THE DIARY OF A CEO - Steven Bartlett

You can buy the book here

IMPRESSIONS

My first impression of this book was--it's giving business meets personal development, in an amazingly actionable way. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall I highly recommend it for the principles, which, if internalised and actually lived out, stand to have a truly transformative impact on one’s life and business. Admittedly, there are one or two laws that made me raise an eyebrow, but in these cases, I tried to practice leaning in (see Law 5 below).

MENTAL FRAMEWORKS

The book looks at success as being founded on four pillars, which Steven calls the four pillars of greatness:

• The self

• The story

• The philosophy

• The team.

Standing on each of these pillars are the 33 laws for success.

Pillar 1—Self-mastery. The idea here is that without success in self-mastery, we cannot even begin to think about sustainably gaining success in other areas. While not easy, it’s the one thing over which we have direct control. This encompasses our self-awareness, self-control, self-care, self-conduct, self-esteem, and self-story.

Pillar 2—Based on findings that stories are the most powerful tools for communication. Learning how to tell good stories is an invaluable skill for any aspiring leader in any capacity.

Pillar 3—Our philosophies are the biggest predictors of our behaviour. So this one is about getting right to the core of things— unlearning the bad and learning new philosophies. Which are the values we hold.

Pillar 4—Who we work with, is one of the biggest factors in the success of our work.

ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS - THE LAWS

Here, I only discuss five out of the many laws that resonated strongly with me. I do not completely preempt the book.

These are numbered according to their exact numbers in the book.

LAW 1- FILL YOUR FIVE BUCKETS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

My favourite one! (If you read only one part of these notes, please let it be this one)

The idea here is that at a personal level (the self), our potential for achieving success falls into five interconnected buckets.

1. What we know ( knowledge)

2. What we can do ( skills)

3. Who we know ( network)

4. What we have ( resources)

5. What the world thinks of us ( reputation)

We cannot pour from empty buckets.

It’s therefore wise to focus on filling our buckets before we can expect to add value and create impact. And not just filling them, but filling them in the right order. Think about the difference between building a house on a foundation of sand vs. a strong solid concrete foundation.

The solid foundation, in the case of building a life where we achieve sustainable long-term success and impact, are the first two buckets first—knowledge and skills

In his own words;

💡 There are only two buckets that a professional earthquake can never empty. It can take away your network, it can take your resources, but it can never remove your knowledge and your skills.

A professional earthquake is a major setback, like a failed business or job loss.

The book mentions ego and desire inability to withstand delayed gratification as key negative influences we should actively counter when making these decisions. As it can drive us to accept roles that fill the last 3 buckets first by offering status and reputation and money, without a solid foundation of actual knowledge or skills.

“Applied knowledge is skill, and the more you can expand and apply your knowledge, the more value you'll create in the world. This value will be repaid in a growing network, abundant resources and a robust reputation.”

With this understanding, weighing opportunities becomes slightly more robust than merely considering the pay.

Law 2 builds on number one—A guide to learning how to actually lay the solid foundation that is knowledge and skills.

LAW 2 - TO MASTER SOMETHING, CREATE AN OBLIGATION TO TEACH IT

I first came across this counterintuitive concept in high school—that teaching something is the easiest way to learn it. But a new idea new to me around this is the addition of obligation.

What Steven Bartlett calls skin in the game—having something to lose.

💡 Behavioural science studies have shown that human behaviour is more strongly driven by avoiding losses, loss aversion, than by pursuing gains.

Teaching something to others forces us to properly understand it. This is best done using the Feynman technique.

“Being able to simplify an idea and successfully share it with others is both the path to understanding it and the proof that you do. One of the ways we mask our lack of understanding of any idea is by using more words, bigger words, and less necessary words.”

LAW 5 - YOU MUST LEAN INTO BIZARRE BEHAVIOUR

The rate of change in today’s world can be dizzying.

When we encounter something new, like a technology or an idea, that we don’t understand, or that challenges our intelligence or livelihood (say AI or web 3) we experience a form of cognitive dissonance, often described as a state where our thoughts and behaviours don’t match. When we experience this, our first instinct is to lean out from this unfamiliar thing—holding tightly to our established norms.

This is comforting but risky.

“In business, anyone who is too rigidly fixed to an ideology probably won't provide the solution, because resolving a problem often requires enough humility to disregard your initial hypothesis and listen to what the market is telling you.”

There are many examples of entrepreneurs and executives whose businesses went from millions to nothing because they rejected innovation.

This law challenges us to lean into the new—ideas, emerging technologies—that may trigger cognitive dissonance in our minds, yet can fortify us to thrive sustainably, in the midst of constant change.

How do we lean in more?

We can practice leaning in more by slowing down and reflecting when we find ourselves reflexively jumping to self-justification, bearing in mind that these reflexes could cost us opportunities for improvement and progress.

Mental techniques to lean in more:

1. Believing that two things can be true at the same time

2. Asking some key questions:

• Why am I believing what I believe?

• Is it possible that I'm wrong?

• Do I know what I'm talking about? Am I leaning out because I don't understand?

• Am I following the party line?

• Are these my own beliefs or the beliefs of the people like me?

“Taking no risks will be your biggest risk. You have to risk failure to succeed. You have to risk heartbreak to love. You have to risk criticism for the applause. You have to risk the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary. If you live avoiding risk, you're risking missing out on life.”

LAW 19: SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

This law puts proper perspective on the small things—a large number of small things is a large thing.

Improving many small things over time ultimately improves the big things that they are a part of. The things that are easy to do, like saving 1% of our income, for example, are also easy not to do. In that one moment, it's easy to decide to do what is aligned with our goals, but it's also easy to rationalise the other option (its “just this once”) the results of that one choice may not be visible at that moment, but it’s those moments that add up to make up our lives.

This law is related to the Kaizen philosophy, which means continuous improvement.

“This law reveals what every great entrepreneur; athlete and coach seems to instinctively know: your success will be defined by your attitude towards the small stuff - the things most people overlook, ignore, or don't care about. The easiest way to do big things is by focusing on the small things.”

1% changes can change your life—” It's not about making big leaps forward, but rather making small things better, in small ways, everywhere you can, on a daily basis.”

PS: For a book that focusses explicitly on this concept, see my notes on The Slight Edge.

BONUS

LAW 6: ASK DON’T TELL - THE QUESTION/BEHAVIOUR EFFECT

The difference between questions and statements is that questions elicit an active response in our brains—they make us think. While statements allow us to remain passive.

Instead of telling ourselves (which can also be applied to communication) to do things, we can increase the likelihood of our doing them by asking ourselves questions about them. Even more if its a closed question, eliciting a yes or no answer, this leaves no room for excuses.

Example: Substitute the thought "I should exercise today" with the question "Will I exercise today?"