Two Information Universes — with Al Franken

Al Franken, the former senator of Minnesota, shares how he got his start in comedy and discusses the state of play around our political ecosystem — including who might be in the running in 2024, the issues he believes Democrats and Republicans can compromise on, and the need to address systemic inequality. We also hear his advice on being a good partner and father. Follow Al on Twitter, @alfranken. Scott opens with his thoughts on the Streaming Wars and the push towards international content. He also shares his thoughts on Spotify and Apple's podcast subscription services. Scott wraps with why he’s excited about Apple’s iOS 14.5 and what it means for Facebook and Google. Algebra of Happiness: The key is forgiveness. 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?

  Support for the show comes from Northwest Registered Agent. Your business identity is everything that makes your business legitimate and professional. With Northwest Registered Agent, you don't just form a business, you start a complete foundation built for privacy, credibility, and growth. That includes registered agent service, a business address, operating agreement, domain, website, professional email, phone number, and built-in privacy. In other words, your home address, personal email, and phone number stay private. Don't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/profgfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/profgfree.

• 0:48Speaker 01

  Your heart can tell you a lot about your health. Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds with the most accurate heart rate sensing in wearable. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, can tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. The features described are for wellness purposes only and not for medical use. iPhone 11 or later required. Based on Apple conducted study of heart rate accuracy, August 2026. Visit apple.com/aplewatchseries12.

• 1:18Scott Galloway?

  Episode 63, The Atomic Number of Europium. NGC 63 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. I was born in the 60s. I kid you not, a millennial asked me what my favorite book was last night and called me sir. And I said, "Tequila Mockingbird."

• 1:34Scott Galloway?

  What does that have to do with any of this? Nothing, nothing. It's my podcast. Go, go, go!

• 1:49Scott Galloway?

  Welcome to the 63rd episode of The Prov G Show. In today's episode, we speak with Senator Al Franken. Senator Franken is a hero of mine. I find that he's moderate, thoughtful, showed up prepared to hearings, and leveraged/deployed humor as an effective tool for creating some level of bipartisanship or, in some instances, absolutely neutering the competition. I think humor is an outstanding weapon in a business form matter and essentially any. In any struggle, the ability to communicate humor sort of displays irony, outlines how ridiculous the opposing arguments are, shows the other side that you don't take yourself too seriously, that maybe they can relate to you.

• 2:30Scott Galloway?

  I think it's an incredible weapon. We actually did a podcast earlier with professors, or Professor Jennifer Acker and our colleague Naomi Bagdonos. We discussed with Senator Franken, his introduction to comedy, the state of play around our political system and the economic response to the pandemic. We also get his advice around parenting and being a good partner. Okay, okay. What's happening? What's, what does the dog hear that humans can't? That's right, that's right. What high pitched whistle of news and trends? Register with the canine today. Let's look at the streaming war, specifically the push towards international content. So roughly speaking, according to Antenna, an analytics company, the US streaming market grew 23% in 2020. It's interesting.

• 3:15Scott Galloway?

  I think the search market grew about the same amount. Search and streaming, both growing in the same amount. Coincidence? Coincidence? And as of this year, according to The Wrap, Netflix accounts for about 20% of the market. I would have thought it was more. I would have thought it was more anyways. And while the streaming space may be saturated, consumers are willing to dole out money across different services for a wider content selection. In fact, in fact, Statista found that in 2020, over a third of US households that had at least three video on demand subscriptions did so to access a particular program or original content. That makes, that makes sense. So what do you need when you launch a streaming service? What do you, what do you need when you launch, basically, I think any services company or any CBG company? You need sort of a hero product.

• 3:59Scott Galloway?

  You need to say, okay, when I started L2, we started something called the Digital IQ Index. We had advisory, we had events, and I thought, okay, what's our hero product? What is our Mandalorian, right? What is our Wandavision? What is our House of Cards? What is our Game of Thrones?

• 4:16Scott Galloway?

  Every company, every concept, every business you start, you gotta think, all right, we gotta come up with something breakthrough. We can't be just a group of smart people or have a group of interesting products. We have to have our hero product. What is our, what is our Game of Thrones, if you will? And at L2, it's a digital IQ index. And we invested a lot in it, gathered a bunch of data, proprietary data sets, assembled it, 1,200 data points and said, okay, this is your digital IQ and how you can benchmark yourself against your competitors. And we consistently over invested in that product, recognizing we could build things and sell things around it. But you gotta have at least one product or one service that you're known for and you kind of irrationally invest in and protect. Okay, what does that have to do with anything? Let's visit Netflix for a second. The company reported its first quarter earnings last week and said it attracted

• 5:00Scott Galloway?

  four million new subscribers. However, that number was well below analyst's projection of six million. Hmm, well, Netflix. Netflix stock opened down eight percent the following day. That only means it's up about 3 billion percent in the last 10 years. True story. I bought Netflix at 12. It's at 500 and something right now. The bad news is that I sold it at 10 to take a tax loss and then never bought again. Oh, God, I want to find a time machine so I can travel back and then kill me and then kill myself. Jesus Christ. Okay. On a more positive note, Netflix's revenue grew 24% year over year and the streaming service took home seven awards at the Oscars this past Sunday. Who would know? Because no one watched it. Anyways, that's more than any other studio.

• 5:45Scott Galloway?

  So what does that tell us? The pandemic boost is winding down and the streaming giants will need new strategies to continue to grow in market value and attract new customers. Specifically, they'll need to double down on international content investments that we're seeing playing out now or we're seeing that play out now. The Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix, Disney and Amazon have all been making investments in content development overseas. We're invading the world with the Mandalorian and Transparent.

• 6:12Scott Galloway?

  Netflix expects to spend 17 billion on content this year and about half of the productions currently in development are based outside the US. Hmm. With non-English language content making up approximately 38%, and it's already paying off. 89% of Netflix's 4 million new subscribers came from outside of the US and Canada. So, something I noticed, or something when you look at stock market value or brand equity value as registered by the, I think it was the Brand Asset Valuator, all the ad agencies came up with their own metrics, most of them kind of gone away, or they're never able to really monetize them, but the BAV, if I remember correctly, oh no, it was the Interbrands Brand Index, I don't know what the fuck it is. Anyways, there was some insight into it, we reviewed my brand strategy class.

• 6:55Scott Galloway?

