The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning

by Scott Galloway

Because I’m successful, people often recast this offensiveness as honesty or even leadership. No, it’s just being an asshole. I’m working on it.

The word “entrepreneur” is a synonym for “salesperson.” Selling people to join your firm, selling them to stay at your firm, selling investors, and (oh yeah) selling customers. It doesn’t matter if you’re running the corner store or Pinterest—you’d better be damn good at selling if you plan to start a business. Selling is calling people who don’t want to hear from you, pretending to like them, getting treated poorly, and then calling them again.

Mediocrity + two years’ tech experience = six figures. Kids who can code and are two years out of school, who are mediocre, are making $100,000+ in the market. What’s worse is that they believe they’re worth it. If you can code, yay for you. But you have no real hard skills or management ability. Not recognizing that you’re overpaid means you won’t have the funds to avoid your parents’ basement when shit gets real.