Pivot · Apr 2, 2021

Big Tech military contracts, Compass's IPO, and President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 36:08. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Scott Galloway · 36:08 I just don't understand why a private company needs to, all this hand wringing to, okay, is our service, is shareholder value, is our health for the world better without these elements on our platform? And if the answer is yes, okay, that's all they need to answer to. I don't Kara Swisher · 36:24 I don't certainly can do it, which is sort of goes against Nick's idea that they can't. He didn't really cover that in this piece. Anyway, we're gonna move on and take a listener mail question. I agree with you. I think it'll be interesting to see. We're gonna be talking about this issue, because I know it's near and dear to your heart, cancel culture, but I'm gonna call it what Roxanne Gay calls it consequence culture. We'll discuss what that means on Monday. That was my Yeah. It's consequence culture. It's not cancel culture for fuck's sake. Anyway, moving on. Let's take a listener mail question. Scott Galloway · 36:52 You've got you've got I can't believe I'm gonna be a mailman. You've you've got mail. Speaker · 36:58 Hey, Karen Scott. First off, Carrie, congratulations on the adoption being official. Blessings to you and your beautiful family. I'm sure y'all have seen the latest research from Gallup saying those who claim membership in a church or faith community has dropped below 50% in The USA. As United Methodist clergy person in Dallas, I have many questions about this, but my question for y'all is, do you see this as a rise in secularization or a general evolution from membership to subscription where people are consuming spirituality much like they do media? If so, what does a faith rindle look like, Scott? How can technology benefit faith communities? And how can I get in touch with folks at WeWork or Airbnb to discuss coworking sacred space? I know a lot of spaces that are far too empty. Love your show. Kara Swisher · 37:37 Thank you for writing in this question. I am not a religious person. I grew up Catholic, but have not, been inside a Catholic church since I was confirmed, I think. So this is an interesting question. What do you think, Scott? I think there's been some really fascinating stuff done online with religion over the pandemic, for example. Scott Galloway · 37:53 So I'm a rabid atheist. Atheism is a core part of my being. It gives me a finite nature of life and motivates me. It's been a real positive in my life. Kara Swisher · 38:04 I'm an agnostic. Scott Galloway · 38:05 Agnostics are just, agnostics are atheists that are wimps. Come out of the closet and say you're a fucking atheist. I to I say that there's something, but I don't know which one. Such bullshit. Kara Swisher · 38:19 It's hard to get away from Scott Galloway · 38:20 the kids. Grow a parent, come to atheism. Anyways. I don't Kara Swisher · 38:24 know I can't Scott Galloway · 38:24 do I think one of the most dangerous and disappointing things in our country is the decline in church attendance. Grew up, my dad's been married and divorced four times. So I went to a variety of religious institutions growing up, Presbyterian Church, temple. And I think it's wonderful when people and Americans get together once every Sunday to hold hands and think about agency and something bigger than themselves, show empathy, greet their neighbor, sing together. Kara Swisher · 38:56 Physically, this isn't a physical element, not just online. Scott Galloway · 38:58 But I think church is wonderful. Think church And I think one of the reasons we have more mass shootings, we have more depression, we have loneliness, is we have lost the connective tissue between Americans. And one of the connective tissues traditionally in American society has been religion. And I don't even think of it as worship of a God. I think of it as worship of a community. And the kind of central star, if you will, or the role model started with this great viewpoint of love the poor. And it's just not a bad idea to get together every Sunday and talk about how we should love the poor. I think a lot of these young men who ended up being mass shooters, I wonder what would have happened if they'd been, actually that one guy at the agent spa thing, come to think of it, he had a real conflict with It's a complicated issue, but I would argue that as a society becomes more educated and wealthier, church attendance goes down, but we still have these huge questions. And unfortunately, we've replaced spirituality with this fetishization of the nearest thing, the mysticism and godlike impression, and that is technology. And instead of church attendance, instead of worshiping Jesus, and I'm a big fan of JC. I think he's a wonderful man. I do believe he existed. I just don't buy his lineage. The problem is we've replaced him with a man, effectively or theoretically with a man who denied his own blood under oath to avoid child support payments when he was worth a $250,000,000. That our new Jesus Christ are Jack Dorsey and Steve Jobs, and it's really unhealthy. So I think I'm a huge fan. I give money to churches. Kara Swisher · 40:33 It's actually Elon. It's funny that you pick those two. Scott Galloway · 40:35 Elon's Elon's the new Jesus. Yeah, you might be right. Yeah. Think it's terrible for our society. And I say that as someone who's a 100% convinced that when I about to die, I'm gonna look into my kid's eyes and our relationship is coming to an end. I do not believe in an afterlife, but I think church, the decline in church attendance signals something really unfortunate