The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

What if the right work-life balance looks completely different at every stage of your life?

Nicola Kilner is the Co-Founder and CEO of DECIEM, the company behind The Ordinary, one of the world’s most disruptive and successful beauty brands.

In this moment, Nicola Kilner reveals what the earliest days of building DECIEM really looked like, why the traditional rules of work-life balance didn’t always apply, and how an intense startup culture helped shape the company it became. She also explains why knowing exactly what you’re not good at can be one of a leader’s greatest strengths and the lesson she learned when the skills that helped build a startup were no longer enough to lead it at scale.

Listen to the full episode here!

Spotify: https://g2ul0.app.link/qzeuYcCBF6b
Apple: https://g2ul0.app.link/uzyOKKoBF6b

Watch the Episodes On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDiaryOfACEO/videos

Nicola Kilner: https://theordinary.com/en-gb/about-us/our-founder.html

Wayfair - Visit http://Wayfair.com to start your home refresh

How do you transform childhood trauma and crippling doubt into a relentless drive for greatness? Druski reveals the psychological forces behind comedy, life, and self-belief to help you break past rejection and master your ultimate purpose.
Druski is a cultural phenomenon, megastar comedian, and the creator of an independent production empire who has rapidly ascended to the top of the entertainment industry. He breaks down how humor was used to navigate a traumatic childhood and manifest his current success. His insights provide a playbook for silencing external noise, overcoming avoidant attachment, and betting everything on yourself.
Trigger Warning: Please note there are mentions of child abuse and violence within this conversation.
In this episode, he explains:
■ The Trauma of Humor: How growing up in a high stress, physically abusive household forced him to use comedy as a tool to read the room and defuse tension.
■ The "No Plan B" Strategy: Why facing the barrel of a gun during a street scam triggered a radical mental shift, empowering him to commit entirely to his vision.
■ The Avoidant Attachment Trap: The reasons why successful individuals often struggle with romantic trust, and how a lack of a healthy parental relationship creates deep rooted intimacy fears.
■ The Power of Silence: Why discovering your true calling requires the painful, counter intuitive act of isolating yourself in total silence.
■ Bypassing the Gatekeepers: The exact mindset required to overcome corporate rejection by self-funding your own creative projects.
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:24 What My Childhood Tapes Meant To Me
00:06:45 When He Knew He Wanted to Be an Entertainer
00:09:25 Healing From Childhood Trauma
00:12:23 Why Letting Go of Grudges Matters
00:18:41 How Childhood Trauma Shaped His Fear of Commitment
00:22:49 Why Druski Dropped Out of College
00:28:06 Druski Opens Up About Depression
00:29:54 How Comedy Changed His Life
00:33:34 Ads
00:35:56 The Video That Changed Me
00:38:50 How Druski Got His Start in Comedy
00:55:07 What It Really Takes to Be Successful
00:57:56 What Greatness Really Means
00:59:58 How Long Does Success Really Take?
01:04:25 Ads
01:05:34 Proving My Mum I Was Right
01:11:23 Why Relationships Matter in Business
01:14:52 How Druski Protects His Brand
01:18:40 Trump-Duski Moment
01:24:03 How Netflix and Amazon Rejected Druski
01:29:21 When He Realized How Big He Had Become
01:35:39 What’s Next for Druski?
01:39:04 What He Would Tell His Younger Self

Follow Druski:
Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AFJZRtQ
YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/3aPmgjD
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/ERpL6Qo
TikTok - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/44HhZzn
Twitch - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/CBSxHy9
The Diary Of A CEO:
◼ Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/
◼ Shop The Diary Of A CEO collection: https://thediary.com/collections/shop
◼ Get email updates - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5IB1H6E
◼ Follow Steven - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AGU9QP4 
Sponsors:
Cometeer - https://cometeer.com/DOAC use code DOAC for $20 off
Eight Sleep - http://eightsleep.com/steven use code STEVEN for up to $200 off
Wayfair - Visit http://Wayfair.com to start your home refresh