  But one of the levers of value that said, okay, this makes a brand more valuable in the markets, is the percentage of revenue that brand or that product is able to garner from international. And specifically, if you have $100 in revenue, if you get 100 of it from the US, and you get 50 of it versus a company that gets 50 in the US and 50 internationally, company B, the one with more diverse revenues by geography, is worth 50 to 100% more than the company that just gets all of its revenues domestically. Why? Because it connotes that you have the ability, or your product has the ability to sort of permeate geographic boundaries, meaning there's a much larger market potential, and that you have the skill set to actually recognize or register that potential.

• 7:38Scott Galloway?

  And two, and two, the markets love diversification, and that is, they don't like the up and down volatility of companies that are too concentrated. Similar to the way you get risk-free adjusted returns when you diversify your portfolio, meaning that you get better returns at a lower risk level, that sounds pretty good when you diversify. It's the same is true of business, and that is, if you can diversify by geography, by business sector, by brands, you typically get a better return. Some of that flies in the face of the notion that the companies that have created the most value seem to be pretty focused in terms of one brand, but that's a different talk show, Master Brand versus House of Brand, or Branded House versus House of Brands, but we'll cover that in episode 2063.

• 8:22Scott Galloway?

  Anyways, they like, they like the international gig, and with streaming, I don't want to say we've saturated the market, I buy everything. I'll get Peacock, sure, I'll get Joey Bagadon, and so I probably would have signed up for Quibi had I not been so critical of it. I don't think the consumer has run out of room around subscription media companies. I think that's bullshit. I think the consumer gets such incredible value for these things that they will continue to sign up for them as long as they continue to, or these companies continue to offer such incredible value, basically about a billion dollars in free content, or a billion dollars in content for every buck a month you spend. That seems like a pretty good trade to me. Anyways, Disney Plus recently hit more than 100 million subscribers. Disney Plus, hands down, the winner, Rookie of the Year in streaming,

• 9:06Scott Galloway?

  and they expect to have a content budget of about $9 billion, starting in 2024, which will include 50 international projects. As of mid-March, just 3% of Disney Plus content was developed outside the US. That's about to change. Meanwhile, Amazon has doubled its production of original local language content every year since 2017, and the number of Prime Video's international subscribers increased by more than 80% in 2020 compared with 2019. HBO Max will finally be available internationally this June, starting with 39 territories across Latin America and the Caribbean. Good move, good move. AT&T, AT&T, not as dumb as we'd hoped. The AT&T, the phone giant, going straight to your

• 9:46Scott Galloway?

  living room with Wonder Woman 1984 and other great franchise films. That was a gangster move. And while the Academy Awards gave us this wonderful recreation, or really was able to communicate what the vibe is of hanging out in a train station for three hours. By the way, you want, you want to revive the Academy Awards, just show Brad Pitt. Oh, hello, dreamy. Hello, dreamy. What else? And maybe have, I don't know, maybe have Beyonce play the latest, or play all of the nominees for Best Song, and then have Chris Rock do the opening, and have old school, maybe, I don't know, Steve Martin do the end, and then make fun of Barbra Streisand or something. And boom, you're out. You're out in 30 minutes. You're out in 30 minutes. That's right, putting me in charge. Fucking Steven Soderbergh

• 10:28Scott Galloway?

  running the Academy Awards. This year, the Academy Awards Oscars Night to Shine, produced by the dog, produced by the dog. Anyway, what else is heating up? What else is on a boil? Let's continue our conversation around the audio space, specifically, specifically, podcasts. Historically,

• 10:47Scott Galloway?

  The money that Cabbage and Podcasts has come from advertising. That revenue is expected to reach a billion dollars this year. Now platforms, including Apple and Spotify, are looking to monetize the business directly through exclusive podcasts and subscriptions. Spotify made a big splash around exclusivity when it signed a $100 million deal with Joe Rogan. Now it's launching a subscription service through Anchor's platform. Podcast creators will be able to set a fee for their content, much like the popular independent service Patreon. Apple, which originated the podcast medium, we'll call them podcasts because they first became popular on iPods, has not monetized the space directly, until now, until now. Last week, Apple also announced a subscription service for creators.

• 11:30Scott Galloway?

  But Apple being Apple will keep up to 30% of subscription revenue for the first year and then 15% after that. Mansana, wait, is that Apple in Spanish? Mansana, you deserve to be regulated or the App Store should be regulated. That's the power of owning the rails. Apple has been the dominant platform for podcast listeners for years. And now it wants to get its cut, but it may be too late. Is it too late? Is it too late? Apple's listener share has fallen to just 24%. And according to eMarketer, for the first time ever, Spotify will have more listeners than Apple this year. So I think there's an arbitrage going on here. There's something very special about podcasts in the sense that me being in your ears, you feel as if you know me.

• 12:15Scott Galloway?

  You feel close to me. If you read a blog post, you might be moved and impressed, or you might be angry and think, what a fucking idiot. But you don't feel an emotional connection. And there's something about when you and I have this conversation where you feel as if you know me and that we know each other. And that sort of intimacy creates loyalty. And if you can transfer that goodwill and that loyalty and that MPS to a broader service that sells handsets or paper towels, there is an arbitrage there. And I think that's what's happening in the podcast space, that this golden age of radio would be called podcasts, not because of the revenue they would produce, but because of the loyalty and the intimacy they would produce. And that's created, if you will, some sort of a MPS or a goodwill arbitrage. Okay. Let's round this out with more Apple news.

• 12:57Scott Galloway?

  The company released iOS 14.5 on Monday, which creates a major escalation in the privacy wars. iPhone users will now have to opt in to tracking. I have to opt in versus opt out. Actually, that's something I didn't know. It's not opt out. It's that you have to opt in, which is expected to deal a major blow to Facebook's data collection. A major blow! Son de blomayor! Tim Cook is talking his book here. So, he may be principled, but this is also awfully convenient, as he wants to drive users to apps where Apple gets a cut and away from web-based content where it doesn't, specifically the internet that is ad-supported. They don't get a cut of that, but they do get a cut when you say, "Well, I don't like ads and I value privacy and I'm willing to pay a fee."

• 13:41Scott Galloway?

  The reality is, there's markets for both. There's a lot of people that despite big claims or big concerns about privacy are willing to let Google and Android and every handset manufacturer molest, with the exception of Apple, molest their data points. Android pulls about 1,200 data points a day from your phone. Apple around 200. But a lot of people are willing to make that trade, to say, "I would love to have the processing power of the space shuttle and free apps and free maps and incredible search queries and all this information at my fingertips for free." Effectively, you can get an Android phone for free right now if you pay Verizon and AT&T. It's amazing they've been able to create moats around their franchise businesses. Anyway, a lot of people will make that trade. As a matter of fact, more people will make that trade.

