Why “Follow Your Passion” Is Bad Advice — with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

There is so much NFL on ESPN right now.

Monday Night Football, plus pregame and postgame. NFL Live, NFL Primetime. Everything you need to stay on top of every game, every week.

Dave Evans (0:14)

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_1 (0:16)

And now, NFL Network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. Football's on, all season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app.

Scott Galloway (0:32)

Episode 412, once was the year I coached serving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2012, Tinder launched. My wife, I found out, is actually on Tinder, so I swiped left on that cheating.

I wish Tinder would adopt the Netflix feature that says, skip intro.

What's happening? Today's episode was recorded live at the Odoo Experience in San Francisco with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, the co-founders of Stanford's Life Design Lab, and authors of How to Live a Meaningful Life. And I actually find some value in what they have to say, because I'm as cynical as I am, and I mostly use it for therapy. I'm a fucking hot mess. Let's bring this back to me. I dropped my son at college a couple of weeks ago, and I kept it together. I kept it together. Why? Because I'm self-aware enough to know that my 18-year-old doesn't need to be worried about his father's emotional trauma from the cats in the cradle and the fact that I, on this podcast, talk about what an amazing father I am, and then review the last 18 years and think, okay, I was good, but maybe not great, and now it's too fucking late. Now the credits are rolling. Anyways, it's been a rough couple weeks, and in some, your world gets smaller, so theirs can get bigger. I have found myself very into my youngest son. I still have him. He's trapped. He's still at home for another three years, and I've been taking a ton of photos of him. I think he realizes I'm freaking out. Anyways, that is where I have found purpose the last 18 years was trying to prepare boys for others. And I worry that I've lost that purpose, and this conversation attempts to address that. And we explore kind of that feeling of emptiness, if you will, and we had some very, I thought, open and honest questions from the audience. So with that, we hope you enjoy our conversation with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

SPEAKER_4 (2:47)

Welcome back, everyone. I hope you are all ready for this next speaker. Now he wears a lot of hats. He's a professor of marketing at NYU Stern, an entrepreneur with nine companies founded. He's a best-selling author several times over, co-host of Pivot, host of The Prof G Pod, and the voice behind a growing family of shows that millions listen to every week. Now what sets him apart is his range. He talks about big tech and the economy, but also about politics, about education, and about young people trying to find their way, and about what a good life really looks like.

He says what he thinks, he backs it with data, and he's never boring. For a lot of his listeners, he has become one of the essential voices in America.

He will be recording his podcast right here, joined by his guests Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. Please, everyone give a warm welcome and a round of applause for Professor Scott Galloway.

Scott Galloway (4:08)

It's great to be here. I should have a mic.

How are we doing so far? All right, quick show of hands. Dad joke or dick joke? Who wants a dad joke? Who wants a dad joke? Who wants a dick joke?

This is my kind of crowd. Okay, but you asked for it. So I'm at that point where my kids need the sex talk. So I walked into my son's bedroom with a banana and a condom. And he said, what's the banana for? And I said, well, I can't get hard on an empty stomach. You asked for it. I was just in the urinal, just in the urinal. And the guy next to me looks over and looks down and goes, circumcised? And I'm like, no, that's just the wear and tear.

SPEAKER_5 (5:03)

All right, dad joke.

Scott Galloway (5:05)

The politically correct guy over there is like, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_5 (5:09)

Dad joke.

Scott Galloway (5:10)

So I invented a new word, plagiarism. Think about it. It's actually pretty funny. Maybe not. I only know 25 words in the alphabet. I don't know why. All right, back to dick jokes. Anyways.

Super excited to be here. We have two fantastic professors. How many of you like me were rejected from Stanford?