Should we all be more like Zuck?

25 Feb 2024

Mark Zuckerberg rewards closer study.

Most people I know think of him in one of two ways: They either think he’s an evil billionaire, or they just don’t find him all that interesting.¹ We’re quick to typecast Zuckerberg (henceforth, Zuck) as the hoodie-wearing, revenge-of-the-nerds, college dropout.

Walter Isaacson writes biographies for the Jobs or Musks of the world because their stories contain the childhood traumas, reality-distortion fields, and massive chip-on-the-shoulder revenge arcs that fascinate us. By contrast, Zuck’s story—a kid who learned to program from an early age, started a company, then worked on the same thing for two decades—reads rather one-dimensional.

It feels weird to say this about a centibillionaire, but I think Zuck is underrated. He’s a textbook example of someone who has, as Thoreau described, “the unquestionable ability to elevate his life by conscious endeavour.”

Should we all be more like Zuck? Betteridge's law suggests no, but allow me to make the case:

Before Facebook, VCs readily replaced the 19 year-old hacker-founder with professional managers. A less agentic person would’ve stuck to programming and let the adults take over. But not Zuck. He hired the best COO, learned everything he could from her, and continued running the company successfully after she left.

He was derided for his lack of personality. He took that in stride and leaned in to the most meme-able parts of his persona, see: “out here smoking meats” & July 4th hydrofoil.

After a mortifying on stage moment, most of us would swear off public speaking forever. Zuck didn’t—He just practised and got a hell of a lot better. He’s since become a genuinely great public speaker.

Facebook, like other American internet companies, is banned in China. The Google founders said fine, we won’t go into China. Zuck learned to speak Mandarin fluently so he could personally cajole their Head of State.

Zuck has always been a nerd, but more recently he has redefined what it means to be one with his personal quest of chadification. He trains with MMA fighters and is far more fit than any of his online haters.

Being one of the few people in history who has ever built a trillion-dollar business, Zuck could be forgiven for resting on his laurels. Far from doing that, he now has his sights set on beating Apple at consumer hardware—the audacity!

I could go on with endless examples of Zuck turning a glaring weakness into a strength through sheer effort and diligence, but you get the idea. How can anyone bet against this guy?

Let’s be honest, when most of us think of Mark Zuckerberg, we still think Jesse Eisenberg in flip flops. This opinion of him ignores more than a decade’s worth of continuous self-mastery. Zuck’s story is not the wunderkind who got lucky, but the story of someone who refused to let the world tell him he wasn’t good enough.

In gamer speak, they say “skill issue.” It’s used to troll people who constantly whinge about how the game they’re playing is too difficult or unfair. More broadly, it’s the worldview that any challenge, however daunting, can be met by levelling up.

Zuck is the “skill issue” meme, personified.

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