Office Hours: Leveraging AI, Joining a Family Business Board Position, Do I Sacrifice My Dream for the Person I Love?

Scott discusses how AI is revolutionizing the beauty industry and then gives insight to a listener who’s been asked to join their family business’s board of directors. He wraps up with advice on making a move abroad that might end a relationship. 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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• 0:49Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 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]. First question.

• 1:43Speaker 02

  Hi Scott, my name is Ron. I'm a New York City-based cosmetic chemist and founder of a skincare brand. I'm a recent new big fan of yours, and I'm telling all my friends that they've got to tune into your shows. My question for you is this. I'm super fascinated with what's going on with AI. And I'd like to know, how do you think... I should be leveraging AI to improve and grow my business. Thank you.

• 2:10Scott Galloway?

  Phew, Ron, that's a good question. And it's one of those questions. I don't see these questions before I answer them such that I come across as more authentic. Most of the time I just come across as like not knowing what the fuck I'm talking about. But anyways, so AI is being used in the skincare industry to discover new brand ingredients, similar to the way AI is increasingly used in drug development. A company called Revella, which sells beauty and wellness products, is using AI to identify a single molecule out of millions. And they called it, I think it's called Fibroqin, Fibroqin, F I B R O Q I U I N. Sounds like what rich people name their kids. Anyways, they're now using it in their products and market it for its rejuvenating and firming benefits to skin. So you have this incredible

• 2:56Scott Galloway?

  technology for asking a lot of questions and saying, what type of molecule or what, you know, what is the chemical composition? What are the most common chemical compositions of a product that does the following? And it can kind of get you to the right answer or an answer. I shouldn't say the right answer because it spits back a lot of wrong answers. In a Pop Sugar interview, the co-founder of Revella revealed that with AI, the usually tedious testing process only took about eight months. So this is really interesting, right? Testing in pharmaceuticals, it's an iterative process over and over. And this is essentially speeding the process. It's cutting the process down and also probably giving them more opportunities to experiment

• 3:39Scott Galloway?

  with crazy shit. AI and AR technologies have opened the doorway to personalized skincare shopping. Think about that. Instead of trying on beauty products in physical stores, customers are now using their devices for virtual try-ons using AI-powered face mapping technology. In 2018, L'Oréal was one of the first to step into the evolving beauty tech space when it acquired Moda Face, Moda Face, Moda Face, M O D I, Moda Face, a leading provider of AR beauty try-on tech. I think everyone should be thinking the way you're thinking. And that is, I need to understand this technology. I need to start playing with it. And I need to start understanding different types of solutions. And here's the thing, here's the thing.

• 4:22Scott Galloway?

  Open AI and AI and ChatGPT may or may not live up to the hype. What is definitely going to live up to the hype? The hype. And that is in every industry, there are going to be a small number of brands that invest in and really go hard at AI. But more importantly than that, they will get their PR departments and their comms department and their packaging and their naming to reflect their focus on AI. Who was supposedly the best digital company in the consumer world or in the luxury world? Burberry, remember that? But here's the thing, it was mostly bullshit. They didn't have the capital investment supply chain. Their site was fine, but it wasn't that great.

• 5:05Scott Galloway?

  But their PR department would put out a press release every four hours talking about how they were streaming a live fashion show on Instagram. And guess what? It worked for several years. That positioning that they were the new Pepsi generation luxury company that really got luxury was an enormous source of PR and positive imagery for them. So, so what are we going to have in the beauty industry? We're going to have some tangible differentiation, but more than anything, boss, it's going to be great marketing. You are thinking the right way. Question number two.

• 5:37Speaker 03

  Hey Scott, Happy New Year and I hope all is well. My name is Dan, I'm 27, living in LA and I'm currently working in international sales at a large independent film studio, but aiming to pivot into the gaming industry given my interest in web three and tech. I've recently been asked by my stepfather, who founded and currently runs the commodities trading and client advisory firm, to join a small family board for his company. I'd be grateful to hear you touch on the differences of a family board position compared to a traditional one. And moreover, could you share how you've applied specific board experience to different industries and how I might best position myself to get the most I experience given my career interests? Thank you, love the pod and happy to hear that you're a soccer fan. Go gutters.

• 6:16Scott Galloway?

  Hey, Daniel from LA. Thanks for the thoughtful question. And first off, congratulations on your opportunities. The smartest thing you can do is be born into a wealthy family. And it sounds like you've done that or you're blessed with parents who have done well and can provide you with interesting opportunities, including going on the board of a company. I want to be clear, what's the difference between a family board? Not being on a family board, the bottom line, Daniel, is you don't deserve to be on this board and you're there because of your lineage. And that's the key to being an effective board member here is realizing that you're there because of nepotism. And as a result, you should be especially thoughtful around listening a lot and doing your work. I've been on a bunch of boards and what you don't want is board members who kind of read

• 7:01Scott Galloway?

  the board packet and then, you know, on the way down and just ask a bunch of stupid questions and heckle from the cheap seats. When I was a younger man, I thought being on the board was asking a lot of hard questions and always trying to stump management. No, that's not what you're there for. You're there to be supportive. You're there to represent other parties. You're there to be a fiduciary. Fiduciary is a wonderful word. It means you're there to represent other people. You're there to represent the community, employees and shareholders, not necessarily in that order. Most specifically, you're usually there at the end of the day to represent shareholders. So where you have specific domain expertise, you know, add your view, ask questions, really trying to understand the numbers.