in our society. Kara Swisher · 40:55 It does. And it plays into... One of the things... I've been watching an excellent series. I've mentioned it before on HBO, Into the Storm, the Q non documentary, which I think is fantastic. And one of the things... There's such a sad underbelly to our world. And, it sort of plays into Nick Clegg's. It was always there. But, boy, does the Internet take it to new levels. You know, these eight chan and stuff like... It's disgusting and and really depressing. And, actually, the founder of eight chan is the one that went that way. He just was... There was a point... There's a limit to free speech at some point. Anyway, we'll see. We're not very religious, sir. I don't know. That is a good idea. We think that there should be more ability for people to get together in a community of faith, whatever they have Scott Galloway · 41:35 to It's a huge issue that we keep talking about and the that is we're all, we're all, you know, less time at work. And the cousin, the evil cousin to dispersion is segregation. And it's not only segregation physically, it's segregation emotionally. And we don't interact with people when we don't see people of different demographic groups at the mall or in the movie theater. Kara Swisher · 41:54 And like schools and like schools for K through 12. Maybe not college as much, but K through 12. It really gives the place. Although, think some of Scott Galloway · 42:02 the Where did churches you go to high school, Kara? Kara Swisher · 42:04 If I say it, you're gonna say I'm like rich white person. Scott Galloway · 42:07 My god. Even whiter? Did you go to Exeter or Fieldston or something? Kara Swisher · 42:11 No. I almost did, though. Princeton Day School. Scott Galloway · 42:14 Princeton Day School. Kara Swisher · 42:14 I'm gonna be giving the commencement address there, this year. Scott Galloway · 42:17 Good for you. That's That's really nice. Kara Swisher · 42:19 Princeton... It's it was a... It's a lovely private school Scott Galloway · 42:21 in Princeton, New Jersey, which is already a lovely town. School in New Jersey. Okay. Yes. From the main streets to Princeton, New Jersey. Carissa, you're out. Kara Swisher · 42:30 My streets were numbing. Scott Galloway · 42:31 I... Anyway, I am Kara Swisher · 42:33 a hardworking rich person. It's what I am. Alright. Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. [Ad break] — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 43:42 Okay, Scott. Prediction time. You you you sort of said you had a prediction and you sort of gave us a little preview, but give it to us. Scott Galloway · 43:49 Well, I'm fascinated by the kind of the real estate tech space. And I've to look more into Opendoor and Redfin and some of those guys. But I think that my prediction is WeWork, shockingly enough, is going to overperform over the next twelve months. And I think Kara Swisher · 44:05 Yeah, which you've And I Scott Galloway · 44:06 think Compass is going to underperform. Think Compass really is trying to pretend to be something it isn't. And I look to the Eshelon and I'm trying to understand what about these massive investments they've made because of the cheap capital are sustainable. Because the majority of these investments have been in commissions to brokers. And I don't see how that creates sustainable advantage. Kara Swisher · 44:29 Because they can leave. Because they can go somewhere. Scott Galloway · 44:31 78% of their revenues go to commissions to individuals who will literally walk across the street the same day if you say, I'm giving you 10% more in commission because Kara Swisher · 44:39 Like the agency business. Scott Galloway · 44:40 Yeah. And the question is, are they making investments in technology that creates so much differentiation and ability to get more deal flow that the brokers say, well, I'm going to stay here? There's some sort of mean, example, I Goldman Sachs could technically pay their traders a little bit less commission because they're just gonna get more deal flow. And when you show up at a Goldman Sachs... The the one thing I will say about my friends who have left Goldman or Morgan Stanley or McKinsey is they don't realize how powerful a calling card that was. And then when they start calling people and say, hey, I wanna work with you. I'm retired. I'm just sort like, their calls aren't returned quite as quickly. Yep. And I don't know if that's true. I don't know if how much enterprise value Compass is is building. So anyways. Kara Swisher · 45:18 I have an excellent real estate agent. I don't, I've never talked technology with her once. Scott Galloway · 45:22 So you have an agent at Compass? Kara Swisher · 45:25 Yes. If she goes to Scott Galloway · 45:27 Prudential or Corporate, I'll go you go with Yeah. Kara Swisher · 45:29 So I'll go with her. Scott Galloway · 45:30 So that means a lack of enterprise value to get... They have been able to retain her. But at some point, will she just go to another firm? Kara Swisher · 45:38 Yeah. And there's been no technology that I that that I think that I couldn't find myself on Zillow. You know what I mean? Like, that I couldn't compare and like. Scott Galloway · 45:47 And so these firms trade at that firm. Kara Swisher · 45:49 Good real estate agency. Scott Galloway · 45:50 So Sotheby's Fine. Kara Swisher · 45:51 They have the best listings. They do have good listings. Scott Galloway · 45:53 Sotheby's is a great brand. Kara Swisher · 45:54 It's a Scott Galloway · 45:54 great brand. It's part of Realogy, and they trade at point two five times revenue. So point two five times $3,500,000,000 would be a $900,000,000 market capitalization. And this