Season 8-MSG Episode 53 "Are You An Alpha Male?"

In this episode, Eric and Stew unpack one of the most overused and misunderstood labels in modern culture: the alpha male. What does it actually mean? Why are so many people drawn to the term? And how do you know whether you really fit it, or you’re just performing a version of masculinity that social media rewards?

We get into the traits people associate with alpha males, why the term carries so much weight in dating, business, and everyday life, and how beta male became the label for the supposed opposite. We also talk about everything in between, because most men don’t fit neatly into either category.

This is a conversation about confidence, leadership, identity, insecurity, and what real strength actually looks like when you strip away the performance.

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Transcript

Are You An Alpha Male?

[00:00:00] 

Eric: Welcome to the Money Sex Gen X podcast. I'm your host with the most, the man with the plan, the Scotty Pimping podcast pimping.

@ProfessorStew: yes,

Eric: And you all know I am never alone. I got my homie here, the G of Genius Lab Music mogul in the Making a Rashid Wallace, a podcast knowledge. My homie, my brother, my cohost big.

@ProfessorStew: Liquor shot. What's going on, brother? Happy,

Eric: going on, man? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a nice week with, with my family, man. I feel blessed brother turned 53 years old. It's a big deal. And uh, yeah, had a great week.

@ProfessorStew: the Gen Xers man.

Eric: Shout out to the Gen Xers. Shout out to my fellow Aries out there, you know, very important in the world. Shout out to all the Aries.

Eric: Yes sir. Yes sir.

@ProfessorStew: season. Shout out to the Aries in the world, man. I

Eric: It is Aries season. [00:01:00] Yeah, man. Hey, but what's new with you, man?

@ProfessorStew: Hey, listen, I can't call it man. Um, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents,

Eric: No doubt.

@ProfessorStew: is?

Eric: Yes sir. Yes sir.

@ProfessorStew: is the head to wear's the crown, baby. That's what leadership is about. You

Eric: That's right.

@ProfessorStew: the good and the bad and

Eric: That's what they say and I believe it. No question.

@ProfessorStew: no question.

Eric: All right. MSG family, we appreciate you all being here for another important episode. If you're new, our content is about a few things. It's about wealth, it's about relationships. It's definitely stew about building identity straight from the minds of Gen X.

Eric: We want you to go over and subscribe to our YouTube channel. All you gotta do is go in there and put at money Sex Gen X. Stu is doing a fantastic job of keeping that popping with his team and, and got some really, really interesting clips so that you can see where Stu is kind of tying our concepts into the [00:02:00] larger culture.

Eric: Got clips from the Cosby Show back in the day and different things that tie it together. So I love that. Find us on Apple Music, Spotify, all the major streaming platforms. Stu, I definitely wanna bring this up. This week we had a surge in activity on, uh, podcast downloads and streams. It was a big surge. We actually added.

Eric: Two more countries, which is a big deal. And we added 42 more cities this week.

@ProfessorStew: UN

Eric: Yeah, one week brother. One week.

@ProfessorStew: growing.

Eric: Yes. Yes. We are growing. Shout out to our new friends in Bueno, Aires, Argentina. Shout out to our new friends in Manchester, England

@ProfessorStew: Wow.

Eric: Shout out to our new friends in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

@ProfessorStew: Ok. C Buenas 

Eric: Yep.

@ProfessorStew: England.

Eric: Yeah. So we,

@ProfessorStew: So what's that like? We're at 108 countries [00:03:00] now and over a thousand cities. Over 1,030 cities.

Eric: yes, that's close man. We at 110 countries and we at 1,045 cities globally.

@ProfessorStew: Real shout out to the world. Shout

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: world. Let's keep growing, man.

Eric: Yeah, we rocking man. We rocking. So thank you for hanging with us. Thank you to the new family members. And hey, guess what? If you like what we doing, go over to Apple Music and leave us a review. Feel free to send us a message, however you wanna engage.

Eric: We are all for it.

@ProfessorStew: yeah,

Eric: right, so today is a super important conversation Stu, and looking forward to this one. Uh, it is. And let me get this right, we are on Ms. G, season eight,

@ProfessorStew: Yep.

Eric: uh, episode 53.

@ProfessorStew: Unbelievable.

Eric: you an alpha male?

@ProfessorStew: Hoorah.

Eric: Yeah. Are you an alpha male? And I, this is a good one. If, you know, if you got somebody in your life that's trying to figure out their identity, definitely share this [00:04:00] episode 'cause we're gonna get into it.

Eric: Or you got somebody that, you know, they think they're alpha male, but maybe they're not, send this over to 'em. It might give them a little bit more information to make that decision about their identity.

@ProfessorStew: Do me a favor, do me a favor. Can you, will you please give me the definition of an alpha male man? Because I've heard this term and really don't know what the hell I, I, I don't need knowing, man, can you, can you help us and the people understand what it means to be an alpha male?

Eric: I sure will, brother. And thank you for that. So you, you know, we gotta do our actual factual. So are you, and now here's the definition. I always say this, I got this online. We're gonna figure it out what we, we feel it is. But, um, here it is. Right? So an alpha male is commonly described as a man who is confident, assertive, influential, respected, and seen as a leader in social, professional, or romantic.

Eric: Interesting or romantic settings. [00:05:00] Uh, it usually means a man is seen as strong, confident, and in control. The term gets tied to leadership status, decisiveness, and presence. In modern culture, it could mean dominance, social power, and being the man that other men notice and compare themselves to.

@ProfessorStew: Oh, I'm an alpha male then brother. That's me all day.

Eric: You're alpha male.

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: me. That's me all day long. I thought. I thought the way they was using, I thought it meant something. Toxic and aggressive and you know, a doggy dog rah all the time. Nah, nah. Based on that definition, I'm, that's definitely me. What about you?

Eric: You know what? I'm gonna leave mines until a certain point in the show. I'm gonna leave mines. I'm gonna leave Mines. I'm glad you asked me that. I'm definitely gonna answer your question.

@ProfessorStew: on what, just based on what it sound like you said, you

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: if I heard you correctly, that's, you described me,

Eric: Okay. You're alpha, you feel like you're alpha male. Okay. That's, that's good. That's what [00:06:00] this is.

@ProfessorStew: I guess I'm, I love these shows because I always learn something new episode. So let's find out.

Eric: Let's get into it, brother. Okay. All right. So we got a little definition here. Now, I'm gonna just start this off by saying this, man, my definition of alpha male does not match up with what I just read

@ProfessorStew: Oh, oh, you got it. So, okay. Okay.

