YouSaid · the spoken record

Jean Case

lines on the record: 115
first: 2019-01-30
most recent: 2019-01-30
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Thanks so much, Britain. Thank you so much for having me. On Twitter, I'm Gene Case And that's the best foundation. Case Foundation, and then we have a Be Fearless page on Facebook. If you want to check more out, where we have some videos of our stories too.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Been saying a lot of the right things. I think most recently they're trying to talk a little more about the actions they're taking, but it's probably going to be a combination of things, including, by the way, regulation. You know, I think privacy and democracy and freedom and even impacts on children of different things that we do, we have to look at this honestly and make sure a lot of us got into this business because we believed it would benefit humanity. And I think, you know, as Steve wrote in the third wave, in that second wave, which was kind of what we're seeing right now out in Silicon Valley, it was really more about drive the value and growth, growth, growth, and not consumer empowerment focused. And we've got to get back to that.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're a marketing person. Yeah. Well, as you and I have talked, I think they're trying to grab a tiger by the tail. I mean, this thing has grown really, really big, and they didn't do the right work of defining the ethos. They built it wrong. And the ethics and then turning that into action. So I think companies like Facebook”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And not just say they do, but I mean, you can measure it. I think just even those two things alone could be remarkably powerful, certainly in the near term, but maybe for all time.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Who gets the opportunity? No question. How? I think it's well, that's what I'm doing every day, Karen. I mean, I'm so passionate about it. Like, if you look at what we're doing at the Case Foundation between what we call our inclusive entrepreneurship work, where we're really trying to build the ecosystem, encourage people to mentor and give capital to, impact investing, build companies that will change the world, really have major societal impact.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wherever they are in the world. Although I know that, like a lot of times we talk about the downside of tech, but I actually believe what I believed the first day I went into the tech industry, that it is an incredibly empowering tool. And I just have this rare opportunity given the work I've done between national geographic, the Case Foundation, and technology to have traveled all over the world to the furthest reaches in small villages. People everywhere have brilliant ideas. We just need to empower them and give them tools and a way to think about taking those ideas forward. And we say talent is a universal opportunity is not. We've just got to make more opportunity. All right, so”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, lastly, one of the things you said the other night when we were talking was it's not a question of talent, it's a question of opportunity. And that really does strike me because I do think there are, especially women, people of color, stuck in places who could have solutions to all kinds of problems we have, like really brilliant people. They never can get out of wherever they are in the world. Although...”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Signed up for one of the teams. Now she's sitting there, right? With like, you know, rocket scientists and like, you know, mega doctors and all of this. And she's a wedding dress designer. Well, that was the winning, that was the winning design. Why? Because she had lived the issue of how to get someone in and out of a suit. She knew how to listen and say, well, what works for you and what doesn't as you do this. And then find ways forward in a very practical manner. To me, that's such a powerful story because it's another example of start right where you are.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you know, we did something. I'll give you an example. It's a story in the book. We did something with the Obama White House around contest and grand challenges. And basically trying to tap the wisdom of citizens across the nation for really big challenges. So the Ebola suit was one of them, believe it or not, because there were 22 places where the Ebola suit could be compromised and infect the care workers. So these competitions were set up around the nation. And at Johns Hopkins here in Baltimore, a wedding dress designer.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We got this, like, you know And do you feel like the people who have all the money in power have the commitment to it? You see all these very exciting politicians and others talking about taxing more taxes, getting more involved because they don't seem to do it themselves. They just don't. It doesn't seem to be trickling down.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know I don't like in that regard. The children are listening And you see. So, I think two things can be true. I'm saddened and hopeful. I wouldn't go so far as to say, we got this, like, you know, but I do believe I'm so inspired by the ideas people have everywhere and what they lack is a way to get in there and take those ideas forward. That's why I wrote the book, Kara. If I wasn't hopeful, I probably wouldn't have written the book. And again, this is not my advice. This is what, you know, a study of history and contemporary times teaches us about what it takes to break through and find more purpose to make a better world.