The Government’s Struggle With Brand Strategy, When Is It Time to Change Careers? and Scott’s Best Relationship Advice

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1:23Download today. Welcome to Office Hours with Prabhji. 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, please email a voice recording to officehours at profgmedia.com. Again, that's officehours at profgmedia.com. So with that, first question.

1:45Hi, Scott. I'm currently working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a regulations manager for the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water. My office is responsible for regulating contaminants in drinking water, such as lead and PFAS. While the EPA has been in the news quite a bit over the past few years, mostly for good reasons, I've discovered firsthand that the federal government, specifically the civil service, is not very good at brand strategy. I'm taking steps to pivot towards an external communications role within the agency because I believe there's a lot more that the EPA can do to show Americans the value of our work beyond getting the occasional headline in the New York Times or something when we finalize a big regulation.

2:24My question for you is, how would you change the way the executive branch agencies engage with the public? And, of course, thank you for your continued wisdom and Cialis jokes. Take care, Scott, from Ethan Schwartz in Washington, D.C. That's a super interesting question. Essentially, the government, I mean, you could argue that a key component of winning hearts and minds is branding. One of the reasons the United States has had the best economic growth in the world is that because we have kind of a risk-taking culture, because we have a multicultural culture. Multicultural culture? That makes no fucking sense.

3:03We have people from different places in the world. And as a result, we're able to build global brands. How many global brands have come out of China? How many global brands have come out of Japan? A decent number have come out of Japan. But the majority of really great kind of global brands come out of the U.S. and Europe. And I would argue part of that is our culture, at least in the U.S., of risk-taking. And in Europe, it's because I believe that a multicultural society just has an easier time understanding and appreciating different cohorts and how to market to them. I also think, and this sounds a little weird, but I think we're more in touch with our emotions and more encouraged to express communication that creates emotion.

3:43Branding is essentially unearned margin or a shorthand. And I stay at the Four Seasons or the Ritz-Carlton or the Mandarin Oriental because they always do an eight and I don't have time to look for hotels. Now, granted, the importance of branding has declined because now you have your social graph or trip advisor to kind of tell you, well, no, this is the hotel you should stay at. You should stay at, you know, the Faena and South Beach. Anyways, don't know how I got here. The government is losing and corporations, one of the reasons corporations have overrun Washington is that Washington has done a pretty piss poor job of branding themselves.

4:15And that is they've let these billionaires, I should stop playing in the identity box of billionaires. I'll just say assholes, assholes who tend to have a lot of money and maybe own a platform and can communicate. But a lot about branding is just controlling the message or just awareness. Something that really upsets me right now is the poor branding of the Biden administration. I mean, for God's sakes, who the fuck exactly is president right now? It appears to be the president-elect is now president, and then his vice president is First Lady Alania. They are totally controlling the narrative because we have a president that for some reason people around him thought it was a good idea that he should run again.

4:52And quite frankly, comes across as just feeble. And the people around him aren't willing for him to be in anything that's not scripted where he's wrapping a medal around Bono. And as a result, they are controlling the narrative. they are controlling the branding. In addition, I think you're right. I don't think they do a very good job of communicating how important the EPA is and the importance of clean drinking water and managing the messaging such that people say, you know what, the EPA are the good guys, instead of having these people whose financial interest is to position them as the bad guys.

5:24So the fight of branding, if you will, the importance of branding, it plays a critical role, not only in developing shareholder value, but also in ensuring that our fantastic agencies and government agencies, I just never understood how people are so comfortable shitposting government. It's shitposting yourself, folks. We elect these people. We make the decisions around who represents us in government, and they make the decisions around these agencies. And the notion that we don't have a vested interest in all these things, and they don't represent who we are, I find it just fucking hilarious that the majority of people who, who, hilarious is the wrong word, who shipposts to the government are the ones benefiting most of in the government.

6:02We need great agencies like the EPA to identify what is their brand identity, how can they position it against two things, where is the market and what are their strengths, and then specifically do a better job of using platforms and spokespeople to get out there to respond quickly to misinformation and craft their own message. Thank you for the question. Question number two. Hi, Prof G. My name is Xavier, and I'm a 23-year-old from good old Appalachia with a political science degree from a no-namer school in the middle of nowhere. Over the past three years, I've worked as a PR, IR, and events professional specifically within the indie video game industry.

6:40With the state of the video game industry in a constant decline, I'm starting to get spooked as even my current company announced layoffs this past week. I'm wondering if you have any advice on pivoting careers, specifically when my hard and soft skill set is so pigeonholed in this specific industry. Thanks for your time. Okay, so spooked is a term, when I think of the term spook, it's a horse gets spooked and makes an irrational decision. Are you making an irrational decision by getting out of this industry? Because I think the video gaming industry is just an enormous industry. And it's right now, it's in what I'd call cyclical decline.

7:19I think video games are likely going to continue to thrive in some format. It's just such a big business. And this is pulse marketing, but Jesus Christ, I think about the amount of time and attention my 14-year-old son spends on, you know, Fortnite or UEFA or whatever it is, Madden soccer. I just think that's a big business and probably a pretty decent industry. Let's look at some data here. After a huge boom during COVID, the video game industry has shrunk. In 2020, the gaming industry grew over 23%. That's off a big base. However, that boom quickly turned to bust. So layoffs in the video game industry by year.

