Office Hours: Google and Antitrust Legislation, Should I Go To Law School or Follow My Passion? Moving for a Dream Job

Scott takes a question about antitrust lawsuits and Google. He then shares his thoughts with a journalism student questioning whether they should go to law school, and ends with advice on prioritizing career opportunities. 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 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]. I have not seen or read these questions. First question.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  Hi Scott, my name is Adam, and I've been a longtime fan of your work on the Prof G and Pivot Podcast. My question for you today is about Google. You've mentioned in the past that Google's advertising network is akin to an internet tax, which I found to be spot on. While I am seeing trends that more digital advertising is moving to TikTok, Amazon, and Apple, Google still has an enormous monopoly in digital ads and will probably have that monopoly for years to come. Do you think that the US government will make any headway in their lawsuits against Google? I don't see the US government being able to take on Google and really understand how much leverage Google has over the entire marketplace. What do you think will happen here and when?

• 2:26Scott Galloway?

  Adam, thanks for the question. I used to get a lot of these questions. I think everyone's just so tired of my rant around antitrust and big tech. Everyone's just a bit exhausted. So, let's start off with some basics. Google has a 92% share of search. Imagine if the global auto industry, and I don't even, that's, I'm not even sure that's this big, there was one company that had 92% share. Imagine all of media. Would we be down with that? The answer, 100% is no. And just on an existential level, Google has become our god. You trust Google more than any rabbi, priest, mentor, scholar, or boss. Google knows what STDs you have. It knows if you're thinking about getting engaged or getting divorced. It knows

• 3:07Scott Galloway?

  your HIV status. It knows your political leanings. It knows your sexual fetishes. Should 92% of the questions, what is a prayer? A prayer is a query into the universe where you hope that some sort of divine entity that sees everything can process your prayer, your query, and then send back an answer that you trust and provides comfort and guidance. Should one company be responsible for 92% of those answers? I just think it's dangerous, that uniformity of thought. And here's the other really unique thing about Google and search, and that is, the tools are so egalitarian on Google, and this is the genius for their shareholders on their part. There's no way to develop medium, much less long-term advantage

• 3:50Scott Galloway?

  with Google. So if you can't develop strategic advantage, if you can't develop competitive advantage, but everybody has to use it because everyone else is using it, it's not a service. It's not a product. It's a tax. And the Google, good folks at Google will say, well, there are natural monopoly reasons to have one company that has 92% share, that the amount of money they have to invest in R&D, the infrastructure required to ensure safety and give people the types of answers to their queries that they want, naturally lends itself to one dominant player. Okay, I buy it. And there's a name for that, a utility.

• 4:30Scott Galloway?

  Florida Power and Light doesn't have any competitors because it makes sense to have one utility such that they can, they can get economies of scale and they can build one nuclear reactor, one coal fire plant, or whatever it is they build, and spread that across the 10 or 15 million homes in Florida. So what do we do? Because they get to dominate, because they're a monopoly, they become a regulated monopoly. We look at their prices, we demand total opacity in terms of their business dealings. So which is it, Google? Which is it? Should there be other competitors such that we have more diversity of thought, more competition? Or does it make sense for one company to have a 90-plus percent market share, which means you're a utility? They should absolutely be broken up. Having said that, I'm not confident it's gonna happen, because I've

• 5:15Scott Galloway?

  been predicting it's gonna happen for five years and it never goddamn does. Why? Because of Citizens United, people can give money, companies can give endless amounts of money to politicians, and it's the ultimate pay. It's the ultimate compensation for a politician. Charles Schumer gets money from Big Tech, and guess what? He doesn't have to even be seen as an opponent of antitrust. All he has to do is fucking nothing. And oh my gosh, let's throw a fundraiser for good old Senator Schumer in the valley and he can raise a ton of money. And he doesn't have to come out and say he's against antitrust because he knows he'll look like an asshole. He can say, okay, let's put it in committee, let's think about it. And that's what's happening here. Big Tech has basically totally overrun

• 6:00Scott Galloway?

  DC. What has Big Tech got in exchange for their tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars of bribing these cheap whores in DC? They got a huge ROI. Specifically, what they got was nothing. Thanks for the question, Adam. Question number two.

• 6:17Speaker 03

  Hi, Mr. Galloway. My name is Ahad Mirza. I'm a 24-year-old college student pursuing journalism. And ever since I discovered you and your content, I've seriously been considering going to law school after graduation. Journalism has always been a passion of mine, but as you say, don't follow your passion, follow what you're good at. So my question is, should I really be considering something as difficult, stressful and expensive as law school? When I know a lot of my peers, who have known that they wanted to be doctors and lawyers since the age of 10, couldn't get through the schooling? And I'm gonna be essentially using it as a fallback or a plan B? Ideally, I'd love to use the law degree with journalism in some way, but it'd be nice to have that financial fallback there.

• 7:00Speaker 03

  Should I stick with what I know I love and make substantially less money? Rather than risk the loans and the stress of a field I think I'd be good at, but don't necessarily love? Please let me know. Thank you so much.

• 7:12Scott Galloway?

  Uh, hot. Thanks for the thoughtful question. Let's take the first hill, and that is should you go back to law school? It used to be graduate school was kind of a no brainer. Yeah, because it was so inexpensive. I got into the law school of business at Berkeley. The tuition was $2,000 a year. You know, return to college, get a two-year degree that had paid huge dividends my entire life. So getting into graduate school when I was applying in the 90s was sort of a no brainer to go. Now it's less of a no brainer because it's gotten so goddamn expensive. So the first thing is, I would suggest you're obviously seriously thinking about it. Apply to several schools, and it's not easy to apply. It's a pain in the ass. But if you're serious, apply to several schools.

