The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

What happens when the relentless pursuit of adrenaline leads to losing your soul in the process? Shawn Ryan reveals the hidden psychological toll of ambition, the dark side of psychedelics, and the ultimate price of true alignment.
Shawn Ryan is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, CIA contractor, and the creator of The Shawn Ryan Show, one of the most influential and widely watched independent podcasts. After transitioning from elite military service and dangerous covert operations into media, he has built an expansive platform known for raw unfiltered conversations. 
In this episode, he explains:
■ The Adrenaline Trap: How former elite operators often suffer from severe post-service depression because normal civilian life cannot replicate the neurological highs of combat.
■ The Psychedelic Nightmare: Why an intensive ibogaine treatment designed to optimize his mental state instead opened a terrifying portal to the spiritual realm and severe supernatural oppression.
■ The Cost of Alignment: Genuine personal transformation demands going through a shedding phase, in which you consciously step away from profitable ad deals, social networks, and short term incentives to stay true to your values.
■ The Illusion of the Herd: Authentic, lasting achievement relies entirely on nurturing a unique voice anchored in personal belief, while imitating results in creative paralysis.
■ The Ultimate Priority: Chasing ambition eventually demands sacrificing family time, demonstrating that no amount of business success can make up for absence in your children's lives.
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:26 What Made Shawn Ryan?
00:03:38 What Separates a Navy SEAL From the Rest of the Military
00:06:09 What Really Happened During Operation Red Wings
00:08:44 How Becoming a Navy SEAL Changed Him
00:09:54 Are Podcasters Being Compromised by Planted Guests?
00:18:25 Did He Endorse Trump?
00:20:19 Has His Opinion on Trump Changed?
00:21:20 How the Military Feels About Deployment to Iran
00:22:30 Would America Be Better Off If Democrats Had Won?
00:29:19 Why the 2028 Election Matters to Him
00:32:48 Why He Deletes Podcast Episodes
00:37:20 Ads
00:39:47 Why He Moved to Colombia After Contracting
00:39:58 Did He Get Involved With Drug Networks in Colombia?
00:42:04 What Happened With the Police in Colombia?
00:46:49 Was Colombia Enough to Make Him Get Clean?
00:47:46 The Turning Point That Changed Everything
00:49:56 Why Going to Therapy Was So Difficult
00:51:02 Why He Turned to Psychedelic Therapy
00:54:14 What Is Ibogaine and Why Did He Take It?
00:57:16 The Hell He Experienced During Ibogaine
01:00:01 What Happened During His Psychedelic Experience
01:00:59 How That Experience Changed His Life
01:08:23 Ads
01:09:32 What Is an Exorcism and What Actually Happens?
01:11:44 How His Experiences Affected His Family
01:19:23 Had Supernatural Things Happened Before?
01:21:34 What He Thinks About Sponsors Walking Away
01:34:36 What Is Glacier and Why Does It Matter?

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Are you chasing material success to fill an emotional void from your childhood? Adam Neumann speaks about the psychological lessons and spiritual frameworks that he learned after the most publicized corporate collapse in modern history. 

Adam Neumann is the visionary entrepreneur who cofounded WeWork, growing it into a $47 billion global empire before stepping down amid unprecedented public scrutiny. He is now partnered with legendary venture firm a16z, and founder of Flow; an innovative residential real estate company designed to solve the modern loneliness epidemic by fostering genuine community. 

In this episode, he explains:
■ The Ego Trap: How a massive $4.2 billion investment offer in the back of a taxi instantly derailed WeWork's mission, showing rapid financial success can blind founders to their core values.
■ The Foundation of Failure: Why experiencing a traumatic childhood or public business collapse is not a curse, but rather the exact mechanism required to build unbreakable psychological resilience.
■ The Technology Shabbat: Why disconnecting from all electronic devices for 24 hours every week is a necessary practice to break addiction, quiet noise, and discover yourself.
■ The True Measurement of Partners: Why you must evaluate your investors, friends, and life partners solely by how they treat you on your absolute worst day.
■ Influence vs. Control: The counterintuitive leadership principle that true power requires leading from the bottom up.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:11 Growing Up on a Kibbutz
00:03:11 How His Mother’s Behaviour Shaped Him
00:03:58 Why He Struggled at School as a Child
00:09:08 The Childhood Experiences That Left a Lasting Impact
00:13:46 Why He No Longer Sees Trauma the Same Way
00:15:35 Why Money Isn’t His Definition of Success
00:18:40 How Failure Changed His Definition of Success
00:21:48 Why the Idea of “We” Became So Powerful
00:27:20 Why You Have to Dream Bigger Than Feels Possible
00:30:45 What Kept Him Going at His Lowest Point
00:34:24 How to Overcome Self-Doubt
00:34:35 The Self-Doubt Behind Building WeWork
00:43:52 Why Hard Work Still Matters
00:47:13 Ads
00:52:37 What Makes a Great Team Member?
00:54:55 What Happened When He Met Masayoshi Son
00:55:34 How to Build Strong Foundations Before You Scale
01:14:19 Ads
01:15:01 How to Find the Signal in the Noise
01:15:29 Who Should You Listen to When Everyone Has an Opinion?
01:35:09 Why Focus Is Essential for Success
01:51:06 What Went Wrong at WeWork
02:02:30 The Advice From His Wife That Changed His Perspective
02:10:15 The 5 Biggest Lessons He Learned
02:11:25 The Letter Ben Horowitz Sent When Everything Fell Apart
02:12:29 His Final Message to Entrepreneurs

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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!
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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

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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?

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