Eric: All right, so I, mines is the toxic one. This is, these are the alpha males that I grew up with, and they are not this, they, so the people that I'm thinking about when I think about Alpha Male, they are physically dominant, violent,

@ProfessorStew: Yeah,

Eric: uh, definitely command fear, and they are successful in their endeavors, even if those endeavors weren't positive, but they are successful in them and people definitely look to them for leadership, even if it's because they are afraid or were afraid.

Eric: So I'm talking [00:07:00] about people in the past.

@ProfessorStew: like you describing a bully, like a, a a, thug, you know what I

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: a

Eric: Yeah. They were, yeah, they were thugs, no doubt. Yeah, they were thugs.

@ProfessorStew: I mean, I

Eric: That's my definition of it. I know it's not right and exact per se, but you know how you have stuff from your past. That's what I think of when I hear the term. That's where my mind goes. So,

@ProfessorStew: nah, well, like, yeah. Well well then, see now those bring up images of men who, like, did you say abusive?

Eric: no, I said physically dominant, meaning, you know, they ready to get it popping with the, with the, the violence if needed, you know, very quickly.

@ProfessorStew: and I can throw,

Eric: I wouldn't say that's a bully, it's just if somebody disrespects 'em, they're gonna handle it with violence and do it very quickly. That could have been the other person trying to bully them, but they just didn't turn out how they thought it was.

@ProfessorStew: yeah. Well, [00:08:00] damn that I, I do know I'm familiar with that image of a man.

Eric: Yeah, for sure.

@ProfessorStew: and that's your, but that's your definition of alpha male,

Eric: That's the, yeah, I, I don't know if that's a right way for me to say. I think that's just what I think of. I don't know if that's

@ProfessorStew: Okay.

Eric: how I define it, but that's where my mind goes.

@ProfessorStew: That's what,

Eric: So somebody would be like, he's an alpha male. In my mind I'm like, no, he is not. 'cause he don't, you know what I'm saying? And then I might have to correct myself.

@ProfessorStew: so then I wouldn't fit your definition of an alpha male then.

Eric: No, and, and that's not any kind of dis because I definitely see you as a leader in all the things that we described as just, that's just for my childhood. What I view an alpha male is as, and I'm trying to reshape it, but that's where my mind goes.

@ProfessorStew: Dang. So,

Eric: in a corporate, more of a corporate mindset and setting.

Eric: So I don't associate that with alpha males. Maybe I just, yeah, I just don't right now. [00:09:00] Am I flawed for thinking in that way?

@ProfessorStew: no. I mean, hey, our childhood shapes us brother. You know,

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: a flaw as, as it is what it is.

Eric: Yeah, yeah. And I, hey, I don't see myself as an alpha male under the definition that I gave. 'cause that's just not how I, I go through the world, you know what I mean? So it is what it is. Okay. So now we've talked, so Stu says he's an alpha male. I'm saying that by definition I'm an alpha male, but by my experiences, I am, I do not see myself that way.

Eric: Um, but we gonna ask you all, what do you see yourself, right? So we got alpha, let's describe a beta. Maybe you see your, and a lot of people probably wouldn't ever wanna admit that they're on the beta spectrum, and that's cool. You don't have to say it out loud, but here's the definition, right? Uh, the beta is really more of somebody who's, uh, let me get my right [00:10:00] definition. Oh, here we go.

@ProfessorStew: trait. Okay. Yep. You got it.

Eric: Yeah, I got it, I got it. All right. So the, so what is a beta mail? And, and here's some qualifying questions. When we talk about beta, are we talking about somebody being weak? Passive avoids conflict? Like what I just said, A man who follows instead of leads, or a man who seeks approval. The internet often uses beta as a catchall insult, but some traits that people call beta are not weaknesses.

Eric: Sometimes they're just patient people more cooperative. Hu uh, they have humility, emotional control, and less performative. Right? So now

@ProfessorStew: too.

Eric: that's true too. Okay. So the question becomes is every non-dominant male beta or some people just comf un uncomfortable with men who don't perform in a masculinely loud way, right?

Eric: So it's kind of like you're not doing to being a man how I want you to do it. So you beta.

@ProfessorStew: You [00:11:00] know, I think about, um, yeah, that's a very good point. E imo, listen, I, uh, think about the, the loudest guy in the room is not necessarily. Always the toughest guy.

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: And I think, and it also takes a lot of strength sometimes to be, be patient, not checkers,

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: know, takes a lot of strength as a man to control your emotions and not be so reactive,

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: discipline and strength. Sometimes you gotta be patient, sometimes you gotta fall back and observe the situation. Maybe everything don't deserve, ain't a rah rah moment. how I see. You know, and, and again because I was raised that you were raised and we were raised around the same time, you [00:12:00] refer to as identify as an alpha male I refer to as thugs and bullies.

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: while they were dominant and, and aggressive and masculine, they weren't the type of men that I desired to be. I don't, I don't need to be, don't need to show up in that way. I saw a lot of fear in guys who performed that way. saw a lot of insecurity in those types of men.

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: I saw a lot of security in the man who was a little more reserved. You know, Hey, you got it. You know what I

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: And you cool. That's a cool cat right there, brother. That was a brother in control. That brother that, that's a, that a dominant brother right there when you can, you know, not let people control you through, through your emotions.

Eric: There you go. Now we getting into it, man, it's like why do we always associate masculinity with violence or, uh, a [00:13:00] person who needs to handle everything in a, in an aggressive manner? I do think there is a part of us that needs to be able to do that, but win right in a moment that's really not that crucial.

Eric: Or is it time to do that when it's time to protect your family? So a lot of these guys that I was talking about that are alpha males, a lot of them are in prison right now. So you're an alpha, you're in prison right now, being an alpha male, right? And your kids are out here at risk and being preyed upon potentially, you know what I mean?

Eric: It's like you're a alpha, but your family's at risk. That doesn't really, and I'm not judging anybody, I'm just saying that it shows us that our definition of alpha male is it really tied to really being a, a real. I feel like should be the goal.

@ProfessorStew: You know, um. I don't live in the house of my children. I don't, I don't, [00:14:00] don't have the luxury of waking up every single day to my children. And you mentioned this piece about those brothers are in jail and they're leaving their children out to be preyed upon. Um, what part of this alpha male, beta, beta male conversation should us Gen Xers, men who have been divorced, have children who don't, don't wake up to our children every single day? Which part of this conversation should we be addressing to determine what part of that raising of our children is alpha or beta?

Eric: Wow. That is a fantastic question. That

@ProfessorStew: She was, I

Eric: is a fantastic question.

@ProfessorStew: that out.