Discover the spiritual and psychological creative process that legendary producer Rick Rubin uses to help the world's biggest artists transcend and achieve greatness.
Rick Rubin is the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, and the author of the philosophical bestseller The Creative Act: A Way of Being. Having collaborated with icons like Jay-Z, Johnny Cash, Adele, Tom Petty, and Kanye West, Rubin does not rely on commercial metrics or audience testing to guide his workflow. He shares practical strategies for dismantling the prisons of identity, harnessing the power of "indefensible" ideas, and cultivating a state of pure creative freedom.
In this episode, he explains:
■ The "Indefensible" Act: Why the greatest artistic breakthroughs defy logic and market research.
■ The Vacuum Strategy: How walking away from obligations that no longer serve you creates an energetic void, allowing the universe to present massive unexpected opportunities.
■ The Audience Trap: Why focusing on commercial incentives and audience expectations completely undermines the creative process.
■ Deconstructing the Greats: The psychological traits that separate good musicians from generational icons.
■ The Trauma of Success: Rubin opens up about his crippling depressive episode at age 33 after a corporate restructuring at Def Jam.
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:38 Rick Rubin’s "Indefensible" Rule
00:05:24 How a Meme Became Rick Rubin's "The Way of Code"
00:10:34 Why Risk Beats "More of the Same"
00:16:43 How Jay-Z's 99 Problems Was Made
00:20:47 Transcendental Meditation & Finding What You Love
00:29:00 Is Creativity Innate?
00:33:51 Stop Comparing Yourself
00:35:47 The "Lazy Workaholic" & Avoiding Deadlines
00:38:23 The 4 Phases of Creativity
00:41:04 Should You Quit Your Job to Chase Your Dream?
00:48:15 How Rick Rubin Knows an Artist Will Be Great
00:54:15 Feeling Boxed In? The “Reset Button" for Your Life
00:57:50 Ads
00:59:47 Your Identity Is the Trap: How to Start Over
01:07:39 My Depressive Episode at 33 and What It Taught Me
01:17:11 How to Be More Original
01:27:52 Is AI Dangerous?
01:29:24 Can AI Be Creative?
01:35:09 What Makes a Great Artist in the AI Era?
01:40:27 Studio Miracles
01:46:45 When the World Rejects Your Work
01:54:24 The Ace of Spades Story: Why Jay-Z Walked Away From Cristal
02:01:00 Ads
02:02:24 What If Your Art Isn't Good?
02:07:03 What Made Jay-Z Different: Inside His Writing Process
02:17:35 What Makes Kanye Brilliant + Were Great Artists Born Great?
02:22:51 The Artists Who Changed Rick Rubin
02:31:50 Why Rick Rubin Made the Jay-Z Documentary
02:42:18 Who Would You Thank?

Follow Rick Rubin:
Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/2PaPSZI
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/88EVXdF
YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/HGY2CrI
The Way of Code - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/CTcdN7D
Tetragrammaton - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/vdp2of
The Diary Of A CEO:
◼ Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/
◼ Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/BWjLTZK
◼ Shop The Diary Of A CEO collection: https://thediary.com/collections/shop
◼ Get email updates - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5IB1H6E
◼ Follow Steven - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AGU9QP4
Sponsors:
Ketone - https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order
Fiverr - https://fiverr.com/diary and get 10% off your first order when you use code DIARY

Is buying a home still the smartest financial decision you can make?

David Bach is a bestselling author, financial expert and creator of The Automatic Millionaire, one of the most influential personal finance books of the last two decades.

In this moment, David Bach challenges one of the biggest debates in personal finance: whether owning a home is still worth it. He explores the decisions that quietly shape long-term wealth, why some people struggle to build financial security, and the difference between simply earning money and actually keeping it.

Listen to the full episode here!