• 7:54Scott Galloway?

  And see where you get in, because where the corporate world is, they're snobs, they're elitist. And where you go to school makes a difference. The difference between Bolt and Hastings, both great law schools, and call it Pepperdine, which is probably, you know, it's a good school, but not a great school. There's a difference. And so to go into debt 30, 50, 100, 150,000 dollars to get a law degree from Bolt, I think you can justify that. I think to go into that sort of debt at a tier-two law school, I'm not sure you can justify that unless you have wealthy parents. Or just, you know, have the money and it's not that big a deal to you. So the first is where you get in and what your financial situation is. Two, is it a good idea for someone interested in journalism? Absolutely.

• 8:40Scott Galloway?

  Law school is a fantastic education. It's just a shitty career. What do I mean by that? I took classes at Bolt and I found that critical thinking, the ability to write, being able to break down an issue and argue it and craft a better solution in front of people who evaluate how compelling you are and your ability to string together stories and call on the constitution and law. I just think it's, I think law school is a fantastic education. It's absolutely the way to go as long as you don't become a lawyer. I think being a lawyer is a shitty job. Now, I'm being very reductive here. There are some lawyers who love their job and, you know, they make a good living. But why do I think it's a shitty job?

• 9:25Scott Galloway?

  You're always someone's bitch. What, how do I use lawyers? When I have really shitty work that requires someone smart and an incredible attention to detail, that is when you call your lawyer. And when I call my lawyer, no joke, I can call the partner at my law firm, which is an esteemed firm that charges me anywhere between eight hundred and eighteen hundred dollars an hour. I can call them, no joke, at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night and by 11:30, the partner calls me back. The services business is a very, it's a young person's game. It's an intense business. You learn a lot. It's a great test of your skills.

• 10:07Scott Galloway?

  You have to be sort of a triathlete, but for the most part, it's shitty work that requires someone really smart. I think it's a terrible job or not a great job and a great education. Now, specifically to you, I think someone pursuing journalism that has the benefit of a great legal training and that education, oh my gosh, Ahad, that's gangster. I think of Matt Levine, who was an investment banker and now a journalist. I'm not a journalist, but I'm a media person and where I add value is I have a pretty hardcore business background. So I'm able to be, bring some peanut butter and chocolate. So whether you go to law school is a function of your financial situation. And two, having a graduate degree that complements your journalistic ability is a great peanut butter and chocolate strategy.

• 10:52Scott Galloway?

  Thanks for the question, Ahad. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

• 11:00Scott Galloway?

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• 11:43Scott Galloway?

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• 12:17Scott Galloway?

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• 13:00Scott Galloway?

  Upwork also takes care of contracts, payments, 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 dot com slash prof G, upwork.com slash prof G.

• 13:29Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Question number three.

• 13:31Speaker 04

  Hey, Prof G. Thank you for taking my question. I am 23 years old and I work as a business software consultant in Denver, Colorado. I've been in consulting for nearly two years and I'm looking to make the jump to industry sometime next year out of a desire for a more fulfilling, hands-on career in product management. I have a good connection at a company in Southern California and I feel that this may be a perfect job for me. I love the company, the brand, the product, and I feel that I can make a real difference in the world by working there. The problem is, I love living here in Colorado and I feel that this is the perfect place for me. Should I pursue what is potentially a dream job in a place where I feel may not be as happy or fit in? Or should I put where I live first?

• 14:17Scott Galloway?

  Hey, Ryan from Colorado. So first off, I hope you take pause, and I didn't do this when I was your age, to just realize how blessed you are. You live in America, you live in what I would argue is one of the greatest states in the greatest country in the world. I love Colorado. It's purple, it's reasonable. I love Jared Polis, I love Michael Bennett. I think Denver is an amazing city. I would do predictions deck every year and I pick a city of the year and I'm wondering if Denver, Denver's kind of in my top three. You'll have to tune in to find out. Anyways. But you're incredibly blessed. Having said that, take the job in SoCal, Ryan. You're at an age where you want to be focused on economic security. And you want to be, you want to let the tail that wags the dog here be professional

• 15:02Scott Galloway?

  opportunity. And first off, you're not exactly moving to, you know, Alaska, not that Alaska isn't lovely. You're not exactly moving to, you know, Worthington, Ohio, where I actually lived for a while. You're moving to Southern California, which a lot of people would kill to live in. Southern California is wonderful. And also, your ability to discern where you live when it gets really important, specifically when you have a spouse and kids, is going to be a function of your economic security. Economic security is a pedantic way of saying options. I get to move to London, which makes no professional success whatsoever, because I work my ass off and I moved to New York to work for an investment bank. And then I moved back to LA. And then I moved to the Bay Area for opportunity. I mean, I kind

• 15:47Scott Galloway?

  of wanted to move to these places, but that wasn't what was driving it. It was economic security. You're at a stage in your life where for the next 10 or 20 years, you should be focused on very few things. First and foremost, developing economic security. If the opportunities in Southern California, then that's where you're headed, my brother. And that might mean, if you get that economic security, you'll have the option to live again in Colorado. 23 job offers, Colorado, Southern California. Ryan, it is good to be Ryan. That's all for this episode. Again, if you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected].

• 16:38Scott Galloway?

  Our producers are Caroline Shager and Claire Miller 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 Prop G Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you next week.

• 16:54Speaker 05

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