Eric: Super deep. I don't know if I have a response to that. That's so deep. I don't have a response necessarily, but that's a good question. Where's the alpha in being a, a father? Is that, is that.

@ProfessorStew: Yeah. When you talked about, you mentioned it briefly when you, [00:15:00] you talked about, you know, there is a point when you need to assert yourself, brother, know, like we all have lines, you know what I mean? Like, gonna draw a line in the sand, but it's only gonna be so many times before that them waves wash that line away.

@ProfessorStew: Before I say, nah, this ain't sand no more. This is concrete. I'm, I, I need to set a boundary. And in parenting as a father, we have boundaries in marriage as husbands, do we have boundaries? Are there boundaries that we get to a point where we say, enough is enough? And how do we do that in a way that is not, is a term I don't think we've used yet, and maybe we have, correct me if I'm wrong, that is not toxic.

Eric: That is not toxic. Yeah. Yeah, we, that's the first time we introduced that. But that's a really fitting word for this. 'cause it made me think about this. Do you need to be an alpha [00:16:00] male to have a good relationship with your woman, your lady? Are they expecting you to show up as an alpha male?

@ProfessorStew: Which, which alpha, because I think there, I think the audience may have both opinions of what an alpha male is. We have the, the aggressor versus the the, um, discipline. Male

Eric: I am talking about are they expecting you to show up as the aggressor? Now here's why I say that, Stu, me and you have both had many, many experiences with women. If you don't show up that way, are you gonna be perceived as a beta? And then kind of go down a road that you don't want to go down.

@ProfessorStew: Yep. Yep. That's what I imagine. I actually had this conversation, um, this week about, you know, showing up in, in [00:17:00] well, we were talking about being able to be vulnerable with your significant other as a

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: and, and is it okay to do that? I used to think that that part of the re i, I used to think that. As a man with your significant over other, you should be able to share, you know, what we call pillow talk. You should be able to share your feelings with your significant other. and I no longer feel that way, I don't think, and, and I, I haven't found a woman to totally agree with me on this, I believe that if, as a man, if I share my deepest insecurities and vulnerabilities with a woman, is not gonna honor that brother. She will see you as a beta some point and find a way to disconnect and eventually ghost you. I could be wrong, ladies, [00:18:00] if I'm wrong, please correct me. And maybe I just dated the wrong women, but I think I have good taste in women. I think I've dated some amazing, phenomenal women, but, uh, my experience has shown me that brother. You can't be you. You got to be a, a strong and aggressive in that respect. When dealing with your significant other, you can't, don't get too soft on 'em. Brothers. Don't, don't, don't let, don't, nah, nah.

Eric: I couldn't agree more, and I'm a I'll show. I'll say another way that it shows up. Say you are out with your lady. They feel that they have been disrespected by another, by a male, and you are with them, that expectation is that you're gonna be the toxic ma, the whatever you wanna call it, alpha male, at that moment.

Eric: If you don't, it's a wrap and then, and you all can say, oh, that's I'm, it is a [00:19:00] wrap. You have, it must be done.

@ProfessorStew: Hey, hey.

Eric: Now. You can decide how far to go with the alpha male at that moment, but you're gonna have to do something. And that's just the bottom. That's just something that I think young men need to really, really understand.

Eric: And maybe some older guys. Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: Well, then you better pick who you dating. 'cause ain't necessarily willing to necessarily fight over every woman or, a, a risk being shot over a woman. And so it's, I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know.

Eric: Well, I don't know if it does it always go to that. I'll give you an example of something that I did one time. So I was with a, a, a young lady. We were having a good time. We walked out of a store and I thought that someone tried to say something to her, like, tried to hit on her while I'm right there. So I'm like, I walked her to the car.

Eric: I said, I'll be right back. And there's said two dudes standing there. I went up to the dude and I'm like, uh, brother did, did I hear you say [00:20:00] something to my lady when I was walking out? And he, he was like, oh, no, no, no. I didn't, I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything, bro. I would never do that. I said, okay, brother.

Eric: 'cause I said, I would never disrespect you like that. I just wanted to make sure. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay, that's cool. So I went back to the car. She was like, man, I'm glad you did that. Like, I don't know what he said. I thought he said something also. So my point is, if I didn't address it now I'm not going to him with violence.

Eric: I just asked him a question, I just addressed it. Now he could have got violent.

@ProfessorStew: Yeah, I said something.

Eric: Well, we would've had to go from there. I mean, it's nothing, I don't feel like there's

@ProfessorStew: about it.

Eric: no, I won't say that. I won't say I wasn't worried about it, but in, as you know, as a man, in some situations, it is what It's because, I mean, think about this.

Eric: Now you out with a lady and somebody try to hit on them. When you are right there, you just don't go. You're just gonna not do anything. Like that's kind of tough. Yeah. So [00:21:00] I just feel like that's one of those situations where you gotta address it some type of way and it is what it is. Because if you don't, you are gonna feel like you've been disrespected, but they're also gonna be looking at you like, and you just gonna let some, anybody say anything to me on the street, I don't feel protected.

Eric: So something to think about if you want to date, if you're not willing to do that, or you may have already gotten in trouble too many times for that, is just something to think about as you think about dating and having a wife. Because I, that expectation is there. It is what it is. What? What are your thoughts?

Eric: I see a lot going through your head.

@ProfessorStew: bro. It made me think about a situation. I was, I was, uh, I was at a party and this dude, lady was on the dance floor dancing. I was sitting down

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: she was dancing. It was a tight little space. And this dude walked by my, my lady at the [00:22:00] time, he was squeezing by her, from behind. And he,

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: let me tell you though, here's my problem. E here's my problem here. Lemme tell you my problem. My violence is problematic. That's my problem.

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: I get violent, somebody's getting hurt and somebody's getting in trouble.

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: the issue that I have.

Eric: for sure.

@ProfessorStew: That's the

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: I have. I, I know. It is, it's my, it's my, it's my, it's my experience in my life.

Eric: Yeah. I, I understand,

@ProfessorStew: really, really hard to not go there, bro.

Eric: I understand. I'm, I'm, my thing is that once it gets to a certain point, I'm not going to back down or walk away from the situation, right? I'm not the super tough guy in the world, but I'm telling you, once it [00:23:00] gets locked in, I'm in. And so in your same way, I'm trying to avoid it getting to that point because I know I'm not going to back down or let it go.

Eric: So

@ProfessorStew: bro.

Eric: know yourself out here. You gotta know yourself.

@ProfessorStew: Yeah, yeah. The, and I and I, I'm a thinker. I'm a thinker. I'm a thinker. So I did not address the dude.

