Scott Galloway doesn’t have a crystal ball, but the bestselling author and professor of marketing at New York University has a penchant for making predictions. “Eisenhower said that plans are useless, but planning is invaluable. I think predictions are somewhat useless, but predicting is somewhat valuable.”
At CL22, Galloway humorously reviewed his business predictions for 2021 — most of them came true — and shared with the audience what he foresees for 2022, with a strong focus on innovation. For one, he doesn’t see the Facebook-led “Metaverse” taking off this year as many have anticipated.
“Facebook is not a very innovative company,” Galloway said. “You might think, ‘Well they are innovative’ — innovation is the ability to create new things.” But Galloway noted that most of Facebook’s successful offshoots have been acquisitions, not homegrown projects. “They sold 3.5 million [Oculus VR headsets] last year, but as the ultimate test, there were 70 million pairs of Crocs sold,” he joked.
To be successful creating a metaverse, a company needs qualities Galloway thinks an organization like Apple has over Facebook — a ubiquitous device, trust from the public, capital, deep talent, an attractive mode of accessing it — the Airpod.
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Convene spoke with Galloway in late 2021 before Convening Leaders about how his predictions about upcoming innovations apply to business events.