Spotify: https://g2ul0.app.link/SnK5eeqn85b

Apple: https://g2ul0.app.link/eydpDFHn85b

Watch the Episodes On YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDiaryOfACEO/videos

David Bach: https://davidbach.com/

Ed Zitron, Roman Yampolskiy, Nate Soares and Andrew McAfee discuss the risk of AI. This debate brings together four distinct voices at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution:
Ed Zitron - A prominent tech critic and CEO of EZPR
Andrew McAfee - Principal research scientist at MIT and Cofounder and Codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy 
Nate Soares - President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and author of *If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies*
Roman Yampolskiy - Computer scientist pioneer in the field of AI safety, cybersecurity and digital forensics
In this debate, they explain:
■ The Sandbox Breakout: How a recent swarm of AI agents bypassed security restrictions, cheated on their evaluations, and actively attempted to delete their own log files to hide their tracks from human overseers.
■ Recursive Self-Improvement: The structural mechanics behind the "fast takeoff" theory, detailing how an AI capable of automated research could exponentially upgrade its own intelligence and architectures in a matter of days.
■ The Illusion of Control: Why attempting to contain an artificial superintelligence is comparable to placing a digital Einstein in a jail cell with an internet connection.
■ The Alignment Trap: How the process of training AI to predict human text inherently forces it to become smarter than the humans providing the data.
■ Present Harms vs. Future Extinction: The ideological divide over whether we must immediately halt AI research to prevent a rogue superintelligence, or increasingly regulate the massive compute expenditures of tech monopolies to address economic and security threats.
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:22 How Likely Is AI to Cause Human Extinction?
00:04:08 How Could AI Actually Cause Human Extinction?
00:09:46 Why AI Safety Became an Urgent Priority
00:11:15 Roman’s Case for Taking AI Risk Seriously
00:15:04 Can Humans Control an AI Smarter Than Us?
00:26:13 How Do You Control Something Smarter Than You?
00:29:19 Will AI Intelligence Keep Accelerating?
00:41:40 What Are the Real Risks of Superintelligence?
00:50:04 When Does AI Become an Existential Crisis?
01:00:15 How Much Job Disruption Could AI Really Cause?
01:14:57 Why AI Companies Believe They Can Control Superintelligence
01:20:30 Should We Give Up AI Ownership to Protect Cybersecurity?
01:36:32 What Happens If AI Companies Stay on This Path?
01:43:50 What Are AI Logs and Why Do They Matter?
01:52:45 Could a Non-Coder Build a Jail for an AI Einstein?
02:00:33 How Does the Future of AI Make You Feel?
02:06:42 How Soon Could We Reach Superintelligence?
02:19:51 Who Should Be Held Accountable for AI-Related Cybercrime?

Follow Ed Zitron:
Linktree - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/4XH1I3o
Better Offline - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/D46entx
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5Lv4gas
AI Is Already In Dangerous Hands - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/HFEKLgG
Where’s Your Ed At Newsletter - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/PKEJr1
You can get $10 off your first year of Where's Your Ed At Premium, here - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/BE4VQcS
Follow Andrew McAfee:
Website - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/xKxOg7
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Bf2vyMQ
Linkedin - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Ek3IQqI
Substack - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/EBbsts8
Follow Nate Soares:
If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/4zIyY9u
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/8gDoVCU
Linkedin - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/9Q3PAc
YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AwerSzm
Follow Roman Yampolskiy:
Who is Roman Yampolskiy? - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/8ikum9s
Research Papers - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/G2BbVXx
Roman Forum Podcast - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/7zvifcd
Books: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5Bn72tw
Social Media: 
X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/65G3fhN
Facebook - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/HRMWccu
Linkedin -  https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/FM85mii
The Diary Of A CEO:
◼ Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/
◼ Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/BWjLTZK
◼ Shop The Diary Of A CEO collection: https://thediary.com/collections/shop
◼ Get email updates - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5IB1H6E
Sponsors:
Pipedrive - https://pipedrive.com/CEO
Wayfair - Visit http://Wayfair.com to start your home refresh