Scott Galloway: NYU Stern marketing professor, entrepreneur, author and podcaster known for his commentary on tech, business, and society.
What this episode covers
Scott Galloway joins Steven Bartlett to discuss his book Adrift and the structural forces leaving young people, especially men, lonely and struggling. He argues that the collapse of community, online dating's winner-take-most dynamics, and a lack of guardrails are producing a dangerous cohort of broken, isolated young men who become vulnerable to figures like Andrew Tate. He shares deeply personal stories about his single mother's depression, his financial collapses in 2000 and 2008, and his journey toward kindness and presence. He closes with practical wisdom on the arc of happiness, the centrality of exercise, and how branding has given way to an innovation economy.
The guest's own work
Adrift: America in 100 Charts
Scott Galloway
“your new book a drift America and 100 charts is out now yep why did you write that book”— Scott Galloway
The Algebra of Happiness
Scott Galloway
“in your book the algebra of Happiness the third section is about health and you spoke earlier about the importance of it”— Scott Galloway
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Tinder
Match Group
“you have 1550 men on Tinder 15 women on Tinder 46 of the women will Express all of their interest to just four men”— Scott Galloway
Netflix
Netflix
“The majority of people who are technically literate or wealthy can avoid 80 90% of advertising now they watch Netflix”— Scott Galloway
Spotify
Spotify
“they watch Netflix they they subscribe to Spotify they live in cities where they have local officials”— Scott Galloway
Euphoria
HBO
“if there's a show people are talking about the water cooler it's Euphoria it's succession it's generally an HBO show”— Scott Galloway
Succession
HBO
“the water cooler it's Euphoria it's succession it's generally an HBO show and they have about a third of the budget”— Scott Galloway
Big reveals from this episode
- On dating apps, 46% of women direct interest to just four men, giving online dating a mating inequality worse than income inequality in Venezuela.
- One in three men under 30 in the US has not had sex in the last 12 months.
- Galloway argues the most dangerous person in the world is a young, broken, alone man, and society is mass-producing them.
- At his firm L2, an automatic hire was a woman from the elite gymnastics team, citing athletes, elite schools, and women as the best success predictors.
- Galloway lost everything in the dotcom crash by 2000, clawed back, then lost almost everything again in the 2008 financial crisis.
- Only 483 of Fortune 500 CEOs are men, and what they have most in common is working out four to five times a week.
- He declares the brand economy over, replaced by an innovation economy where product quality beats advertising codes.
Worth remembering
- Galloway's total tuition for UCLA and Berkeley was $77,000; UCLA's admit rate when he applied was 76%, now 6%.
- The number of kids who see their friends every day has been cut in half in the last 10 years.
- Women are graduating college at double the rate of men; the next five years will produce two female graduates for every male.
- Galloway graduated UCLA with a 2.27 GPA and got hired at Morgan Stanley because the department head valued crew rowers.
- Intelligence correlates with success only up to about a 110-120 IQ; beyond that, grit and resilience matter more.
- Adam Alter's palliative care research finds the number one regret of the dying is being too harsh on themselves.
- Galloway did not cry or laugh out loud for 14 years, from ages 30 to 44.
- Apple reallocated six to seven billion dollars from broadcast advertising into building roughly 550 retail stores.