The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

Make It Yours – See Your Price On Amazon!

Your Sales Price $0.00

A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet.

Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there.

Just about everyone is wrong.

For all that’s been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.

Instead of buying the myths these companies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they’re almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, can anyone challenge them?

In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world’s most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can’t match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career.

Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: ROGER L. FOREMAN
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Spectacular Read–Fascinating, even for a layperson (English teacher)
Review: Rarely have I read a book in which the writer’s speaking style is so apparent and consistent. His *voice* is uncanny. I’ve seen him interviewed multiple times in a variety of settings, and this book reads exactly the way he speaks (or vice versa, I guess), and I could listen to him talk all day. I know nothing about business, really, but his take on how these four companies function was fascinating to me. [I’m reading this in 2024, so I don’t know exactly how his predictions or views have held up–an updated version would be equally fascinating.] His real-life perspective and common sense approach to life, as well as business, are worth anybody reading, regardless of age, profession, or politics.Detractors complained in reviews that he sounds unprofessional or not like a college professor because of his occasionally rough language…. EXACTLY!! He sounds like a real guy talking about real stuff in a real style with real vocabulary. He’s not the nerd professor talking down to me like I’m an 18-year-old idiot–he’s the cool professor talking to me like I’m also an adult (since, as the reader, I am), as we’re having a drink after work or on a Saturday afternoon. He’s not super-animated in person, either, which makes him sound even more sincere and credible–it’s not a show, full of fake hystrionics. The numbers and data are all there, so he’s not just blowing smoke, but the numbers don’t read like mindless data or business-geek-talk. He is extremely insightful about human behavior and the psychology of young people entering the workplace.Again, I’d love some kind of ten-year update/revision/analysis, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly to any young person or college student with an eye toward a successful business career. I’m going to read Chapter 10, “The Four and You,” with all of my seniors this upcoming year, as well, regardless of their career goals, because some of that advice applies to everybody!Very highly recommended!

Reviewer: Gary Moreau, Author
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A colorful and personal take on the digital revolution that will make you smile, wince, and take notice
Review: This is one of a number of recent books from authors who had a front row seat at the birth of the digital economy. In this case the journey unfolds through the proxy of Four—Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook.The prose is quick and witty. Some of the witty is admittedly built on more than a whiff of cynicism: “At its core, Apple fills two instinctual needs: to feel closer to God and be more attractive to the opposite sex.” And,“Facebook is a platform for strutting and preening…Few people post pictures of their divorce papers or how tired they look on Thursday.” You will, nonetheless, smile.And the book is chock full of interesting trivia: “The cocktail of low-cost product and premium prices has landed Apple with a cash pile greater than the GDP of Denmark, the Russian stock market, and the market cap of Boeing, Airbus, and Nike combined.”In the end, while the book admires what each of the Four has accomplished, it begs the question being increasingly asked: What is our digital future and are we better off for it?It is a legitimate question. Google has more power than Standard Oil or AT&T ever dreamed of and yet the government and its regulators seem not to care. The government, in fact, cheers on the consolidation, despite the degree to which the Four contribute in a very real way to the country’s debilitating political and social polarization. “So, Facebook, and the rest of the algorithm-driven media, barely bothers with moderates.” And “This is how these algorithms reinforce polarization in our society.”Fake news and Russian influence are the news stories of the day, but, as Galloway points out, this is the tip of the iceberg. Google, in the end, is a public utility managed as if it weren’t and Facebook is no less a media company than the New York Times or CNN. To dismiss Facebook’s power on the notion that it is a mere platform for personal expression defies common sense. “Don’t kid yourself: Facebook’s sole mission is to make money. Once the company’s success is measured in clicks and dollars, why favor true stories over false ones?”Each of the four, moreover, yields monopoly-enabled financial power in the market, allowing them to make huge bets in things like artificial intelligence and driverless vehicles; bets that the likes of General Motors and IBM and their employees could not begin to finance out of their comparatively pedestrian and competitively constrained returns.While Galloway clearly has a love/hate relationship with each of the Four and attempts to provide a balanced assessment, the prose devoted to the negative is definitely more acerbic in tone and more than a tad personal. I admit particular discomfort in his portrayal of Steve Jobs, suggesting that fans like myself “conveniently ignored the fact that Steve Jobs gave nothing to charity, almost exclusively hired middle-aged white guys, and was an awful person.”Without disputing Jobs’ humanity tit for tat, as I didn’t know him, he was a person with passion and authenticity; two qualities sorely lacking in many C-suites toady. There is a fine line between not suffering fools (a good thing) and bullying (a bad thing), but I still choose to believe Jobs was on the right side of that line.Style and discrete substance aside, I do think Galloway’s main theme is accurate. “A devouring beast, Facebook will continue with more of the same. With its global reach, its near-limitless capital, and its ever-smarter data-crunching AI machine, Facebook, in combination with Google, will lay waste to much of the analog and digital media worlds.” And the Four “pursue a Darwinian, rapacious path to profits and ignore the job destruction taking place at your hands every day.” Whatever the intentions and good will of their leaders, we are allowing a consolidation of corporate power never before seen in history. Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan were mere street corner tough guys in comparison.I further agree with Galloway that the notion that we are promoting a culture that believes that individuals, entrepreneurial or not, should be rewarded with billion dollar paydays is both dangerous and indefensible. Ultimately, no person, no business, and no idea exists in isolation. Rugged individualism is a romantic myth. Every one of us benefits from our membership in a society that protects us, educates us, and gives us roads to drive on. Every company, the Four included, enjoys both these advantages and the benefits of sound and accessible credit markets, the protection of intellectual property, and a body of publicly funded research that they can lease for pennies on the dollar.The philosophical school of skepticism, most often associated with Pyrrho of Elis, who lived in the fourth century BCE and traveled to India with the armies of Alexander the Great, put it best. Skepticism is the suspension of judgment, called epoché, that flows from the paradox that what we know and how we know it cannot be known independently, thus precluding a definitive answer to either question. However exciting it may be, the entrepreneurial culture that empowers the digital world is built on a well-defined dogma, and is thus worthy of our legitimate skepticism.Galloway ultimately notes that every dog has its day. All of the Four face great risk going forward; risk that has clearly not been baked into their market valuations. Google is likely to be seen for the public utility it is. Facebook will likely be stymied in its effort to facilitate meaningful communities by the inevitable erosion in public trust that is structurally inherent in its algorithmic model. Amazon, Galloway notes, will face potential backlash over the impact of its digital efficiency on retail and last mile employment. And Apple, like all companies, faces the risk of management missteps and changing tastes, although neither has threatened it to date.I don’t share Galloway’s pessimism regarding the future of brands, but I do agree that, “No technology firm has solved the problem of aging—losing relevance.” It reflects, in part, the sine wave of development that seems inherent to the universe itself. Only Apple, Galloway notes, has yet survived beyond the cult of its original founder(s).In the last two sections of the book Galloway tackles what it will take to be the fifth of Five, or a replacement for one of the Four, (What he calls the T Algorithm) and offers advice to young people just starting their career. The ideas are okay but a bit superficial. Everyone should be likeable, for example. If your parents didn’t teach you that you’re admittedly starting in a hole. It’s a quality you should expect of your pets, much less yourself.The latter part of the book does lose some intensity, as a result. Some of the material, such as the need for curiosity, emotional intelligence, and a college degree are a bit redundant. And he makes a lot of generalizations, such as his observed tendency of young men to preen in meetings and what he considers the limited bandwidth of the average CEO. He readily admits his own excesses, which are, at times, a bit off-putting although the authenticity, I think, ultimately wins out.The book, in the end, is a worthy read on an important topic. The author is sometimes a victim of excess, but aren’t we all. Gallagher has both an experience worthy of being heard and the chops to make us listen anyway.

