the 8th, the day after the attacks on Israel. Who is more supportive of Israel than Joe Biden? Name a single country that was more supportive of Israel than the U.S.

14:16Scott Galloway: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'm 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.

14:57Scott Galloway: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, OK, recognizing that there is a different, you know, sometimes I just ignored good judgment, 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?

15:36Scott Galloway: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. Like 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. 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.

16:08Scott Galloway:Put schools on the hook for 10, 20, 30 percent 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. OK, 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.

16:42Scott Galloway: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.

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18:20Scott Galloway:Support for today's show comes from Framer. Let's say your marketing team wants a new landing page, so the design team mocks it up, and then your engineering department, who's already got too much on their plate, responds with, yeah, we'll get to it. Thousands of businesses, from early stage startups to Fortune 500s, are choosing to build their sites in Framer, where changes take minutes instead of days to solve this very problem. Framer's enterprise-grade no-code website builder used by teams at companies, including Perplexity and Miro, to move faster. with real-time collaboration or robust CMS with everything you need for great SEO and advanced analytics that include integrated A-B testing, your designers and marketers are empowered to build and maximize your.com from day one.

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20:45Scott Galloway:Welcome back. On to 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. 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 if 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 started coming to a red envelope. I brought in Sequoia Capital, the most powerful venture capitalist in the world, ultimately took my job as chairman.

21:22Scott Galloway:He and I locked horns. He was using the company as a dumping 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 don't know the term is wrong, done fairly. 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.

21:56Scott Galloway: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 & Friedman. And Hellman & 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 them again.

22:30Scott Galloway: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, you know, the best revenge is indifference. And that is to move on. And one of my, another man 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, come 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.