Summary
Overview
Anthony Scaramucci joins Katty Kay for an intimate conversation about failure, humiliation, and personal growth. Known for owning his mistakes publicly, Scaramucci opens up about the painful realities behind his comebacks—from being fired from Goldman Sachs to his infamous 11-day stint as Trump's communications director. He shares how he learned to transform ego-driven decisions into servant leadership, why giving away power makes you more powerful, and the importance of self-forgiveness in building genuine confidence.
Masculine and Feminine Energy in the Workplace
Scaramucci and Kay discuss gender dynamics, with Scaramucci acknowledging that women face unique challenges due to socialization that encourages people-pleasing and holding back. He believes in masculine and feminine energy as real forces, noting that biologically and hormonally people are set up differently. He argues that having both perspectives in the workplace, with mutual respect, creates necessary balance and makes their podcast partnership work well.
- Women do great until a certain age when told they have to behave a certain way
- People-pleasing and reticence can impair women's ability to be who they really are
- Believes masculine and feminine energy are real, not against women's liberation
- Having men and women in workplace with mutual respect provides necessary perspectives
" If life was one long grade school, women would be the undisputed rulers of the world. "
" You have to accept that biologically, hormonally we're set up a little bit differently. Obviously we should be treated equally and respected and so forth, but I think it's very important in the workplace to have men and women in the workplace because I think the perspectives, particularly if the people have a mutuality of respect, you're getting a perspective that I think is necessary for both sides of the equation. "
From Polyester to Goldman: Early Career Struggles
Scaramucci reveals his complete lack of sophistication when starting his career, admitting he wore polyester to interviews and didn't even know where Wall Street lawyers actually worked. When he was fired from Goldman Sachs after 18 months, his boss told him he was "an experiment" who didn't fit in—he lacked the right clothes, manners, connections, and country club background. Despite the devastating blow and financial panic, Scaramucci used humor and humility to ask his boss for a reference, which eventually led to his rehiring in a different role.
- Failed the bar exam twice—the only thing he has in common with JFK Jr.
- Wore polyester to job interviews because he didn't know better and had no money
- Was told by his boss he was "an experiment" who didn't fit in at Goldman—wrong clothes, wrong background, no connections
- Got fired February 1, 1991, then rehired March 28 after taking a 40% pay cut for a sales position
- Goldman marked his firing as an "interdepartmental transfer" so he never had to mention being fired
" You don't dress the part. You don't act the part. You don't talk the part. And you certainly don't have relationship transferability, meaning a lot of the people that got hired into the firm had fathers that worked on Wall Street. "
" I went from polyester to Brioni over the course of my career, but I started in poly. "
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