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Amid dramatic disruption, what role should business play in building the future? Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky shares his candid perspective on business, politics, creativity, and AItracing from Airbnbs humble beginnings to bold plans for the companys future. Through a designers lens, Chesky also reveals the single question leaders must ask themselves, and explores how best to make tricky decisions in a volatile climate. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company, and recorded live at the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. Your cofounder, Joe Gebbia, now works at the White House as the chief design officer, although you were not among the cohort of tech CEOs who had dinner with Donald Trump there. What’s the state of the conversation between you and your peers about how to navigate this new administration, this new environment? I mean, it’s incredibly tricky to know what to do. And I don’t even know how you’re going to answer this question. I don’t know either, actually. So let’s see. Silicon Valley’s gotten more political. And when I came to Silicon Valley, maybe it was more left, but it kind of felt more moderate. And it didn’t feel as much like it was as political. I do think that another thing that I am noticing is people are running toward a certain administration, obviously Trump. There’s a very good chance there will be a new administration in three years, maybe not, but let’s say there’s a 50/50 chance of a new administration. And I’m kind of curious: Do they run the other way, and do the worlds swing back and forth? And I think there’s a lot of swinging. There was all this focus on DEI, and then there was all this focus to roll it all back. And there’s all this focus to go here, and now there’s all this focus to go here. And it’s like back and forth and back and forth. I think I try to imagine what will still be true in 20 years. What do we believe in? Because whatever’s true in 20 years are our principles and our values, and everything else is just a trend. Everything else is just trying to fit in. Everyone else is just rushing to whatever is popular at that current time. And so I think every company just has to ask themselves what do they stand for? What are their values? And I think I try to be pretty clear about what we stand for. And so I try not to wade into too many political topics unless I feel like I have something to add to the conversation, and it’s something that is connected to our vision or our values. I mean, the other thing about politics is, we’re trying to bring the world together. That’s what I’d like to do. The problem with politicsI don’t have a better system, but it’s 50-plus-one. You have to divide them and get plus one. And it is inherently a divisive thing, and Airbnb’s mission is inherently unifying. Do you know the number of Trump supporters who stayed in a house of a Kamala Harris supporter over the course of the election? Millions. Do you know the number of Democrats, Republicans that live together and don’t even know they’re Democrats and Republicans? When you travel, it’s one of the few times in your life that you’re truly open-minded. Even prejudice, people with prejudice, don’t have prejudice when they travel because they’re in someone else’s land and they’re now open-minded. You don’t talk to the Uber driver in your own city, but you do in another city. You have a completely different orientation. Travel brings out the best in you. And there’s this ancient hospitality. It started with the ancient Egyptians, started with the Greeks, that the guest is God and we’re going to serve them. And so I try to zoom out. I try to focus a little less on divisive issues and say the best way to change someone else’s mind about other people in a time that’s really divided is to walk in their shoes, to live in their home, and to bring people together and remind people that basically . . . I’ve learned two lessons after having started Airbnb: People are fundamentally good, and we’re 99% the same. And you read the newspaper and you engage in political discourse and you can forget that we’re basically all the same. And if that wasn’t true, we would have been out of business a long time ago. And so that’s why I’m very careful about falling and treading into politics. We will, but very selectively. And these swings that you talk aboutwhere it swings from one way to the otherhow do you keep yourself from getting caught up in those? Because there’s a lot of pressure sometimes behind those. Well, I stay off Twitter a littleor Xa little bit. And I mean, there’s this temptation to want to participate in every conversation and to feel like you have to have an opinion and wade into everything. And actually, I try not to have opinions about things that I don’t know a lot about until I learn about them. I think there was a period of time where people in tech felt like we had to have a statement about every single issue. That was quite a burden, though, because either you learn about the issue or you’re just jumping on a bandwagon. You don’t really know, and you’re not really informed. So I just try to make sure I tell the company, “We are going to be thoughtful as a company. We’re not going to swing back and forth. We’re going to do whatever we think is the right thing to do.” Yeah. You talked to me before about the difference between a business decision and a principle decision. A business decision is like trying to gamify the outcome to win. A principle decision is, I don’t know how it’s going to end, so how do I want to be remembered irrespective of the outcome? And if you do that, it’s another way of doing whatever you think the right thing to do is, whatever you think is true. And maybe you lose in the short run, you lose the battle, but you win the war. Because ultimately, you’re rarely going to get out of business because you stick to your principles and your values. And people want to work for a company like that, and we want to buy products from people who lead in that way. What do you think Airbnb’s role is in building the future? And for the folks who are sitting in this room, what’s the role that they should be taking in building the future? I like to ask an entrepreneur a question: “Why does your company deserve to exist?” And the best kind of generic answer I’ve ever heard is: “Because if I don’t do it, no one else will.” And I like to ask that question to myself. What could we uniquely do that if we don’t do it, ayone else will? And I think that we’re just this particular company and we were naive to believe that people are basically good, and it was a good idea to have a stranger in your home. And ultimately, I think that what we’re trying to build, again, is this global community because I think communities are eroding all over the world. I think we have a place in this world to do something unique. I think that design is a hugely underleveraged superpower. I think it’s going to be really important in the age of AI. I think for every business leader, I think that you should ask: “If you never existed, what would be different about the world? What is your unique imprint to do?” I say this because I think a lot of people like to chase trends. And by the way, by the time it’s a trend, sometimes it’s late. Once it has a name, it’s late. Although AI will go on forever, so that one might be different. So then what in AI? What in AI, because everything’s AI at some point? What is not AI? So I think business leaders should focus on a unique contribution they can make. I think we are in building mode. I think it’s going to be so revolutionary. You ask, is it a new house or a renovation? I think it’s a new house. I think that’s exciting. I think it’s slightly scary.
Category:
E-Commerce
Leading in these times isnt easy. Youre expected to be relatable yet reliable, compassionate yet competent, and authentic yet professional. You have to do all of this in an environment where global upheaval, economic uncertainty, and technological changes are creating widespread anxiety. And perhaps you, on occasion, have some stressors in your own work and personal life to navigate? Masking emotions at work is both exhausting and counterproductive. Acting as though everything is fine when its clearly not creates an environment of toxic positivity, erodes trust, and makes it harder for others to be honest. Its also not healthy. As noted in Psychology Today, suppressing our emotions puts us at higher risk of heart disease and hypertension, and causes us to feel less socially connected and satisfied with [our] friends [and] more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Of course, we also dont want to swing too far the other way. Oversharing can leave colleagues uncomfortable, reshape how others judge us, or place emotional burdens on the very people were supposed to support. Its important to find ways to be our authentic selves at work, and to do it in a way that is professional and sustainable. Here are three ideas that can help you strike that balance. 1. Model, Dont Vent One leader found herself facing an all-staff call with thousands of employees the day after their city faced a mass violence event. At first, she tried to grit through it, sticking to her agenda and talking points. Eventually, though, she realized how inauthentic it felt not to acknowledge the horrors they had all witnessed. She paused, took a breath, and allowed a few tears. Then she shared from the heart how difficult it was to see their community under attack, how much the staff meant to her, and how grateful she was for their service. It was a rare moment of rawness for herand it landed. Her inbox was flooded afterward with thank-you notes from staff who appreciated her honesty and humanity. What made this effective? She modeled vulnerability without slipping into venting. She displayed honest emotion, but without asking her staff to manage that emotion for her. Its one thing to say, Its been a tough week, and I may be slower to respond. Its another to launch into the details of your family drama in a team meeting. One builds trust; the other may leave colleagues uncomfortable and can call on your employees to provide emotional support that is not part of their job description but which they may not feel able to decline. 