8:002022, 8 ,500 people. 2023, 11 ,000. And 2024, 12 ,000. And you're right. People are just simply spending less time gaming. But I mean, there was a bit of a sugar or an anomaly high, a sugar high or an anomaly during COVID, right, where people were trapped at homes. The first quarter of 2021, average play time has dropped a whopping 26%. But again, that's off of an unnatural base. I would suggest that if you like the industry and you're good at it, I don't think you want to sort of ping from industry to industry when it starts going down. I think you need to decide, is this decline cyclical or structural?

8:38because every industry is going to have cyclical declines. And if you try and hopscotch from different industry based on cyclical declines, you're just going to be moving around and kind of starting over. If you're a letter E in video games and you're good at and you like it, if you go somewhere else that's growing, if you're going to AI, you're going to start a letter C. And trust me, AI is going to have cyclical downturns. So I would suggest a couple of things. One, determine if this is a cyclical or a structural decline. Obviously, I'm putting forward a comment and a viewpoint there. And two, I would assemble a kitchen cabinet of people that know you, know how good you are, know your seat, know your skills.

9:14You know, what are you bringing something that is truly differentiated to the industry that foots to your skills as opposed to getting spooked and moving out? So one way to know that an industry is probably about to go into decline is to look at the most popular industry out of amongst second year business school students. Why is that? Because they're going, typically, second year business school students are rearview looking, rearview mirror looking. And that is they look at what's hot now. Well, when something's hot now, that means it's probably peaked and may eventually go into its own cyclical decline.

9:48It's hard to do, but the best or the most fortunate way to go into an industry is to go into it when it's at a trough and it's about to come back. But no, this is an amazing industry. And I think over the medium and long term this industry, whether it's reshaped, is going to continue to thrive. I appreciate the question. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

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12:49Welcome back. Question number three. Hey Scott, I hope you're well. My name is Patrick, I'm 28 years old from the UK. Thank you so much for all your work and for your constant inspiration. My question is related to something that you've mentioned before, which I believe is where you sit down with your partner and you discuss your goals either for the coming year or for the five years coming and you work to support each other on those goals. I've entered a fairly new relationship and coming up to the new year I thought it would be a great opportunity to have one of these conversations with my partner.

13:20And I was looking for some structure on how you have those conversations. Thank you so much for the work that you do. A massive fan of your work. And please keep it up the dog. Thank you. Dude, how dreamy are you? British accent. You're thinking about investing in your partnership, even though you're a year end. When I was a year end, I was like, hey, do you want to go to St. Bart's? I mean, I was not thinking the way you were thinking. So kudos to you and your partner is very fortunate. I've given several best man toasts and I always give the same toast and it slightly horrifies and delights everybody.

13:53I think there are three things to remember in a partnership. One, put the scorecard away. And that is decide what kind of boyfriend, husband, lover you want to be and just be that person. And stop thinking, well, her parents were in town and I was really nice to them. So when my mom comes to town, she needs to be really nice. I mean, I'm not saying get walked all over. But decide what kind of partner you want to be and try and hold yourself to that expectation. And if you're on the plus side, if you're offering more than your partner is, you win. That's great. That's surplus value, which I think is one of the key metrics to masculinity.

14:32You give witness to people's life. You notice them. You absorb more complaints than you give. You create more tax revenue than you absorb of social services. I think surplus value is a decent metric for masculinity. Also recognize that you'll likely naturally inflate your own contributions and diminish theirs, even if it's unintentional. So as a result, if you keep score, it just you end up frustrated and anxious. So I stopped keeping score across my relationships. And it's been a big unlock. back to a year in, I would try and express as much physical desire as possible. I think affection, not just sex, but affection and sex say, I choose you.

15:16I think women want to be wanted. And I think that it's fun. It's nice when you're young. And I think we're meant to procreate and be physical. And it's what separates you from being romantic partners from friends. So anytime you feel you want to hold her hand, you want to, you know, lie on top of her and express affection while you're watching TV. You know, I think these things are wonderful. I think that's what you're supposed to be doing. And then third is never let your partner be hungry or cold. I have found that probably 50 percent of my major blow ups with my partners have been when I look back on it, that they were either hungry or cold.

15:56Always have a Pashmina and a power bar wherever you are, wherever you are. So one of my methods is, or what I talk about or what you're referring to, sitting down and talking about goals and unlocks, is more for, I think, a relationship that's a little bit more mature. You're still in an exploration, getting to know you kind of phase that you're in. But I think more just specifically, when I think of partnership, you're giving witness to their life. If you're Mel Robbins, who is on our podcast, consideration and admiration, you recognize that they're into something and you go out of their way.

16:31You go out of your way to get tickets for it. You know she likes a certain meal, so you go ahead and you order that. You admire them. You want them to occasionally be on a stage where they get claps from strangers or you brag about them behind their back or in front of people. Mine is a little bit, I think, what I do with my partners, not every year we sit down and say, okay, all costs, logistics aside, what would be really cool to do? That's why we moved to Europe. But I think the fact that you're even thinking this way means you're like in the top 1 % of boyfriends. Most men do not think this way.

17:07Thanks so much for the question. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehours at propgmedia.com. Again, that's officehours at ProfGmedia.com.

17:45new episodes every Monday and Thursday.

18:15Thank you.