It is in our DNA to believe in bullshit. Every day, we encounter someone who tries to sell us something that is not worth the asking price or deliver what was advertised. It could be as small as an over-the-counter product for a dollar, or a new idea for a unicorn company that promises to disrupt the world, eventually going public at an inflated multi-billion dollar valuation. These swindlers hype their company’s value on the premise that they have built a unicorn when it’s really a pony. If they’re really good at selling the fantasy, they manage to win a lot of believers along the way.
Most people I’ve met throughout the course of my life are innately good and trusting. However, the more times you get burned, the more you lose our naivete and the less trusting you become. Sometimes, we are so emotionally (and financially) vested in our need to see the good in an opportunity we overlook every sign that points to deception. We ignore our instincts. We ignore the data. We ignore sound advice from experts. We double down with the hope that the unicorn grows and our vision is realized.
This week I watched the WeWork documentary. I never knew or met Adam Neumann, so when I watched the opening scene of the movie, I assumed it was an actor playing Neumann. There was no way that what I was watching could have been a real person in a real situation – but it was. Holy shit! How could anyone with any sense of reality not see through his bullshit? He eerily reminded me of a few people I’ve met who are running companies that have celebrated short-term success and built a cult-like following on smoke, mirrors, and deception.
Scott Galloway wrote about WeWork more than a year ago in his blog titled “WeWTF” where he called the company “an illusion”. He wrote “The lines between vision, bullshit, and fraud are pretty narrow. Something is wrong. Something stinks. Something... Just. Doesn’t. Add. Up.” He sheds some more light on this in the documentary and points out that all WeWork does is “rent fucking desks”. Not a unicorn. Not a tech company. A real estate company.
The real tragedy of the WeWork story to me was how many people felt duped by their personal experiences. They felt deceived and taken for a ride. But I ask myself how so many smart (and some not-so-smart) people didn’t see what was so obvious to so many. Were they in so deep there was no way out? Was the admission of following a charismatic con artist too embarrassing to face? How could these people not see what is right in front of them? How could they be shocked when they discovered that the Founder didn't care about the trail he blazed and the lives he damaged?
There are so many true stories filled with themes of deception and lies. Here are some of my favorite “WTF” reads ...
- “Bad Blood” – Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – by John Carreyrou
- “Billion Dollar Whale” – The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World – by Bradley Hope and Tom Wright.
- “The Mastermind” – Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal – by Evan Ratliff
- If you have any good book or documentary recommendations, I’d love to hear them.
Let’s do this...
-Shaun