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's unfortunately, oh, gee. You know I don't like that. You're such a proper girl in that regard. The children are listening. Oh, no, they're not. They're not. There's no children listening. And if they are, they're smart children. They're smart and they're here to learn about life. But now we're going to teach them a lot. Yeah, exactly. So lastly, when you think about that idea of doing things, for instance, are you positive about our country in that way? Because I'm not right now because I feel like we have lost, like you see China, all this innovation going on. You see France, India, everything else in this country's in such a tailspin of imagination and also polarization and everything else. It feels like the Russians did a great job with us. And using our own faults and fears.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I knew we wouldn't get through the podcast. But that's what my book should be. Well, there is a bestseller, unfortunately, with that word.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I know I'm chairman of National Geographic, but I'm still working on the love of snakes. That's what I would do. You know, it's interesting. You did it, you could try that kind of thing. You didn't want to be the person. I have a book in me, but you're going to like it because it's a curse. So if I was in the top of there and I didn't want to do it and someone's like, give it a try, be like, fuck you. And I'd walk across. I knew we wouldn't get through the podcast out. But that's what my book should be called that. My book is. That's my book thing.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, I failed. I failed at a number of things Yeah, never with snakes. I know I'm chairman of National Geographic, but I'm still working on the love of snakes.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But that's only one thing, you know, I mean, it's everything from, you know, I said I want to read 52 books in a year. But if I hadn't been intentional about it and tried, and I did, but I mean, so hard things, small things, but what I was doing was.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Do one thing every week. If you can do one thing every day to get yourself a little closer, work it like a muscle, and eventually you'll find you have small successes which can lead to bigger successes, which can eventually make you a little more fearless.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I wanted to become a black belt in Taekwondo and I'd never taken a day of martial arts. Are you a second belt in the country? I'm a black belt in Taekwondo now. Oh, goodness. By the way, I got my black belt when I was like in my mid-40s. If you had told me I would someday do flying kicks or I would have said, that's never going to be cheap. Yeah. But I would have looked at myself and said exactly what people say to themselves every day. That can't be me. But it turns out with small steps.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I really want to pause on this because for anyone who's struggling with this, this was powerful for me. And I took them on. And I learned”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know, Kumbaya things in a circle. And she said, so is there a chance, Gene, that you've mostly been doing stuff you knew you'd be good at, that you were comfortable with? And I was like, huh? In recent years, I had. Things had gotten pretty comfortable. So I made a list of a number of things that I thought I could never do.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Then come back and come down. I froze at the top. I didn't think I could do it. And I looked down and I was part of a team of five. And I was kind of teary. I was so mortified. And I said to the guide, I don't think I can do this. I want to. I don't think I can do this. And I really was like my throat was cracking the whole thing. She looked at him. She said, okay, Gene. But you could try. And I know that I'm telling you, it seems at one level such a simple thing, but then it really made me think, okay, if I do try and I fall, so what? What I don't want to be is that person that climbed the pole and then fearfully climbed down without getting it done. I was successful in getting across. And when I came back, she said, we all came down and you know how they do these like almost.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, you know, I tell a very personal story, which was, and again, it's not a biography, I only have small vignettes to try to bring my own voice into the stories I tell. But I did this outward bound-like experience, and I had to climb a telephone pole 30 feet in the air. I'm belayed, right? So if I fall, I'm going to be caught. Climb it 30 feet in the air and walk across another telephone pole laid on its side.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I do think today a lot of people are gripped with fear. It's a divided nation. It's a divided world in many sense. But it's often in those dark, like what we were saying earlier about urgency conquering fear. It's in those dark moments of frustration or fear that sometimes it can be just enough to push you out of your comfort zone and say, darn it, I'm going to do it now. And so some of the best things have come from some of the darkest hours. And I'm hoping that's the case now. But, you know, I really feel if more people understood that fear is failure are common and in some cases necessary as part of the journey, but they can make you stronger in the end. But even though the book is titled Be Fearless, by no means do I claim to be fearless, I'm just good at pushing past fear.