Office Hours: Financial Growth vs Sustainability, What Should I Do About My Son Joining OnlyFans? And Advice for a New Father in a Demanding Job

Scott takes a question about whether the Degrowth Movement stands a chance. He then offers guidance to a mother in a tough position and finishes by sharing his wisdom on work-life balance. Music: https://www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic 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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• 1:26Scott Galloway?

  Welcome to the Prof G Pod's Office Hours. This is the part of the show where we answer questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a... By the way, it's my favorite part of the show. I could almost do this sober, I enjoy it so much. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected]. Again, that's officehours@profgmedia. And again, I have not seen or read these questions. First question.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  Hey Scott, my name is Lena and I'm based in San Francisco. My question to you today is the following. I know you've acknowledged the climate crisis we're in and the amount of commitment necessary to get to where we need to go. At the same time, you often discuss metrics around company growth, operating efficiencies, profitability, and so on. This applies less to big tech, but for many companies in the consumer space, or even Amazon for that matter, this pressure to deliver returns requires top line growth, which generally means more consumption and production. And that, in most cases, is just inherently not sustainable. So do you see a world where markets are more supportive of degrowth? I'm curious how you personally weigh the need to deliver financial performance and growth against the need to protect the future of our planet?

• 2:37Speaker 02

  And who in your eyes should be responsible for challenging this model and rewarding more sustainable behaviors? Thanks.

• 2:44Scott Galloway?

  Lena from San Francisco, thanks for the thoughtful question. So there's a degrowth movement that wants to move away from GDP as a measure of progress and advocates for degrowth, the planned reduction of energy and resource use as a metric. And I want to acknowledge that I think that Dow and GDP are sometimes not very positive metrics because the Dow is essentially a metric or a proxy for the wealth of the top decile income earning households. And spoiler alert, they're killing it. Probably better metrics or metrics that deserve more attention are life expectancy, which is down three of the last four years in America. Kind of what's the point of all this if we're dying sooner?

• 3:25Scott Galloway?

  I would push back in the sense that, do you see a world where markets are more supportive of degrowth? I do not. I believe, I believe that the people responsible for that are the man and the woman in America, specifically voters who need to elect representatives, who recognize that this for-profit engine called corporations will always, and in my view, mostly should always be focused on stakeholders. And let's be honest, they're going to put shareholders first. The reason that people put money into mutual funds is not for reforestation of the Amazon. It's such that they can have economic security in a capitalist society where your healthcare, your kids' opportunities,

• 4:07Scott Galloway?

  and your selection set of mates is largely driven on your economic security. And I think not to acknowledge that is just to be naive and kind of howl at the moon in a tie dye shirt. And I think that in order to garner the resources we need to combat climate change, we need to have exceptionally productive. You know, vigilant, rapacious, full-body contact capitalism at a private level. That's called a corporation. Having said that, we are not going to make the requisite investments in climate change without regulation. The only entities that have the capital and the long-term focus to do what's required to check back on climate change are the United States government, the CCP, the EU.

• 4:51Scott Galloway?

  If we're waiting on the better angels of coal companies and Exxon to show up and be better citizens and focus on climate change, don't hold your breath, or specifically, hold your breath because you won't be able to breathe. But again, I think it comes down to voting for the right people who will take a long-term approach, and we need to punish companies and reward them for bad and good behavior, respectively. Thank you very much for the question. Question number two.

• 5:17Speaker 03

  Hi, Scott. It's Chris from Virginia. I'm a regular listener and an avid fan. My question is about Twitter and other social media sites that are considering making the business decision to allow paywalls for exclusive contributor content à la OnlyFans. I've heard your perspective on pornography and appreciate the different views that former guests on your show have shared about the industry. But as the mother of a young adult child who has chosen to try and make their living from OnlyFans, I am deeply struggling. I want my son to have meaningful intimate relationships, not transactional ones. I want him to love and to be loved. As a mom who wants her child to have the richest, fullest human experience, if you were me, what would you be thinking?

• 6:02Speaker 03

  What would you be feeling? What would you do?

• 6:05Scott Galloway?

  Chris from Virginia. First off, thank you for being that authentic and real with your emotions. And you're bringing all of this down to a human level. It sounds like your son has decided to try and make money on OnlyFans. And in the abstract, I think people should do what they want with their bodies. I think especially during COVID, it was kind of a, it was pitched as an interesting way to make money. And I think a younger generation has less hangups around what is considered taboo or not taboo or socially acceptable. But what you say... You know, at the end of the day, it really moves me and impacts me because I just don't, there would just be no getting around it. If my sons decided to make their livings on OnlyFans,

• 6:49Scott Galloway?

  it would rattle me to the core. OnlyFans has 220 million users. Think about that, a quarter of a billion and 3 million creators. The British company reported almost 1 billion in revenue in 2021, and according to Variety, OnlyFans creators earned over $4 billion in 2021. So, you know, economic security in a capitalist society is really important, and if the individual is fine doing this and feels better about making money this way than other ways, you have to respect that. I don't have an answer here. I understand your pain. You know, the whole point of the species is that we want our kids to do better than us,

