Pivot · Sep 29, 2023

Code Drama, WGA Revisited, and The Taylor Swift Effect

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 42:55. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Scott Galloway · 42:55 Get to crawl. So let's sequester it all under one umbrella and then license it to the highest bidder. 5%. 5%. Yep. We're going after pennies. Kara Swisher · 43:05 Scott, do you... Did the union kill your dog? I just need to know. Scott Galloway · 43:09 The dog is safe. The dog is safe. Kara Swisher · 43:12 That was the best joke. See, that's... I love John because, like, he has issues with you, and he gives a good Scott Galloway · 43:17 joke. And Kara Swisher · 43:18 then he talked about it in a very... There's a lot of really Scott Galloway · 43:22 Yeah. And, also, they were hiding. I went on Billy Ray. Any any any any person that wants provide me on the podcast, I went on Billy Ray's podcast. I'm... I'm... I am... I've been a member of the AFL CIO. I was a member of a union when I was a box boy. Here's the thing. I just wanna them to do more money for the 89%, do better for the 89% that aren't represented by unions. Mean, no one wants to do the real math here. They made zero for five months. They made zero for five months, and they're excited about getting 5% payment? Kara Swisher · 43:52 Several people told me that didn't matter. Tell Scott that Scott Galloway · 43:54 it didn't matter. Kara Swisher · 43:54 And I was Scott Galloway · 43:55 like, I'm not But they didn't have to pay rent. Kara Swisher · 43:56 Yeah. They were like, because... I don't know. It was... I I... This is like, I think it does. Like, you didn't work for this long. I think most people... They, Here's the thing. Some people think it's not a home run. It's just not. It's a second base conservatively, third base if you really wanna push it, but you have to say you won. Scott Galloway · 44:21 This is a hand job from your cousin at Thanksgiving. Oh my god. Kara Swisher · 44:27 And they're not gonna like that one either, Scott Galloway. Scott Galloway · 44:30 And by the way, what happened what happened to the vast majority of workers at all of these shows that were... Couldn't make any money or the $3,000,000,000 that the California economy lost? Who's paying them back? Do they get an extra 5%? Kara Swisher · 44:43 I think that's a fair point. The real thing is is tech is your problem, which is we're trying to warn you, but, you know, you can be mad at us. Scott Galloway · 44:51 Calling Barry Diller and all creators. Yes. Right? Yeah. Let's go get some real money here. Kara Swisher · 44:59 Right. Which he is doing, by the way. He he doesn't complain at all. He just does it. Like, that's that's Scott Galloway · 45:03 why I like dealing with is that all creators, anyone who who writes the jingle for a podcast is the gaffer, the light gal, the sound gal, all of us, all of us writing books, doing podcasts, we are painting the mother of all Chinese wall fences for big tech right now. They are making trillions, and we're celebrating 5%. Kara Swisher · 45:27 Yeah. I would agree with you, Scott. This is a segue. I think people should really pay attention to tech. We all do think that. Anyway, before we go on a break, I'd like to thank Twitter user at Gibbs who said pivot, quote, sounds like one of the worst podcasts ever created. Thank you, Gibbs. We appreciate that. Scott Galloway · 45:44 He doesn't like the name? Doesn't like the name or doesn't like us? Kara Swisher · 45:46 I don't know. They never listen to it. That's the problem. A lot of those commenters on Twitter just literally don't listen to us because it's much more Scott Galloway · 45:53 Get off Twitter. Kara Swisher · 45:54 Get off Twitter. That's our Scott Galloway · 45:56 Sell your Tesla. Get off get off Twitter. Kara Swisher · 45:58 Yeah. You can keep your Tesla. Scott Galloway · 45:59 Hang out with your great thing. Boom. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 46:01 There you go. Happy. Okay. And have old ladies touch your hand. Scott Galloway · 46:05 Ruthie. Ruthie. Kara Swisher · 46:07 You made him feel better. I'm not gonna be touching your hand at any time soon. Scott Galloway · 46:12 You would love this woman. Kara Swisher · 46:13 I'm sure I would. You love It's this gonna turn out to be like a really famous author, a food guru. I know that. Scott Galloway · 46:20 A she's a force. Alright. Can't even see her coming. The two of you. I I... That would be like sodium and chloride and nitro and glycerin. Cheers. Kara Swisher · 46:27 Alright. I'm gonna meet her, and she's we're gonna pat each other's hands. Okay. Alright. Well, I'm glad you went. Say yes to these things, Scott Galloway. Something Scott Galloway · 46:35 you to stick I in the need to say yes. Kara Swisher · 46:37 Say yes. Scott Galloway · 46:37 Need to say yes. Kara Swisher · 46:39 Yes. That's how I met Amanda Katz. I said yes. Scott Galloway · 46:41 You know what was a hard no for me? Code. They're like, do you wanna come to... Nope. I'm not going to Code. Yeah. Nope. It Kara Swisher · 46:46 was such a hard no. But you know what you're gonna do for me? When the book comes out, we've been invited to do a live pivot in San Francisco, and you're doing it for Carouseless. You could you could stay at my house anytime, Scott. Seriously. You're in San Francisco. It's a beautiful house. Scott Galloway · 46:58 Seriously. Kara Swisher · 46:58 I will bring you grilled cheese and and and, and tomato soup, and I will pat your