Pivot · Apr 24, 2020

Netflix’s Reed Hastings has a huge quarter, Facebook makes big investment in India, Bezos takes the reins at Amazon

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 39:30. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Kara Swisher · 39:30 To the storytelling mask to shop now. There's a new subscription company called themaskclub.com with licensing deals with Hello Kitty, NASA, and Batman among others. Masks, like, are a thing. I have to tell you, teens are... They will not wear the masks I bought them. They have to have, you know, I mean, I think anyone should get any mask. So I think the whole thing is ridiculous. But what do you think about this? Is it a business? Will Americans and others wear them all the time the way they do in Asian countries? Scott Galloway · 39:57 Well, as a as a species, we don't have claws. We're not that strong. We're not that fast. So a tremendous amount of our frontal lobe and cortex is focused on examining our surroundings to make sure something's not about to eat us because if something gets near us, we're probably doomed. We So constantly look at other animals eyes and other people's eyes because someone's not going to shoot you or attack you typically if they're not looking at you. So we spend just so much time focusing on other people's eyes and specifically their faces. And as a result, the face is just an enormous industry. I mean, according to Il Macchiage, it's a $500,000,000,000 plus industry, right? So Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, think about how much money and how much time especially women spend on their face relative to the rest of their corpus, right? So if you think about the next kind of big signaling a wearable, it's going to be face masks, and you're going to see LVMH, you're going to see every fashion company offer some sort of signaling. You're gonna have masks that say, okay, I'm cool, I'm edgy. Because when you cover your face, all you really see is eyes, the complexity and nuance of a person goes way down because we like to make Kara Swisher · 41:03 Smiling. Scott Galloway · 41:04 Well, and also the reason why Kara Swisher · 41:07 transparent mask? Why don't we make Scott Galloway · 41:09 transparent That's interesting idea because it would probably steam up and just look very strange, but supposedly we're drawn to people with symmetry in their face and high cheekbones because supposedly those people are less prone to infection, etcetera, etcetera, and people with a prominent Adam's apple, it means they're male Kara Swisher · 41:22 and strong because they've I'm much more attractive in a mask. I have to say I'm like Scott Galloway · 41:26 Mask works for the dog as does as does the dark. Kara Swisher · 41:30 Look kinda... No. No. No. I'm not saying the dark. I think I look better in that. Scott Galloway · 41:34 Face or podcast? Kara Swisher · 41:35 No. It's not that I'm ugly necessarily. It's just that, like, it look... The masks work well on me. Scott Galloway · 41:39 They well on me. Kara Swisher · 41:41 Especially with the glasses, with the sun mask. This the thing Scott Galloway · 41:43 is I look like the worst, like, extra on Mad Max. I just Kara Swisher · 41:47 look idea of them being fashion forward, I just think is awful. But, you know, a play Scott Galloway · 41:51 wearing Ray Bans during a podcast. Kara Swisher · 41:53 Listen to me. I have wear... I have the same shoes since college, so don't even speak to me about fashion. Yeah. Right. But but do you do you think it's an actual business or just it'll be a necessity? Anything big? Is it a is it an Scott Galloway · 42:03 It'll be... You know, though some companies will emerge that interesting subscription ideas, but what you're gonna see is you're gonna see you're gonna see everyone from Prada to Old Navy to really cool Yeah. Supreme Supreme's a great example. People are gonna pay a lot Kara Swisher · 42:15 of money. I'm not buying that mask. Scott Galloway · 42:16 A lot of money for a Supreme mask. It's gonna be a new form of self expressive benefit branding just as you're Kara Swisher · 42:22 out But I want of to wear a mask. I'm sort of torn. Like I want to wear a mask, but I'm not buying that Scott Galloway · 42:26 mask. I'll be curious of people. So we're renovating our house down here in Florida, and it feels like in just the last forty eight hours, everyone's gone from wearing a mask to not wearing a mask, and we're trying to Kara Swisher · 42:36 Oh, no. Everyone's wearing them here in DC. Scott Galloway · 42:38 Yeah. It's Kara Swisher · 42:39 I feel badly when I don't have it on. I have it on all the time, And and I... When I sometimes take it off when I'm... When there's no one around, but I can see, like... You know, I agree. There was someone counting masks in San Francisco, and only about 10% of people had them on when they were relatively close to each other. I don't wear it when I'm not near people, but I immediately have it ready to put on. And in stores here, it's a requirement. And, you know, I've had some workers at a house that nobody lives in, and they're, they all have to wear masks and gloves. And so, and they all do, they all arrive like that, which is interesting. I think it's a it's a good trend in general, and I think I'm gonna keep wearing masks after this. Even... I'm gonna keep... I'm an I'm an advanced person. I'm an advanced age person. I'm gonna keep wearing masks. Scott Galloway · 43:19 Alright. Kara Swisher · 43:20 Also, I look good. Alright. Anyway, we're gonna take a break. Thank you so much for your... I hope Cleveland is doing okay. Thank you. Your your governor is pretty okay even though I'm not not in the queue. Scott Galloway · 43:30 Wine. Dewine is Kara Swisher · 43:32 pretty decent. He's pretty... Seems like a sensible fella, unlike the mayor of Las Vegas. Anyway Oh my Scott Galloway · 43:38 god. Can you Kara Swisher · 43:38 We'll about that in a minute. We'll talk about that in a minute. I... She's insane. She's insane. And Anderson Cooper, like, literally did the best job of interviewing. I have to give kudos to him for that. Alright, Scott. We're gonna take one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. I predict she's not gonna be mayor of Las Vegas for too much longer. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 45:30 Okay, Scott. Before we get into your prediction for the week, did you see that the University of Chicago did a study tracking COVID nineteen related deaths in relation to Fox, News viewership? Did you see that? Scott Galloway · 45:41 Yeah, but that's correlation, not causation. Kara Swisher · 45:43 Well, we'll see. Yeah. They were doing it. They researched I think COVID nineteen don't Scott Galloway · 45:47 think it's saying. Well, it's true. We said this, that listening... So the question there is, is listening to Hannity lower your fear resulting in reckless behavior that increases the likelihood of catching the virus? Or is it the fact that the people watch Fox tend to be older, have more comorbidities, live in regions that they're not taking distancing as seriously Kara Swisher · 46:11 as Well, But they compared Tucker Carlson watchers Scott Galloway · 46:14 and — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 46:15 they had shot at control Yes. So this is... So they watched Tucker Carlson who comparatively came out with warnings, he did, against coronavirus very early and very firmly, and saying this is a really important thing you have to pay attention to and not go out. And Sean Hannity Really interesting. Study found that greater exposure to Hannity relative to Tucker Carlson tonight leads to greater number of COVID nineteen cases and deaths. It has not been... I will make clear, it's not been peer reviewed yet, but it's from a... A lot of economists I talked to told me it's a very good study, and it's interesting. So they did. They had a control room speaking of Las Vegas, and so it's interesting. So I just wanna say, anecdotally, I was correct with my mom. And I'm good... I'm thinking of writing a a a sequel because it is impossible to get your mother out of a foxhole, a foxhole. It's... She literally was parroting some stuff about opening the country, and I I I I wanted to to go down to to Florida and just bring her back here because it was really, it was disturbing. Anyway, okay, Scott, time to get out of here, but I would like some predictions before we go. Scott Galloway · 47:14 Well, my predictions we've talked about. I think that PPP is going to end up being the real or one of the real scandals of this. I think it's absolutely the amount of the amount of... I won't call it fraud because the people aren't lying here because they don't need to lie. But the amount of waste and the number of the amount of capital, I mean money is just a transfer of work and time from other people to someone else. And when we run up our deficit by 600,000,000,000 to flatten the curve of rich people, of which there are more wealthy people from small businesses in America than any other sector or cohort. And all of this money, or not all of it, 60 to 80% of it we're going to find out, just flatten the curve for the people who are already rich. It's going to be the scandal economically of this bailout package. And then my second prediction is that the Indian market is going to outperform almost every market over the next nine months because there's gonna be a frenzy of activity and also scrutiny. And finally, people are gonna say, well, maybe India is the next China. Look what happened to the Chinese market through the nineties and the odds. Let's start allocating some capital to Chinese tech stocks. You're gonna see the China... The Indian market is gonna outperform its peer its peer group. Kara Swisher · 48:33 Alright. And what about the Chinese market since you mentioned them? Scott Galloway · 48:36 You know, that's an interesting Kara Swisher · 48:37 SEC's getting tough on them? It's interesting. There was some, you know, noise from the head of the SEC. Scott Galloway · 48:42 It'll be very interesting. China is such an impressive culture in terms of shareholder value and it ends up that to a certain extent autocratic rule can be actually pretty good. Autocracy combined with capitalism can actually be pretty effective. But it'll be interesting because every board meeting I'm on, one of the top issues we just keep talking about supply chain diversification, which is Latin for how do we get some of our manufacturing capacity out of China somewhere else? Because whether it's tariffs or an RNA, you know, virus, we're just too dependent upon this one place. We're vulnerable. Yeah. We're vulnerable. Kara Swisher · 49:20 We're vulnerable. Agree. That's a really good point. Alright. So that is your prediction. That is a good... That is a solid prediction. That is a... I I think mine that the mayor of of Las Vegas will lose her job is is probably Do know — Predictions segment ends — Scott Galloway · 49:31 what that election is? Kara Swisher · 49:33 I don't I don't... I think she's not really has many power. She doesn't have any power with the casinos. She doesn't seem to do anything. Think she's just a booster. She's a figurehead. But nonetheless, she should be gone. That was just a really appalling indictment of leadership of that interview, what what what she was saying about being a control group. Would you like to be a control group, Scott? Scott Galloway · 49:51 Depends what we're talking about. Kara Swisher · 49:52 Why you be the control group for us? Why don't you... We will subject you to everything, and then I will have... You will have the placebo, and I will have the actual correct drugs. So I Scott Galloway · 50:02 really