| | | | | |  Francis Scialabba | | IN THIS ISSUE | Michael Lewis revisits "Liar's Poker" | Tips on WFH productivity | A closer look at the NFL's Rooney Rule | | | | Good morning. Tonight, an expected 117 million people will watch celebrities pitch cryptocurrency in between a few football plays. In what's being dubbed the "Crypto Bowl," a batch of crypto exchanges including FTX, Coinbase, and Crypto.com, will air Super Bowl commercials at a cost of up to $7 million per 30-second spot. The game is even being held at a stadium named after SoFi, a company that offers crypto trading. This isn't the first time startups from an emerging industry have used the Super Bowl to introduce themselves to a mass audience. Does anyone remember the 2000 Super Bowl between the Rams and the Titans? That was known as the "Dot-Com Bowl." Startups that were part of the dot-com wave of the early internet bought nearly 20% of the total ad slots in what is considered the peak of that tech bubble. Well, that bubble burst. Of the 14 dot-com companies that purchased Super Bowl ads that year, four are still active, five were acquired, and five (including Pets.com, OnMoney.com, and Epidemic.com) are either defunct or their status is unclear. Do I think we're in a crypto bubble? I'm not sure anyone knows. But I am more confident that while "fortune favors the brave," as Matt Damon asserts in his Crypto.com commercial, it also looks down upon those who forget history—or have ".com" in your company name. —Neal Freyman | | | | | | | | | T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images Before Michael Lewis became a bestselling author of books like The Big Short and Moneyball, he was a young bond salesman making boatloads of money on Wall Street in its most culturally ogled era—the 1980s. He eventually left his job to write about the fratty, excessive finance-world behavior he bore witness to in the book that launched his career, Liar's Poker. "Never before have so many unskilled 24-year-olds made so much money in so little time," Lewis wrote in the book's preface. More than 30 years after its publication, Liar's Poker has a new unabridged audiobook and a five-episode companion podcast called "Other People's Money." Morning Brew spoke over the phone with Lewis about Wall Street, sports, and his writing philosophy. When Liar's Poker was originally published, you thought you were capturing excess we'd never see again. What's it like to see what's happening now? Well, it really was true that when I sat down to write the book, I thought: I better get this down, because nothing like this will ever happen again. And it was very personal—it was insane that people were giving me huge sums of money to give financial advice. I knew what it was worth. So I just knew how out of whack the capitalist system had gotten—it was not paying people what they were worth, and I was the prime example. And so I look around now, and I think we're getting to a point where it feels like parody. It feels like with cryptocurrency, with NFTs, with memestocks, you have the little people almost performing a satire of what the big people have been doing. It's this arbitrary bestowing of wealth on people for no particular reason. Because, you know, I happened to be given a bitcoin wallet six years ago, or you got into GameStop, or whatever it is. So I do feel like I've been watching—not the system ever reform itself—but instead just becoming more and more itself, more and more extreme. And I keep waiting for the moment where people say, "Oh, this whole financialization of our lives and our economy—it's gotten a little out of hand." It really hasn't happened. The financial sector has just gotten more and more important, and not just as a percentage of activity in the economy, but also in the imagination of people. Having written extensively about athletes and coaches, who's someone you're in awe of right now in sports? What Steve Kerr has done with the Golden State Warriors, I don't understand it, but they weren't supposed to be anything like what they are. He gets people to buy in, when they don't actually have to buy in, and the whole world is screaming at them, "Watch out for yourself." I think it's a model for how a modern manager has to behave in a world where he really has no control over his employees. [Kerr]'s modeling something there that would be very useful for lots of people in positions of authority to pay attention to. Speaking of sports, do you have any writing superstitions? When I played sports I would try to notice [superstitions] early and prevent them from taking root. It's like weeding your psychological garden. And I'm naturally kind of superstitious. So I do notice it trying to creep into my writing life. Like, for example, getting wedded to a particular laptop. Or getting wedded to the idea I have to write in a certain place. And so I try to break it up, so that I don't allow myself to ever fall into such a routine that the routine becomes a crutch. There are still things I do that make it easier for me to write. Like I stick on headphones and listen to music while I'm writing. What's your go-to writing music? My oldest child, my daughter, sends me playlists and I pluck stuff off if it seems like it's not gonna cause me to think in any way. And it tends to be kind of poppy music, it's not art. Well, some of it is, that's not fair—it's accidental if it's art. But it's a playlist that I change up between books. But basically, it's the same song over and over. What's the last great book you read? Ada Ferrer's new book, Cuba: An American History. What does Lewis think about revisiting his old writing? Read our full interview here. