Solutions with Henry Blodget

Episode: How to Turbo Charge Your Career (And Not Give A...) with Kara Swisher

Date: September 8, 2025
Podcast Network: Vox Media Podcast Network
Host: Henry Blodget
Guest: Kara Swisher

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the unconventional, fearless career philosophy of Kara Swisher—one of tech and media’s sharpest, toughest, and most influential journalists. Henry Blodget leads a candid conversation about Kara’s personal journey, the drivers of professional success, the shifting tides of the tech and media industries, and the power of not caring (too much) what anyone thinks. They pull back the curtain on what it really takes to “turbo charge” your career—especially in turbulent times.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins: Navigating Adversity and Building Resilience

• Childhood Loss & Early Lessons (03:02–07:26)

  • Kara recounts losing her father at age five and how this shaped her fearlessness and urgency. Her “villain” stepfather, though difficult, taught her strategy through games (04:39–04:47).
  • "I think when you have something like that happen to you and you survive it, you’re sort of like, yeah, whatever... you don’t have a lot of reticence of, like, what if, what if? I don’t." — Kara Swisher, (06:36)

• Embracing Time’s Scarcity (07:29–08:43)

  • Kara has an acute sense of time’s value—an approach she passes to her children. Her advice: “You’re gonna be dead in a hundred years. And that's really my best piece of advice.” (08:43)

2. Owning What You’re Good At—and What You’re Not

• Journalism: Skill Meets Passion (10:22–13:08)

  • Kara fell in love with journalism at Georgetown, cherished attention and acclaim, and recognized she was good at it early on.
  • “You have to know what you’re good at... and be dead honest with yourself about it. That’s another thing. People aren’t. They don’t understand their skills very well.” — Kara Swisher (12:45)

• Why Not Follow Bliss Blindly (13:08–14:17)

  • Echoing Scott Galloway, Kara critiques “follow your passion”: love matters, but so does honest skill assessment.
  • She urges: If you’re unhappy and have choices, leave; “People just sit there and gripe about people they work with. I kind of hate that. I was like, just go.” (13:26–14:17)

3. The Boldness Dividend

• Persistence & Proactive Confrontation (14:35–19:27)

  • Kara’s career was marked early by bravely confronting the Washington Post as a student (“What in the actual fuck? ...I expected more from my newspaper that I loved.” — 14:39)
  • Key skill: finding people, making the call, showing up face-to-face.

• “I Don’t Give a F*”—The Power of Not Caring (37:49–39:59)**

  • Kara’s famous confidence and lack of fear about criticism underpin her style.
  • “I don’t give a fuck.” — Kara Swisher (38:01)
  • She points out it isn’t bravado, but reasoned calculation—speak truth, don’t be a jerk, do the work, and if people don’t like it, so be it.

4. Navigating (and Surviving) Organizational Politics

• Early Professional Stands (34:31–36:14)
  • Famous for refusing to make toast for John McLaughlin:
    • “I said, you can fire me and then I’ll call the Washington Post and tell them.” — Kara Swisher (34:43)
    • Calculated assertiveness: “there aren’t ramifications… because I've been very calculated. I also am not a jerk about it. You know, I don’t have to have a flourish on the way out.” (36:28–37:22)
  • Advice: Get a “scut job,” learn from watching and doing (29:51).

5. The Role of Identity and Authenticity

• Why Not the Military or CIA? (25:01–27:31)
  • Kara wanted a military or intelligence career, but being gay during “Don’t ask, don't tell” era made that impossible. Hiding wasn’t an option for her.
  • Her argument: the need for authenticity, and how being out was non-negotiable for shaping her direction.

6. Leadership: Candid Truth vs. Running Things

• CEO Lessons and the Limits of Outspokenness (22:06–24:22)
  • Kara and Henry discuss the tension between being outspoken and being a leader.
  • “I wouldn’t have been the CEO, FYI... I liked the employees, but I didn’t like dealing—there’s all kinds of stuff you have to deal with that has formalized systems. And I definitely didn’t like. I didn’t excel at it.” — Kara Swisher (22:59)

7. Tech Industry Real Talk: Victim Complexes, Winner-Take-All, and Moral Failure

• Victimhood in the C-Suite (54:04–56:59)

  • The conversation critiques tech billionaires’ sense of grievance and emotional stuntedness.
  • “I’ve never met more people who are so rich and so unhappy.”
  • Swisher singles out Mark Andreessen and Zuckerberg as “perpetually damaged,” “small people,” “so poor, all you have is money.”