hand. Anyway, go ahead. Scott Galloway · 47:05 I I... This is a total stereotype. I imagine literally a lesbian palace. I imagine Tracy Chapman playing guitar in the living room and Subarus everywhere. Is that wrong? Is that wrong? Kara Swisher · 47:16 Yes. She's actually... I've met her many times. She's she's really interesting, and, I did an interview with her. This is just a side... So when... Right before Fast Park came out, when she was moving upwards, and I... You could tell it was gonna take off. This this this album was astonishing, with the whole album that she that she... Her debut album, really. And I did an interview with her at... You're not gonna believe this. A women's music... Women's festival called Sister Fire that was in Washington. Scott Galloway · 47:46 I'm sorry. What part of that is not believable? Kara Swisher · 47:49 It was called Scott Galloway · 47:49 Sister Fire. Not believable? Kara Swisher · 47:51 I really... I I... Every time Sister Fire. To say it. I cringe. Sister Fire. And she play... She was playing frisbee in every... I tried to ask her questions, and she's very shy. And she she she only answered in single word answers, so she just wasn't interested in PR or reporters. And I was sitting there at Sisterfire on a very hot day trying to get Tracy Chapman to to complete a sentence. Scott Galloway · 48:15 Oh, by the way, we need new music for Pivot, and they keep coming back with the lamest shit ever. If anybody... If any... Like, I got invited to Florence in the Machine by Florence here in... At the o two. If Florence or Tracy Chapman wanna license us at a reasonable rate, a song for Pivot, we need a new song or if anyone has any ideas, but we need a new song. We should crowd towards this. Kara Swisher · 48:37 We do have to have the rights because we respect rights. We respect writers' and songwriters' rights, and we would not take their things like tech companies. Okay. We're gonna go on a break. When we come back, we'll talk about why Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance rumors mean big business and discuss the origins of Scott's best buddy, Joey Bag O'Donuts. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 49:49 Okay, Scott. We're back. This has to be quick. I know it will be for you. Did you see Taylor Swift has a new boyfriend? Scott Galloway · 49:54 Means a new album. That means a week long relationship and a long... And an album and a tour. Kara Swisher · 49:59 She's rumored to be dating Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce's experience, the Taylor Swift effect, after Taylor took a trip to watch Kelce play in Kansas. He's a very good football player, by the way. He's he's actually a phenomenon himself. His merch saw a 400% increase, making him one of the top five selling NFL players. The game viewership saw Taylor jump two ratings on the show, an 8% jump in female viewers aged 12 to 17, which is incredible. This woman is like... Scott Galloway · 50:24 If you were really committed to this show and its success, you'd start having sex with Taylor Swift. All roads lead to the same place here, Kara. Kara Swisher · 50:31 You know, there's all these rumors that she's gay on the Internet. Scott Galloway · 50:33 She's just gonna ignore that. Kara Swisher · 50:34 Yeah. I'm gonna ignore it. But there are rumors she's gay on the Internet, which I would love to marry Taylor Scott Galloway · 50:39 Swift. Way, I hope they have a mess of kids. If they had... I would like them to have a dozen kids, and I would take those kids and start an army and invade Australia. They would woo them, and they would make them feel safe with a ballad, and then they'd come in with the muscle. Kara Swisher · 50:52 Can you please focus? This is really interesting. She has the ability to, like... She got all these people to vote. She's... Her marketing prowess. Scott Galloway · 50:59 With Beyonce and No. No. Kara Swisher · 51:02 But I'm serious. Take it seriously. Scott Galloway · 51:03 She's a phenomena. I get it. Kara Swisher · 51:04 Woman has economic power. Not just a phenomenon. I want you to talk about the brand and economic power of this. And the Republicans are attacking her now, which I'm like, oh, no. Don't. Please or please do. Please do. Keep doing it. But can I just ask you, what would you do next if you were her? I'm gonna try to get an answer out of you about marketing. Scott Galloway · 51:22 What would I do next? Kara Swisher · 51:23 Yeah. What would you do as her... Since given her economic power? If Scott Galloway · 51:27 I were her, I'd get a big cocaine habit, but that's because I'm flawed and can't handle success. She... You know what? What should she do? Exactly the same fucking thing. She's an inspiration. She doesn't have a ton of surgery. She doesn't use foul language like me. She doesn't disparage people. She has great production values. She works her ass off. She pays her people really well. Girl, keep on being you. She's doing... There's there's nothing she... I have absolutely Kara Swisher · 51:54 No advice. No advice for Taylor Swift. Exactly. I do love that the Republicans are like, who is she anyway? And you're like, oh my god. Please keep doing it because you will lose the election based on attacking her. It's not a really good thing to attack Taylor Swift at this moment in time, at least. Anyway, one more topic. We got a ton of listener emails on this week, the origin of Joey bag of donuts. Our smart listeners have informed us that Joey can be traced back