Scott Galloway has been a prescient thinker for 30 years.
Today, he’s more popular than ever.
In 1999, the World Economic Forum named Scott as one of the "Global Leaders of Tomorrow”, and has since served on the Board of Directors for Urban Outfitters, The New York Times, Eddie Bauer, and the Haas School Of Business. His 2017 book, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google, gave readers a fascinating look behind the curtain of the most dominant corporations in history, ellucidating the novel business practices and marketing tactics that have brought them to success. Today, he continues to teach, as well as publish his award-winning weekly newsletter - No Mercy/No Malice.
Why did we invite him on?
We’ve conversed with Scott before - Konstantin appearing alongside him on Diary of A CEO, for example - but never have we had the pleasure of hosting him. He’s been on the wishlist for some time now, and we were thrilled when the opportunity to sit down with one of the most popular thinkers of the decade presented itself.
More recently, Scott has entered the ‘mindset’ conversation, becoming a wildly popular and admired voice in male psychology. His latest book - Notes On Being A Man - was released last year to widespread acclaim.
There’s no shortage of ‘masculinity influencers’ in the world today, but Scott tears away from the herd. His view is unique to him. We wanted to explore it.
What did we talk about?
Before we go into Scott’s assessment of masculinity, it’s important to lay out where he stands. ‘The masculinity crisis’ is typically the domain of right-wingers; conservatives who lament the lack of machismo in modern culture and call upon men to lift weights and beat their chest. It’s a familiar archetype, bur it’s not Scott, who plants himself firmly on the Left.
”I’m a part of the Left, but we have an apostate culture. You either sign up 100% or you’re an enemy. The response is so swift and violent.”
It makes him uniquely powerful. The likes of Jordan Peterson or Nick Freitas… their critics can dismiss them as conservative and never have to contend with what they’re saying. Of course they’d say that, they’re just dumb right-wingers. It’s a tedious, but all-too-familiar retort.
Scott’s position on the Left makes him an effective critic, and puts into harsh daylight how serious the problem is.
“Men between the ages of 20-20 are spending less time outside than prison inmates. 45% of men aged 18-24 have never asked a woman out in person. We’re evolving a species of asexual, asocial males.”
So, how did it happen?
Scott stresses that there is no one factor. That would be too simple - too easily solved. Instead, it’s a tapestry of various forces shaping modern life. First and foremost, unignorably: the internet.
For almost all of human history, young men have had no choice but to go out and make a living, find a partner, build a family and provide for it. Now, not only can they avoid these rites of passage - it’s much easier to do that than see them through. Social media platforms didn’t force men into the shadows, but they made it all too possible to retreat.
”The most valuable companies in the world, with God-like technology, have pounced on and worsened the polarisation of young men from society. Why put on a tie and try get a job when you can sit at home and trade crypto? Why go through the cost and humiliation and stress of seeking a romantic partner when you have synthetic lifelike porn available to you 24/7?”
Perhaps men could be tempted out of their corner if the real world were more inviting. But the situation is not helped by the financial circumstances that young men find themselves in. This group are finding it increasingly difficult to get a foot on the job ladder, start a career, and make something of themselves. Record numbers are living at home later in life, and an alarming rate of them are checking out of the work force entirely. The second-order effects are disastrous.
”Only 1/3 of men under 30 are in relationships, but 2/3 of women under 30 are in relationships. It doesn’t sound possible. But women are dating older; they want partners who are independent, have their sh*t together and can provide for them, and young men can’t do that.”
If things weren’t bad enough, they immediately get worse.
The archetypal image of a single woman is much more tragic than that of the single man. The single woman sits on her sofa, watching soap operas and eating ice cream, warmed by an apathetic cat. The single man? Why, he’s an Ubermensch. A winner. He beds damsels on a pile of money. He might be a pig, but he’s got all the mud he could want.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