Reviewer: Emi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Buen libro

Reviewer: Harisundar
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is one of the explosive books of the century. It tells the story the four major business and technology disruptors of this century, their business models, how they kill small businesses, how they control the market and most importantly how they study us, influence us by accessing our behaviour through chats, searches, purchases, etc. The story on apple and amazon are a treat to read. The power and influence they have achieved in a short time and their value of nearly a trillion dollars make them nearly invincible. They have so much control over our lives that we cannot think of life without them at some stage. Its a book to be read and re read again to understand a bit more. An outstanding book that tells the story of life changing ideas in technology, their influence and their dangers in the society.

Reviewer: Paolo Campisi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Galloway impresses from beyond the screen, in the age of fly by night influencers and the constant yammering of doom. Galloway’s approach to the Four brings his unique style to the critique of the four leaders of our new economy.Galloway’s passionate style translates to easy reading proses; highlighting how Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have become the largest social & economic influencers in our lives.The Four draws parallels to the Four Horsemen within the context of the disruption they have brought to the modern economy, and addresses how they have now changed the expectations of an entire generation of consumers.I find Galloway to be a creditable author on the subject as his current occupation at L2 Digital (a think tank with deep data credentials) has kept him on the pulse of brands as they’ve evolved from the dot-com era.

Reviewer: Alfredo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Strong opinions on the main corporations of our times. Fundamental to better understand their business models and to get a good overview over last few decades in business. You may disagree with some of the conclusions, however it’s always interesting to listen and understand. Excellent read!

Reviewer: a Punter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A fundamental for anyone who’s interested/involved in the “digital world”. Actually scratch that, this is a must read for all of us. Galloway pulls off a coup in leading us, at pace, through the genesis, evolution and make-up the big Four. A fascinating and somewhat sobering read.A shortish, readable book that clearly explains where we are, where we’re (probably) going and the case for anti-trust measures for the Four. His style won’t be to everyone’s taste but Scott Galloway rips through the subject with energy, passion and a bit of “adult” language.Feels as timely and relevant to us now in 2018 as previous digital commentaries such as “The Long Tail” and “The Search” were in the mid-noughties.

Price effective as of Feb 14, 2025 15:19:25 UTC

As an Amazon Associate Dealors may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.