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: I didn't, and I probably. Should have, but I didn't have a gray area. only thought that I had to talk myself down off of was attack.

Eric: Sure. Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: I would've, I literally would've ruined the whole thing for everybody.

Eric: yeah,

@ProfessorStew: And so

Eric: yeah.

@ProfessorStew: I didn't,

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: onto my dignity gave him a pass, [00:24:00] like, you know,

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: That's what I said to myself. Let me chill out before

Eric: sure,

@ProfessorStew: this whole shit. And.

Eric: sure. I, I, I get it, man. And that's a tough thing, right? You know, is that being a a beta male in that moment, is that an alpha male who's just saying, I'm gonna chill? Like, that's where I feel like in culture, we have to get past some of these labels and really figure out how to do what's best for us long term in that moment.

Eric: Because the thing about it is this, if a person's in a situation, they decide to chill. You don't know what their previous history is. They could have beat up

@ProfessorStew: I'm saying? Like,

Eric: people in their life, went to jail and everything.

@ProfessorStew: let me look. The chick I was dating at the time, gorgeous woman. Beautiful woman. I can't even assume that he, he did, and actually this is another thing, like he did what probably I would've done.

Eric: Yeah. I've been given that grace,

@ProfessorStew: he, I gave him some grace. Like [00:25:00] he, he, he, he wasn't, uh, a perverted,

Eric: right? Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: He, he coulda, I ran in, in three, you know how Chad be running? Prompts bad.

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: so many, I ran so many outputs faster than chat could ever. In that five seconds of time, three seconds of time, I ran a thousand different scenarios in three seconds. You get

Eric: no doubt. Yeah, I feel you.

@ProfessorStew: answer, the output was

Eric: Chill.

@ProfessorStew: Chill, bro.

Eric: Yeah. I'm gonna give you an example, Stu, of when I was given Grace, I had a homie here from Atlanta. I took 'em to the Taste of Chicago years ago. Mad people, I, if you all never been to the Taste of Chicago, it was a, a big event downtown. They had multiple food vendors. It's thousands and thousands of people out there.

Eric: It's, it's just like standing room only. You're trying to squeeze your way through. Anyway, we're squeezing our way through the crowd and I guess I put my hand on this young lady by [00:26:00] accident as I was moving through. 'cause like what I'll do is I'll put my hand on like the small of a woman's back or somebody's back.

@ProfessorStew: That's what, see what I'm

Eric: She said, she turned around, said he, he put his hand on my ass. He grabbed me into her boyfriend and I, I was shocked that she said it and he just kinda looked at her. He looked at me and he just was like, come on, let's just keep going. I really appreciated that he did that because I did not touch this woman's butt, but my hand could have got too far down.

Eric: I really respected that. That's a alpha male to me in the, in the, in the good definition because I didn't think he was no sucker or nothing like that. He probably knew how his lady is and he seen that. I'm trying to get through a, a crowd of a million people.

@ProfessorStew: that's, that's what I ultimately set upon the dude. That probably didn't mean no harm. I saw it, but he, that's, he would've controlled, that's him. That's what I talk about when people get to control your energy. [00:27:00] 'cause I, you know, 'cause of that, 'cause of that, what you just described.

Eric: Yeah, no doubt. No doubt.

@ProfessorStew: you just described.

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: I would've felt like somebody was being, and there have been times when cats have been disrespectful. I thought they, now I've, I've confronted them about that

Eric: yeah,

@ProfessorStew: and I've got, what? You got my bad homie? I ain't know. I, Hey bro, don't, I wouldn't, let's not, let's,

Eric: yeah.

@ProfessorStew: let's absolutely not do this.

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: homie. My bad homie. Okay, lay lady, Hey, let's go. Let's go, let's get up outta here. You know what I

Eric: No doubt. Yeah, no doubt.

@ProfessorStew: in that one instance, which you had me, you know, pause for about, that's what it made me think about. And I hope that, uh, the woman I was dating with at the time, if she happens to see this, I hope she even remember the incident.

@ProfessorStew: You know what I mean? Because

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: believe that she thought I was being a beta, when in fact I was practicing all of my Alpha skills and tools at that time.

Eric: True indeed. True indeed. So [00:28:00] yeah, ladies, if you're out there.

@ProfessorStew: I.

Eric: You know, I don't know what the common thinking is, but you know, maybe let's reconsider the labels that we're putting on and you know, give a brother some grace. He might be what you, what you want him to be, but he might know that I don't want to go to jail.

Eric: I don't want to get you killed or have to kill somebody, or whatever. And just like, you know what? Let's just leave and keep it moving. Something to think about. All right, so we've been talking about kind of some of the toxic or more aggressive versions of being an alpha stew, but here's some other things that we didn't really get into, which is questions to ask yourself to know.

Eric: If you're an alpha, and we're talking about the positive, I guess, version of Alpha, not the one that I was talking about, do people naturally follow your lead? Do, can you make decisions under pressure? Do you walk into rooms looking for approval or already grounded in who you are? Do people respect you without forcing it?

Eric: [00:29:00] Can you stay calm when challenged? Can you disagree without becoming dis defensive? And can you lead? I like this one without being controlling

@ProfessorStew: Yeah,

Eric: other parts of being an alpha male to think about.

@ProfessorStew: Uh, I can't answer yes to most of those questions off the back. You probably have to run 'em back one by one

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: but I, I, I like those questions and I think men should ask themselves that question. I, I, you know, as a, as a teacher worked, being in classrooms, middle schools and high schools, and even at the university level, I often, in middle school, high school, I often would be in the hallway. And, and, and somebody all the time say, are you the principal? Are you the principal? Are you the dean? Are you the assistant principal? I remember most recently, are you the CEO? I was

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: Nope, I'm just a teacher here. of course, let's address [00:30:00] the elephant in the, the, the 600 pound monkey at the table. You and I both are over six four,

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: you and

Eric: No doubt.

@ProfessorStew: we know, we have learned that our height gives us a sense of presence.

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: You know, we both dress relatively well. you know, there are a number of people have that have both found both of us attractive in our own right.

Eric: Right?

@ProfessorStew: we're both educated, we're both well-spoken.

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: things going for us.

Eric: Yep.

@ProfessorStew: know, we ain't no suckers.

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: mean? And so I think there is a, a default leadership. Must be the leader disposition that comes with us.

Eric: True indeed.

@ProfessorStew: let's not, let's not act like that our height and our disposition doesn't have something to do with the fact that we get called into those positions of leadership all the time.

