Decoder with Nilay Patel

Basecamp CEO Jason Fried talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the company's new email product, Hey, which he describes as "the most ambitious and stupidest thing we’ve ever done." Fried also discusses how coronavirus proved that offices are not as important as other companies used to say, why Zoom calls "suck," and why Basecamp is charging $99/year for a personal Hey account, Plus: Why Uber is a...

Katie Couric, the former host of the Today Show and anchor of the CBS Evening News, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why the current moment of political protest feels unlike anything that came before; the fine line between objectivity and advocacy in journalism; and her upcoming memoir, Unexpected. Couric also discusses the battle over Confederate history and art in the south, America's divi...

American historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new podcast, The Last Archive, which investigates "who killed truth?" in the style of a true-crime show. Lepore discusses why the protests against systemic police violence represent America "at our very best," but explains why the two main competing theories of American history are both wrong — an...

Journalist and author Bart Gellman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his newest book, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State. Gellman discusses how he got connected with Snowden ahead of his whistleblowing disclosures in 2013; how he reacted to the staggering size of the US government's digital surveillance apparatus; and the different waves of impact of the Snowden l...

Recode's Kara Swisher talks with three guests about how to take care of your mind, body, and spirit while in quarantine. Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe discusses the challenges of getting people to meditate, how to make your sleep more restful, and how to feel connected to loved ones you can't see right now; Peloton's head instructor Robin Arzon talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the comp...

Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the new book she wrote with her wife Anne Morriss, Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader's Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You. Frei — who has previously worked with Uber, WeWork, and Riot Games to address culture crises — discusses what good leadership today looks like, the unfair treatment of women and people...

Lemonade CEO and co-founder Daniel Schreiber talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about what happens to an insurance in a crisis like COVID-19, how some of the money from Lemonade customers' premiums will be allocated to coronavirus relief, and whether the insurance industry can be fully automated. Schreiber also talks about Lemonade's decision to be a public benefit corporation, why that doesn't make...

New York Times Magazine writer-at-large Jon Mooallem talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his newest book, This Is Chance!: The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together. It tells the story of a 9.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Anchorage, Alaska in 1964 and how a part-time radio reporter named Genie Chance held her community together. Mooallem recounts how he got his han...

Phil Howard, the Oxford Internet Institute director and author of Lie Machines, and Emily Bell, the director of Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about the state of disinformation and propaganda in the coronavirus pandemic and how what we're hearing this year compares to the state-organized propaganda that infected elections in 2016. They expl...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about Uber's evolving response to the COVID-19 pandemic, how it's preparing for the world to re-open, and the one segment of the company that is thriving right now — its food delivery business, UberEats. Khosrowshahi also discusses the company's recent 6700-person layoffs, the blowback UberEats has received for the fees it imposes on rest...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky returns to Recode Decode to talk with Kara Swisher about how the company is "going back to [its] roots" after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its IPO; the future of travel and hospitality in a world with way fewer people taking airplanes; and how Airbnb tried to "lead by example" in its severance payments and benefits to laid-off employees. Chesky also talks about the delay o...

Former Clinton and Obama economic advisor Gene Sperling talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his latest book, Economic Dignity, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing attitudes toward essential labor and compensation. He predicts that unemployment could top 10 percent for several years to come, and evaluates the federal government's response to the crisis so far, explaining what he would tell...

Recode's Kara Swisher talks with the Verge's Casey Newton and her older son, Louie Swisher, about how the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine has affected their tech habits. They also discuss Louie's remote final months of high school, the future of video conferencing, and the growing power of tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon. Newton also talks about his reporting on Facebook moderators who de...

Historian and bestselling author Jon Meacham talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new podcast Hope Through History, which shows how Americans endured crises such as the Great Depression and the 1918 flu pandemic and came out the other side as a stronger nation. Meacham says there's no guarantee that the coronavirus pandemic will be resolved in the same way as the moments he has studied, but...

Model and dietitian Maye Musk (the mother of Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, entrepreneur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk) talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her recent memoir, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success. Musk also discusses ageism in modeling, her aversion to the "weird diets" that have caught on in Silicon Valley, and how she was a "pillar...

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he tried to primary Donald Trump earlier this year, how the Republican Party became a "cult," and his recent book, F*ck Silence: Calling Trump Out for the Cultish, Moronic, Authoritarian Con Man He Is. Walsh, who also hosts a podcast called F*ck Silence, says the coronavirus crisis is finally starting to convince pe...

NYU Professor and Pivot co-host Scott Galloway returns to Recode Decode to talk about his new show on Vice TV, No Mercy, No Malice with Professor Scott Galloway. He and Recode's Kara Swisher also talk about how they started working together, why he decided to branch out into podcasting and then TV, and the "most disruptable" industries that young people should be going into right now — healthcare...

Political historian Alexis Coe talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her latest book, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, which seeks to break the staid formula by which all other books about America's first president have been written. Coe says she is the only female historian to write a book about Washington, and discovered that other biographies written by white men...

BuzzFeed News reporter Alex Kantrowitz talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, Always Day One: How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever. He discusses how coronavirus may change consumers’ relationship with tech giants, the opportunity for a new major labor movement, and how the companies he profiled in the book — including Amazon, Apple, and Facebook — keep from getting out-inn...

TV producer Ryan Murphy — who created or produced shows like Glee, 911, and American Horror Story — talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new Netflix miniseries, Hollywood, which blends real history with fictional characters to imagine a more inclusive "what-if" version of the postwar film business. Murphy explains how shows like Glee and Modern Family encouraged LGBT acceptance, why he doesn...

Bulletproof founder and former CEO Dave Asprey talks about the invention and current state of “biohacking," how his blog for “bulletproof executives” grew into a global lifestyle, and the most important ways to track and improve one’s life. Asprey explains how intermittent fasting works — but may not be right for everyone seven days a week — and says that quality of sleep is more important than qu...

New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the coronavirus pandemic is magnifying inequality in the US, and our historical failure to treat essential workers — from meat-packing plants to checkout counters to delivery drivers — with the respect and protection they deserve. Hannah-Jones, who created the Times' ongoing series about the legacy of s...

Bestselling author and Gaslit Nation co-host Sarah Kendzior talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America; what pundits get wrong about propaganda and election interference; and the “insane way” journalists treat Donald Trump’s Twitter bully pulpit. In the new book and her previous one, The View From Flyover Cou...

Bestselling author, investor, and podcaster Tim Ferriss talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his advice for people coping with the coronavirus quarantine, which includes giving yourself slack for being unproductive, afraid, and fatigued; the crucial difference between fast decisions and rushed ones; and why the pandemic crisis is a "natural culling of the herd" for businesses in a "bloated capit...

Investor, Dallas Mavericks owner, and Shark Tank co-host Mark Cuban talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about what capitalism and entrepreneurship looks like in a post-coronavirus world; whether he's planning to run for political office, and what his platform would be if he did; and what it will take for professional sports to come back. Cuban, who was recently announced as a member of President Trum...