The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Are you letting the past or fear of failure hold you back from achieving ultimate business success? Dana White, the relentless CEO behind the UFC, reveals the exact psychological frameworks and savage business tactics required to dominate your industry and build an empire.
Dana White is the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the driving force who transformed a $2 million struggling fight promotion into a global sports juggernaut currently valued alongside the world's most elite sports leagues. Now expanding his empire into Power Slap and Zuffa Boxing, White has mastered the brutal mechanics of scaling businesses in highly competitive, chaotic environments. 
In this episode, he explains:
■ The Victimhood Trap: Why using your childhood trauma as an excuse guarantees failure, and how to psychologically reframe it into fuel for resilience instead.
■ The Loyalty Mandate: How treating business like a literal war requires building a tight-knit team of absolute "killers".
■ Biohacking as an Asset: The radical 12 week protocol of cold plunging, fasting, and targeted supplementation reversed his debilitating sleep apnea and fundamentally rewired his baseline energy for peak performance.
■ The Myth of "Making It": Why true entrepreneurs must become addicted to solving daily chaos to stay ahead of competitors and reach the top of your industry.
■ Weaponizing Your Gut: The exact mindset shift required to take massive risks when everyone else claims your vision is entirely impossible.
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:17 What Made Dana White a Fighter
00:04:37 What His Childhood Really Looked Like
00:06:07 How His Relationship With His Dad Changed
00:08:05 Why Dana White Has Always Challenged Authority
00:10:18 What He’s Trying to Teach His Son
00:11:11 Why There’s No Such Thing as a Day Off
00:13:25 How Getting Kicked in the Face by Business Changed Him
00:14:46 Why Nobody Owes You Anything
00:16:06 Why Most People Aren’t Cut Out to Be Entrepreneurs
00:17:45 The Principles That Made the UFC Successful
00:19:55 Why Who You Hire Can Make or Break a Business
00:21:51 The Rare Skills Behind Dana White’s Success
00:27:41 Why He Built a Family Through Business
00:32:09 Why Great Leaders Stay in the Weeds
00:33:22 I Love the Haters
00:35:17 How Extreme Focus Fueled His Success
00:37:29 What Transformed His Energy and Health
00:39:54 Ads
00:39:55 Why You Either Have the Killer Instinct or You Don’t
00:42:01 Why You Have to Be a Savage in Business
00:44:43 Can You Learn the Killer Instinct?
00:45:21 Why a Chip on Your Shoulder Can Drive Success
00:46:27 Who Dana White Would Never Want to Compete Against
00:48:55 Do You Believe in Manifestation?
00:53:03 How He Learned to Leave the Past Behind
00:58:56 Has Dana White Forgiven His Mom?
01:04:33 Ads
01:04:34 Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over Focus Groups
01:06:58 Why Chasing a Paycheck Means You’ve Already Lost
01:07:54 How Much of Your Success Was Luck?
01:11:14 Why You Can’t Be Afraid to Take Risks
01:18:11 What Are You Still Chasing?
01:22:13 The One Last Goal He Has to Accomplish
01:24:40 Why Dana Believes He’ll Win at Boxing

Follow Dana White:
YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Fgajy25
Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/6pRqwZs
Facebook - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/GmEyz0C
Twitter/X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Ddv4Kda
UFC - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/F71pA3
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:
Cometeer - https://cometeer.com/DOAC use code DOAC for $20 off
Function Health - https://functionhealth.com/DOAC

Paul Rosolie is a conservationist, author and founder of Jungle Keepers, who has spent years exploring and protecting some of the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest.
In this moment, Paul shares the unbelievable journey that led him deep into the Amazon, where rumours of an uncontacted tribe became something far more real. He shares the emotions when coming face to face with those living separate from the modern world… and what this encounter taught him.
Listen to the full episode here!
Spotify: https://g2ul0.app.link/fk52Ml7u85b
Apple: https://g2ul0.app.link/heJRtQmv85b
Watch the Episodes On YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDiaryOfACEO/videos
Paul Rosolie: https://www.paulrosolie.com/

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?

Follow Shawn Ryan:
YouTube: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/DoJWKmI
Instagram: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AKYL4qQ
X: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Fofoug4
Glacier App: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/APvONfo - (20% off for the first 3 months)
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:
Shopify - https://shopify.com/bartlett
Ketone - https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order

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

Follow Adam Neumann:
Adam’s X: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/5svUr6b
Flow Instagram: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/EyH0BGY
Flow TikTok: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/GcyYR7H
Flow Linkedin: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/DctJqQ9
Flow YouTube: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/1lIOLPI

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:
Wispr - Get 14 days of Wispr Flow for free at https://wisprflow.ai/steven
Pipedrive - https://pipedrive.com/CEO

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