wanna I wanna be the test group. Anyways, go ahead. Kara Swisher · 50:05 No. No. You're the you're the control group. You're the control group. In any case Scott Galloway · 50:08 You're the control freak. I'm the control group. Kara Swisher · 50:10 That is true. Alright, Scott. Before we get out of here, you've requested an algebra of happiness moment because you felt we were dour last episode. What what... It's a dour time. Scott Galloway · 50:21 Yeah. I got depressed listening to our podcast. So, anyways, my Altar of Happiness moment is the following. I I love the the saying. I think I'm pretty sure it was Lennon who said that nothing can happen for decades, and then decades can happen in days. Oh. Think that I think... So if you think about who you are and your reputation, it's the sum of all your actions. And if you think of that being written in pencil on Mhmm. Everyone's perception of you, I think the indelible ink that goes over that tracing is how you behave in times like this. And whether it's our recognition of our military personnel, we give them medals in times of crisis, whether it's the most famous presidents or the most honored presidents or the ones who handled themselves well or acquitted themselves well during moments of crisis. I think all of us can take lessons from that. And I've been talking about, spending a lot of time talking to companies about how they get off their heels and onto their toes and what do they do during a crisis. But I've been spending a lot of time thinking about, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity to have an outsized return on your efforts in terms of, strengthening and repairing relationships. And I think how you approach your relationships during this period will count as much or more than how you approach and repair relationships over the next several years. That is if you I think this is an extraordinary opportunity. For some reason, don't have a great relationship with your parents. I think this is an opportunity for repair. Think there's people in your life that you want to have stronger relationships with checking in, establishing, stronger bonds. I think this is an extraordinary opportunity to really get off your heels and onto your toes and both repair and strengthen your relationships. Kara Swisher · 51:56 I like that Scott, thank you. What are you gonna do for me then? What do you what Scott Galloway · 51:59 do you I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm making you the most famous podcast Kara Swisher · 52:05 Amazon delivery. Scott Galloway · 52:06 Of the year. How did that happen? Podcaster of year. How did that happen? Kara Swisher · 52:09 No. No. That was mine. My senior Scott Galloway · 52:11 wasn't your interview with John Pearita. It wasn't your interview with Chamath Palpatiah's Kara Swisher · 52:15 assistant that got Scott Galloway · 52:16 you that. Kara Swisher · 52:17 My singular one. Listen to me. Listen to me. Okay. I'm waiting for the Amazon delivery of your gift to me now Scott Galloway · 52:22 to approve of the office here. Oh my god. Kara Swisher · 52:25 I feel like you're Scott Galloway · 52:26 an Amazon moment. This is an extraordinary opportunity. Kara Swisher · 52:30 You're right. Scott Galloway · 52:31 Yeah. And and I think it's also... On the bigger side, it's... I think it's an opportunity for repair, and that is I think this... If you look at the happiest people in the world, this this virus this virus shows us that life is finite. And if you wanna be as happy as possible, it's all about one thing. It's about the depths and meaning of relationships, and the key to any long term relationship is bringing a sense of forgiveness because you and your friends and your parents and your siblings at some point will screw up. So bring a sense of forgiveness, and let's let's do some massive repair. Kara Swisher · 53:00 So sweet. I... You know, someone really was asking me what you're like, and I did say, you know, naughty, I meant vulgar. But actually, you're you're... I... What I actually actually end up saying is that you're a very soft hearted man underneath me. Scott Galloway · 53:11 It's very sweet. It's all an act. I think It's all for ratings. Think it's for Kara Swisher · 53:17 part. I think the vulgar part covers over the softhearted nature that you have. I agree with you. Scott Galloway · 53:22 Think you're an igloo. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Kara Swisher · 53:26 Yes. That's... Okay. Alright. We're gonna... Scott Galloway · 53:29 And stuff like You immediately thought that was a Kara Swisher · 53:32 It's it's just bad. It's just a bad Scott Galloway · 53:33 The bears eating up an igloo. Kara Swisher · 53:35 I hear you. I understand. I on the Instagram. Joke of 12 year olds the world of Scott Galloway · 53:40 No. That's Carrie Larson, the farthest. Kara Swisher · 53:42 I know that. But, yes, that's true. That's fair. That's a fair thing. But in any case, Scott, thank you for that moment of beauty You're welcome. In a time. And, you know, we'll try to have a laugh riot on Monday if we can. Anyway, if you... Don't forget the news story in the news. If if First lady Scott Galloway · 53:58 of North Korea, the dog. Kara Swisher · 54:01 Alright. Listen. Don't forget if there's a story in the news you're curious about and wanna hear our opinion on, email us at pivot@voxmedia.com to be featured on the show. Scott, please read us out. Scott Galloway · 54:10 Today's episode was produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Our executive producer is Erica Anderson. Special thanks to Drew Burrows and Rebecca Castro. If you like what you heard, please subscribe. Let's all take a moment and to to take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to be generous and forgiving and repair relationships that mean a lot to us. We'll see you next week.