I don’t know where to begin. I’m a fan of Scott. I think he reminds me of someone I went to high school with. He was bright and always cursing at the right time. I remember laughing. Because I felt close to being free. But he was the one with the ability to put himself in the middle of controversy.
[Listen to the FULL INTERVIEW with Scott Galloway]
That’s something I (still) can’t do.
He’d say eff this or eff that. Part of me felt compelled to egg him on. But he didn’t need it. He was comfortable being cynical and right.
Scott Galloway does this with business. I watch his weekly “Winners & Losers” videos where he tells you things like “Brands are dying” and “Amazon will be broken up” Then he’ll dress up like Spock and I’ll lose my mind.
I get these videos emailed to my phone. And I’m also subscribed to his YouTube channel.
He came on my podcast to talk about his new book, “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.”
But we also talked about his past: creating and selling companies. Being on the board of The New York Times, wanting to salvage the newspaper industry (his idea back then was brilliant).
“I got laughed out of the room,” he said.
“What was your idea?”
“That the stupidest thing we did is buy into this bullshit lie that ‘information wants to be free.’”He’s right. I remember the beginning on the internet. We gave information away… And now they’re profiting off us. Scott called it “the hot girl effect”
“Everybody wants to hang out with the hot girl,” he said. “So, to say you’re doing a deal with Google made you feel younger and more interesting.”
They said “information wants to free.” So deals were made.
He told me exactly how he would’ve turned it around. And I felt like I was listening to the possibility of new reality.
That’s what Scott Galloway brings to the table. Beyond strategy or analysis. Beyond brilliance, he brings possibility. And teaches you that it’s not over.
“The Four” are winning.
But I told Scott nobody really cares. Nobody cares which one of these companies “wins.”
I’m interested in is learning how to win too. I want to know HOW Amazon, Apple, Facebook & Google became influential. And disruptive. So I can be influential and disruptive, too.
[Listen to the FULL INTERVIEW with Scott Galloway]
Scott said all Fortune 500 CEO’s have one thing in common... or at least “450 of them have one thing in common.”
They’re likable.
“Even the ones that are psychopaths?” I said.
“Yeah…”
He explained: ”During the day these people are Darwin and Darth Vader, make no mistake about it. They play full body contact business and they make very brutal decisions. They dominate markets. They put companies out of business. And they don’t put warning labels on your iPad even though your kid has a crack-like addiction to the thing.”
He called them “wolves in sheeps clothing.”
Zuckerberg, Jobs, Bezos, Page, Brin.
But then he told me the principles they standby...
There’s five in total.
And we go through them all on this podcast. Listen learn HOW you can copy the 4 most on influential companies
[Listen to the FULL INTERVIEW with Scott Galloway]
James Altucher is the author of the bestselling book Choose Yourself, editor at The Altucher Report and host of the popular podcast, The James Altucher Show, which takes you beyond business and entrepreneurship by exploring what it means to be human and achieve well-being in a world that is increasingly complicated. Join the 136,000 readers getting a dose of my best and controversial content. Join here.