• 7:44Scott Galloway?

  Take an accounting class, take finance, really try and be the person. I find the person you have to have on your board, at least two or three of them, is people who can actually dig into the numbers and ask real questions around the numbers presented to you. Because usually the CEO kind of manages the board or presents the numbers and the company in the best possible light. And you don't want to be aggressive. A lot of times you may want to send questions to the CFO before the board meeting, but I would definitely say as a family board member that does not deserve to be there, you need to earn the right to be there. And the way you do that is by listening, understanding the hard stuff around the company, the numbers and being humble. See above, you do not deserve to be there. Thanks, Daniel, and yeah, absolutely.

• 8:28Scott Galloway?

  Go Gunners. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

• 8:37Scott Galloway?

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• 9:22Scott Galloway?

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• 9:39Scott Galloway?

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• 10:24Scott Galloway?

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• 10:47Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back. Question number three.

• 10:49Speaker 04

  Hey, bro. My name is Tomas. I'm 28 years old and I'm a civil engineer and a long listener of your pod from Chile. I'd like to know your view on a life decision matter. About a month ago, I was laid off from a fintech firm unexpectedly, and I've been wondering if this is the right moment to follow my dreams and apply to a masters in Europe, given that I have the means and the nationality. My main issue here is that making that choice. My seven years old relationship may end. My girlfriend doesn't want to leave the country because she's currently thriving at her work as an architect. So my very personal question here is, what should I do? Do I go the selfish way and deep dive into the adventure? Or sacrifice my dream to keep the person that I love?

• 11:35Speaker 04

  Thank you so much.

• 11:36Scott Galloway?

  Tomas, this is a deeply personal question, and it's not really one that I can answer. And that is, you're struggling between kind of your heart and your brain. I'll give you a viewpoint. I don't believe there is a one. I've never bought the notion that people have soulmates. I think mating or the person you decide to settle down with, the most important decision you'll make in your life is hands down, not where you live, not where you go to work, not the industry, it's who you decide to partner with, specifically who you decide to have kids with. Because you're in that person's life for at least 18 years, most likely 25, regardless if you decide to get out of each other's life and get divorced or separate, you're gonna be in each other's lives if you have kids together.

• 12:17Scott Galloway?

  In addition, nothing great ever is accomplished alone, and having a good partner takes all of the good things in life and makes them great. And having the wrong partner takes all of the good things in life and just makes them just okay, and it makes the bad things really shitty. So I don't want to poo poo the idea of sacrificing for the right relationship. Having said that, you're just so young. What I would ask yourself is the following, is what happens if the relationship doesn't work out? If you're about to get married and you think this is it for me, then okay. Sit down and say, all right, we're getting married, let's plan a life together. I always thought that a decent definition of love is that you're willing to throw

• 13:00Scott Galloway?

  the 52 card deck that is your life into the air and just see where it lands. Knowing that the most important thing is that the one card that always lands in the same place is that you're gonna be with that person. And ask yourself, are you at that point? But if she's not willing to move to France and you're quite frankly leaning towards moving to France, even if she's not willing to do it, I would argue that maybe you move to France, do your program, and then you both reevaluate what it meant to be without each other and what kind of sacrifices you're willing to make to be together again. I think at your age, in your twenties, I think your twenties is mostly about building a base for economic security. I don't think you're going to look back and think, oh, that's

• 13:44Scott Galloway?

  the one that got away. And this is sounding very non Hallmark Channel because the majority of Lifetime movies will tell you to enroll in business school, go to the airport to go to France, and at the last minute, don't get on the plane and go embrace your girlfriend with a ring with, you know, music in the background and she should be portrayed by Jennifer Lopez. Anyways, we live in a capitalist world and that economic trajectory is really important. So I don't think there is just one person for anybody. I've never bought into that. Two, if you can assemble a kitchen cabinet of people who will give you sort of unfiltered sober advice. And this is where you gotta decide, are you gonna resent her

• 14:26Scott Galloway?

  if you don't do it? Or is it so important? I think even the fact that you're struggling with this question probably means that you might want to go. By the way, if both of you are doing really well, but you decide that the relationship takes precedence, if you're both doing well, the companies you work for will try and find opportunities such that you can live in the same city. I mean, these are really good problems. But again, ultimately, talk to a bunch of people, be very transparent with your partner. But ultimately, my brother, the decision is yours. That's all for this episode. Again, if you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected].

• 15:13Scott Galloway?

  Our producers are Caroline Chagrin, Claire Miller, and Drew Burrows. Jennifer Sanchez 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.

• 15:27Speaker 05

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