Generation Hustle
I’ve been binge-watching all the new fictionalized miniseries of real-world people who defrauded the public to get ahead: Inventing Anna (Ruth from Ozark donning yet another crazy accent to play the fake German heiress socialite Anna Sorokin/Delvey), The Dropout (Amanda Seyfried playing Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes), and WeCrashed (Jared Leto’s expert portrayal of WeWork Founder Adam Neumann—and Anne Hathaway playing his wife, finally in a role in which I can love to hate her with clear conscience).
A surprising thing keeps coming up in me as I go deeper in these stories: I feel sorry for these people. These individuals who lied, defrauded investors, figuratively stabbed people in the back, literally stabbed people in the finger and put them at health risk, some of whom are proven criminals in jail…my heart actually breaks for them. Emotionally, I’m on their side.
No matter how crazy or appalling a story may seem, if you follow it back far enough, you see the humanity that led to the eventual spiral. When I look at a young Elizabeth Holmes who so desperately wants her parents, who only see her for her achievements, to be proud of her, I just want to give her a hug. When I see the young immigrant, Adam Neumann, walk up to a table of investors at dinner, proudly saying his company is going to make $200,000 in its first year, and they laugh in his face (“that’s what my assistant makes…you’re missing a few zeroes, pal”), I sympathize.
We live in a strange world. And the business world? Straight up kooky-dooks. Our society’s obsession with ambition and accomplishment—and increasing desire to get things, as my 4-year-old demands, RIGHT NOW—breeds a “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality. And maybe this has always existed—a little padding of a resume here, a little return of the clothes you wore last night there. But now, with the internet, social media, and the democratization of nearly everything, we can “fake it” AT SCALE. And with FILTERS for f*cksake! Here, please accept this blurry image as reality…if you squint hard enough, you’ll see pure perfection.
To some extent, we have all built public personas that represent us. Heck, I just wrote an entire book advocating it. But there is a line that can be crossed and, unfortunately, it’s blurry as hell (as noted in my warning chapter—Ch. 19: Cult, Revisited). We all may be on the good side of the line right now, but so were those people who now have binge-worthy TV miniseries about them. Success circa now practically demands a superhuman projection of confidence, so when do we cross the line? When are we being brave and bold and believing-in-our-vision ambitious and when are we deceiving people, maybe even ourselves?
Just take the word hustle, the success mantra of this generation. Hustle, Grind, Repeat. There are countless hustle motivational slogans on t-shirts, coffee mugs, canvas prints, jewelry, and all the neon signs that hang in every startup and coworking space. Entrepreneurs wear this verb like a badge of honor. We know that to hustle means to bust our asses. But, by definition, hustle also means “a fraud or swindle.”
A fine line indeed. Perhaps even two sides of the same coin. Who’s a hustler and who’s a hustler? Who’s a go-getter and who’s a scammer? Who’s faking it until they make it, but then don’t make it, so they’re just faking it? (That’s some Dr. Seuss poetry right there).
I recently read the book Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. I’m attempting to paraphrase a neuroscientist here, but she basically says that your reality is constructed half from physical reality (the physical atoms around you like that tree or chair) and half from your perceived reality (your perception of the moment driven by your past experiences and beliefs). My reality is also half physical reality and half my own perceptions. So is your neighbor’s. Hence, the realities we each experience are all different. The only thing common in our realities is the physical reality (if we’re both standing next to an ocean, the ocean is a common denominator in both of our realities at that moment). So just imagine if that shared reality (the physical one) gets distorted to the point that it’s up for interpretation. Is that really an ocean or is that an augmented reality virtual projection of an ocean? Is that really a wealthy German heiress or is that a penniless Russian immigrant trying to be creative instead of homeless? Is that really a medical device that tests my blood or is it a Cracker Jack box? I believe it’s real; you don’t. I think you’re crazy; you think I’m crazy. This is what’s at stake (and already here…helloooo, political climate). Step right up for one ticket to the Pure and Utter Shit Show.
I can’t help but wonder…in a world with increasing pressure to succeed to the tune of a bazillion dollars, perfect digital personas representing naturally flawed humans to the masses, and the fictionalized life as we know it metaverse coming at us at warp speed, where is the reality check?