No Mercy / No Malice: Origin Story

0:28Support for this show comes from Aura Frames. Steel is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast, so orders you now to get it in time for the holidays and support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

0:45Support for the show comes from Snapdragon. Take charge of your day with a PC that can keep up with you. With PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite processors, you get up to 22 hours of battery life so you can be productive on your terms. Whether that's during coffee shop marathons, airport layovers, or wherever life takes you, it's the performance you deserve for your busy life. Break free from power outlets with a PC powered by Snapdragon X Elite. Learn more at snapdragon.com slash laptops. Battery life varies significantly based on device, settings, usage, and other factors.

1:25I'm Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice. Everyone comes from somewhere. The stories we tell about ourselves determine where we end up. Origin Story, as read by George Hahn.

1:45Every one of us has an origin story. We define ourselves by our background, the narrative of what made us who we are. However, people often don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. And the narrative of I is often that, a story. James Fry found no takers for his novel, so he repackaged it as a memoir, his story, which became the number one bestseller, A Million Little Pieces. Biographies and memoirs are America's second favorite book genre. Ronald Reagan tried to curry favor with Israeli leaders with a story about how he helped liberate Nazi death camps in World War II. He didn't. Did his military service in Hollywood.

2:37P. Diddy built an empire on allusions to his criminal past, but he attended the same prep school as the founder of Sequoia Capital before attending Howard University. Fabricated military service is apparently so common that Congress passed a law against it. People embellish their origin stories, as it's the only thing others have to go on, from potential employers and friends to potential mates. We are the product of our circumstances, personally and professionally, and a good origin story confers meaning to our life and career. We should recognize that and embrace it, but also be honest about it.

3:22The most important factor in determining a person's future is when and where they are born. Each of us, born into any other situation, would experience a different outcome. Just as the market trumps individual performance, so does circumstance. I likely would not be an entrepreneur or an academic had I been born in South Sudan If I'd been born in 1920s Germany, I'd likely have been a Nazi who perished on a Russian field This isn't just true across continents and centuries It's also evident at a micro level Being born one year earlier or later can make a big difference People who graduate into a recession earn less for 10 to 15 years than those who graduate amid prosperity Fate also changes block to block One of the strongest signals of life expectancy and much else is the zip code where you're born Within the same city, life expectancy can vary by 30 years based on zip code Meanwhile, an American female whose parents rank in the bottom decile of earners has a 3 in 10 chance of having a teenage pregnancy.

4:41For daughters in the top decile, it's 3 in 100. This all confirms a basic point. The cards you're dealt matter. A lot.

4:57Your income is the clearest indicator of how much money your kid will make when they're 30. Churn is increasingly a rare-earth element in the U.S. Per a Georgetown analysis, quote, It's better to be born rich than smart.

5:25However, the people dealt the best cards can't see their hands. The myth of the self-made man is rife among U.S. citizens who've never faced a draft or registered a devaluation in their currency. people who are remora fish on investments made by the U.S. government. Tech has raised a cohort of people who simultaneously credit their character for their success and blame a rigged market for their failures. The real cage match in tech is entitlement versus empathy. The former is winning, and that results in a staggering accumulation of power that's amoral, focused only on the aggregation of more power regardless of what happens to people with less.

6:13Side note, I hope they beat the shit out of each other. Is that wrong? Until 40, my story was that I was the son of a single immigrant mother who lived and died as secretary. I overcame those humble beginnings to achieve significant success because, you know, I'm awesome. After 40, my eyesight began to wane, but I could see clearer I was born a straight white male in 1960s California Which gave me state-sponsored access to elite universities, UCLA and Berkeley UCLA had an acceptance rate of 76 % when I applied This year, it's less than 9 % Later, Berkeley admitted me to its MBA program with a GPA of, no joke, 2.27 from UCLA.

7:11Total tuition for all seven years? $80 ,000. I came of professional age in an era of processing power and the internet. I lived in San Francisco where in the decade of the 90s, more wealth was created within a seven-mile radius than in all of Europe since World War II. I was given a rocket ship, built by others. To be clear, I'm talented and navigated the ship well, but I wasn't going to soar without the sacrifice and talent of millions of others. The ship blew up several times, but I survived and there were other vessels waiting. Luck doesn't begin to describe my situation. My freshman college roommate, born gay, took his own life at 33 when his HIV progressed to full-blown AIDS.

8:05Two decades later, I'm in Ibiza with friends, finding a quiet place to FaceTime my boys and get updates on our dog, Leia. She's not feeling well. Like others, I have faced hardship and absent father and tragedy. lost my mom early. But each of these losses has played a role in my good fortune. I make my living communicating, and much of this skill isn't the result of my own hard work. My dad can captivate any room, and even though he wasn't around much, I inherited some of his ability. My mom's sickness and our inability to access good care was a hugely motivating, defining moment for me. I saw the rough cut of the American story, and decided to get my shit together in hopes of living a richer life and garnering the resources to take better care of the people who mattered to me.

9:00Capitalism is brutal and motivating. Lately, the balance has swung too far to the former. But that's another post. Supposedly, each of us has bits of every material present at the dawn of the universe. It makes sense, at least the morning after mushroom chocolates, see above Ibiza, that our matter will also be present in galaxies, stars, planets, organisms birthed trillions of years from now. Our stories may or may not make the journey, but the emotions they inspire will become instinct, then DNA, and this matter will disperse. So the question is, distinct from the story you and others tell about yourself.

9:48How do you make people feel? When people come in contact with you, do they feel insecure or inspired? Do you leave people cold or comforted? Do you bring joy, harmony, love? I'm in a deficit here. I've taken more than I've given. I have a debt to pay. I've started with my boys and am working outward from there. Still time. It's a comforting thought that bits of us will live on and arrive at distant places trillions of years from now. We all have our longest journey still ahead of us. When you get there, when you show up, what will be felt?

10:37Life is so rich.

10:54What do walking 10 ,000 steps every day, eating five servings of fruits and veggies, and getting eight hours of sleep have in common? They're all healthy choices. But do all healthier choices really pay off? With prescription plans from CVS Caremark, they do. Their plan designs give your members more choice, which gives your members more ways to get on, stay on, and manage their meds. And that helps your business control your costs, because healthier members are better for business. Go to cmk.co.access to learn more about helping your members stay adherent. That's cmk.co.access.

11:36Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com.