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. | | | | | | We won't brush past it: Hair thinning, shedding, damage, breakage, and loss are all common occurrences standing in the way of the luscious, healthy coif—and resulting hair flips—we all aspire to. And because remedies for hair loss are usually drug-based, that often means they have negative side effects to boot. That's why the expert scientists and docs at Augustinus Bader utilized years of research to create The Hair Revitalizing Complex—a clean, science-backed dietary supplement clinically proven to support new hair growth, improve hair health and quality, and combat hair thinning, loss, shedding, and damage. And the results speak for themselves. The Hair Revitalizing Complex is also 100% vegan, GMO and drug-free, and free of hormones and artificial additives. When every day becomes a great hair day, we won't blame you for letting it go to your head (of healthier hair). Try it here and see for yourself. | | | | Each week, our workplace whisperer Shane Loughnane answers a reader-submitted question about problems at work. Anything nagging at you? Ask Shane here. I work from home and I'm having trouble focusing on work when I'm not under immense time pressure. Do you have any productivity tips for WFH employees with the distractions of home around?—Jen, Texas When it comes to needing a clutch performance under big time pressure, today's basically a national holiday. Sure the Bengals and Rams can relate, but that's nothing compared to those of us trying to score last minute V-Day reservations. Hardly a new trend, procrastination has enjoyed a particular renaissance over the last few decades, thanks in part to the endless distractions of the internet and, more recently, the WFH boom. On the bright side, the issue has become so commonplace that a Google search of "productivity tips for remote employees" will deliver hours of recs. But who has time to comb through all of that advice (you're supposed to be working, remember)? A few months back, the Brew interviewed James Clear, author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits, who touched on the importance of understanding how different settings can influence our behavior—the idea being that if I were to try to write this column from my couch, for example, rather than a dedicated writing space, I'd be far more likely to default to my typical unproductive couch activities. Having tried this experiment, the hypothesis rings true (despite what Michael Lewis said above). Another strategy I've found useful, WFH or otherwise, is building a little accountability into your workflow. Perhaps you have a colleague who would mutually benefit from a daily coworking appointment/progress update. You could do the same with a stranger via apps like Focusmate, or simply respond to your favorite newsletter with a list of the tasks you've knocked out (we're easily impressed). While there's nothing quite like the rush of a deadline-induced panic or the thrill of that 11th hour chase on OpenTable, it doesn't have to be this way. Indeed, a little less procrastination (a little more action?) may ultimately be the key to making those inevitable distractions all the more satisfying. If you have an issue at work or something unusual is going on at your workplace, share your story here. We may respond to you in an upcoming newsletter. | | | Michael Reaves/Getty Images Located in the pages of former NFL coach Brian Flores's racial discrimination lawsuit against the league is a beyond-cringey text exchange, which occurred as Flores was about to interview for the head coach position at the NY Giants. It goes like this: - Within days of being asked to interview for the Giants job, Flores received a text from New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. It read, "Congrats!!"
- Since a confused Flores hadn't even interviewed yet, he asked Belichick if he thought he had texted another coach with the same first name, Brian Daboll, who was also in the market for a new gig.
- Flores was right—Belichick appears to have unknowingly Steve Harvey'd him. Daboll got the job, in Flores's view, before he even got a chance to interview for the position.
