Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity

While we've been worrying about today, Professor Galloway has been looking into the future, and he's brought us back a great book. There's so much here, a mix of data, stories, humor, insight, challenges. The core of the book is big tech--if you know Galloway, you know he's been a leading voice on the changes big tech has wrought, for good and ill. But there's also his fascinating take on higher education, and then a really powerful chapter on the challenges we face as a society. You won't agree with everything he says, but it will make you think. It's written in Galloway's fast and readable style, so it is just plain fun to read. It's a business book, but it's a lot more.

I follow Prof Galloway's blog and watch the occasional YouTube video and admire the creativity in his thinking around what various businesses should do. If you are on the mailing list of No Mercy No Malice, some of the material in this book will be familiar to you. But it's always enjoyable to see those items strung together in a narrative thread.However, if you are an entrepreneur or corporate manager looking for practical guidance on how to steer your business Post Corona, this book is too high level to be of much use. Think of it more as a framework for thinking about a post COVID world, and at worst you will be entertained, at best, it may provoke some fresh thinking.

Started out with lots of relevance to what is promised by the title. About halfway through, it became a typical business lecture morphing into and out of Galloway’s thoughts on privilege and politics. Not that his opinions and insights aren’t interesting; just not on-topic. Also, some weird errors. One chart illustrating gender/race of venture capitalists has labels reading “Latinx/male” and “Latinx/Female.” The “x” added to “Latin” is meant to imply “Latina and/or Latino.” The labels should have read, “Latina” or “Latino.” For someone in so in tune with political correctness, he or his publisher should have caught this, and other, blunders.

This book is a great disappointment. I thought it would paint a picture of post covid economy and help understand what opportunities might be list and what might be created to replace those. I didn't learn much from this; just a wee bit of general stuff with a sprinkling of covid induced dislocations.Scott Galloway turned himself into a rentier to milk the masses using Covid as an opportunity. I suppose that's how entrepreneurs think and act.

If you listen to the Prof G show or Pivot, these thoughts and ideas are nothing more than the past 6 months of content from those podcasts; however, that being said, having all of these brilliant and thoughtful ideas written down in a lovely book is still a treat! If you haven't listened to the podcasts, this book is a must read if you're in tech or business and want to know where the future trends are headed. The book is educational, honest, and very funny with many predictions that are likely to come true. 5 stars from me, thank you Prof G!

A very good commentary on where the we are headed as we move on after COVID-19. The first 3 (of 5) chapters are vintage Galloway - fast moving analyses of Big Tech. Chapter 4 on Higher Education is recommended reading for everyone, and especially for every member of Congress. The same applies to Chapter 5 dealing with the role of Government and the current state of Capitalism. In both of these chapters Galloway provides clear analysis and sound, common sense SOLUTIONS. If I was sure they would read it, I'd gladly give a copy to each member of Congress. Instead, I only sent my notated copy to my congressional Representative, Mikie Sherrill.

The character for the Chinese word for "crisis" (危机) has two meanings: "peril" and "critical juncture." I was again reminded of that as I began to work my way through Scott Galloway's book. He wrote it in order to inspire in his readers -- indeed, in as many people as possible -- "greater comity, more empathy for the disenfranchised, and a greater need for what it means to be an American." He hopes they will reinvest in the greatest source of good in history -- the U.S. government."Opinions are divided about the goodness of the current federal government but most citizens agree that its potentialities for almost unlimited progress in all sectors are unsurpassed by any other country. Long ago, Thomas Edison asserted that "vision without execution is hallucination." More recently, Darrell Royal explained that "potential" means "you ain't done it yet." I agree with both of them as well as with Galloway who balances a rock-solid faith in what is possible with what Hemingway once characterized as "a built-in, shock-proof crap detector."  If a global crisis such as COVID-19 reveals character, Galloway suggests, it also reveals its absence.These are among his final thoughts: "America's history is not short on crises or missed opportunities. Its sins and failures are as historic as its virtues and successes. At its best, America exemplifies the generosity, grit, innovation, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another and for future generations. When we lose sight of these, we wander into exploitation and crisis."My own opinion is that, as a people, we have been led astray in recent years from the values so powerfully affirmed, first by those who signed the Declaration of Independence and then by countless other patriots since. Consider Lincoln's heartfelt aspirations in his Second Inaugural Address: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."President-Elect Biden and his team would be well-advised to read or re-read Lincoln's compelling vision.Let's have Scott Galloway conclude this brief commentary: "America isn't 'what it is,' but what we make of it."

