British entrepreneur and podcaster Steven Bartlett captured the attention of the Australian media industry on Thursday morning at the Museum of Contemporary Art in a 60-minute interview hosted by News Corp Australia.
Bartlett is an entrepreneur, investor, speaker, author, and the host of The Diary of a CEO podcast. He joined the BBC’s hit TV show Dragon’s Den from series 19 as the youngest-ever Dragon in the show’s history.
The Diary of a CEO has over 40 million downloads a month and is now one of the leading podcasts in Europe and one of the top business podcasts in the world.
The Growth Distillery‘s Dan Krigstein interviewed Bartlett on stage in front of a room packed with leaders including News Corp’s Lou Barrett and Mike Connaghan, Nova’s Adam Johnson, Seven West Media’s Lucio Ribeiro, AANA’s Josh Faulks, and Kaimera’s Trent McMillan.
Bartlett also announced the launch of Flight Studio, a global podcast media and technology company.
Steven Bartlett and Dan Krigstein
Asked about what drives him to succeed, Bartlett said: “There’s the public answer, that I had this dream, but the more work you do on yourself you realise the forces that are driving you are often a bit more subconscious and out of your control.
“The more I’ve interviewed exceptional individuals – from the greatest CEOs in the world, to the greatest sports people in the world – I have come to give myself less credit for where I am today and give circumstances more credit.”
Bartlett added that that one of the biggest lessons he learned through his Diary of a CEO podcast was that a lot of people who achieve interesting things “are either driven or dragged, and in most situations, they’re being dragged.”
“When I say dragged, I mean there’s some kind of force in their life, which they’re not always in control over, that’s pulling you down the motorway. And that’s me,” Bartlett told the room.
“For me, that force was shame, it was insecurity, it was being black in an all-white area. We moved from Africa to the countryside in the UK when I was a baby, we were pretty much the only black family in the school of almost 2,000 kids.”
Ultimately, Bartlett said being a happy, well-rounded person means making sure all your needs are met over the long term.
“Over the short term, you can get away with unmet needs. But the longer you play that game of unmet needs, whether that’s social connection, or relationships, or your health, life will eventually catch up with you.”
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Top Image: Steven Bartlett