Evolution, Meaning & Managing The NYSE's Social Media | Matthew Kobach | Modern Wisdom Podcast 216
Matthew Kobach (guest), Chris Williamson (host)
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Matthew Kobach and Chris Williamson, Evolution, Meaning & Managing The NYSE's Social Media | Matthew Kobach | Modern Wisdom Podcast 216 explores evolutionary Psychology, Social Media Mastery, And Life Design With Matthew Kobach Chris Williamson and Matthew Kobach explore how evolutionary psychology underpins our behavior on social media, in relationships, and in modern life. Kobach explains how he grew his Twitter following and built the New York Stock Exchange’s social presence by treating platforms like TV channels, using ancient wisdom and pithy aphorisms to craft resonant content. They dig into self-deception, genes as the real ‘drivers’ of behavior, and how understanding our evolutionary code can help us navigate emotions, status-seeking, and meaning. The conversation closes with reflections on simplifying life, creating memorable experiences, and Kobach’s move from NYSE to a startup (Fast) that aims to streamline online identity and payments.
Evolutionary Psychology, Social Media Mastery, And Life Design With Matthew Kobach
Chris Williamson and Matthew Kobach explore how evolutionary psychology underpins our behavior on social media, in relationships, and in modern life. Kobach explains how he grew his Twitter following and built the New York Stock Exchange’s social presence by treating platforms like TV channels, using ancient wisdom and pithy aphorisms to craft resonant content. They dig into self-deception, genes as the real ‘drivers’ of behavior, and how understanding our evolutionary code can help us navigate emotions, status-seeking, and meaning. The conversation closes with reflections on simplifying life, creating memorable experiences, and Kobach’s move from NYSE to a startup (Fast) that aims to streamline online identity and payments.
Key Takeaways
Treat your social media like a focused TV channel, not a diary.
Successful accounts narrow their content to a clear theme (e. ...
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Consistency and clear, pithy writing are the strongest social media growth levers.
Kobach grew from ~1,000 to ~65,000 Twitter followers by posting daily, writing in a concise, aphoristic style, and articulating truths people already feel but haven’t put into words—making them highly shareable.
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Ancient wisdom is a powerful content engine when reframed for modern problems.
Stoic and classical philosophical ideas can be repurposed almost verbatim for topics like social media, work, or relationships; replacing ‘life’ with ‘social media’ often turns 2,000‑year‑old advice into viral tweets.
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In crises, brands must instantly shift tone from playful to plainly informative.
During market crashes and COVID volatility, NYSE dropped ‘cute’ content and focused on real-time, factual updates; pre-scheduled posts were avoided to prevent tone-deaf moments amid serious events.
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Understanding evolutionary psychology helps you manage emotions and relationships.
Recognizing that feelings like anger, loneliness, and pride are evolved signals (not mystical forces) allows you to step back, see them as ‘programming’, and respond more rationally—especially with external accountability from partners or friends.
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We’re often not the authors of our motives—and that matters.
The discussion highlights research showing genes ‘use’ feelings and self-deception to steer us (e. ...
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Designing a meaningful life may mean more simplicity and more novel experiences.
As people age, they tend to trade complexity and status-chasing for simple pleasures and presence; Kobach is intentionally creating memories (e. ...
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Notable Quotes
“Social media rewards consistency, so I made a pact with myself to take everything I knew about it and apply it to my own profile—and just see what happens.”
— Matthew Kobach
“On social media, you’re more like a TV channel. You’ve got to stick to one programming if you want people to follow you.”
— Matthew Kobach
“Our genes did not design us to be happy, they designed us to be effective.”
— Chris Williamson (quoting Robert Wright)
“We’re not the skipper, we are cargo. Your brain thinks it’s steering, but the genes are really in charge.”
— Matthew Kobach
“The secret to life is to think about how people lived 15,000 years ago and just try to mimic that as much as possible in the modern world.”
— Matthew Kobach
Questions Answered in This Episode
If our genes and self-deception drive so much of our behavior, how much genuine control can we realistically hope to gain through self-awareness and practices like meditation?
Chris Williamson and Matthew Kobach explore how evolutionary psychology underpins our behavior on social media, in relationships, and in modern life. ...
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How should brands balance the need for real-time, crisis-sensitive communication with the efficiencies of scheduled content and automation?
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To what extent can evolutionary psychology justify or excuse behavior in relationships (e.g., drifting apart after years together without children)?
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How can individuals practically apply ‘ancient wisdom’ to modern digital habits without turning it into another form of performance or status-seeking?
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Is the move toward minimalism and simplicity in later life something we can safely ‘fast-forward’ to when we’re young, or do we need to live through excess and novelty first to genuinely value it?
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Transcript Preview
If you're someone who's chasing, uh, that social status, that, to feel good about yourself, think about how social media then plays into our evolutionary predilections. So I'm chasing this high of, like, approval from other people and I'm chasing, like, yeah, I'm working out, I'm getting fit and I'm doing all this. And then I'm able to post a shirtless picture of me on Instagram, that then it gets 1,000 likes. And you can see how it's, like, this is all just a big reward, seeking social status, seeking pride. Like, that's why social media has totally ... And I don't mean this in a, in, like, a bad way, but you can see that social media has hijacked that, or, like, used it to their advantage.
I'm joined by Matthew Kovach. Matthew, welcome to the show.
Thank you. Super excited to be here.
Pleasure to have you on, man. That facial hair is absolutely crushing it. It's making me wistful for my old mustache, which is now gone.
(laughs) If, uh, if people are listening to this, I do have a mustache. It's been four months since I've had to see anybody.
(laughs)
So I decided in that four months to grow a mustache 'cause ... really to see if I could. Like, that wa- ... it's a challenge to myself, and it turns out I can.
Every guy that I know who's had latent mus- mustache desire for the last few years of their life-
Mm-hmm.
... has been like, "Yes! This is the opportunity I've been looking for. A global pandemic when I don't have to see anyone."
Yeah.
"Let's grow some ridiculous facial hair."
It's ... The pandemic has been bad for a lot of people, but great for mustaches.
(laughs) I think the stock price of mustaches-
(laughs) Mustaches.
Anyone that has long mustaches at the, in February time, what a return.
They've seen, they've, they've seen hacker returns, that's for sure.
For sure, man. So, um, talk us through, give us a bit of background to you. What do you do? What have you ... wha- what do you, what do you do?
Yeah. So if anyone happens to know who I am, it's solely because of Twitter. So, uh, over the past, maybe 14, 15, 16 months, I've built up a bit of a persona on Twitter just by regularly tweeting, just by putting out stuff, uh, really every day. I, I make it a, a goal myself to do it once a day. Social media rewards consistency, so literally however long ago it was, I made a pact with myself that I was gonna take everything I knew about social media and apply it to my own personal profile and just see what happens. And it just, it caught fire, to be honest. You know, it's a little bit of luck, little bit of, um, knowing what I'm doing. And over the past 16 months, it's gone from, like, 1,000 to, you know, 65,000, whatever it might be. And, uh, and it was because I, I, I work professionally in social media, so I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I know what kinda works. I at least know what works for brands and I kinda decided, why don't I take that same concept, apply it to my own personal profile, and not do it in a way that's deceiving or that I'm not being true to what I think or w- or who I am. But just, like, let's write tweets in a way that I know works. Let's talk about things that I know people are interested in. And it, and it took off. It, it ... you know, here we are. Now I'm on your podcast 'cause I'm -
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