• 14:26Scott Galloway?

  And Apple's trying to say, "Well, we want to make it harder to monetize that audience and as a result, make those companies less profitable, maybe make the service less robust, and move more people into the paid ecosystem because they get a toll on every payment, or almost every payment." I think about 80% of dollar volume in apps goes through the App Store on Apple. It's just striking here. I mean, if you think about this, Apple... Get somewhere between, take all the streaming services. Apple gets somewhere between 3% and 12% of their topline revenue across Hulu, across Netflix, across HBO Max. Why? Because where do people go to download these apps? These streaming service apps? They go to Apple's App Store. So wow, is it good to own the rails?

• 15:11Scott Galloway?

  The question now is how Facebook and Google will react. Will they start their hat white and deal honestly and fairly with their users? So we shouldn't bet on it. This is a fight taking place down in the technical details of these platforms and one with multi-billion dollar implications for digital advertising and social media players. This is incredibly interesting. And generally, there'll be some emotion here because I think Tim Cook genuinely authentically can't stand Mark Zuckerberg. Tim Cook strikes me as someone who has some sense of regard for the Commonwealth, some sense of empathy, and is not a sociopath. And the CEO of Facebook is none of those things. And I think the CEO of Facebook sees Tim Cook as a bit of a scold

• 15:56Scott Galloway?

  and also pretty cynical about his intentions. Or I think they're cynical about their intentions. I love this. I absolutely love this. I always say that in the war between Murdoch and Zuckerberg, I hope the bullets win. But in the war between Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, I'm betting on the guy from, where did he grow up? Alabama? Where did Tim Cook grow up? Anyways, I'm betting on Tim Cook, and I think a lot of people are.

• 16:22Scott Galloway?

  We'll be right back with our conversation with former Minnesota Senator Al Franken.

• 16:32Scott Galloway?

  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, 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,

• 17:17Scott Galloway?

  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.

• 17:35Scott Galloway?

  Support for the show comes from Upwork. Trying to scale your business? At some point, you're probably going to hit a point where you need some help. Sometimes, the best way to break through that is bringing in the right talent at the right time. Upwork can help. Upwork is a one-stop platform where you can find, hire, and pay expert freelancers across more than 125 categories. Whether you need specialized skills for a single project or extra support to keep up with demand, it's easy to connect with experienced professionals, review their work, and find the right fit. You can move faster without taking on the commitment of full-time hires. And for businesses that need the very best talent, Upwork Business Plus provides access to the top 1% of freelancers on the platform. AI-powered matching connects you with qualified candidates in under six hours, cutting down the time spent searching. Upwork also takes care of contracts,

• 18:20Scott Galloway?

  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. com/profg. Upwork.com/profg.

• 18:56Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Here's our conversation with former Minnesota Senator Al Franken.

• 19:03Scott Galloway?

  Senator Franken, where does this podcast find you?

• 19:05Speaker 02

  Uh, New York City.

• 19:07Scott Galloway?

  What? What are you doing in New York City? Wait, you live there?

• 19:10Speaker 02

  I have grandchildren, yeah.

• 19:12Scott Galloway?

  Uh, wow. Uh, I did not know that. Where in New York City?

• 19:16Speaker 02

  Upper West Side, uh, 76th and Broadway.

• 19:20Scott Galloway?

  So I could, I could just run into Senator Franken rolling around the Upper West Side right now. You are...

• 19:27Speaker 02

  I often am rolling around, yes.

• 19:29Scott Galloway?

  Just rolling around? Okay, so, so, so the question on everyone's mind. What do you think of Elon Musk hosting Saturday Night Live?

• 19:40Speaker 02

  It's an interesting writing. You know, I was a writer for there and it's very intriguing. And immediately I thought of what not to do. You know, don't do an ad for Elon Musk's Musk. You know, don't do that. Um, I suppose there should be an Elon in space. Uh, maybe if someone, if someone plays Zuckerberg and Bezos, we should get a, uh, maybe a rich guy, uh, you know?

• 20:12Scott Galloway?

  Right.

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Uh, but I don't know. And I don't know, I hope he comes in early enough so they get a feel for what he can and can't do. He should do something where he's not playing Elon Musk, I'll tell you that, where they should play him like, uh, you know, he should play a, an idiot or, or, you know, a guy down on his luck or something.

• 20:36Scott Galloway?

  So I want to use SNL as a, a jumping out point because I, I know a lot of people know you, but I, I don't think people really know you. How did you, give us kind of a...

• 20:44Speaker 02

  Who really knows me?

• 20:46Scott Galloway?

  Who really? He's a complex character. Give us the wonder years of, of Senator Al Franken. Like, growing up, your biggest influences and how do, how were you introduced to comedy?

• 20:58Speaker 02

  Uh, that's easy. Um, I grew up in, uh, St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It's a suburb of Minneapolis. Um, my dad, uh, didn't graduate high school. He was a printing salesman. Uh, he lived, you know, a two-bedroom, one-bath house. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because I was. I was growing up middle class in, you know, in St. Louis Park. Uh, and the, you know, and this is...

• 21:30Speaker 02

  Post-World War II 50s, you know, it was um a great time. It was if you were, if if someone was pro-Nazi at that point, they kept that to themselves. It was very anti-Nazi.

• 21:45Scott Galloway?

  That was on the download, the whole Nazi thing?

• 21:47Speaker 02

  Yes, if you were Nazi, you just didn't bring it up.

• 21:50Scott Galloway?

  Yeah.

• 21:50Speaker 02

  Um, so my dad loved comedy. So uh, basically, we just spent a lot of time watching comedy on TV. Um, my dad inhaled a pipe, uh, inhaled a pipe uh, for his entire adult life. And so by, if he would get on a laughing jag, he would cough up phlegm.

• 22:17Scott Galloway?

  Right.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  So if my, if if we were watching Carson and Johnny said, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Buddy Hackett, my mom would leave the room because she couldn't stand the phlegm. But my brother and I would stay. And my dad, God, he loved Buddy Hackett and he loved comedians. And that's really how I got introduced. And he was funny, my dad. My dad was really funny. And so that was really it. My mom was funny, too. But uh, and a sweet guy. My dad was such a sweet guy. So that was it. That was it. And then I started doing comedy in high school with a partner, Tom Davis. You remember Franken and Davis at all?

