Bill Ackman pissed everyone off but he's right
His lesson on how to approach people confidently in public
So here is the tweet that has inspired thousands of memes, discussions, and stories in the past 24 hours:
This one really sparked some anger in young people, especially young men who feel like the world punishes them for daring to speak to women in public.
Bill is giving dating advice that feels old, like walking into a bank handing them your resume to get a job. Grandpa advice. Yes, he’s off, but not by much, and I’ll tell you exactly what you can get from his advice to improve your cold opens.
But first, lets talk about the anger. Many stories shared in response to Bill’s tweet look like this:
The tweet says that someone innocently said Bill’s 4 magic words and were uproariously laughed at by multiple women at once, leaving them to crawl back to the shadows. Probably exaggerated, but that’s not important.
The sentiment here is that young men, in anonymous online spaces, abundantly agree with each other and visualize the world this way, feeling dejected, devalued, and hopeless about the situation. Their first principle is that the world will reject them for trying. That every attempt is met with pointing and laughing, and that you were a fool for believing you had value.
They’re hurt, and that’s understandable. The pendulum of life swings in both directions before finding a middle, and the dating world has not been kind to young men for the past 10 years. But today is today, and if you are a young man who would rather cling to your pain and bitterness than succeed, then I can see how you would be so frustrated with Bill’s sentiment. The pendulum is swinging back and people want to find connection.
If you’re ready to let it go and move into the next phase, I’ll tell you why he’s right and how you should adopt this lesson to increase your dating success.
Let’s get it out of the way that Bill is a 6’3”, famous billionaire. He’s going to succeed more than you at being attractive in a random room. But you can still improve your own experience with his mindset.
The actual words he uses are “May I meet you?”.
If we break down the Shakespearen vibe, this phrase is doing four specific things:
Getting a green light from someone that they want to engage with you
Establishing that you want to know more about that specific individual
Giving them a graceful out
Opening up the conversation to go in any direction you lead it
If you can deliver these concepts confidently with a single phrase, you just bought yourself a few minutes of genuine, intentional, engagement with another human. It’s like getting past the AI human resources and going to the first interview. The door is opened.
Since this is late 2025, you should probably not use those specific words (unless you’re at the Renaissance Festival) so I would personally tweak them to:
”Hey, you look fun/interesting/friendly. Can I have your next 5 minutes?”
They will then look at you and decide whether or not to say yes, based on your appearance, because that’s likely all they have to work with.
Why are these four things important?
Attractive women are pressured into engagement constantly, and the last thing you want is a pity conversation. It wastes everyone’s time. Getting a green light right away is a clear indicator that this connection has potential from square one.
“Can I continue”
You have to focus your interest and signal it with intent. Confidence is not born from asking a whole group some random question as a bar opener, and hoping to filter down to one person. People want to be chosen. Confident people choose. Dating is also inherently a filtering process, and the only way to filter is through knowledge of your options. Now that you have chosen them, you should be seeking to learn about them while helping them to learn more about you. Curiosity is at the core of this interaction.
”I want to learn more specifically about you”A chance to get out decreases the pressure of the interaction. Put this upfront, because safety and conscious choice let humans feel more expressive. 5 minutes time brackets the ask to be very low-risk, very easy to say yes to, because the cost is low and a safer gamble to make than an unknown promise of time and energy.
“You are not trapped”
All someone has to say is yes and then the ball is back in your court. This is where you can drive the conversation to your strengths or to the other person’s interests. You can go further than lame, level 1 questions (“Come here often?”) and you aren’t boxed in by a gimmick (“Can you settle a bet between a friend and I?”). Take this opportunity and be interesting while also being interested.
“Let’s talk about this”
These four concepts stem from advertising principles, and advertising principles stem from psychology. Psychology is the study of the human mind and its functions, especially regarding behavior. To interact with the human mind, use its behavior patterns.
To increase your success even further, do the obvious. Get in shape. Stand tall. Dress well. Look them in the eye. Smile. That’s how you build the product. Are these things mandatory? No, but they certainly help, and there’s very little reason not to do them. Then you present the product to people who may be interested and they let them choose.
Bill may be old and incredibly blessed, but don’t discount his lesson. “May I meet you” is still way less cringe than something like negging, and plenty of you were willing to try that. If you want to do better at dating, put the work in and understand the psychology of the scenario.
Then get out there and fail gracefully until you succeed.
With love from me to you,
Alec
Note: No AI was used to write, edit, or otherwise modify this article.