The Government’s Struggle With Brand Strategy, When Is It Time to Change Careers? and Scott’s Best Relationship Advice

Scott discusses how the best global brands come from the U. S. and why the federal government struggles with brand strategy. He then gives advice to a listener considering leaving the video game industry. He wraps up with more advice, to a listener looking to strengthen his relationship. Music: https://www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic Subscribe to No Mercy / No Malice Buy "The Algebra of Wealth," out now. Follow the podcast across socials @profgpod: Instagram Threads X Reddit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Scott Galloway?

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• 0:48Speaker 01

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• 1:19Speaker 02

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• 1:44Scott Galloway?

  Welcome to Office Hours with Prof G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected]. Again, that's [email protected]. So with that, first question.

• 2:04Speaker 03

  Hi Scott. I'm currently working for the US Environmental Protection Agency as a Regulations Manager for the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water. My office is responsible for regulating contaminants in drinking water such as lead and PFAS. While the EPA has been in the news quite a bit over the past few years, mostly for good reasons, I've discovered firsthand that the federal government, specifically the civil service, is not very good at brand strategy. I'm taking steps to pivot towards an external communications role within the agency because I believe there's a lot more that the EPA can do to show Americans the value of our work beyond getting the occasional headline in the New York Times or something when we finalize a big regulation. My question for you is how would you change the way the executive branch agencies engage with the public?

• 2:49Speaker 03

  And of course, thank you for your continued wisdom and Cialis jokes. Take care, Scott, from Ethan Schwartz in Washington DC.

• 2:56Scott Galloway?

  That's a super interesting question. Essentially, the government, I mean, you could argue that a key component of winning hearts and minds is branding. One of the reasons the United States has had the best economic growth in the world is that because we have kind of a risk-taking culture, because we have a multicultural culture. Multicultural culture? That makes no fucking sense. We have people from different places in the world, and as a result, we're able to build global brands. How many global brands have come out of China? How many global brands have come out of Japan? A decent number have come out of Japan, but the majority of really great kind of global brands come out of the US and Europe.

• 3:39Scott Galloway?

  And I would argue part of that is our culture, at least in the US of risk-taking, and in Europe, it's because I believe that multicultural society just has an easier time understanding and appreciating different cohorts and how to market to them. I also think, and this sounds a little weird, but I think we're more in touch with our emotions and more encouraged to express communication that creates emotion. Branding is essentially unearned margin, or a shorthand. And I stay at the Four Seasons, or the Ritz-Carlton, or the Mandarin Oriental, because they always do an eight, and I don't have time to look at, for hotels. Now, granted, the importance of branding has declined because now you have your social graph or TripAdvisor to kind of tell you, well, no, this is the hotel you should stay at, you should stay at. You know, the Fauna in South Beach, you always don't know how I got here.

• 4:24Scott Galloway?

  The government is losing and corporations, one of the reasons corporations have overrun Washington is that Washington has done a pretty piss poor job of branding themselves. And that is they've let these billionaires, they should stop playing in the identity politics of billionaires, I'll just say assholes, assholes who tend to have a lot of money and maybe own a platform and can communicate. But a lot about branding is just controlling the message or just awareness. Something that really upsets me right now is the poor branding of the Biden administration. I mean, for God's sakes, who the fuck exactly is president right now? It appears to be the president-elect is now president and his vice president is First Lady Alanya. They are totally controlling the narrative because we have a president that for some

• 5:07Scott Galloway?

  reason, people around him thought it was a good idea that he should run again. And quite frankly, comes across as just feeble. And the people around him aren't willing for him to be in anything that's not scripted where he's wrapping a medal around Bono. And as a result, they are controlling the narrative, they are controlling the branding. In addition, I think you're right. I don't think they do a very good job of communicating how important the EPA is and the importance of clean drinking water and managing the messaging such that people say, you know what, the EPA are the good guys, instead of having these people whose financial interest is to position them as the bad guys. So the fight of branding, if you will, the importance of branding, it plays a critical

• 5:48Scott Galloway?

  role, not only in developing shareholder value, but also in ensuring that our fantastic agencies and government agencies, I just never understood how people are so comfortable shitposting government. It's shitposting yourself, folks. We elect these people, we make the decisions around who represents us in government, and they make the decisions around these agencies. And the notion that we don't have a vested interest in all these things, they don't represent who we are, I find it just fucking hilarious that the majority of people who, hilarious is the wrong word, who shitpost the government are the ones benefiting most of in the government. We need great agencies like the EPA to identify what is their brand identity? How can they position it against two things? Where is the market and what are their strengths?