Flores, a Black man, claims the interview he was being set up for was a "sham" (the Giants have denied this), and an example of how one of the NFL's diversity initiatives may be missing its mark: the Rooney Rule. What's the Rooney Rule? Instituted in 2002 and named for former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for every open head coaching position and other senior roles. Though initially celebrated, opinions on the policy have soured—especially following Flores's allegations. The main argument against it? While it's added more Black candidates to the interview process, it hasn't led to a hiring spike as intended. In the year the Rooney Rule was adopted, there were two Black head coaches in the NFL. Fast forward 20 years…and there are still two Black head coaches in the 32-team league. The fallout: Civil rights organizations including the NAACP met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this week to urge him to replace the Rooney Rule. And in a pre-Super Bowl press conference, Goodell hinted that he's on board with throwing it out and/or "sweeping changes." - Those changes could mean strengthening, rather than scrapping, the policy. The NFL could swap carrots for sticks and strip teams of draft picks or enforce fines when they don't hire minority head coaches with enough frequency.
- Academics studying the issue have also said that boosting the number of Black coaches in lower-level positions (coordinators) as well as increasing Black representation on interview panels would help Black coaches land top jobs.
But to get any new rules approved, the NFL's 32 team owners, none of whom are Black, will have to reach a consensus. And Flores argued in his lawsuit that the NFL's diversity problem starts in the VIP box, where owners "reap billions of dollars" off a "majority-Black workforce" in a dynamic he likened to plantations. Zoom out: The NFL hired a diversity and inclusion officer two years ago, and revised the Rooney Rule last fall to increase the number of candidates interviewed for several senior roles. But critics say the needle's not moving fast enough: One of the first questions Goodell was asked before last year's Super Bowl was also about the lack of Black head coaches in the league. 12 months later, Goodell is still saying, "We have to do a better job."—JW | | | | | | This  metabolism booster is FINALLY back in stock. It's true: Sakara's Metabolism Super Powder is back and ready to help rev your metabolism while eliminating bloat. So hop to it and get 20% off yours with code FEB22BREW. | | | | Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section with more old wood than we know what to do with. We'll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.  ZillowToday's listing was built in 1913 and you know that's not a lie because the Zillow description uses words like "stately" to describe it. Located in the remote-work boomtown of Asheville, NC, this old, 3,029 square-foot charmer is just a 20-minute drive away from another old, giant house: George Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate. Amenities include: - 3 beds, 3 baths
- Copper roof (don't know if that's good or bad!)
- Beautiful stained-glass window you can stare at from the toilet
- Bonus carriage house apartment
How much to cosplay as an old timey lumber heiress? | | | - The metamorphosis of Robert Pattinson. (GQ)
- What the heck is going on with the US economy? (The Ezra Klein Show)
- How Brad Pitt's post-Katrina housing project went horribly wrong. (The Guardian)
- Mel Blanc yelling on Looney Tunes. (StefanGamingHD)
- The internet turned "money" into a hobby. (Vox)
- Four tips on creating & sustaining community. (Morning Brew)
- Mapping the celebrity NFT complex. (Read Max)
- Why hasn't the mortar and pestle been automated? (The Prepared)
- Questioning some of the consensus beliefs about sleep. (Alexey Guzey)
- The Jurassic World Dominion trailer. (Universal Pictures)
Good things come in threes. Red, white, and blue. Crypto, stocks, and … FOOTBALL. eToro—the app where you can manage stocks and crypto from one place-–is lacing up for the big game. Tune in tonight, don't miss the commercials (#FlyWithUs), and sign up for eToro today.* *This is sponsored advertising content | | | | | | | | | | | ✤ A Note From eToro US Brokerage services through eToro USA Securities Inc, member of FINRA, SIPC. Crypto assets through eToro USA LLC. If possible make 'SIPC' clickable to www.SIPC.org |  | Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, Max Knoblauch, Jamie Wilde, and Shane Loughnane Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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