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I go out of my way to explain not just me, but so many people I write about in the book had their moments of fear and failure and still doing their journey. But it is digging deep. And, you know, I truly try to provide tips and techniques for how to push back what can sometimes be paralyzing fear. Now, the good news for all of us is”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hard to do. But I'm really honest in the book with saying being fearless is not the absence of fear. It's the ability to look it in the eye, stare it down, and push past it.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Digital photography invented it, but they were making so much money off of their traditional film that they were unwilling to shift over and what happened, right? It completely took the company down”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That was the top. And then it started, yes. I mean, but it should be a cautionary tale. I write about, you know, blockbuster and Kodak. Kodak invented.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we had pieces of that, but we just didn't keep iterating and staying young and scrappy and hungry ourselves as a company. We got a big, fat company with teams that, you know, just couldn't merge in the way that we had dreamed they would. I will say though, for AOL shareholders, it worked out. It was the best performing stock of the 1990s. When we took the company public, I think the valuation was like $70 million. And when we acquired Time Warner, that deal was $164 billion. And that was, you know, like seven years later.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's so funny. Yeah, it is. I mean, it really is. And I don't mean that. They tell us that. No, some of the music service service.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For breakfast, okay, because what happened is those two, and I was gone from the company at this time, but those two cultures really had trouble merging. And that meant a total failed execution. And, you know, as I said, what happened is some fast followers came in, like Facebook, like Twitter, like all.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm sad. Yeah. I mean, I think it was, you know, the absolute right strategy to acquire Time Warner for 164 billion dollars is still the largest merger in U.S. history. And we're completely saddened that the great company that we built, you know, what I say is that's a really great example of culture eats strategy.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think for both Steve and I, he's talked about this, so I feel like I can represent him on this one too. I think we both would say the most rewarding years of AOL was when we were just building it. Once it became the big success, that just for real entrepreneurs, that's sort of not what you want. You always want to be building and striving and risking and trying. And, you know, I think sometimes when you say, okay, it's done now, you're not in the best possible position to do something great. It's like that comfort zone thing we were talking about.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thank you. And it's been recognized by remarkable wine critics. Rise it's called, yeah. But we're trying to establish, it's a big idea. It's our big bed. Virginia is a world-renowned wine region, and we're making good progress towards. So, yeah, I always have my hands or my feet or whatever in some new enterprise. And I sit on startup boards as well.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, you know, there's a line in Hamilton that says I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy, and hungry. That's how we built America, never forgetting that, you know, we were the ones trying to work our way to get to the top. And you got to worry today about whether people in Silicon Valley are feeling young, scrappy, and hungry, because that's what builds great companies. And yes, I still feel that. I mean, we have a Virginia winery. I'm trying to establish for the wine delivery.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They're too freaking rich. They're just comfortable. They get on the plane. They go to the plane to this to this. And it's hard even to talk to them. And when you say something. Fairly critical, that's fair It's like, how dare you come? Like, you're mean. I'm like, really? Like, what happened to you kind of thing? Yeah.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At another level, I'm not at all. She was comfortable. Like, what do we have to do? Are you still fearless entrepreneurial? Obviously, you've made a fortune. Yes. You have a very comfortable life. How do you remain that? Because one of the things I see in Silicon Valley is...”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, at one level, I'm joking, at another level, I'm not at all. Every day I go, should I just go start a company to make shoes comfortable? Like, what do we have to do?”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Why are shoes still uncomfortable? Like, why hasn't the shoe industry been more disrupted? I mean, we have lots of new shoes, but women still are.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I mean, like, you know, we're sitting here. It's a world of 3D printing, right? And I've really uncomfortable shoes on while I'm talking to you. And I was with Sarah Blakeley, again, Founder Spanks this weekend, and we're like, heck.