thing was supposed to go out of $10,000,000,000 They've cut it to seven. Just feels like a slow burn downwards. I Kara Swisher · 46:11 WeWork is sort of actualized back to what it's supposed to That's be, correct. Scott Galloway · 46:14 I think their vision, I'm a... Look. I... If you have the right guy or gal running the company, things usually work out. And I know Sandeep Mantrani, the guy who runs WeWork now, and he's a talented operator. So anyways, year from now or six months from now, compass down, we work up. Kara Swisher · 46:32 All right. Okay. That's a good prediction. That's an excellent prediction. — Predictions segment ends — Scott Galloway · 46:34 Well, thank you. Kara Swisher · 46:35 A good one too. Scott Galloway · 46:35 You're very generous. Praise Jesus. Let's go to church. Kara Swisher · 46:42 But any case, neither of us are very religious, but we have respect Scott Galloway · 46:46 for people. Yeah, told you I was, I was Kara Swisher · 46:47 As long as they get the fuck out of gay people's way and stop trying to ruin their lives. Scott Galloway · 46:51 I told you I was an altar boy in a Catholic church for a while, right? Really? Yes, I was touched. Okay. Come on. That's good. That's good pedophilia humor. Kara Swisher · 47:00 I'm not even gonna dignify that one. I'm was gonna get on the phone. I'm going now to interview Anderson Cooper. So I'll talk to you Scott Galloway · 47:09 Seriously, don't don't go there. Kara Swisher · 47:11 You're still you're still you're still triggered by it. Scott Galloway · 47:13 Don't go there. Kara Swisher · 47:14 I'm not gonna talk to Scott Galloway · 47:15 No. There's a part of you that likes to hurt me. There's a part of It you Kara Swisher · 47:19 is April Fool's Day, and it worked, so let's just live with it. I I... Now I know your weak points, and it has to do with Ando. Yeah. Anyway, Scott, I want you to do... I'm gonna do something nice to you since I teased you about Ando, etcetera. Scott Galloway · 47:32 I can't wait. I literally... I can't wait for this. Well Kara Swisher · 47:36 I want you to plug your show, The Professor G Show. It's part of the Vox Media Podcast Network now. Tell us about it. Tell us, give us some specifics. Scott Galloway · 47:43 It's kind of more of this minus the journalistic credibility. No, the Professor G Show, I've done it for a while. We've just joined Vox. We do a breakdown of what I think is the most underreported story in business. And we do Office Hours, which is my favorite part based on my favorite show that I used to watch with my mom, Frasier. We do kind of a call in show. Then we do an algebra of happiness moment where instead of trying to jab and take advantage of people's emotions, I try to discuss them. I'm trying to... Anyways, but anyways... Kara Swisher · 48:16 Give me an example. What moment did you have? Let's have one right here. Scott Galloway · 48:21 What moment did I have? Kara Swisher · 48:22 Yeah. Like what is the moment of happiness? Scott Galloway · 48:26 Think I think... So I'm doing... I'm recording. You talked about speaking at you, being the commencement speaker at your graduation. I've been asked to do a lot of... Record a lot of videos for graduations because they're all virtual now. And Yeah. Mine is gives you everybody gives you advice, in these graduation videos. And the advice that we were given when I graduated from business school in the nineties was go to work for Dell or Microsoft or go to Russia, which was supposed to be the land of opportunity in the nineties. Yeah. And I said, just avoid most of the advice. And the only piece of advice I can give these kids that I know is absolutely true is that they will never regret at that age telling the people who've helped them get to that point that they love them and they appreciate them. That's the only thing when I look back that I wish I'd done more of. And I and the little the the little that I did, I'm just hugely grateful for. Kara Swisher · 49:16 Oh, you're tearing up? Oh, how lovely. Scott Galloway · 49:18 That show happening. Today because you started this fucking thing early. Now I'm all teared up. Kara Swisher · 49:23 Alright. Thank you Scott Galloway · 49:24 for joining me. Go do CrossFit. Kara Swisher · 49:25 Show is part of the Vox Media Podcast. It's Mondays and Thursdays. You should listen to it. It's an excellent show, and it's here on the Vox Media Podcast Network. So more of Scott. If you don't get enough of me, which I'll all need. More Scott. Scott Galloway · 49:38 Most More Scott. Dog. Kara Swisher · 49:40 Most of the dog. We'll be back on Tuesday. Again, we'll be talking about consequence culture. Go to nymag.conquesttidbit to submit your questions for the podcast. Don't make fun of me. We're gonna have a long debate. I'm bringing someone in who's gonna back me on this in any case. Oh my god. It's called consequences. Alright. To make your question for the podcast, the link is also in our show notes. Scott, read us out. Scott Galloway · 50:02 Today's show was produced by Camila Salazar. Ernie Entratot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Hana Rosen and Drew Burrows. Make sure you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. If you're an Android user, check us out on Spotify. If you liked our show, please recommend it to a friend. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Box Media. We'll be back next week for a breakdown of all things tech and business. We all need a place where we can get around friends and strangers, grab hands, express our gratitude for being a part of something bigger and recognize our blessings. Church, church. Kara Swisher · 50:32 Applebee's. [Ad break]