to comedian Mike Berbiglia, who was in a Taylor Swift video and to hero. He's fantastic. Scott Galloway · 52:20 I'm going to his one man show. I love him. I'm taking my Kara Swisher · 52:23 16 Go backstage and say hi. I love... He's great. I did a a great interview with him. Let's, let's listen to Mike Berbiglia. Speaker · 52:30 And I go, oh, my brother Joe worked here, last summer, and his eyes lit up. And he goes, Joey bag of donuts? Your brother's Joey bag of donuts? We love Joey bag of donuts. Kara Swisher · 52:51 Anyway, Scott, that's where it's from, just so you Scott Galloway · 52:53 know. I I didn't know that was the original reference. It's a true story. My reference, I was, as one does when you're living in New York, I had an apartment down in South Beach, and I went out a few times with a woman, and I just, we were talking about something, and she said, yeah, you know, some Joey bag of donuts invites me on this boat and expects me to be his girlfriend. That's literally where I remember hearing it for the first time. — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 53:17 Wow. Okay. She was probably referring to Mike. It gets... I love when these things get out of the culture. I think it's really interesting. Thank you to everyone who chimed in to shed light on this very important subject of... And a lot of people did of Joey bag of donuts. If you've got a question of your own that you'd like answered, and think we did here, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 Okay. We've got a short amount of time left. Let's get to some predictions. Scott, you have a prediction. Go ahead. Scott Galloway · 53:45 Kevin McCarthy and Linda Yaccarino are putting on a master class on what it means not to be a leader, and they refuse to stand up to the craziest wing of their party. In one instance, it's far right Republicans. In the other instance, it's an owner who's reckless. And it's never it's never the wrong time to do the right thing, and both of them refuse to do the right thing. And ultimately, leaders like that fall because they lose the respect. I think one or both of them is gone by the end of the year because I think they're demonstrating just such incredible weakness, and they're... They literally just look like someone Kara Swisher · 54:18 else has that. Scott? They don't. Either of them don't have strength. Not not strength as person, but do they have power? Because because he is subject to Scott Galloway · 54:26 these these people voting. Speaker McCarthy. But I think that speaker McCarthy had gotten up and said, I am not gonna be held hostage by people on the far left or the far right. I'm gonna do what's right for this country enough already. You don't know how to take yes for an answer, we need to solve this budget crisis, and then we need to get back to the good work of reigning... Kara Swisher · 54:46 You kind of said that. Kind of said that, but go ahead. Scott Galloway · 54:49 Yeah. This impeachment bullshit? I mean, he's just being flopped around like a Kong ball. Anyways, he needs to risk his job. Leadership is every once in while saying, you know what? So be it. This isn't the pursuit of power. It's the pursuit of what's right, and the people who can demonstrate that end up with more power. If if Linda Yaccarino doesn't occasionally stand up and say, Elon was wrong to do that, and it's not gonna happen on my watch, and I apologize. But both of them are literally a masterclass in what it means to be a weak leader and ultimately lose your leadership position because people do want leaders to push back on them. Occasionally, a leader stands up and says, no, guys. Stop it. You're wrong, and I realize you can fire me. You know, now I'm gonna virtue. I've sat on boards where hedge funds put me on the board, and the hedge fund calls me and says, we want this, this, and this. I'm like, well, I disagree. And until you remove me from the board, I'm gonna make my own decisions. And they respect that. Kara Swisher · 55:48 Not everyone does. I mean, he, look. Kevin McCarthy allowed this move to vacate by a single person, so he doesn't have the power. He can't get the votes. He can't whip the votes. In Linda's case, she's she's unusually sunny towards Elon on Twitter too. Scott Galloway · 56:03 By the end of the year, one or both of them no longer hold their position. People don't respect. You can't hold a leadership position and never demonstrate leadership. At some point, people decide you're the wrong person. Kara Swisher · 56:12 Be constantly in agreement with with your boss, your obvious boss. In this case of Kevin McCarthy, it's Trump. And in the case of Linda, it's Elon. And so you do have to disagree with your boss. It's very powerful. So Scott Galloway · 56:27 There you go. Kara Swisher · 56:28 Good prediction. It's a very good prediction. And I really appreciated you doing the union thing. I think you did a good job, explaining yourself and doing... You know, making a defense and also talking about what you thought about it, and I appreciate that. That showed leadership, Scott. Anyway, Scott, read us out. — Predictions segment ends — Scott Galloway · 56:44 Actually, Cara, think you've had a wonderful few days because you're awesome. Please read us out. Kara Swisher · 56:48 Today's show was produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Mia Silberio, and Gatti McBain. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week with another breakdown of all things tech and business. [Ad break]