We’re still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s too early to predict the future of business and society but NYU Stern School of Business Stern Professor and serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway has made a good start in his new book Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity.Galloway’s view is that the pandemic’s enduring impact will be an acceleration for technology, and no area of the economy will be left unchanged. The book and the case studies are all US centric but you don’t have to work hard to apply Galloway’s work to other markets.E-commerce accounted for 16% of US retail in March 2021 and was growing approximately one percent per year. Eight weeks later it accounted for 27%. If your organisation sells a product or service it must have an online shop front. This rapid shift to digital, resulting from lockdown, is a fundamental trend that will have a fundamental impact on every area of society and business in the future.After a fall at the outset of the pandemic in Spring 2020, all the major UK and US market indices quickly recovered and continue to climb. But the impact of the crisis has been unequal. The crisis paid out a premium in valuation to organisations with an innovation narrative while stocks in bookings, entertainment, airlines, cruises and resorts were hit 50-70%. Companies with cash and highly valued stock will be able to buy the assets of distressed competitors in the coming months and years.The crisis has acted as a wrench on societal division. Middle class professionals in secure work have worked from home, saved money on commutes, seen equity and property investments rise, and stayed safe. People in public health, public service and frontline roles such as couriers, postal workers and supermarket staff have worked harder than ever on the frontline of the crisis. We owe them a huge debt. Freelancers and people working in areas of the economy that have shut down such as culture, entertainment, and travel have had an awful time.Big tech has had a good crisis. Netflix replaced cinema. Shopify supported online retail. Zoom because the default location for personal and private meetings. Galloway calls out Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. These companies have all become too big to fail and are characterised by their market dominance. He suggests that a breakup would fuel innovation.There’s an interesting footnote for marketing services companies. Google (114%) and Facebook (174%) have both seen significant share price growth in the last five years. According to eMarketer they own 61% of digital ad spend. Meanwhile IPG (-9%), Omnicom (-24%), Publicis (-51%) and WPP (-65%) are all down. Its brutal.Galloway calls out VC funded organisations built on a dubious proposition and the premise of “fake it until you make it.” He reports a shakeout that is already underway. Using capital to buy market share isn’t a sustainable business model and it has failed completely during the pandemic. Galloway cites the example of Casper, an online mattress manufacturer that lost $349 on every sale. There are 175 mattress manufacturers selling online besides Casper. The company floated in February 2020 at $1.1 billion, equalling its pre-market valuation, and immediately lost 30% of its value in the first week of trading.Education will be changed forever by COVID-19. The price of higher education has been inflated beyond any reasonable measure of value according to Galloway. Its value proposition of credentials, learning and a right of passage has been destroyed by the virus. Galloway suggests that the strongest university brands will prosper by increasing their reach via the internet while others will fail. He also suggests that technical and professional education will be disrupted by the organisations that are likely to be best served by training an empowered workforce.

Read Prof. Galloways ‘Algebra of Happiness’ last year...this book is obviously very much of the here and now. Poss a bit of a risk writing it whilst we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, and not all is yet played out....lots of ‘sound bites’, not all of which I agree with, but he’s brilliant at Marketing...his view on how the pandemic will change University Education, is ready to happen and his ‘T algorithm’ discussion is so motivating - well worth a read

Great book.Some parts are only relevant for a US based audience but it is a great book nonetheless.

Not bad Covid economybook. A lot of the content is a follow up from his book "Four" and recent blog posts, but still it's a decent long form content from Prof G. The book got quite a few notes to refer to later

A good and informative book