Zuck, The Epitome of 21st Century Masculinity? // Variant Perception #20
Here’s a twist I didn’t see coming. I think I have a man crush on Mark Zuckerberg.
After watching him on JRE and twice on Lex Fridman’s podcast I have a newfound appreciation for the savage that Mark Zuckerberg has become.
In a world that views masculinity “in crisis” and starved for healthy role models, have we been sleeping on Zuck?
I think most people, when they hear about Zuck think of two photos. These two photos represent the characters that we have built in our heads.
The first is the college drop out, nerd, genius archetype. This is how I certainly viewed Zuck for many years.
Next is the alien, doesn’t know how to drink a bottle of water, pale, kind of weirdo that appeared before congress and testified for hours.
Toss both of those ideas out the window. Now, we’ve entered the period of integrated masculine Alpha-Zuck. A man who I feel can be a role model for the healthy masculine figure. Here’s why.
He’s a dedicated leader.
Having run Facebook (Meta) for the last 19 years he’s faced more than one disaster, controversy, and career-threatening catastrophe. Through it all he’s remained the founder and CEO of the company with a loyal core group helping him man the ship. That’s an incredibly impressive feat especially as he has been thrust into the public spotlight since the age of 20.
He’s a committed father and husband. Inside each of the podcast episodes I watched, Zuck shared different routines with his children, principles around raising children, and what he loves most about being a Dad. It’s clear that even though Zuck runs a massive multi-billion dollar organization that he still makes time for his children.
He’s physical, competitive, and athletic. Zuck is an animal. He mostly gets his physical activity through training MMA and surfing. He also has the stones to compete in a jiu-jitsu tournament where there’s rumors he got put to sleep (unconfirmed!).
Not only that, he honored Memorial Day by doing a Murph workout in just under 40 minutes. No easy feat.
Zuck strives for greatness and inspires those around him to as well.
This one is my personal opinion after watching the recent long-form podcasts and seeing how Zuck has managed the decline in Meta stock. It’s clear Zuck has audacious goals and commits himself to getting better at any craft he pursues. An honorable masculine quality.
He’s a thoughtful, nuanced decision maker.
Many times throughout these podcasts Zuck is asked questions about the censoring at Meta properties or even how he handles being who he is, a world-famous entrepreneur. He drops plenty of wisdom on how he handles both of these tough situations that he’s faced over the years. It’s clear he has spent considerable time thinking these issues through and developing a point of view that’s nuanced and balanced.
He’s mission-driven. Read any content Zuck puts out around how he runs Meta and it will always come back to his core mission, connecting the world. Mission and purpose come up often. In his 2017 Harvard commencement speech, Zuck shares how he uses mission to create happiness, "Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness."
Zuck’s a patriot.
This one speaks for itself. Honoring Memorial Day with a workout from Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who died serving in Afghanistan in 2005. Even David Goggins would be proud of that purposeful suffering.
And then there’s the most patriotic photo of all time.
He routinely tests himself and his abilities. For many years, Zuck would challenge himself each year with a new objective. Some include only eating meat from animals he slaughtered, teaching himself Mandarin, running 365 miles, and writing a thank-you note every day.
Weaving this all together and it’s clear that Zuck has become a man worthy of leading others. No easy feat after being thrust into the media limelight at a young age while also earning unfathomable riches.
There’s the classic quote, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Think about this quote in relation to how Zuck shows up as a man with immense power.
How many of us after receiving tens of billions of dollars would live a life that’s incredibly self-indulgent and hollow?
If you had that kind of money would you wake up every day and pursue a life of dedication, discipline, mission, challenge, physicality and family?
Compare Zuck to Jeff Bezos. A man who in his second act of life now seems to be captured by vanity and fame.
Or compare Zuck to Elon. Elon’s strange love for memes and shitposting looks erratic and unhinged compared to Zuck. It looks like Elon suffers from main character syndrome where he must always be the center of the internet’s attention.
The 2000s have not been a great century for men so far. Men have higher rates of suicide, lower academic achievement, and are more socially isolated than women. And, the trends are not moving in the right direction.
In a time when discussions around the crisis of masculinity often revolve around negativity and harmful behaviors, it's refreshing to discover role models like Zuck who embody positive traits such as dedication, resilience, and balance. Especially when the odds were stacked against them (aka Zuck appeared to be an anti-social nerd in his younger days).
Hi, my name is Jared Nations and I have a big ole man crush on Mark Zuckerberg.