Eric: Yeah, [00:31:00] that's true. And I, I know a lot of people that might be taller, might not want to admit that, but that's just how real, uh, society is. Like, remember that time we did an episode and they talked about how people who are viewed as attractive are more successful just from the numbers. And one of the biggest markers of attractivity is height.

@ProfessorStew: yeah,

Eric: Whether we wanna accept it or not, it is what it is. The taller someone is, the more they're viewed as being attractive in our society. You know, it may change at some point. Doesn't mean we are, but it's the viewpoint. And so, yeah, I, I feel that now here. And it's kind of like the, the girl who's been told she was pretty all her life, right?

Eric: After a while, you just kind of exude it, right? You're like, yeah. You know, you walk in a room, you just kind of give off that vibe, like, yeah, I'm the principal, I'm the attorney, I'm the c you know, you heard it a million times, you can't help but.

@ProfessorStew: Yeah.

Eric: So, yeah, I like that. So it's kind of a confidence versus [00:32:00] dominance,

@ProfessorStew: Yeah.

Eric: right?

Eric: You don't have to dominate, but you're just confident. You can be strong without trying to overpower people, and it's just a signal of strength and security. Now, you asked me a question. I don't believe in sidestepping questions when people ask me questions. You said, do you view yourself as a alpha male?

Eric: By definition, yes. But in practicality and life, I do not. Here's where I find myself stew, and I don't know if you're familiar with this term. They got a new term, newer called Sigma male.

@ProfessorStew: you, if you, if if the, if you ever been called Sigma, you the man

Eric: Sigma male. Now sigma is a term for a popular, uh, what is the term? Um, you're a lone wolf. So you're, you're one of these people who prefer solitude. You work alone. You do not need to lead or follow the feel fulfilled. You have a quiet confidence. It's not loud like the alpha, uh, it's more of a quiet, self-assured [00:33:00] confidence.

Eric: Uh, you often, here's where I totally see myself as well. They often ignore. So, societal rules, traditional career paths or social hierarchies. Stu this is me too, a T brother. Uh, they're often considered deep thinking. Deep thinking. People who will rely on intuition. They priorit. This is man, this is me. They prioritize controlling their own time and choices, often leaning toward entrepreneurship or remote work.

Eric: This is scary.

@ProfessorStew: That's

Eric: How much This is me all day, man. Sigma, all day long. I mean, this is crazy. Soon as I saw Long Wolf, I was like, there it is. That's.

@ProfessorStew: I guess that's the new term for being a recluse, an introvert.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: problem in doing things on my own, brother.

Eric: Yeah. Long Walk.

@ProfessorStew: you are, you are a, you are an alpha, right? Uh, you alpha five alpha,

Eric: No, I'm not.

@ProfessorStew: you are. You're [00:34:00] q

Eric: No, I'm not in a fraternity at all.

@ProfessorStew: Exactly. That's the point that I'm

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: I never felt the need to join No dis to all of my brothers who were in fraternities, sisters who are in sororities. No dis to the divine nine at all. But I never found, you know, people say you need to join this organization because of the brotherhood of sisterhood. I generally, I, I'm, I'm like, I don't need other people to define me.

Eric: yeah, for sure.

@ProfessorStew: I'm good. I'm, I'm def I can, the grace of God, I can define myself, brother.

@ProfessorStew: I'm good.

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: Um, I

Eric: Very real

@ProfessorStew: I don't need to be loud and boisterous, learned over the years that quiet is the quiet is the, is is is the new loud, if you will,

Eric: sure.

@ProfessorStew: you know,

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: literally less is more. You

Eric: true indeed. [00:35:00] Yeah, that's true, man. I think people generally respect people who are more reserved, like just kind of like the height thing. The being reserved and confident thing is like one of those other things that is generally found as attractive. Right? Because they're looking at you like, this dude could get loud and I'm sure he could do whatever, but he's choosing not to do that.

Eric: That's powerful.

@ProfessorStew: self-control is a, is a monster, bro.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: if you can't control yourself, you can't control much else. So you gotta control. And I, I, I teach this. You gotta be able to control these five things, man. You gotta be able to control your words, your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, and your reactions. That's it.

@ProfessorStew: I can't control the man that stepped on my shoes. I can't control the man and touch my lady's smile of her back. I can't control that. But I can't control my words, thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions. And if I cannot control myself, [00:36:00] I won't be able to control anything else. That's still's moment of transparency right there.

Eric: There you go, brother. I love it. I love it. Hey, and, and I haven't checked in on this episode, so hey, if you're just checking in, this is the Money Sex Gen X podcast. This is episode, uh, season eight, episode 53. Are you an alpha male And still, we've been talking about a lot about alpha males, but there's people who are alpha, there's alpha females.

Eric: There's beta females, there's sigma females, so we don't wanna leave you out. Ladies, we really wanna ask you, where do you see yourself in this conversation? I've met some women who were alphas. I've met some women who were definitely SMA sigmas. I don't, I haven't necessarily remember meeting any beta females, but where do you see yourself?

Eric: Which one are you? Is this conversation helping you kind of understand your identity any better? Would love to know that.

@ProfessorStew: Yeah, I'm, I'm interested to know that too. 'cause when I think about a beta female, [00:37:00] immediately what came to my mind, and ladies, don't, don't beat me up for this, I mean. But I just think of myself a, I think about a beta female, traditional woman, and

Eric: Okay?

@ProfessorStew: I'm gonna be honest, traditional woman that came to my mind was, reminds me of 1950s, 1960s. I'm sorry ladies. I'm just, I'm just sharing the truth with you. a beta female is, I don't know if that's true. You all have to tell us in the comments, that what comes to mind is that what a beta female is like a traditional woman who, you know, traditionally is to be kept and you know, and for and will take care of the children in the house and, and make sure that home is happy.

@ProfessorStew: Is that what the beta female is? I don't know. So let us know, ladies, let us know.

Eric: Yeah, no doubt. And, and keep in mind, we out here in Chicago, so I definitely not seeing a lot of beta females at [00:38:00] all, right? I'm seeing definitely a lot of alpha, uh, some sigma. So that's just my experience.

@ProfessorStew: a you, you know, where I see a lot of beta females,

Eric: Where is that?

@ProfessorStew: by the definition that I just described, is the Hispanic, la Latin community.

Eric: Uh, yeah, I thought about that.

@ProfessorStew: I work with 'em. I see a

Eric: Yeah. Okay.

@ProfessorStew: see a lot where there's still traditional women are looking to get married early.

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: they're their, you know, their husbands are the providers they cook and take care of the children.

