Male Roles, Obligations and Options for Building a Fulfilling Life | Scott Galloway

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And this is the goal. The goal is no because you’re going to get nos. And then I’m going to call you after you’ve made the approach. You’re going to text me, I did an approach. Did you get a no?

Yeah, I got a no. That’s exactly the point. That’s the goal. Cuz everyone you admire, everyone you think has killed it. The only thing I can guarantee you is there were a ton of nos.

than getting to one of the top 10 podcasts in the world, getting to a person as a partner who’s higher character and hotter than you, getting to make more money than you would have ever guessed that person would have made. The only thing that got them there was the willingness in the endurance to re to anticipate no. Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science [music] and science-based tools for everyday life. >> [music] >> I’m Andrew Huberman and I’m a professor of neurobiology and opthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Scott Galloway.

Scott Galloway is a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and one of the world’s leading public educators on intelligent life design, including finances, relationships, and as today’s conversation also covers, on the socopolitical landscape. Today we mainly talk about masculinity and what men young and old and everything in between are facing today in terms of their roles to take in work, in relationships, and their health. And today we don’t just review the data. You’ll hear statistics. So Scott is very grounded in quantitative data, which is important, but he also shares several clear actionable steps that you can take daily to ensure that you’re making progress in work and relationships and finances.

We also get into a bit of debate or more about things like alcohol, the benevolence or lack thereof of big tech and social media. And we talk a lot about the male female dynamics in terms of the consequences of single bomb homes and divorce, but just generally male female dynamics. So while today’s episode does include a lot of exploration of different topics that frankly I didn’t anticipate, it’s also very proactive. Scott delineates the things that you can do and frankly should do each day. These aren’t just lists or hacks, but effective tools that come from knowledge, data, his deep thinking, and that reflect the landscape we are in now.

I’m very grateful that Scott took the time for this conversation. You’ll see that we agree on many things. We disagree on several. He’s a very deep thinker, extremely smart, obviously. He also cares about people.

That comes through over and over again. And he’s extremely generous today on your behalf with indeed tough love knowledge. Before we begin, I’d like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, today’s episode does include sponsors.

And now for my discussion with Scott Galloway. Scott Galloway, welcome. >> Thanks, man. It’s good to see you. Actually, I was nervous driving over here.

I I I like you and respect you and I was think I was trying to figure out why I was nervous. I really want to I want to do well today. And the last time I had this feeling was when I was going to do Rich Rolls podcast. I really like like you. I really like and respect Rich and I remember thinking I had that same feeling.

I wanted to do well. Anyways, good to be here. >> Oh man. Well, great to have you here. It’s funny you say that cuz um you know I was coming here and I was thinking, yeah, look up to Scott.

Like I respect him and we’ve had one conversation prior to this that ended up being quite extended conversation. And I’m I told Rob right before coming in here, our producer, I’m super fired up toss to learn from you and just sit down and chat with you. So >> I actually am going to do something differently this podcast than any other podcast, which is the question I’m about to ask or the kind of thing I’m about to pose, I normally would do off camera. >> Okay. >> I’m do it on camera, which is coming in here today.

It occurred to me that we as a How old are you? >> I’m going to be 62 in November. >> 62. You look great, man. you can share what you’re doing if we get the time.

Um, fitness wise, I’m 50 and the risk we run into, I realize, is that when I was 16, 20, 30, etc. , yes, I wanted knowledge. >> Mhm. >> Maybe even wisdom from elders, but I also knew with certainty that they didn’t understand a thing about what it was like to be that age at that time. So I realize that as much as we might think we know, we don’t know what it’s like to be 16, 25, 30, 40 year old men, and we’ll also talk about women today, but probably mostly men >> in 2026.

And so how do we reconcile that in a discussion like this? I just wanted to ask you, how do you think about that? because so much of your content and what you’re teaching out there is about timeless truths, but there’s also a lot of things that are happening now, not just pain points, but maybe opportunities that I don’t know how do you think about do we really know like how how should we pass along information in a way that’s truly useful to people because that’s what obviously we both want this to be about. Well, just what you said, you can’t you can’t fully relate to a 16 if you’re not 16 years old and know what they’re going through. And what you know, you you guys are skateboarders.

And when I was 16, I got home and it was either watch cartoons until my mom got home or it was take risks and go out and find friends and and do things. And now there’s so much temptation at home between big tech and having a casino in your pocket and Netflix in your pocket and porn in your pocket. it’s just hard to relate to what they go through. I think the first thing is just acknowledging, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know and then turning to data because there are people who look at the data and I try to counter my biases or my, you know, my uninformed thesis with data and so I try to find good people, good research and inform it. Also, it helps.

I have 15 and 18-year-old sons. I ask them a lot. I observe them a lot. I hang out with them a lot and you start to pick up on stuff. But I think the first is just being open to people pushing back and recognizing unfortunately every once in a while in the comment when someone points something out and going if it really hurts and it’s upsetting it’s usually because they’re right and they found some soft tissue and they’ve pressed on it.

So and I try to be open to learning and and you know just acknowledging when I I got it wrong. What do you think are the could be three, could be five, could be 10 things that all males should strive to check the boxes on in order to have a good life, not just to, you know, be great in some particular role, but like what are what are the macronutrients in your opinion [clears throat] of becoming a healthy, happy, fulfilled male? >> I think every person, not just every man, needs a code. And that is you’re going to be faced with hundreds of decisions each day and you want to make generally speaking a higher proportion of good decisions than the peer group. Right?

So what helps is a code. Some people get that code from religion, the military. There are really strong family connections. I actually got my first kind of code from my first job there. I worked at Morgan Stanley.

There was just a certain level of professionalism. I got code from sports at UCLA. Uh but I I wonder there’s so many lost men right now. I wonder if masculinity can be a code or some sort of aspirational form of masculinity where people born as males might have an easier time leaning in.