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not good news for Silicon Valley because Silicon Valley isn't worried about the unbanked of this world, like the founder of Tala, which is a very successful new, or some of the leading plant scientists in the world. There are more plant scientists between Illinois and Missouri and Kansas than there are in the rest of the country. Food innovation is going to come from there. So I just think some of these new”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, actually, how you get big companies is you start with small ones. That's right. That's right. Yeah. And I think where I'm spending more of my time is elsewhere, is on the new entrepreneurs who have new firms that they're bringing forward, new ideas. And there, I really don't think there's ever been a more exciting time for new innovation. Think about it, Karen, you talk about this a lot in your interviews that you do. There are still so many segments that haven't really been disrupted by technology or in some cases touched much, right? Ed tech, you know, fintech, I mean, we could go agriculture, food. I mean, there's so much innovation to come, but...”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I think even the tech industry itself has gotten caught up in this idea that it has to be the right school, that it has to be the right test score, that it has to be, you know, you name it, it has to look a certain way, maybe in a hoodie or whatever. And that's really unhealthy for our economy. We need, we have an innovation and economic imperative to get all the players on the field with their ideas and their companies and all the great things they can do for America. And we've got to give an environment, make an environment where that is accessible now more than ever before, because more companies are dying every day than being started in America.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's not the ethos of the tech world today, and the tech world is driving so much of, I mean, every company is a tech tech world. So what do you think?”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I really can't speak to that. I can tell you that the tech industry I came into in the early 1980s was geographically diverse, was diverse gender-wise, and diverse in other ways we all needed each other and we brought with us some humility that made space for a lot of people different than us”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Or even to respect governments, to be honest with you. But at another level, they're crowding out companies that could come along and do So why are we at a”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, when I tell people that startups are at a 30 year low in the United States, I'm shocked. They are shocked. Why? Because all they see are these glorious stories coming out of Silicon Valley, and they think that's happening all over the country. And they don't understand that in some cases those really big companies that are those great success stories are crowding out new competition that would normally enter to unseat them in different ways. We saw this with AOL, as you and I talked about with Facebook and Twitter and Google, and that is how our economy is built, is new players coming in, iterating off of what they see as or taking advantage as big companies get too confident and don't continue to put consumers front and center. And I write about that in the book. I just think it's a dangerous time in some ways for Silicon Valley because at one level, these companies are getting really big and feel in many cases removed from a need to answer to others.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. That's right. Well, you know, as any position I have of leadership, I try to make sure and let people know that it wasn't all rosy and that there certainly no one would have looked at my early life and said I'd have the opportunities that I eventually had. I do think sometimes we used to have a term at AOL. They're drinking the bath water. And it means, you know, they're just getting caught up almost like I'm here now. You know, I'm different. I'm special. And they don't want to talk about maybe things that didn't go so right in their life or whatever. And I do think there's a glorification of Silicon Valley today that's super unhelpful.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you say everyone's an average person, why is there this mythology that grows up around tech leaders, for example, or any leaders that they are special and geniuses and everything like that? How do you resist that? Because I think part of fearfulness is I'm not smart enough. That's right.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I really am making the point that it's ordinary people that do extraordinary things, Karen. And so the first story is a woman here in Washington, D.C., mental health counselor, sole practitioner who saw that there was a tremendous need for a military and their families to get mental health care support during the Afghan and Iraq wars. And so she was giving one hour a week free. And then she came up with this idea. What if I asked a whole national network of doctors to do this? She did it thousands and thousands of doctors joined her. It's called Give an Hour. They've given away $25 million in health care services. She didn't even have an assistant. She didn't have an MBA. She was like one person, she used her answering phone to me. But look at what she billed. And time called her among the 100 most influential people in the world for what she was able to do. Use that story on purpose because anyone looking at her would say, you know, she didn't really have any of those sort of special qualities that we think. She was one person.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Is supposed to, but we've had a failure, as you know, in many cases of disaster response when it comes to food support. So another great story on that is the story I opened the book with. The first chapter of the book is called Start Right Where You Are.”
2019-01-30 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Early AOL exec Jean Case · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT