Bartlett was born in Botswana to a Nigerian mother and English father, and moved to England at age two. His family struggled financially, and with his parents busy working, Bartlett spent a lot of time alone. \u201cI was the poor black kid in an all-white middle-class area, in an all-white school, who didn\u2019t feel like it was enough,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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Steven Bartlett, host of podcast The Diary of a CEO.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Olivia Spencer<\/cite><\/p>\n At 18, Bartlett dropped out of university and co-founded Social Chain, a social media marketing agency. Since leaving the company in 2019, Bartlett has been involved in many business ventures, including the launch of Web3 platform Thirdweb, which received a reported $US5 million ($7.7 million) in funding in 2021. Today, he has 2.7 million Instagram followers and another 1.4 million on TikTok. Diary of a CEO<\/em>, now in its sixth year, has become one of Europe\u2019s most downloaded podcasts.<\/p>\n This rags-to-riches origin story is a big part of Bartlett\u2019s self-mythology. But what sets Bartlett apart from figures like Andrew Tate is his willingness to be vulnerable. While Tate sells toxic masculinity to a generation of young men, Bartlett talks about the strength in vulnerability.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a non-negotiable,\u201d says Bartlett. \u201cI think you can be mentally tough and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n It would seem this mindset has been key to the podcast\u2019s success, where even the most hardened of business people open up about everything from childhood trauma to their sex lives. \u201cIt\u2019s an experiment I ran because it did feel scary when I launched the podcast, but I started talking about the most vulnerable things in my life and the sense of connection I got from that validated my hypothesis,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Bartlett also is transparent about the social and mental cost of becoming an entrepreneur at such a young age.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear this over and over again from entrepreneurs \u2013 that there\u2019s this resistance you encounter from your friendship group trying to get you to fall back in line,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat creates a real sense of isolation, but it also creates a huge amount of uncertainty because you fundamentally don\u2019t know what life is at 18. So, you\u2019re taking a bet with very little evidence, and you\u2019re removing yourself from the herd, which is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Given his upbringing, it\u2019s no surprise Bartlett believes we are all driven by what happens in childhood. For him, his main driver was insecurity. \u201cIt was a deep, deep desire for financial freedom because it caused me so much pain as a young man.\u201d<\/p>\n The pain of childhood is not something Barlett believes we can ever escape \u2013 nor should we try to.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve interviewed hundreds of very smart people, and I used to think that you could take the shame or the trauma from your childhood and just completely make it disappear, maybe through therapy or reading a book,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve come to learn that doesn\u2019t really happen. What you can do is become aware of it and learn how to control it.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the best things he\u2019s done to become aware of his insecurities is keep a diary.<\/p>\n \u201cMy podcast was essentially that. I was going through my diary for those first 20 episodes and reflecting on what I\u2019d done that week and how I felt, and you\u2019re able to see things you wouldn\u2019t ordinarily see,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Bartlett\u2019s famous guests include Richard Branson, Maisie Williams, Seth Rogen and Rita Ora.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n Bartlett, by his own account, lives a very busy life. Even his downtime is optimised and monitored for self-improvement. He loves his Whoop, a wearable device that tracks your biometric data. He is an enthusiastic promoter of (and investor in) Huel, a meal-replacement drink he turns to when there\u2019s no time to eat.<\/p>\n But are there any parts of his life that exist just for pleasure? His dog and his relationship with his girlfriend. Massages, he says, are a form of meditation, while the gym a form of self-care. He\u2019s also a huge football fan, barracking for Manchester United.<\/p>\n But Bartlett admits there aren\u2019t many things he truly loves doing in his downtime. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t have many indulgences in my life, I try and really fight for the ones that I do have, to the point that if my [football] team\u2019s playing, I\u2019ll change my flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n