Member-only story

No Mercy No Malice

How I Learned to Captivate an Audience

And other lessons I owe to my dad

Scott Galloway
Marker
Published in
8 min readAug 25, 2020

--

A microphone on a podium.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad, and my blessings. My mom raised me, but my livelihood is largely a function of two things:

  • Luck (being born at the right place and time)
  • More luck… inheriting my father’s communications skills.

(Originally published April 2018.)

I make my living speaking. It’s a family business.

I remember the first time I noticed my mom was depressed, and that depression was a thing. The first time I registered that my mom’s friends Karsen and Charly were cool, whatever cool was. I also remember, at the age of five, people acting differently around my father. They would gaze into his eyes, nodding and then laughing. Women would touch his arm, laughing, and men, when they saw him, would yell at “Tommy,” genuinely happy to see him. He was great with a turn of phrase, funny and clever (that is, British). The cocktail of articulate, irreverent, and smart chased with a Scottish accent made my dad attractive to women and employers. My mother explained it to me: “Your father is charming.” At gatherings, inevitably, a semicircle forms around my dad, and he tells jokes and shares his take on things ranging from space (if it…

--

--

Marker
Marker

Published in Marker

Marker was a publication from Medium about the intersection of business, economics, and culture. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Scott Galloway
Scott Galloway

Written by Scott Galloway

Prof Marketing, NYU Stern • Host, CNN+ • Pivot, Prof G Podcasts • Bestselling author, The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, Post Corona • profgalloway.com

Responses (2)