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: I

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: I see Austin all the time. It's, no, not a dis, not a, not a slight, I'm not trying to get us canceled or anything. what I've witnessed.

Eric: true indeed. Yeah, I, I think for me, I feel that, and I've seen it. I feel like what I see more so on a daily basis is the ones who haven't made it to being a wife yet, [00:39:00] and they're not necessarily in a deep relationship. And that's probably the ones I'm referring to, the younger 20 somethings that aren't married yet, and they definitely have more of a Alpha Sigma type energy.

Eric: Yeah, once they get married, for sure. Totally agree with that. Uh, what about Asian culture? What are, what are you seeing from them?

@ProfessorStew: You know what? I just don't have enough experience with the

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: to to know. um, I just don't have enough experience with the Asian culture to know.

Eric: Yeah. Same here. I do not. Okay. All right. So this is,

@ProfessorStew: Let us know though.

Eric: yeah, let us know. And hey, I'm gonna hear, we're gonna get to Eric's burning question as we wrap this up. And my burning question this week, Stu, is if you realize you're not an alpha male, can you handle it? Is it going, is it okay? You know what I mean?

Eric: Because maybe you're a beta or sigma that's masquerading as an alpha. Maybe you see yourself as an alpha, but people don't respond [00:40:00] to you that way. Is that okay?

@ProfessorStew: so what's our, what's our, our definition? What's our agreed upon definition the money Sex Gen Xers? What's our definition of a alpha male? And is that our goal? Is our goal to be alpha, or is our goal to be beta? Is our goal to be Sigma?

Eric: It's a good question. I feel so the reason why I threw that out there, I think in social media land, the alpha is king. And so I would imagine that most younger people, that's sort of their north star of what it means to be masculine, to be a man. Whether they agree with it or not, they're thinking, well, that's what's expected of me.

Eric: And so that's why I threw that out there. Uh, what is our definition? I think mines is a, is like, uh, half of the toxic and half of the good alpha. [00:41:00] I think somewhere in the middle is, is what I would say alpha male is.

@ProfessorStew: I, I, I would like, I would like, you know, you and I, you and I are cut from similar cloths. Um. I'm not going, I'm not gonna say we cut from the same cloth, but similar. And so many, we have a lot in common. We're cut from similar cloth. wanna believe that our goal is to be smooth, man. We smooth cast bro.

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: I don't need to be aggressive. I, I'm, I actually, I've, I'm so smooth. I never have to get to aggression.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: If I got to get to aggression, I'm out of pocket, bro. I'm, I done lost my sense of self.

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: Nah, we ain't doing that. We smooth man.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: We smooth. Why we, why we aggressive? Why we so aggressive? if I'm gonna be aggressive, I need to go build something. I need to go put that into a sport. A, a, a workout routine. What's happening while I'm taking my aggression out on a, another [00:42:00] human, another individual. That's, uh, that's beta, bro. That ain't, I don't even wanna say that's beta, that's weak. Let me say that. That's just you weak dog. Like, now I'm not saying if somebody's disrespecting you, you let that slide.

@ProfessorStew: Don't let that slide handle that. But you got to give grace, man. You got to give people grace. You don't, and you don't know what people dealing with. So you gotta

Eric: Right?

@ProfessorStew: and your body chill, man. Now, if you give, if I give you some grace, you, I'm go to the old school. 1980s, nineties, number one violation was stepping on a man's shoes.

@ProfessorStew: Man, you stepped on my shoes, man. And if you don't have the grace to be like, my bad homie,

Eric: Sure.

@ProfessorStew: me, my bad homie, at that point you should be like, cool, if you still going on and on about he's, he said, my bad.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: Now what? What you

Eric: Keep,

@ProfessorStew: to do now? You want him to, you want him to clean your shoe?

@ProfessorStew: Now

Eric: yeah.

@ProfessorStew: you want 'em to buy you new shoes? [00:43:00] No, we want to fight about it.

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: you out your mind. The man has said my bad. You brought it to him. He said my, now if you say, man, you stepped on my shoe and he say, man, f your shoes. Oh, we got a problem. 'cause you being disrespectful, all you had to do was say, my bad.

@ProfessorStew: Now you got to get some home training. That's for real. And that's where we at. So as a, as a Gen X or MSG, as a Ms. G bro, smooth man. and I think that leans more towards the sigma. Be smooth man. Like let it, let it ride man. It's okay. It's okay. Let it ride, man. That's, that's the true ma, that's true.

@ProfessorStew: Masculinity in 2026. 2027. Going forward. Self-control.

Eric: I like that brother. I'll say this too, I thought about this as you were speaking. You know, I feel like in other cultures that's not really what is expected. So I look at other cultures when I'm out and about, like Caucasian and Asian, and I wonder, are they expected to be ultra [00:44:00] aggressive? By their spouse if something goes down?

Eric: Or is that just something that's placed on African American or black men from the all over the world? Is that really, think about it. A Caucasian dude or something happened to his wife, expect him to get gully and start fighting and all this stuff. Is that the expectation? I don't think so. I don't think so because I've been in interactions with these people in those moments and I don't think that was the, I don't think that's what they wanted from them.

Eric: I, I think they wanted protection, but they didn't expect them to kill the person or get into some, you know what I mean? So it's like I be thinking, why is that the expectation for expect, we're already the most at risk profile in society. Why are we expected to crash out to be masculine?

@ProfessorStew: me think. Jada Smith, will Smith, Chris Rock incident.

Eric: Hmm. Wow. Yeah. [00:45:00] Right.

@ProfessorStew: about that.

Eric: That's a good one. Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: like,

Eric: Was he an alpha for doing that?

@ProfessorStew: what's that man? She, she might've been a little too sensitive. He telling jokes, man, this dude been telling jokes for you. That's what he do. Every you in the space, you gonna get roasted. You don't have to be in the space to get roasted. People get roasted, man, like the, the, the, the, the sassy community man, the sassy world, and got so sensitive out here. Now you can't even make jokes these days. And in that situation, she gave 'em the look like you just gonna let 'em talk about me,

Eric: Right.

@ProfessorStew: going to do nothing about me. It was that movie with, uh, Denzel Washington, uh, our saving Isaiah.

@ProfessorStew: What was that? Saving Isaiah. and, and he didn't have money. His son was sick

Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah,

@ProfessorStew: and the wife was like, do something, do.

Eric: yeah.

@ProfessorStew: he shut the whole hospital down and he even put his. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Eric: Out there. Yeah, man.

@ProfessorStew: He out there getting busy. But [00:46:00] it, the situations where I've seen other races get in those kind of, um, embarrassing, um, protective battles as drunk, man, they

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: you done got too drunk, and again, now you drunk and you done lost your, what?