• Winner-Take-All Mindset (58:01–60:34)

  • Tech’s “winner take all” dynamic encourages ruthlessness—but Swisher argues for competing differently, decently:
  • “There’s much more they can do if they were just a little bit bigger and they just have small shriveled souls and so they can’t for some reason can’t do it.” (59:51)

8. Solutions for Now’s Broken Culture

• Call to Action: Virtue as Its Own Reward (64:57–66:18)

  • Kara is “optimistic” that decency, not selfishness, prevails in the long run.
  • “Virtue is good for business. It is. I’ve done really well being pretty decent to people.” — Kara Swisher (65:02)
  • She points out autocrats and assholes ultimately lose; “every autocrat ends up dead in a hole.”

• Advice for Aspiring Journalists & Professionals (66:18–68:09)

  • Make good stuff: “If you make bad stuff, you lose. I don’t know what else to say. Reporting, reporting, reporting. Learn to write and learn to express yourself...and take a fucking risk.” — Kara Swisher (67:01)
  • Take the long view, take risks, be entrepreneurial.

9. AI, Bubbles, and the Tech Future

• Dotcom Parallels and What’s Next (68:09–71:36)
  • Kara and Henry agree the “AI bubble” is messy but part of an essential R&D process.
  • Most new companies will fail, some will change everything; the U.S. thrives because “we take risks and we believe in the rule of law.” (68:36–69:46)
  • “This is just a big R&D lab… If you’ve ever done any kind of R&D, you know that most of the money is going to be wasted. And then a couple of experiments will work.” — Henry Blodget (70:19)

10. Memorable Closer: Stand Up, Help, Act

• “That’s the whole, 'now what are we going to do about it?' Should be the mantra for everybody. Like stop fucking whining. Stand up and help people.” — Kara Swisher (72:11)

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “[Steve Jobs] was very productive during [his sickness]. I think it’s because he had a sense of death…He had a very fine tuned sense of mortality...” — Kara (09:16)
• “You are lucky enough—not everyone is—to get the job they love…But…if I didn’t love it, I would leave it…” — Kara (11:04)
• “If you make bad stuff, you lose. Reporting, reporting… take a fucking risk.” — Kara (67:01)
• “I don’t give a fuck.” — Kara (38:01)
• “Virtue is its own reward. Virtue is good for business.” — Kara (65:02)
• “You’re so poor, all you have is money.” — Kara (60:34)
• “It doesn’t matter how much you win, you’re still an asshole.” — Kara on toxic tech culture (64:56)
• “Make good stuff. Stop doom scrolling. Let’s talk about what works.” — Kara (66:33)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:02–07:26..............Early Loss and Life Lessons
• 07:29–13:08..............Honest Skill Assessment, Passion, and Advice
• 14:35–19:27..............Bold Career Moves; The Phone Call that Changed It All
• 22:06–24:22..............Leadership vs. Speaking Out
• 34:31–36:14..............McLaughlin Group, Risk-Taking, and Consequences
• 37:49–39:59..............How (Not) to Care About Criticism
• 54:04–56:59..............Grievance and Victimhood in the Tech Elite
• 60:34–66:18..............The Case for Decency, Virtue, and Optimism
• 68:09–71:36..............AI Bubble, R&D, and the Next Era

Tone and Style

• Candid, irreverent, fearless, and practical.
  Kara Swisher stands out for her no-nonsense delivery, sharp wit, and an unwavering commitment to honesty—even (especially) when it’s uncomfortable. The episode is fast-paced but packed with concrete advice, memorable anecdotes, and a healthy dose of swearing.

For Anyone Who Missed It: The Takeaway

This episode is a high-octane masterclass in personal and professional authenticity. Swisher’s core message: Know yourself, act fast (“tickety tock!”), don’t “give a fuck” what unimportant people think, recognize your strengths, take risks, and always be willing to move on when something’s not working. Kara punctures tech and media’s self-importance and “victimhood,” arguing that decency isn’t just the right thing, it pays off. And even as the AI bubble, political chaos, and industry upheaval swirl, her version of optimism is clear-eyed, hard-earned, and actionable:
Do the work. Make good stuff. Take the long view. Don’t whine—act. History is on the side of the bold and the decent.