Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
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Partly raw tape
D 3 · C 4 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.30
Q people. Often the people are quite similar in many ways. They all love media. They all love venture capital. And you don't get a diverse set of opinion. And so that unique insight is often Quite common thought because the people and their backgrounds are all the same. How do you think about ensuring that you do actually get the consumers insights, not just execs in media or media talents?
A Well, there are several layers of that. One is if everybody agrees on something, it's a bad idea because that's group think and that's media. If it's in the headlines, I'm not going there. There's no upside in that. Uh, the opportunity is to find something that everybody's not doing. And, um, and I also think they're, they're, they're management styles. I, I build a team not of people like me. I've already got me. We need people who are not like me and that are disparate people, but still have enough chemistry to hold together as a team. And we have a couple of things. Look, we, we worship dissent. I want to hear where people disagree. When people throw up an idea and say, we worked this out and this is what we're going to do. I say, what did the dissenters say? First time I mentioned that to people, they go, Oh no, we all agree. And I go, well then you hadn't really dug in enough because there's always a dissenting point of view and we need to look at it and examine it. And, and the example I use is John Kennedy. When he announced he was going to put a man on the moon in the early sixties, he had not told NASA. It was 100% a political announcement and NASA hears about it on the news. Well, as you can imagine, they go batshit. Uh, the, The people from the White House go over and meet with them, and what they did next was really, really change the course of not only space progra…
AI assessment note: “I build a team not of people like me... we worship dissent”
Answered raw tape
D 3 · C 3 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.25
Q Why do you think, why do you think that is? Cause I feel the same often. I'm like, I couldn't give a 21 year old loads of money to invest.
A I have no idea what they saw in me. And by the way, Charlie Warner, who's the guy who took me to Chicago and then took me to New York with him, uh, is still alive. He's in his early nineties. And, uh, and I've had this lifelong relationship with him. He worked for me for a while at AOL, uh, and I've had him in other capacities, but it just, he said, you just, wow, you just impressed me. You knew what you were talking about, and there was just something there, and that's why he did it. Um, but, you know, things happen, and then, you know, there are obviously other ones. I went to MTV because my great mentor at NBC at the time, Herb Schlosser, who is the president of NBC, Got kicked upstairs, and I thought my trajectory is over, so I went over to this cable company that was beginning to form a programming company called Warner MX Satellite Entertainment Corporation as their head of programming, but at that time cable was not being in the U.S., and everybody goes, why would you leave NBC to go this thing I can't even pronounce? Um, and so it's sort of dumb luck, and I went with Steve Case at AOL. I, I joined the board in 95, And then, uh, Steve in 96, there were some issues going on, and Steve asked me if I would, you know, come down and, and be the president, and, uh, and the board, and I was still on the board, and I sort of went as a lark. Um, did not see the great potential of…
AI assessment note: “he said, you just, wow, you just impressed me. You knew what you were talking about”
Redirected raw tape
D 3 · C 4 · P 3 · Cm 2 3.15
Q Can I ask Bob, have you ever got the messaging wrong? Have you ever embraced a project, done the messaging, and it's just flopped? And, and did you learn anything from that?
A You know, I must have, but mine is, I don't ever think I'm there. I think we're always moving. So whatever was wrong is just the reason to do more. Um, I, I talk to my kids about decision-making and failures and successes, which They're in their early twenties, which it means my younger kids, which, you know, that's very important in that stage. And I think a failure and a success is exactly the same thing. It's a stepping stone. What we call a failure is one of the stepping stones we make a turn on. We go left to right. And a success is one we goes forward, but all of them are just stepping stones. We're constantly moving. Nothing ever gets there. It's not finished. Uh, and when you think about it, it's just constantly moving and it's a journey. Then you don't keep track of them. People say, well, you had a great failure. I go, I don't know. I don't keep track of them. I don't keep track of, if I don't have a ledger of failures and successes, it's just all a process to try and get to the right place. And by the way, what's the right place today could be the right place tomorrow. When I was at MTV, we used to have the, you know, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, planting the flag, and we originally were going to have one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and then Neil Armstrong said we couldn't use his voice, so we never had the voice. And then When the space sh…
AI assessment note: “I don't keep track of them. I don't keep track of, if I don't have a ledger”
Answered raw tape
D 3 · C 4 · P 3 · Cm 2 3.15
Q Can I ask Bob, have you ever got the messaging wrong? Have you ever embraced a project, done the messaging, and it's just flopped? And, and did you learn anything from that?