@ProfessorStew: Self-control.

Eric: there you go.

@ProfessorStew: got no self-control and now everybody look like a fool. So, I

Eric: Yeah,

@ProfessorStew: I don't, I don't know. But I think that the key e the key that I think transcends all cultural boundaries is respect versus disrespect. You

Eric: yeah.

@ProfessorStew: man. You gotta get, you gotta get dealt with for being disrespectful. That's

Eric: Right,

@ProfessorStew: Don't be disrespectful. That's

Eric: right.

@ProfessorStew: When you're disrespectful, man.

Eric: And then to add on to that, you know, di deciding how you want to handle a situation, right? So you can address it. It doesn't always have to go [00:47:00] straight to violence right now. Now you might try to address it calmly and it goes to that anyway, but at least if something go down, you know, you tried to address it in a civil manner, right?

Eric: And your lady should respect that. Like you said, you, you, you addressed it, right? Like, Hey, I don't like what you did being disrespectful, blase, blah, whatever it is you attempted to handle it, how they choose to respond is on them. But you addressed it versus you just acting like it didn't happen and walking away.

Eric: That's nothing wrong with that at all. So something to think about. So Stu, I think we did this conversation, some justice. Again, think about where you fit in this. You might be like, I don't see myself in any of 'em. That's cool too. But hey, are you an alpha? It's a good question to ask yourself. All right.

Eric: Still.

@ProfessorStew: you are,

Eric: Oh, ahead.

@ProfessorStew: Sigma though. That's where you at though. You a sigma.

Eric: 1000000%. And I'm gonna tell you something, Stu, I didn't even know about that term until I did the research for the show. I didn't even know [00:48:00] about it.

@ProfessorStew: look, the shorties have called me a sigma.

Eric: They've called you a Sigma. Okay.

@ProfessorStew: it. That's why I first heard the term from the shorties, from, from,

Eric: Wow.

@ProfessorStew: from the young cats.

Eric: Okay. But it,

@ProfessorStew: 'em, I don't call 'em that other term. I call 'em young dudes and

Eric: wow. Wow.

@ProfessorStew: Stu, you got you sigma, you sigma.

Eric: So that was respect.

@ProfessorStew: I just, I knew it was respectful.

@ProfessorStew: I didn't know what it was in this, in this respect, the, the term successful, but highly independent, self-reliant man who ex exists outside the traditional social dominance hierarchy. didn't know that.

Eric: Yeah, for sure.

@ProfessorStew: like, yeah.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: But, uh, I think I'm, I think now when I hear the term Alpha, thinking that's us old heads.

@ProfessorStew: The new term for that is Sigma. Be Sigma, bro.

Eric: Sure

@ProfessorStew: Be

Eric: better. Yeah. Uh, the first time I heard [00:49:00] Alpha, and I think I got introduced to so many concepts late in life, but I was in my late thirties and I was sitting down with this young lady. We were on a board together and she was voicing her frustrations with other people on the board and she was like, yeah, they're threatened by you because you're an alpha

@ProfessorStew: Mm.

Eric: and she is a therapist.

Eric: And I'm like, what's the alpha? I was cool enough for her to, to reveal that. I don't even know what alpha male like whatcha talking about. She explained it to me. I was like, okay. I mean, but that was the first time that I had ever heard that. And I would say this, at that time I was exhibiting the traits of the sort of toxic alpha, but in a corporate way.

@ProfessorStew: Mm.

Eric: what I mean? It wasn't no violence or nothing like, but just being like. You know, just very aggressive in a corporate space. So, you know, I don't know, but I think I'm definitely a Sigma for sure. So no doubt.

@ProfessorStew: is dope.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: I

Eric: Okay. [00:50:00] No doubt. No doubt. All right, let's get to this man. Let's get to the last segment of today, which is, uh, characters from corporate.

Eric: This is my favorite. I just love doing this. Uh, if you're new to this show, characters from Corporate is us giving our take on a corporate situation that you've been dealing with that you want some insight on. Today's is, I'm a 50-year-old black woman, black woman living in Ash Burn, Virginia, Ashburn, Virginia, and shout out to Ashburn.

Eric: I'm sorry. I should have mentioned you all when we're talking about the growth, you had a lot of streams and downloads too, from Ashburn, Virginia. It's about 45 minutes outside of dc So in the, in the suburbs, you know, the, that area. Thank you for tuning in. Uh, she says, I've been in corporate for 25 years as a senior level paralegal at a global law firm.

Eric: I've mastered my job doing corporate real estate transactions, and on paper I'm doing well, good salary, strong benefits, and a [00:51:00] reputation for being the one who always steps in and gets things done. But the truth is, she says, Stu, I'm tired. What used to feel like being dependable now feels like I'm being used.

Eric: I'm helping more important work move forward, but when it's time for recognition or more money, I'm expected to just keep delivering. I'm starting to feel like my value is being used to keep me exactly where I am. I've started a small consulting business on the side, and honestly, that world gives me more life than my actual job.

Eric: The problem is I'm not bringing in much revenue yet. I have a family that depends on me. So even though I keep thinking about leaving corporate, I'm scared of what happens if I take that leap and the business doesn't go well. How do you know when there's really time to leave and the risk is, or the risk is just too high for the people counting on you?

Eric: Wow, that is heavy for sure. All.

@ProfessorStew: a lifelong, yeah, as a [00:52:00] lifelong entrepreneur, uh, entrepreneurship is not for the weak. It's not for the faint at heart. Um, particularly when you're starting out. Many people never make it to the point of trust as an entrepreneur where you can trust the revenue, that you'll make enough money to pay people.

@ProfessorStew: And yourself. Most people don't make it that far in entrepreneurship. The small majority, the small minority of people do make it to that point. And so on that, it's like it's, you would, you could say it's never a good time unless you had deep pockets to sustain yourself for, you know, 10 years before you know that you can survive off of your entrepreneurial endeavors. Or you get that, know, eight figure, um, in injection, right. Um, [00:53:00] sometimes you're thrust into entrepreneurship. You're, you're, you're, you're forced into it of the circumstances that are beyond your control. So. You know, I think you hold on to your job as long as you can and try to do both as long as you can until you realize that it is one, is not sustainable, whether it's your job or whether it's the endeavor. Um, and that's when you know. than that, you gotta have some real thick skin and some real strong bones in order to jump out here. But I will also tell you this, if you jump out there and if you have faith in God, and if you jump out there, you'll make it, you will make it. It won't always be easy, but you'll make it.