2. Use Shared Language One helpful way to facilitate honesty without oversharing is to develop a team vernacular around well-beinga shared language around that allows individuals to signal what theyre feeling without going into detail that they may not be comfortable sharing. These shorthand tools facilitate conversations on mental health and make it easier for people to be open without requiring them to go into specifics. Ive seen teams use a traffic light analogy, a numeric check-in, or a weather report (its been nothing but storms this week). On one team that was entirely remote, the manager sent everyone a toy cat (an inside joke on the team) that anyone could place so that it was visible on their Zoom screen when they were having a hard day, as a quick, visible indicator that they might need a little extra support that day. One manager was glad that his team had developed this shared understanding on a day when his childs school went on lockdown. He said to his team, Im a 2 today, unfortunately; I may need some help keeping things on track. That allowed him to say what he needed to without having to go into detail while he was still uncertain and anxious. Later, when he learned that everything was okay, he was grateful that he hadnt had to discuss his fears in real time. 3. Find Your People Being authentic doesnt mean being transparent with everyone. In fact, trying to share openly in an unsafe space can backfire. But you do need places where you can process your emotions, including at work. For leaders, that often means cultivating a small circle of trusted peers or mentors who can serve as sounding boards. Look for people who understand your context but arent directly affected by your decisionscolleagues in other departments, peers at your level in different organizations, or professional networks outside your organization. The key is finding those who can hold your confidence, challenge your thinking, and offer empathy without judgment. It may take time to develop those relationships, but its worthwhile to invest in them, and to hold on tight to them once youve got them. Gallup research shows that having a close friend at work boosts engagement, creativity, and performance. Building a trusted circle also protects you from isolation at the top and allows you to show up for your team with steadiness and clarity. Authenticity at work doesnt mean being raw with everyone. It means showing up in ways that build trust, connection, and resilience. Leaders who strike this balance protect their own well-being and create workplaces where others feel safe to do the same. Thats the kind of leadership that helps teams not just endure hard times, but thrive through them.
Category:
E-Commerce
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are famously close, with a friendship that spans five decades. The actors were first seen together in The Godfather Part II, but their friendship has propelled them to do several other films together, including Heat and The Irishman. Today, they appear in a different creative project: a campaign for the luxury outerwear label Moncler. The campaign is premised on expanding the definition of warmth. Moncler, which is known for creating warm jackets, also wants to be known for the warmth of feeling between friends and loved ones. [Photo: Platon for Moncler] In the imagery for the campaign, De Niro and Pacino are captured in black-and-white by Platon, the renowned portrait photographer who goes by one name. In one image, they’re on a rooftop, looking out at the New York skyline. They also appear in a series of short video clipsalso shot in black-and-whitesitting across the table from one another, occasionally touching hands affectionately. In voice-overs, the actors speak with their distinct, gravely voices. Moncler’s moment The campaign is part of Moncler’s broader effort to immerse itself in the creative world. In 2018, it launched the Genius project, in which it partners annually with 10 creatives across various disciplines who come up with interesting ideas for new products and runway shows. Last year, it featured all of these ideas in an immersive experience called the “City of Genius,” which took place in Shanghai and was attended by 8,000 people. The actor and singer Donald Glover designed an architectural farmhouse inspired by his farm in Ojai, California, along with a collection of clothes perfect for farming. Edward Enninful, the founder of EE72 magazine and the former editor of British Vogue, designed a multisensory performance art piece that showed a weather station being overrun by a sandstorm, a snowstorm, and a windstorm. It was meant to reflect a future of extreme weather and the clothes that we might wear to survive the elements. Moncler also partnered with Jony Ive, the iPhone designer, to design a five-piece outerwear collection that offered a futuristic take on a field jacket, parka, and poncho. Ive’s team also designed an entirely new button made from a clasp with magnets to make it easier to secure and separate layers. Now, Moncler is turning to these beloved actors, now in their 80s, to tell a story about their friendship and creative partnership over the decades. The photography captures their longevity, documenting wrinkles and age spots, while also offering a rare glimpse into their intimacy. It’s a touching portrayal of a softer side of masculinity that contrasts the macho roles the two actors have often portrayed across their careers.
Category:
E-Commerce
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