• 22:59Scott Galloway?

  Mm hmm.

• 23:00Speaker 02

  And um, so we started performing, we started performing at a, like a theater, like a Second City type theater improv based uh, in high school. And then during college, we'd perform there. And between my junior and senior year of college, Tom and I hitchhiked out to LA from Minnesota and uh, did the Comedy Store and uh, kind of got a little bit on the, on the map and um, went out to LA after college. Two years later, bum, SNL started, Lauren hired us.

• 23:33Scott Galloway?

  So two years out of college, so you're literally 24 when you got onto SNL?

• 23:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 23:39Scott Galloway?

  As a writer or in front of the camera?

• 23:41Speaker 02

  As a writer and and actually a little bit in front of the camera. We were Franken and Davis was, he'd throw us up in dress.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Dress rehearsal and if the show if so much stuff tanked in dress, he put us on.

• 23:59Scott Galloway?

  You're the sixth man.

• 24:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's exactly right. And that didn't happen much. But then we got on, I think our first show was an Elliot Gould show that won an M. That show won an M.

• 24:10Scott Galloway?

  Mm hmm.

• 24:12Speaker 02

  So.

• 24:12Scott Galloway?

  Elliot Gould. And so how long at SNL?

• 24:16Speaker 02

  Did the first five years, left for five years and came back when Lauren came back. I was a Lauren again writer. And then I did 10 years. So I did 75 to 80 first five and then 85 to 95.

• 24:33Scott Galloway?

  So give us some inside baseball here because you were kind of back there. That was like, was that Jane Curtin, Dan Aykroyd, Belushi, Gilda Radner, that whole crowd?

• 24:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, you just did four of the seven.

• 24:44Scott Galloway?

  There you go.

• 24:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, there was only seven.

• 24:46Scott Galloway?

  Chevy Chase, Garrett.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  Aykroyd, Belushi, Jane Lauren Gilda.

• 24:54Scott Galloway?

  Give us, and obviously you were exposed to other cast members, give us a most talented in your viewpoint, nicest person, most difficult person?

• 25:03Speaker 02

  Well, to me, the consummate live air performer is Dan Aykroyd. First of all, Dan really embodied the characters he played. And also, he, you know, we, we, we made cuts and rewrote between dress and air. And he could, he could internalize those cuts faster than anyone I've seen. Phil Hartman was also amazing at that, you know, but boy, that first cast, everybody was great. Everybody was great. And it was an advantage, you know,

• 25:41Speaker 02

  I look at the cast now, it's, it's a lot of people. And I think there's an advantage to the cast of only having seven, because they each got the airtime.

• 25:53Scott Galloway?

  Yeah.

• 25:54Speaker 02

  And if you get airtime, you get confidence, first of all, you get practice doing it and you get confidence and you're just out there and you're doing it. And you play everything. You play an old person, you play, you know, you play a little girl, you play, you know, you play everything.

• 26:11Scott Galloway?

  So let's pivot to politics. Be a sports commentator here in the sport of politics. And that is look at two teams, Democrats, Republicans. Give us where you think the state of play is and how each of the teams are doing and what you see is kind of the dynamics. Call the call the sport, call the game right now.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  Well, it's not a sport. It's too high stakes. I mean, it is. It's a game, I guess. So maybe it is. You know, the coach on the Republican side is Mitch McConnell. And he will, he he'll make it impossible. For for Democrats, for for the president to do much of anything if he can help it. He wants him to fail. Mitch McConnell wants Biden to fail. He wanted Obama to fail. He wanted to win the midterms in 10. I don't I don't know if you remember.

• 27:09Speaker 02

  You know, them threatening, we went in the the sequester, we cut, we had to cut spending during a recession. I mean, it was crazy and and they would, it was under the guise of we care about the deficit. They didn't care about deficits. They just wanted Obama to lose. And they wanted us to lose seats and they. So there's that. You know, our team, I have reason to have problems with our team, of course. But I was very pleased with, you know, American Recovery Act.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  I thought that did a lot of great things. I thought that was an achievement. Unfortunately, I mean, that was something that 65, 70% of Americans were for, not one Republican voted for it in either house. You know, everyone says, well, Biden has to reach out to Republicans. Well, they've got to reach back a little bit. And remember that 10 Republican senators showed up at the White House and they came back with like $600 billion to his 1.9. And, you know, that was Obama all over again. That was basically. You know, what? What they came up with after, you know, when we were in the Great Recession.

• 28:31Scott Galloway?

  So the ossification or the partisanship is pretty easy to identify. If you try and reverse engineer to the problem and then hopefully the solution, are there two or three things that stand out where you think this is this is the shifts or the changes that need to be made to create a situation where, you know, we're still representing our ideals, but do, you know, do try and focus on we're Americans first, not red or blue. Any thoughts on solutions?

• 28:59Speaker 02

  First of all, I think that there are going to be areas of agreement, I hope, on infrastructure, for example. Republicans always say they want infrastructure. It's going to be a lot of fights over what that is, the shape of it, the size of it. But I hope that there can be some working together on that. Again, I have my doubts about McConnell and Republicans working together on that. I think that on this crime bill, on the George Floyd bill, I think there will be compromise on that. That's what I'm hearing. You know,

• 29:39Speaker 02

  the question like on on voting rights and on elections, that is, I don't see them coming together on this at all. Because basically what I see them doing nationwide is doing everything they can to make it harder for certain people to vote. You know, they did their autopsy back in in 14, I guess it was. And after Romney lost, and their autopsy said, we have to start reaching out to minorities. And instead, they said, nah, and we got and they got Trump.

• 30:24Scott Galloway?

  Yeah.

• 30:25Speaker 02

  And they won. And now the whole party is captured, basically enough of the party is captured by Trump that that's who they are now. And that's pretty scary. And that that, you know, that's people, that's Americans who are, one, getting a lot of disinformation.

• 30:48Speaker 02

  They're getting news from their information from a disinformation universe. That includes Fox, that includes Newsmax, that includes a lot of stuff on on social media that they get everywhere from Facebook and that's why a certain percentage of people believe that Democrats kill children and drink their blood.

• 31:11Scott Galloway?

  You're referring to an op ed you wrote in the LA Times where you said, quote, Americans are divided into two completely different information universes and that's a problem. And, you know, it doesn't seem like social media is doing anything new. They're just making it worse, right?

