Talking to Strangers, Taking Risks & Making Millions - Scott Galloway

Scott Galloway, welcome to the show.

Chris, yours is the only podcast I will do except anyone who asks me, anyone, anyone.

(laughs)

I'm a whore.

You're the slut-

Let's be honest.

You're the slut of the podcasting world.

I am, I am, but I'm an expensive whore. That's my thinking.

(laughs)

That's like-

High class hooker, I think they're technically referred to as.

We all do things for money we don't wanna do, and I've always said I'm a whore, but as I've gotten older and gained some currency, I'm an expensive whore.

You know Peaky Blinders? You've seen that?

I do. That guy, that guys is, uh, Oppenheimer.

Cillian Murphy, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Cillian Murphy's a star.

Cillian Murphy says, uh, he's turning to Grace, that is this prostitute girl, uh, working in his bar, and he says, "We're all whores, Grace. We just have different prices, and we sell different parts of ourselves."

All of us do things... I- I'm- I think prostitution should be legalized. I've never understood why it isn't. I think sex trafficking should absolutely be illegal and people should be put in prison. Uh, and I think that's a perfect example of how when something is made illegal, social media supposedly solves the impossible in about 24 hours, and I think we should make a lot of things illegal. But I think people should be able to do what they want with their body, and I think if you look at a lot of relationships, it's kind of, I don't know, a couple... Uh, it's the- the shades of gray between that and prostitution are- are- are pretty difficult to- to suss out. God, I'm- I'm sure this is a hate crime and we're gonna get all sorts of shit.

(laughs)

(laughs)

Well, look, you're from the left, so I'm- I think I'm safe. I've got my, uh, leftist card f- fully front and center today. I remember, I heard you say that you think all young men should be required to watch the movie Her and take a class on dating dynamics. Why?

Look, I think that the ability to initiate contact with strangers, go up to a friend and say, "Hey, do you wanna go to a, you know... Do you wanna go golfing this weekend?" Or, "Do you wanna hang out and go to a football match this weekend?" I'm trying to encourage my boys to talk to strangers. And I think the most rewarding relationship, um, in life is, uh, a romantic and potentially a sexual partnership that results in kids and a family. I do think that that... I didn't think it was gonna be the most rewarding thing in my life, and it ended up being the most rewarding thing in my life. And the reason why I have such an outstanding partner is because I learned early how to endure rejection and how to initiate, even be, I'll use the word, aggressive with strange people. I would email people I didn't know and ask for a meeting at a venture capital firm. I would, uh, when I was a senior in high school, I wouldn't get invited to parties. Do you know what I would do? I would show up uninvited, and it was embarrassing for about five minutes, and then I went in and no one was gonna kick me out, and I had a great time. I was always aggressive, and I've always been aggressive professionally and personally. And if you wanna punch above your weighting- weight class, get used to rejection and initiating conversation. And, of course, and as you have pointed out eloquently, uh, people claim that somehow this is a bad thing, and then every survey shows that women want men, in most cases, to initiate the contact and express the interest. So, I think to teach a young man to go up, to force himself... When I used to walk into a bar when I was a young man, I said, "Within 15 seconds..." And my dad taught me this. "You need to start talking to a strange woman within 15 seconds of walking into a bar if you're there with all your friends."