• 6:29Scott Galloway?

  And then specifically do a better job of using platforms and spokespeople to get out there to respond quickly to misinformation and craft their own message. Thank you for the question. Question number two.

• 6:42Speaker 04

  Hi Prof G. My name is Xavier and I'm a 23-year-old from good old Appalachia with a political science degree from a non-namer school in the middle of nowhere. Over the past three years, I've worked as a PR, IR, and events professional specifically within the indie video game industry. With the state of the video game industry in a constant decline, I'm starting to get spooked as even my current company announced layoffs this past week. I'm wondering if you have any advice on pivoting careers, specifically when my hard and soft skillset is so pigeonholed in this specific industry. Thanks for your time.

• 7:19Scott Galloway?

  Okay, so spooked is a term, when I think of the term spook, it's a horse gets spooked and makes an irrational decision. Are you making an irrational decision by getting out of this industry? Because I think of the video gaming industry as just an enormous industry and it's right now, it's in what I'd call cyclical decline. I think video games are likely going to continue to thrive in some format. It's just such a big business. And this is pulse marketing, but Jesus Christ, I think about the amount of time and attention my 14-year-old son spends on Fortnite or UEFA or whatever it is Madden Soccer. I just think that's a big business and probably a pretty decent industry. Let's look at some

• 8:02Scott Galloway?

  data here. After a huge boom during COVID, the video game industry has shrunk. In 2020, the gaming industry grew over 23%. And that's off a big base. However, that boom quickly turned to bust. So layoffs in the video game industry by year. 2022, 8,500 people. 2023, 11,000. And 2024, 12,000. And you're right, people are just simply spending less time gaming. But I mean, there was a bit of a sugar or an anomaly high, a sugar high or an anomaly during COVID, right? Where people were trapped at homes. The first quarter of 2021, average playtime has dropped a whopping 26%. But again, that's off of an unnatural

• 8:43Scott Galloway?

  base. I would suggest that if you like the industry and you're good at it, I don't think you want to sort of ping from industry to industry when it starts going down. I think you need to decide, is this decline cyclical or structural? Because every industry is going to have cyclical declines. And if you try and hopscotch from different industry based on cyclical declines, you're just going to be moving around and kind of starting over. If you're a letter E in video games and you're good at and you like it, if you go somewhere else that's growing, if you go into AI, you're going to start a letter C. And trust me, AI is going to have cyclical downturns. So I would suggest a couple of things. One, determine if this is a cyclical or a structural decline. Obviously, I'm putting forward a comment and a viewpoint there. And two, I would assemble a kitchen

• 9:27Scott Galloway?

  cabinet of people that know you, know how good you are, know your seat, know your skills. You know, what are you bringing something that is truly differentiated to the industry that foots to your skills as opposed to getting spooked and moving out? So one way to know that an industry is probably about to go into decline is to look at the most popular industry out of amongst second year business school students. Why is that? Because they're going, typically, second year business school students are rear view looking, rear view mirror looking. And that is they look at what's hot now. Well, okay, when something's hot now, that means it's probably peaked and may eventually go into its own cyclical decline. It's hard to do, but the best or the most fortunate way to

• 10:10Scott Galloway?

  go into an industry is to go into it when it's at a trough and it's about to come back. But no, this is an amazing industry. And I think over the medium and long term, this industry, whether it's reshaped, is going to continue to thrive. I appreciate the question. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us. Support for the show comes from Superhuman. The pace of modern work can be relentless. You're getting a constant influx of messages from a ton of different apps. You haven't closed all your browser tabs in a year. Everything seems urgent and staying on top of it all feels like an impossible task. Superhuman Go is an AI chat that's always there when you need it, already aware of what you're doing and doesn't ask you to start from zero. Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly,

• 10:55Scott Galloway?

  help you be the best version of yourself at work. It handles the repetitive stuff so you can focus on the work that only you can do. Whether you need to summarize an endless email thread or prep for a meeting that's happening in five minutes, Superhuman Go works inside the tools and sites you already use, your browser, inbox, docs, and your project tools. And its AI chat is available on the side of your browser and it's always ready. No new tabs, no switching apps, no losing your place. This is AI that works with you, not on top of you, so that you have the time and brain space to solve the problems that matter. Check it out. Find out more at superhuman.com.

• 11:35Scott Galloway?

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• 12:20Scott Galloway?

  and other administrative tasks, so you can spend less time managing logistics and more time focused on what's next. Visit upwork.com/profg right now and post your job for free. That's upwork.com/profg to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's U.P.W.O.R.K. com/profg. Upwork.com/profg.

• 12:46Scott Galloway?

  Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls and playing catch up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. The regentech trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400 plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude or Cursor. Want proof?

• 13:31Scott Galloway?

  Over 16,000 fast growing companies like Ramp, Ryder and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V A N T A dot com slash prof G for $1,000 off.

• 13:54Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Question number three.

• 13:57Speaker 05

  Hey Scott, I hope you're well. My name is Patrick. I'm 28 years old from the UK. Thank you so much for all your work and for your constant inspiration. My question is related to something that you've mentioned before, which I believe is where you sit down with your partner and you discuss your goals either for the coming year or for the five years coming. And you work to support each other on those goals. I've entered a fairly new relationship and coming up to the new year, thought it'd be a great opportunity to have one of these conversations with my partner. And I was looking for some structure on how you have those conversations. Thank you so much for the work that you do. I'm a massive fan of your work and please keep it up, the dog. Thank you.

• 14:36Scott Galloway?

  Dude, how dreamy are you? British accent, you're thinking about investing in your partnership, even though you're a year end. When I was a year end, I was like, hey, do you want to go to St. Bart's? I mean, I was not thinking the way you were thinking. So kudos to you and your partner is very fortunate. I've given several best man toasts and I always give the same toast and it slightly horrifies and delights everybody. I think there are three things to remember in a partnership. One, put the scorecard away and that is decide what kind of boyfriend, husband, lover you want to be and just be that person and stop thinking, well, her parents were in town and I was really nice to them. So when my mom comes to town, she needs to be really nice. I mean, I'm not saying

• 15:16Scott Galloway?

  get walked all over, but decide what kind of, what kind of partner you want to be and try and hold yourself to that expectation. And if you're on the plus side, if you're offering more than, than your partner is, you win. That's great. That's, that's surplus value, which is, I think is one of the key metrics to masculinity. You give witness to people's life. You notice them. You absorb more complaints than you give. You create more tax revenue than you absorb of, of social services. I think surplus value is a decent metric for masculinity. Also recognize that you'll likely naturally inflate your own contributions and diminish theirs, even if it's

• 15:59Scott Galloway?

  unintentional. So as a result, if you keep score, it just, you end up frustrated and anxious. So I stopped keeping score across my relationships and it's been a big unlock. Two, a year in, I would try and express as much physical desire as possible. I think affection, not just sex, but affection and sex. Say, I choose you. I think women want to be wanted. And I think that, that it's fun. It's nice when you're young and I think we're meant to procreate and be physical and it's what separates you from being romantic partners from friends. So anytime you feel, you, you want to hold her hand, you want to, you know, lie on top of her and express affection while

• 16:43Scott Galloway?

  you're watching TV. You know, I think these things are wonderful. I think that's what you're supposed to be doing. And then third is, never let your partner be hungry or cold. I have found that probably 50% of my major blowups with my partners have been, when I look back on it, that they were either hungry or cold. Always have a pageant and a power bar, wherever you are, wherever you are. So my, one of my methods is, or what I talk about, or what you're referring to, sitting down and talking about goals and unlocks is more for, I think, a relationship that's a little bit more mature. You're still in an exploration, getting to know you kind of phase a year in. But I think more just specifically, when I think of partnership,

• 17:25Scott Galloway?

  you're giving witness to their life. You're, Mel Robbins, who is on our podcast, consideration and admiration. You, you recognize that they're into something and you go out of their way. You go out of your way to get tickets for it. You know she likes a certain meal, so you go ahead and you order that. You admire them. You want them to occasionally be on a stage where they get claps from strangers, or you brag about them behind their back or in front of people. Mine is a little bit, I think, what I do with my partners, not every year, we sit down and say, okay, all costs, logistics aside, what would be really cool to do? That's why we moved to Europe. But I think the fact that you're even thinking

• 18:05Scott Galloway?

  this way means you're like in the top 1% of boyfriends. Most men do not think this way. Thanks so much for the question. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected]. Again, that's [email protected].

• 18:32Scott Galloway?

  This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez. Our intern is Dan Shulon. Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you on Saturday for No Mercy, No Malice, as read by George Hahn. And please follow our Prop G Markets Pod wherever you get your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.

• 18:54Speaker 06

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• 19:24Speaker 07

  I'm Glenn Washington, host of Snap Judgment, the award-winning storytelling podcast from KQED. Every week, Snap deals a new card, like the girl whose sister was a monkey, or the man who lived in the woods for 30 years, or even the woman who snuck her lover out of prison in a dog crate. Pick a card, any card. Tap to listen now to Snap Judgment from KQED on Spotify.

• 19:54Speaker 08

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