• 31:28Speaker 02

  Oh, much worse.

• 31:30Scott Galloway?

  Agreed. And what do you think? Any thoughts on legislation or regulation that could that could solve that problem or at least reduce it?

• 31:41Speaker 02

  Well, I think that we have to look at a couple of things. We have to look at some antitrust stuff. We also, I think, 230, section 230 needs to be looked at. You know what I'm talking about, right?

• 31:53Scott Galloway?

  Yeah.

• 31:54Speaker 02

  230 was written in, what, 1996 at the dawn of the internet and basically provided protection for platforms and said that they were, they're just platforms. They weren't publishers. So they were withheld harmless, could not be held responsible for content that other people put on there. And I understood that. We believe in, you know, the First Amendment. But I don't think people wrote that and envisioned what they're seeing now. And there's, the First Amendment does have limits. There's a lot of people yelling fire in a crowded

• 32:39Speaker 02

  movie theater right now on the internet. Facebook doesn't do its due diligence. They don't do it.

• 32:47Scott Galloway?

  Returning to the Republican Party, I was just down in Florida with my co-host of another podcast, and I went to this thing called the Boca Bash, and I saw Trump 2024. Who do you, if you had to try and handicap who you think the Republican nominee for president 2024 would be, who do you think are the top contenders?

• 33:04Speaker 02

  Boy, that's so far away, but I think that Trump has, still has his power over the party, has enough power over, you know, 65% of the party. And I don't know what he wants to do. I don't know if he wants to profit from that position. I don't know what he wants to do. But I'd say if you're betting, you'd have to bet on him as a frontrunner, if you're betting. And then, among these other guys, I know who wants to run. I mean,

• 33:46Speaker 02

  it's Cruz, it's Hawley, it's Scott, it's the governor of Florida.

• 33:54Scott Galloway?

  DeSantis, yeah?

• 33:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:56Scott Galloway?

  What about Nikki Haley? Do you think she's, she's in the mix?

• 33:59Speaker 02

  Sure. I imagine she'll run. It'll be interesting. I think Sasse will run. I think, it's interesting watching Sasse, which is that he voted for, to commit on the impeachment, but then he voted against Garland. Garland is actually the most suited person that I can think of to be Attorney General, whether you, I mean, that a Democrat could possibly appoint, or that anyone could appoint. He's got the, just the integrity, and the chops, and the expertise. I, I, I don't get that. And I thought that was him trying to make

• 34:42Speaker 02

  himself healthy with the right or something. I think he, I, I was just kind of looking at that and going like, oh, he thinks, oh, well, I guess I, maybe I miscalculated on that vote. So, I, I, those are the people I think of as running.

• 34:59Scott Galloway?

  And who do you think, we won't even talk about 2024, who do you think are the real rising stars in the Democratic Party?

• 35:06Speaker 02

  That's a good question.

• 35:10Speaker 02

  Let me think, let me think. Young, young.

• 35:14Speaker 02

  Young, young people.

• 35:16Scott Galloway?

  What about your neighbor Senator Klobuchar? I'll just throw some out.

• 35:19Speaker 02

  Well, she's, uh, she did well in this, uh, last race. I think she's, uh, obviously a force in the Senate. She's, uh, been there quite a while. She has leadership. She's head of the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee is, has become very important in light of, uh, January 6th. Um, and she is, uh, someone who, uh, likes to work cross-party lines and legislate. So, uh, I think she'll be a good, a force for good in, in this, in the Senate. Uh, you gotta give me some, uh, some time here.

• 35:55Speaker 02

  Let me, let me think.

• 35:57Scott Galloway?

  Well, I'll throw some out. A guy I supported for president in 2020, Senator Michael Bennett. There's a guy like that who's more of a, I don't know, I don't, policy wonk. I don't know what the right term is and it doesn't jones for every camera. Do you think there's a, there's a future for a Senator like that in, in a presidential race? He ran, got nowhere. Do you think?

• 36:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think he got nowhere for a reason.

• 36:19Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm.

• 36:19Speaker 02

  Um, I, I served on the education, uh, help committee with him. Um, you know, and, uh, we did the NCLB reform, the Child Left Behind reform there. And I was hoping for more leadership from him on that since he'd been a superintendent of schools. Um, I feel like, you know, he's a good, uh, good Senator. I, I don't really feel like he sort of has the presentational chops that you need unfortunately. And he has sort of two speeds. He has, uh, like patrician and yelling.

• 37:02Scott Galloway?

  In that order.

• 37:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, that seems to be his two speeds. I've noticed, you know. I, listen, we have, you know, we have a lot of great young people in the party. You know, and again, this is kind of future. But Melvin Carter, who's the mayor of St. Paul, is just terrific. I don't know. You know, he's mayor right now. You have to see his, his depths. I think Andrew Cuomo isn't going to be president. I just have that inkling.

• 37:39Scott Galloway?

  Yeah, that's, you're going long on that one. Are you, you don't think that's gonna work out?

• 37:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm going long on that.

• 37:46Scott Galloway?

  What about the squad? Any comers there? People to keep your eye on?

• 37:50Speaker 02

  Well, AOC, you can't ignore her. She has great messaging instincts. She is really smart. She does, I've been very impressed with her questioning, which I pay very, during hearings, and I pay a lot of attention to that. That's where I, that's one of the things I enjoyed the most and prepared the most for, and I could see that she does too. And I'm very impressed with that. And I think she's, yeah, yeah, she's a comer, no doubt about. I mean, that that's obvious. I know Ilhan, Ilhan, I know. And, you know,

• 38:34Speaker 02

  we have some differences on some policy, you know, but to have a Somali American representing Minneapolis, representing Minnesota in Congress is really something.

• 38:46Scott Galloway?

  Would you ever consider running for office again?

• 38:48Speaker 02

  I'm gonna keep my options open. I'm young. I'm just, I'm turning 70.

• 38:55Scott Galloway?

  That is young. Another 10 years, you could be president. But what would be, just hypothetically, what would be the reentry point for Al Franken? Would it be the House, the Senate, governor, something? What would be the, what would be the likely reentry point?

• 39:12Speaker 02

  Well, I don't think I want to be a governor. I love the Senate. That's what I would, you know, love to do again. I mean, I love the Senate. I really did. And if I did it again, I think that's probably what I might do, unless I did something quite local.

• 39:33Scott Galloway?