A You know, I must have, but mine is, I don't ever think I'm there. I think we're always moving. So whatever was wrong is just the reason to do more. Um, I, I talk to my kids about decision-making and failures and successes, which They're in their early twenties, which it means my younger kids, which, you know, that's very important in that stage. And I think a failure and a success is exactly the same thing. It's a stepping stone. What we call a failure is one of the stepping stones we make a turn on. We go left to right. And a success is one we goes forward, but all of them are just stepping stones. We're constantly moving. Nothing ever gets there. It's not finished. Uh, and when you think about it, it's just constantly moving and it's a journey. Then you don't keep track of them. People say, well, you had a great failure. I go, I don't know. I don't keep track of them. I don't keep track of, if I don't have a ledger of failures and successes, it's just all a process to try and get to the right place. And by the way, what's the right place today could be the right place tomorrow. When I was at MTV, we used to have the, you know, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, planting the flag, and we originally were going to have one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and then Neil Armstrong said we couldn't use his voice, so we never had the voice. And then When the space sh…
AI assessment note: “When I was at MTV, we used to have the, you know, Neil Armstrong”
Redirected raw tape
D 2 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 2 3.10
Q How do you think about bringing up, you know, you have three children. How do you think about bringing up your children, uh, who have, you know, more money than maybe you did growing up, um, and make sure that they have that humility and hard work ethic, despite having money in childhood?
A You know what? I, I think it's hard. Um, I think it's hard to have The total influence on your kids. I think you can be an advisor. I think you can set a tone. Um, I, I think, you know, you go through a period from sort of 1516 to sort of mid to late twenties in which I'm an idiot. Um, and then, but some of the things I told them later in life, they go, you know, I remember you told me that and that's, you know, so, but it's later on, but they have to build their own life. And I think the hardest problem, uh, that we have as parents is not to do too much. Um, I let them find it. What worries me to death about the world today is when I grew up, I would go outside and I would get on my bike. My mother had no idea where I was. Uh, she didn't know who I was with. She'd be home by dinner. I would be home. They called it supper then. Be home by supper. I was home by supper and, uh, and she had no idea. When I moved away from Mississippi, when I was 18, I moved to Milwaukee. My parents had no idea what was going on in Milwaukee. There was no information source from Milwaukee unless they subscribed to a newspaper, which would come probably a week later. Um, the long distance phone calls were very expensive, so we talked once every couple of weeks, and I saw them in person once or twice a year. And, uh, so I was completely independent, and I was able to build me. I, I worry about my kid…
AI assessment note: “I think it's hard to have The total influence on your kids.”
Redirected raw tape
D 3 · C 3 · P 4 · Cm 2 3.10
Q Why do you think, why do you think that is? Cause I feel the same often. I'm like, I couldn't give a 21 year old loads of money to invest.
A I have no idea what they saw in me. And by the way, Charlie Warner, who's the guy who took me to Chicago and then took me to New York with him, uh, is still alive. He's in his early nineties. And, uh, and I've had this lifelong relationship with him. He worked for me for a while at AOL, uh, and I've had him in other capacities, but it just, he said, you just, wow, you just impressed me. You knew what you were talking about, and there was just something there, and that's why he did it. Um, but, you know, things happen, and then, you know, there are obviously other ones. I went to MTV because my great mentor at NBC at the time, Herb Schlosser, who is the president of NBC, Got kicked upstairs, and I thought my trajectory is over, so I went over to this cable company that was beginning to form a programming company called Warner MX Satellite Entertainment Corporation as their head of programming, but at that time cable was not being in the U.S., and everybody goes, why would you leave NBC to go this thing I can't even pronounce? Um, and so it's sort of dumb luck, and I went with Steve Case at AOL. I, I joined the board in 95, And then, uh, Steve in 96, there were some issues going on, and Steve asked me if I would, you know, come down and, and be the president, and, uh, and the board, and I was still on the board, and I sort of went as a lark. Um, did not see the great potential of…
AI assessment note: “I have no idea what they saw in me. And by the way, Charlie Warner”
Redirected raw tape
D 3 · C 4 · P 2 · Cm 3 3.05
Q My question is, both of these elements, not having really seen it or felt it before, and then also just the danger to my business, it makes me feel very insecure. Honestly, Bob, you're a, you know, seasoned, wise, wise leader. What are you insecure about in leadership today?
A You know what, what am I insecure about? I guess I'm insecure about what I don't know, but I think at this point, you know, the, the beauty of being old is that you get really comfortable with all of this, and I probably am not as passionate or as fiendish as I, just like maniacal as I was when I was younger, but I'm also a lot more chill. When people have a bad crisis, I always say, look guys, you know what, enjoy this one, because when we get the next crisis, you'll wish you had this one back. Um, I mean, we'll get through them. It just, you know, it's not getting all worked up. I'm going to help us solve it any better. Some of it's within our control. Some of it's not. And, uh, it's just a matter of trying to figure out, okay, whatever it is, what is it? Let's diagnose it. And then let's do all we can to, to respond to that diagnostics. But I think very important on this stuff is to diagnose it correctly.
AI assessment note: “I guess I'm insecure about what I don't know, but I think at this point”
Answered raw tape
D 3 · C 3 · P 3 · Cm 3 3.00
Q consumer product adoption, messaging and storytelling is, is so crucial. I spoke to so many and they said you are the best in the business when it comes to kind of packaging and messaging, especially around consumer products. And so I just want to kind of open up with a broad question of how do you think about what makes great messaging, Bob? And what is great storytelling to you?
A You know, I'm a southerner, and Mississippi had great storytellers, and I had a bunch of uncles who were great storytellers, and the family was always about storytelling. So I think that part is sort of you culturally come to it or genetically come to it. Um, but I think what makes a great story is what is interesting to people. What's the sort of sense of tension or discovery in that? What makes it exciting? And whenever I develop messaging, I use them. I have a podcast called math and magic because it's sort of what I live by that. I think there's the math of marketing, which is who are the people? What are they like? What are they looking for? And then once I know that, that doesn't make it interesting. I just sort of know where they are. Now I have to have magic. I've got to have something that sort of Brings them in and captures their imagination. And a lot of the messaging is what's the attitude? What's the mood? What is the image I'm trying to convey? Uh, at MTV, we were trying to convey the image of we were not TV. We were throwing TV out. We were spitting on TV. We're the new TV. We're the rebellion. So everything had to reflect that kind of attitude. And I've been, you know, we all have a personality type and I'm probably much more of an empath. Uh, I lost an eye when I was six years old, have an artificial eye. You can imagine as a kid, you're the outsider. You're th…
AI assessment note: “what makes a great story is what is interesting to people. What's the sort of sense of tension or discovery”
Partly raw tape
D 3 · C 3 · P 3 · Cm 2 2.85
Q I, I totally get you. Can I ask, when you think about the business that you have today, how do you think about the split between like, you know, original content that you, you own and package yourself and it's pure iHeart versus that which you buy and the ones you own, like, how do you think about the different economics between the two? I'm fascinated as a podcast.
A Well, there, there, there, there are several, there are gradations of that. Um, you know, we start on the radio and we really don't have Content in terms of shows. We really have, we're keeping people company. We're companionship. And by the way, we're, I would argue with that in podcasting as well. It's very host driven, just like radio. And what people are really doing is they got a friend to hang out with. It's like people say, aren't you competing with Spotify? Because Spotify is not even close to being a competitor. Spotify replaced Apple downloads, which replaced CDs, which replaced cassette tapes. Um, that, that, there's always a symbiosis. I listen to my music collection when I want to escape the world. I listen to radio when I hear what's going on in the world. By the way, 70, 80% of Spotify, Pandora, et cetera, listeners, the main way they discover new music is FM radio. Uh, these are their pals. That's Ryan Seacrest. They ride to work with every day. Uh, Steve Harvey. It's, uh, Charlemagne the God. It's Elvis Duran. It's Bobby Bones. It's these friends they have. Ellen Kaye. That they know and trust, and so that's the business we're in. When we go to podcasting, and so, by the way, on the radio, we have all variations of deals. We have some people who make probably union minimum wage, and we have people who make fortunes, ah, on the air. Some of them are guaranteed. …
AI assessment note: “Some are guaranteed. Some of them are revenue split... podcasting, we're sort of the same”
Redirected raw tape
D 2 · C 3 · P 3 · Cm 2 2.55
Q I, I totally get you. Can I ask, when you think about the business that you have today, how do you think about the split between like, you know, original content that you, you own and package yourself and it's pure iHeart versus that which you buy and the ones you own, like, how do you think about the different economics between the two? I'm fascinated as a podcast.
A Well, there, there, there, there are several, there are gradations of that. Um, you know, we start on the radio and we really don't have Content in terms of shows. We really have, we're keeping people company. We're companionship. And by the way, we're, I would argue with that in podcasting as well. It's very host driven, just like radio. And what people are really doing is they got a friend to hang out with. It's like people say, aren't you competing with Spotify? Because Spotify is not even close to being a competitor. Spotify replaced Apple downloads, which replaced CDs, which replaced cassette tapes. Um, that, that, there's always a symbiosis. I listen to my music collection when I want to escape the world. I listen to radio when I hear what's going on in the world. By the way, 70, 80% of Spotify, Pandora, et cetera, listeners, the main way they discover new music is FM radio. Uh, these are their pals. That's Ryan Seacrest. They ride to work with every day. Uh, Steve Harvey. It's, uh, Charlemagne the God. It's Elvis Duran. It's Bobby Bones. It's these friends they have. Ellen Kaye. That they know and trust, and so that's the business we're in. When we go to podcasting, and so, by the way, on the radio, we have all variations of deals. We have some people who make probably union minimum wage, and we have people who make fortunes, ah, on the air. Some of them are guaranteed. …
AI assessment note: “Well, there, there, there, there are several, there are gradations of that.”
