Kara Swisher and Orna Guralnik on How to Get People Talking

The craft of interviewing requires a delicate balance between building relational rapport and maintaining the professional distance necessary to elicit truth. Psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik creates a "negative space" in therapeutic sessions, allowing the unconscious to unfurl by avoiding over-production and carefully timing interpretations to respect a patient's defenses. Conversely, tech journalist Kara Swisher utilizes a direct, confrontational approach, leveraging her extensive knowledge of industry power dynamics to hold influential figures accountable for the societal impacts of their platforms. Both practitioners emphasize that effective interviewing is a form of relational improv, demanding that the interviewer act as a proxy for the audience while navigating the ethical complexities of exposing personal or systemic vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the goal is to bypass performative language and reach the essence of the human experience or the reality of a systemic crisis.