  Coming up after the break.

• 39:34Speaker 02

  The gaps in wealth and income in this country are scandalous. And there's so much that we can do to address that. But we have so much we need to do in, in that regard, in terms of, you know, early childhood education, my goodness, making sure that kids go to good schools.

• 39:55Scott Galloway?

  Stay with us.

• 39:58Scott 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. Their authentic 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

• 40:41Scott Galloway?

  or Cursor. Want proof? 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.

• 41:05Speaker 03

  Ask yourself, what are your best people spending their time on right now? Expense reports, receipt chasing, month end close that takes weeks. You become what you spend on, and that's not what you're building toward. Brex is the intelligent finance platform that eliminates that work before it starts. AI agents that handle the manual stuff automatically so your team can spend their time on what actually compounds. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at brex.com/AF.

• 41:42Scott Galloway?

  So if I did it again is about the strongest proclamation of saying you're going to run without actually saying, announcing you're going to run. So it's, it sounds like, you know, I'm going to put words in your mouth. It's something you're actively considering.

• 41:57Speaker 02

  Not really. I'm just saying like, I, you know, I came off of a big blow and, you know, I'm in a good place now and I'm going to see what, what I'm going to do. I'm, I'm, I'm doing what you're doing here. I'm doing a podcast, which I enjoy a lot and I'm now doing videos, which I like. And I think when, when I, before all of COVID, I was out touring. I was, I was doing stand-up, basically with politics.

• 42:32Scott Galloway?

  How was that? How was that?

• 42:34Speaker 02

  That was great. It was very much combined with, it was during the political season. It was during a sort of the primaries and then just leading all the way up to COVID. And so I was kind of doing half, I was doing what I do, which is sort of what I'm doing here, I guess, except I think a little bit more comedy and it was fun. I loved it and I had big crowds and it was, you know, there's nothing better than getting laughs and there's nothing better than that feedback with an audience.

• 43:14Speaker 02

  That's then, you know, I know that everybody, every performer misses that and can't wait till, till everyone is inoculated in the United States.

• 43:26Scott Galloway?

  Well, let's talk about the pandemic. Give us, give us a sense of what you've learned or what you think the novel coronavirus has revealed about America and then your thoughts on the government's response.

• 43:39Speaker 02

  Some of the stuff it revealed was not good.

• 43:44Speaker 02

  First of all, obviously, the response by the Trump administration and Trump himself was, was a scandal. And, you know, as Burks said, you know, after 100,000 deaths, that could have been mitigated. And this guy was so irresponsible. It's tragic. It's just tragic. I think it also revealed,

• 44:14Speaker 02

  you know, their people are, food insecurity tripled. I mean, the, our gaps in wealth and income in this country are scandalous. And we just didn't function well. And now I think what we're seeing, just go back to these two, two universes of information. This disinformation universe is incredibly pernicious and incredibly dangerous. And this, I, this thing that, that they're selling, and I think

• 44:54Speaker 02

  very cynically, many of them, that the vaccine doesn't work or isn't safe, is so dangerous.

• 45:10Speaker 02

  We need everyone, this is the polio vaccine. This is the smallpox vaccine. People don't understand, for example, on Pfizer, 95% effective. If I talk to anyone, they don't know what that actually means. And what it means is...

• 45:30Speaker 02

  If you look at the, a double-blind study, they had like 28,600 people in placebo group, same amount, number in the Pfizer group. A certain number, and it was very, not very big at all, like 160 people out of the 25,600 in the placebo group, tested positive, got infected.

• 45:55Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm.

• 45:56Speaker 02

  Eight in the Pfizer group, that's 5%. That's what they said, 95% effective. But a lot of people thought, "Oh, that means I have a 5% chance with the Pfizer of getting infected." No. No, it's much, much lower than that. And not only that, those eight people didn't get sick.

• 46:16Scott Galloway?

  Right.

• 46:18Speaker 02

  They tested positive, they didn't know they were infected. This is insane not to take.

• 46:27Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm.

• 46:28Speaker 02

  And when they don't, and when they get this information, and they get it from Tucker Carlson, they get, who knows, has to know better, has to know better. And the danger of people not taking it is they get it, and that gives the virus a chance to mutate. And the more chances it has to mutate, opportunities it has to mutate, the more possibility that we'll get a variant that is vaccine-resistant.

• 47:00Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm.

• 47:01Speaker 02

  And we'll go back to the drawing board. That is dangerous to everyone. It's not just dangerous to the people who aren't taking the vaccine, it's dangerous to everyone.

• 47:12Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm.

• 47:13Speaker 02

  So that just makes me furious.

• 47:15Scott Galloway?

  Yeah, by the way, that thumping was Senator Franken pounding his fist on the table. So, talk a little bit about the stimulus and the bailout packages. How do you think, how do you think we've handled the economic response to the, to COVID-19?

• 47:33Speaker 02

  Well, I'm I'm was gratified that we had this bigger package. Um, and again, looking back at uh, two thousand nine, where man, they just didn't give a sufficient, pass a sufficient enough package at that time and kept us in the recession longer than we had to be. You know, I don't know if everything was targeted in exactly the right way. I I think the three thousand dollar tax credit per kid is amazing. Cause that now I haven't really studied it at all, but I keep hearing that it's going to reduce childhood poverty by fifty percent.

• 48:18Speaker 02

  That's again, I mean, wow, we, we, as I said earlier, the gaps in wealth and income in this country are scandalous. And there's so much that we can do to address that. And that's, that is, that's part of it right there. But we have so much we need to do in in that regard in terms of, you know, early childhood education, my goodness, making sure that kids go to good schools. You know, right now, basically, schools are funded by property tax. So if you live in an affluent neighborhood, you go to a good school. And if you don't, you go to, you know, you don't go to a good school. That's, that's not right.

• 49:02Speaker 02

  That's not right. That doesn't work. Uh, we, I do think an infrastructure bill is really important. And I hope it gets Republicans support because I think a lot of those jobs will be the kind of jobs. And uh, uh, I've heard Buttigieg say this, that most of those jobs don't require college, a college degree. And we're talking about blue collar jobs. We're talking, and we're talking about also transitioning so that we have a green energy economy, which we have to do, we have to do it. There's just no doubt about it. We have to do it.

• 49:42Speaker 02

  And so, man, I just hope we go that direction. You know, McConnell, you just heard McConnell like after that bill was, well, he just wants to get out in front of the parade. But he knows the economy is already expanding.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  And he just wants to take credit for. Oh, screw you.

