The Authority Bias That Fooled the Internet

Youtuber and boxer Jake Paul has lost. And this time he had his jaw broken. Anthony Joshua fought patiently and then knocked Jake Paul down in the sixth round. So it didn't end in about 30 seconds, the way many predicted, but it did end. It was a bit of an ignominious ending for Jake Paul. Whether this stops him from this nonsense fantasy of being a professional boxer, I don't know. This was on Netflix. It was a big deal. A lot of money changed hands, and it was right down the street from me in Miami's Case Center. A lot of people wanted to watch it. I have no idea why. Folks, it's time to grow up. We're all guilty of this from time to time, but it's known as authority bias. It's the idea someone is well known and does this one thing well, they must be good at this. Something over here, completely unrelated. We're all guilty of it from time to time. And yeah, Jake Paul is good at being on video. He's good at getting attention. He has 28 million followers on Instagram. He has 20 million subscribers on YouTube. He has 19 million followers on TikTok. I get it. He's popular. He has 79 million people. It doesn't mean he's a good boxer. I realize he's rich, he's young, he's famous, but are we going to start putting him. Are we going to make him the center of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team because he's popular? The one thing about sports that most people have traditionally liked is the idea that it is kind of a meritocracy. You can't just be famous and bulldoze your way in there. That's why so many people were offended when billionaire Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager, sort of weaseled his way into a professional tennis tournament a few months ago and got soundly trounced. So, look, is Jake Paul a better boxer than I am? Yes. I'm a horrible boxer. I've never boxed, and if I did, I would just crumple. I have a very low tolerance for pain. But I'm not here trying to pretend to be a good boxer. So here's why this bothers me. It bothers me that Netflix would want to air this and that so many people would want to watch this. It's almost like saying, hey, here's a guy who can make a car company successful. Let's let him run the entire federal government and control whether hundreds of thousands of poor people around the world just die by cutting off their aid. That's Right. We actually did that when our government gave control to our entire budget to Elon Musk earlier this year. Elon Musk, to his credit, now says, wow, if I had that to do over again, I wouldn't do it. Maybe Jake Paul, as he's feeling his broken it's allegedly broken in two places, is thinking, you know, maybe I should stick to the easy work. Talking in front of camera, in front of a camera is easy. This is fun what I'm doing. I'm feeling no pain right now. And Jake Paul is, is on camera. He doesn't really have to have pain. So why in the world is he, is he doing this? Now, I realize he wants to have fun. He thinks he's cool. But this is getting way out of hand in our culture, where people are constantly giving credibility to folks who are well known in one area and giving them control to something else. We see it in our federal government. We Robert F. Kennedy is good at getting attention, primarily because his father and his uncle were assassinated and they were. They served as senators and President of the United States. Why in the world that would give anyone the idea that he should be in charge of health care and vaccines? Beyond me. But hey, he's famous and a lot of people like him. So we're seeing this again and again and again. I urge you, ask yourself, am I listening to this person because they have a shred of credibility on what they're trying to do? If not, click off the channel? Why am I asking you to watch me? Well, it's because I have spent 40 years working with newsmakers trying to help them figure out how to communicate. Whether it's CEOs, billionaire fund managers, presidents of companies, Wall street wizards, presidents of countries, Nobel Prize winners. I've been in the trenches working with those people, helping them how to figure out how to communicate effectively, how to have personal development habits. I have 12 million online student enrollments in my personal development courses and communication skills courses, which arguably makes me the most popular online communication skills instructor in the world. Now, you may quibble with that, you may disagree with any one fact or piece of advice I give, but that's why I'm putting myself out here and why I'd like you to at least entertain listening to my expertise. If I come to you one day and say, watch me because I'm the world's greatest singer, you should hit delete pretty quickly. If I tell you you need to watch me beat up somebody who is six inches taller, a thousand times faster and stronger they are than I am in a boxing match. I think you should laugh in my face and turn it off. We all have to get better at saying no, sir. And it's typically a sir. Let's not kid ourselves. No, sir. You're not credible for this. Click. Henry Ford was great at creating an assembly line. He really did mass produce cars, changed our economy, changed the world forever. He was brilliant at that. But then a lot of people wanted to start listening to his opinions on the Jews. Not so good at that. Spoiler alert. He didn't like them. So I'm not saying you have to stay in your lane and never branch out or try new things, but you need to earn credibility in your new lane. If all of a sudden I want to be a fashion designer, then I think you need to not just buy it because TJ's wearing it. You need to really look and say, are those fashions any good? Rather than just blindly following someone because they're well known. And being well known for doing stupid stuff on the Internet is probably the least legitimate credential for doing anything else in the entire world. Jake Paul, I hope your jaw heals, but I hope your ego heals too, to the point where you don't subject any more people and your own body to this torture.