@ProfessorStew: What do you say, E you are, you're a lifelong entrepreneur. What do you say?

Eric: Yeah, I like what you said, brother. I mean, for me it comes down to, uh, your financial position, you know, and [00:54:00] even if you got a 401k that can be tapped, I would say don't be afraid to do that if it's coming down to a stew, because we all been in a situation where your health is starting to be affected. So what's the point in having this really great 401k, but then by the time you're able to use it, you're in such bad health that it doesn't even, it's not even a good quality of life.

Eric: So I'll say view your 401k as potentially a source of a loan, right? You could pay it back. Um, I'd also say for the people who are depending on you, again, if corporate is becoming so much that it's gonna affect you and your quality of life and your health. Think about that too before you jump, you know, before you say, nah, I'm not going to do it.

Eric: 'cause you might stay in corporate and still not be there for your family. Something to think about.

@ProfessorStew: I heard you say that your happiness is, IM as important as, um, the work that you're doing. That's what I heard.

Eric: [00:55:00] Happiness and that health man, which is tied, right? The health, if it is hard to be happy when you're not healthy because it's hard.

@ProfessorStew: when you ain't healthy.

Eric: It's hard. And that's a good t-shirt, but we need to put that on.

@ProfessorStew: to be happy if you ain't healthy.

Eric: It's hard to be happy when you ain't healthy man. So, and then I like, so, uh, Ashburn, Virginia sister. I really like the fact that you already started the business, so now you can kind of figure out does this thing have any traction?

Eric: I'll just give you this one tip though. If you're doing any white collar work, it has to have AI integrated into it. I, I don't care who you are. I'm telling you, you've gotta integrate in AI and you've gotta be well versed in AI these days to launch a business.

@ProfessorStew: Hey man. Come on brother. Come

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: And I,

Eric: Yes, sir.

@ProfessorStew: right there. Real spill, brother.

Eric: Yeah, so sister, figure it out.

Eric: You know, you can always hit us up to talk more, but thank you for that submission. Um, Stu, this has been a really good conversation, man.

@ProfessorStew: Good conversation. For [00:56:00] sure.

Eric: Yeah, yeah. I learned some things. I definitely learned some things. What's our next episode?

@ProfessorStew: Look, I

Eric: did?

@ProfessorStew: off talking about I'm a alpha, up talking about, I'm a stigma. I dunno what's going

Eric: Switched over. Okay.

@ProfessorStew: Switch over.

Eric: That's good. That's good. That's, I love it. I feel like we benefit from these episodes just as much as our listeners, so, yeah, because I didn't even know what a Sigma was.

@ProfessorStew: That's

Eric: I know.

@ProfessorStew: Now

Eric: Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

@ProfessorStew: right, well let us know how we did in the, in the comments.

Eric: Mm-hmm.

@ProfessorStew: uh, stay tuned. Stay with us. We are rebuilding our brand. We are putting some things in the work with the use of all of this new technology. We have some new partners coming on board to support us.

Eric: Yes sir.

@ProfessorStew: you don't want miss out, you just wanna stay tuned and look, Emani and I are planning some in-person events. Real, real soon,

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: if we should come to your city

Eric: Wow.

@ProfessorStew: let's make it happen.[00:57:00] 

Eric: That'd be great.

@ProfessorStew: your city, have a live conversation. of us, or both of us will DJ the event. We'll have some

Eric: Ah,

@ProfessorStew: from S D'oeuvres and network uh, have a great time.

@ProfessorStew: So again, let us know how we're doing in the comments, like subscribe and share.

Eric: for sure, for sure. And Stu, I'm gonna just ask you this on our way out, is there anything you want to talk about in a future episode of Season eight, man? Like what's burning that you wanna get to?

@ProfessorStew: You know, I think burning is health.

Eric: Health. Okay, cool.

@ProfessorStew: about health. We have to talk about. Um, black men in diabetes di black men in in prostate cancer.

Eric: Yeah.

@ProfessorStew: have to continue to talk about our health. Um, and then, you know, I also wanna talk about, some, some of these investment opportunities that are out here and how we leverage the AI to help us build capital and build wealth.

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: Um, [00:58:00] there needs to be an episode, I think about parenting and co-parenting. I know we've talked about some of this before. It's worth revisiting.

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: Um, I heard a new term over the weekend. It's the Malibu teen,

Eric: Never heard.

@ProfessorStew: teenager. You ever heard of the term a Malibu teenager?

Eric: Never.

@ProfessorStew: It's a man that's having a baby before he turns 60.

Eric: No. Okay. That's, I'll have to understand.

@ProfessorStew: ma. So you are 40 50, under 60 having a baby. You're a Malibu teen.

Eric: Oh yeah, that's, that's, that's DI don't understand the connection with the word. We'll have to get into that.

@ProfessorStew: Malibu is Hollywood, California, men having babies, teenagers, you, you know, it's,

Eric: Okay.

@ProfessorStew: but a a Malibu teen is a guy in his late forties, fifties, approaching 60 having a baby.

Eric: Okay. [00:59:00] That sounds like a great episode. Are you a Malibu team?

@ProfessorStew: um, are you a Malibu teen? Like

Eric: Let's do that.

@ProfessorStew: the, the, the, you know, let's look into some research about men having babies later in life. And I'm even finding that more women are also, I'm, I'm tripping. 'cause of birds is literally slammed into my window.

Eric: Oh, wow.

@ProfessorStew: tripping off. I'm hearing more and more women are willing to have babies in their forties.

Eric: Yeah, I've seen that for sure.

@ProfessorStew: that?

Eric: Yeah, definitely, definitely. Yeah, it's very interesting. We should definitely talk about that. That'd be a good episode to have some guests on.

@ProfessorStew: M.

Eric: Yeah, let's get some older fathers and some older mothers, and let's talk about it. Yeah, I like that. Okay. Now, one that I wanna do, and I'm very passionate about, this student knows this.

Eric: I wanna do an episode called Are you, uh, do African Americans have culture, do African Americans have culture? I'm gonna [01:00:00] be, I'm, I'm touchy about this one, you all, so I, I do want to have the conversation. We're trying to find the right people. But yeah, if you wanna be on that episode, we're looking for people who are not African American, that are willing to share their thoughts on whether African Americans have culture in a constructive and respectable way.

Eric: But we need you to keep it a buck. We need you to keep it really honest, and I'm gonna be a little touchy, but I'll be professional. Let's talk about it and figure that out.

@ProfessorStew: Okay.

Eric: Yeah, that's good.

@ProfessorStew: excited about these potential topics, particularly culture episode, African

Eric: right.

@ProfessorStew: culture.