• 50:07Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 50:10Scott Galloway?

  I. But so, look, I you gotta get, I think you gotta give him his props. I think he's been brilliant. Who on the Democratic side is that strategically deft at getting in the way of Republican? You know, where's our, let me ask this, who's our Mitch McConnell? Sort of the dark horse of, or the dark genius or the dark Satan of genius?

• 50:30Speaker 02

  Well, I don't think we have one in terms, and maybe that's a good thing because really, really, do you want to be Mitch McConnell? I mean, you know, I mean Chuck Schumer is our leader and, you know, Godspeed. I mean, and he did that. He shepherded that through. You know, I have this odd suspicion, and this wouldn't be kosher. But I think the parliamentarian somewhere in her brain knew that if they did the $15 an hour in the reconciliation, that they weren't going to get 50.

• 51:09Speaker 02

  So I was kind of happy in an odd way. I love the minimum wage should be $15 an hour. It's a scandal what it is now. It's ridiculous, but you wouldn't have gotten Manchin's vote. You wouldn't have gotten a number of votes, I don't think, but you certainly wouldn't have gotten Manchin's. And, you know, God bless Manchin. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be in the majority. People have to remember that. He, he's Senator from a state that went for, went for Trump by 40 points. And I also think that what he's doing is interesting. He, he has about the filibuster. He basically at one point indicated, remember he did the full Ginsburg one weekend?

• 51:53Speaker 02

  He did, it was on every Sunday show. You know what I'm talking about, the full Ginsburg? Monica Lewinsky's lawyer was Ginsburg, named Ginsburg, and he did every Sunday show. And so now they call it the full Ginsburg, if you do every Sunday show. And so Joe did it at some point. He was asked about the filibuster and a couple of them and said that he would be open to a modification. And then he later wrote an op ed saying, well, he doesn't want to end the filibuster, which he had said earlier, but he doesn't want to weaken it either. Well, you can modify without weaken it, weakening it, I think. And all but what he said was, he wants to go back to regular order. Basically, he wants to do it the way you're supposed to do it.

• 52:37Speaker 02

  You you write bills in committee, you do hearings, you write the bill, you take the bill to the floor, you have an open amendment process, people vote on amendments, then you vote on the bill, and you pass the bill. You know, that's what he wants to, but the I don't know if Mitch will do that. And I think that Joe is to some degree saying, okay, you know, here's your opportunity, do that. Go back to doing what we're supposed to do. Because we certainly didn't do that. Well, Mitch, well, Trump was president, Mitch was a leader. Joe.

• 53:21Scott Galloway?

  So one of the candidates, a presidential candidate on the Democratic side and a candidate for mayor now here in New York, Andrew Yang, said something that struck me. And he said that one of the mistakes the Democratic Party has made is they feel that they've been appointed a kind of a police force for cultural issues, and that most Americans are more concerned with kind of their challenges facing them daily. Do you think there's any truth to that?

• 53:44Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, speaking of, one of the reasons, I had Andrew on my podcast, and, you know, I said, you know why you did well? Because you're a human being on the stage. People responded to him because he was not programmed, he wasn't. It was hard with 10 candidates up there and everybody given a minute to an answer and. But he's right. He's right. And I think people care about and yeah, I think people have obviously been somewhat offended by by what he's talking about.

• 54:31Scott Galloway?

  And the if you look, well, let me back up. You've been on SNL.

• 54:38Scott Galloway?

  You're nominated or elected to the US Senate, but I find arguably your most impressive accomplishment is that you've been married for 45 years. And we have our our listenership, Senator, is very young and very male. And I'd love to get your thoughts or advice to to men around being a good father and a good husband.

• 55:02Speaker 02

  Well, if you have kids, and that's that that's the first prerequisite to be a good father.

• 55:12Scott Galloway?

  That helps to have kids?

• 55:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I think that, you know,

• 55:20Speaker 02

  the first thing that you do is be a good parent together, that you parent together, because that's your that's your job, right? And so I think that's how we saw ourselves, and now we see ourselves as grandparents. So I think being a family,

• 55:43Speaker 02

  you know, is is part of it. Is a big, big, big part of it. And and then you have to, you know, keep the spark going. And I'm not going to get into that.

• 56:01Scott Galloway?

  There you go, right? Yeah, the spark, the spark conversation.

• 56:08Scott Galloway?

  All right, let's do a quick lightning round before we let you go. Just first thing that kind of pops to your mind. All right. So biggest influence in your life?

• 56:16Speaker 02

  My dad.

• 56:18Scott Galloway?

  Uh, biggest influence in your life that wasn't, uh, you know, in your life.

• 56:22Speaker 02

  Okay, I'm sorry. I missed, I missed your last thing. That wasn't what?

• 56:27Scott Galloway?

  Well, a book, something outside, something not immediate family member, somebody you never met, or a piece of art, a piece of-

• 56:33Speaker 02

  Oh, I see what you're saying. Uh, but boy, uh, Paul Wellstone?

• 56:39Scott Galloway?

  Hmm. Highest moment, most proud moment?

• 56:42Speaker 02

  My proudest moment? Um, my proudest moments are always family, just it's a continuous thing. It's just seeing my grandchildren be already developing into great people. That's, that makes me really proud.

• 57:02Scott Galloway?

  One piece of advice you would give your younger self?

• 57:06Speaker 02

  Well, uh, don't be hard on yourself.

• 57:10Scott Galloway?

  Mm-hmm. Favorite piece of media, favorite TV show, favorite music?

• 57:17Speaker 02

  Well, Grateful Dead.

• 57:19Scott Galloway?

  Grateful Dead?

• 57:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. I love that you laugh.

• 57:23Scott Galloway?

  That's a crowd pleaser. That's a- You're just aging. It's a Buddy Hackett and Grateful Dead. Jesus Christ, are you like 105? Buddy Hackett and Grateful Dead. There you go. So now that you're no longer in office, uh, experience with drugs and favorite drug?

• 57:40Speaker 02

  Well, uh, my experience with drugs is, uh, I used to take, uh, some cocaine at SNL, but only to stay up long enough to see that Belushi doesn't do too much cocaine. Uh, then, let me see. Oh, I did LSD. Guess what? During Dead shows.

• 58:00Scott Galloway?

  During Dead shows. Yeah, there's one central theme here. It all comes back to the Grateful Dead.

• 58:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, and, uh, I don't-

• 58:09Speaker 02

  Drink except occasional beer.

• 58:13Scott Galloway?

  Mm hmm.

• 58:14Speaker 02

  Uh, and I don't, I remember once though, I was like, when I, uh, was running in Minnesota. And, uh, so it turned out that Norm Coleman was running against like sold pot at Posture or something. It became an issue and then I had been out very publicly said exactly what I've told you. Very has been in article in Rolling Stone and been somewhere else. So the guy from the Star Tribune wants me to say, okay, what, you know, what did, uh, goes to my press guy. He says, what did he take? And he said, well, it's in the press. It's this. No, I want him to say it to me.

• 58:56Speaker 02

  And I was like, no, like, why? It's there. It's not, it's not gonna change. No, I want him to talk to me.

• 59:04Scott Galloway?

  Right.

• 59:04Speaker 02

  No, like, I'll talk to you. I don't care. He was a reporter. We're just telling him it's there.

• 59:16Scott Galloway?

  No, right. All right. Well, listen, Senator, like, I think we can forgive you for, for liking a grateful debt. I think there's a lot of us though, that are angry you resigned and the only way we'll forgive you is if you run again. And I, I just sense in your voice is a need, is a need to run again. I, I, I just get that sense that you have not.

• 59:39Speaker 02

  God, have the worst instincts.

• 59:41Scott Galloway?

  You've got to put a bow on this.

• 59:43Speaker 02

  You don't know how to read people, man.

• 59:45Scott Galloway?

  This is the best ending to the movie that is The Franken Story is you running again. Anyways, Senator Franken is a comedian, politician, and author of four number one New York Times bestsellers. During Senator Franken's time as Minnesota Senator from oh nine to eighteen, he served on the judiciary, engineering, Indian affairs, and help, that's health, education, labor and pensions committees, and also wrote a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. He is currently the host of the Al Franken Podcast. He joins us from the Upper West Side where he is hanging with his kids and grandkids. Senator Franken, uh, I'm in on this campaign. I'm going to vote with my time. And my checkbook. Senator, Senator, stay safe.

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  But I'll hold you to the money.

• 1:00:32Scott Galloway?

  Hundred percent. Just don't cash the check. I'll send it. Just don't cash it.

• 1:00:35Speaker 02

  Okay, all right.

• 1:00:36Scott Galloway?

  All right, Senator. Thanks for your time.

• 1:00:38Speaker 02

  Thank you, Scott.

• 1:00:49Scott Galloway?

  Algebra of happiness. Our interview with Senator Al Franken, the thing that struck me, and it's borne out in a lot of research, is when we asked Senator Franken his advice to his younger self, he said, "Don't be so hard on yourself." And Adam Alter's done, a colleague of mine at NYU, has done some great research. He went and interviewed a bunch of people in palliative care, essentially people at the end of life, and asked them what their biggest regrets are. And regrets are usually a function, not of the mistakes you made, but the mistakes you didn't make, or specifically the shots you didn't take, right? You can't make any shots you don't take. And one of the things that they also talked about, or the kind of the things they wish they'd

• 1:01:31Scott Galloway?

  changed, is they wish they hadn't been so harsh on themselves. And that is, the key to any long-term relationship, or a key to any long-term relationship, is forgiveness. And that is, over the course of a decade, two decades, or in the case of Senator Franken's relationship, he's been married for 46 years, one or both of you is going to screw up at some point, knowingly or unknowingly, and not be as generous, not be as thoughtful, not be as considerate, or just kind of be absent from the relationship. And you need to bring forgiveness. If you're always holding people to a certain standard or ideal in your own mind, you're going to end up divorced. You're going to end up with strained relationships

• 1:02:13Scott Galloway?

  with your kids. You're going to find reasons why your siblings are assholes, and you're constantly rolling your eyes, and maybe not getting together with them as often as you should. So bringing a certain level of forgiveness to relationships is paramount in maintaining what is the asset for long-term happiness and reward, and that is a lot of deep and meaningful relationships. In addition, in addition, you need to bring that forgiveness to yourself. You need to recognize, and this is my favorite line. It gives me a lot of comfort. Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. And when you screw up, when you screw up and you're sitting in bed and you're staring at the ceiling going, I said the wrong thing, or I wish I'd done this, you know, I really screwed up here. And you're beating yourself up.

• 1:02:57Scott Galloway?

  Yeah, beat yourself up, but then move on. Give yourself time to mourn and be angry and learn from it. And then move on. Forgive yourself, forgive yourself. I love Esther Perel's statement around confidence. That confidence is the ability to recognize you're flawed, to recognize you make mistakes and still hold yourself in high regard. Hold yourself in high regard. Have a good relationship with yourself and bring forgiveness. Nothing is ever or as good as bad as it seems. Cut yourself some slack. You screwed up, but when you look back at the end of your life, and this is what the research shows, you're going to be more upset about how hard you were on yourself than you are upset about the mistake you made. Let me repeat that. The key is forgiveness.

• 1:03:42Scott Galloway?

  The key is forgiveness. Your mistakes, your mistakes are not the risk here. They're not what attacks your happiness. It's how you respond to those mistakes. Life isn't about what happens to you. Life is about how you respond to what happens to you. Bring forgiveness.

• 1:04:02Scott Galloway?

  Our producers are Caroline Shager and Drew Burrows. Claire Miller is our assistant producer. Assistant producer, we're growing an empire here. Microsoft, watch the fuck out, Amazon. They're nervous. They're nervous. If you like what you heard, please follow, download and subscribe. Thank you for listening to the Prof G Show from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We'll catch you next week on Monday and Thursday. That's right, dos deus for the dog.

• 1:04:27Scott Galloway?

  It escapes me. It's gone. It's gone. It swam across the Bay Area, swam across the Bay in a makeshift raft and has never been seen again.

• 1:04:37Speaker 04

  We just moved into our new house and I didn't realize just how close we were to the neighbors. That's when my friend told me about blinds.com.

• 1:04:45Speaker 05

  Blinds.com isn't a medication, but it can improve how you feel about your home. Customers who shop at blinds.com experience excellent customer service from consultation to installation. Side effects include increased privacy and better sleep. Talk to your partner today and see if blinds.com is right for you. Visit blinds.com to order your free samples.

• 1:05:07Speaker 06

  They're running a Cover 2 defense.

• 1:05:11Speaker 06

  But you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go-to restaurants. Or, stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats. Order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.