• 7:32Scott Galloway?

  and I can see how you would look at what your son is doing and just be upset. You know, my only recommendation would be that you sit down with him and tell him very openly and honestly how you feel, and, you know, openly ask him, is there something he'd rather be doing? This isn't equivalent, but I'll tell the story anyways. When I was 18, I was installing shelving, and I didn't like it. And after two weeks of basically being in a closet in the Inland Empire in Ontario, with these new condo developments installing closet-made shelving, I drove home and I said to my mom, you know, I said, is this it? Is this my life? And she encouraged me to apply to UCLA again. I'd applied and gotten rejected,

• 8:12Scott Galloway?

  and I applied on appeal, and I got in. So maybe there's something around, don't be judgmental, but say, would you rather be doing something else? And can we brainstorm together on how we get there? What you really want as a parent is that your kids are happy, and that they're economically viable. And then the rest is sort of like a little bit up for grabs and a bit secondary. But again, I want to finish where I started. I really appreciate your authenticity here. It's easy to talk about this stuff in the abstract, and you really bring it home. I appreciate the question, Chris. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

• 8:52Scott Galloway?

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• 10:08Scott Galloway?

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• 11:17Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Question number three.

• 11:19Speaker 04

  Hi, Professor. This is Eric from Dallas, Texas. I'm 32 years old and I recently became a father, which fulfilled a lifelong desire of mine. It has already been both incredibly challenging and wonderful beyond words. At the same time, I'm still at the beginning of my career as an academic anesthesiologist because of the long training pathway. I currently feel torn between my increasing responsibilities at work and being present in my son's life. Ours is a culture where spending 24 hours in the hospital at a time is not uncommon. But at the same time, I'm also trying to take as much childcare burden off my wife as I can while she navigates motherhood in her career as a busy veterinarian. Then there's a lifestyle creep and life is feeling more expensive by the day.

• 12:01Speaker 04

  Don't get me wrong, I'm more than fairly compensated for the work that I do. But this job requires trading time for money. And one of the most important lessons my father ever taught me was that all the money in the world can never buy you back even a second of time. So I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice on how someone at the early stages of fatherhood, career, and family should balance it all.

• 12:21Scott Galloway?

  Eric, I love this question. So the first thing you want to do is you want to sit down with your wife. And the first and last thing you want to say is just how much you appreciate your life and how much you love her. And, and then you want to walk through and remind yourselves just how incredibly fortunate you are. Let me get this, you're about to be an academic anesthesiologist, your wife is a veterinarian. That means you had access to unbelievable education. It means you had access to the ability to afford that. It means that you, both of you are going to be financially secure the rest of your life. Both of you are going to add enormous value. You know, I am head over heels in love with dogs.

• 13:04Scott Galloway?

  Whatever Cro Magnum or Paleo Human decided to reach out and start petting dogs, I feel like I'd like to go back in time and hug and kiss that person. Enormous reward from pets. They literally, I think they create so much joy and helping those wonderful beings be healthy and play a more productive role in people's lives. What a wonderful job and a way to create value. And you. Are going to develop the skills such that when people are at their most vulnerable, when they go in and trust other people to cut them open and then perform something that may or may not save their lives, there is no greater moment that better typifies

• 13:46Scott Galloway?

  the progress, the humanity, and just the general empathy as a species than anesthesiologists. We trust somebody we've never even met to basically take care of us, to use all that incredible skill to ensure that I can be fixed while I'm at my most vulnerable. So you are both so blessed. Okay, with that, there is no balance. Give it up. You can have it all. Eric, you just can't have it all at once. And I would argue that you're making the right trade off. The reason I have balance now in my life is because I had none when I was your age.

• 14:28Scott Galloway?

  And also, if you are feeling stressed and if you are feeling guilty about not being the father you want to be and not being the partner you want to be, I would say that you are exactly where you should be. And I'm not saying don't pay attention to your kid, or I'm not saying don't be a supportive mate, do the best you can. But your job as a young man and your wife's job is to establish the currency and the credentials such that you can provide economic security for you and your family for the rest of your life. And you are on that path also. Also, the trade off, in my view, is worth it. I didn't see much of my kids the first five years of their life. I tried to be a supportive partner, but I wasn't a great partner.

• 15:10Scott Galloway?

  I was always on the road trying to build a business because I was very focused on economic security. And I think that is the right thing to be focused on. And sometimes being a man is getting out of the way and being more supportive of your wife. When I was starting my business, my partner and the mother of my children was working at Goldman, and she was killing it. So I figured out a way professionally to have less responsibility so I could play a bigger role in our kids' lives while she was at Goldman. But the two of you have a responsibility to build an economically secure household. It is unfortunate how big a role that will play in your child's well being and their opportunities. So what I would say, Eric, is you are doing exactly the right thing. That's all for this episode. Again, if you'd like to submit a question,

• 15:53Scott Galloway?

  please email a voice recording to [email protected].

• 16:07Scott Galloway?

  Our producers are Caroline Shager and Drew Burrows. Sammy Resnick is our associate producer. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. Thank you for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you next week.

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