433. Why Diary of a CEO is Impossible to Stop Listening To

0:04 Good morning podcasting Morning chat. Today is Monday, January 12th, 2026 and today trust listener connection and meaningful conversations. Jonathan Howard and the team take over to break what indie podcasters can learn from the diary of a CE OS com trust building approach. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button on the left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, please share this with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. Good morning once again podcasting morning chat. Welcome to Monday where we do obsession worthy podcasts and we are here today without Mark.

1:29 So my name is John and Howard, I'm filling in and I've got a few people on stage with me this morning including Ashley Feller, BC Ralph, Dr. Sid and Nick. So welcoming guys. I hope you had a good weekend and I hope we're doing well today. So we're going to jump into what makes Diary CEO and actually an obsession worthy podcast. We do these every Monday. We've been doing them and we kind of dive into what's the different aspects of them that make them worth watching for Diary of the CEO, this particular podcast, it blends an interesting mix of personal confessions, seems like very vulnerable moments, storytelling, and then actual tactical wisdom and leadership all into one very long episode. I know it was a 2 hour episode for those that I sent it to. It is a very long episode, but it packs a lot into it. So listeners can come away with business advice, but they also can get real life human connection from it. And it works because it's not about the people, it's about what the people felt during the podcast. So as we jump into the first clip, which we're going to do in a second, I just want to mention one of the things that makes that sets this particular podcast apart is that it's really the production of it is really high end. It's not your typical podcast.

2:55 It's set up in a way that makes it feel like a luxury experience. The moment you sit down, it's like a moment to sit down and actually enjoy like a fancy meal with the warm lighting, calm pacing, and a beautiful set with the expansive table where all the action is going to occur. So the result is really visually and sonically immersive, and it makes you feel like you're part of a very intense but enlightening conversation from the moment that you start listening to the podcast. So I did want to set that up just so you guys know what it feels like when you're listening to this particular podcast. And then finally jump into that first clip. But the episode starts out with a fairly general question, but when it's answered honestly, it sets the stage for a really deep, dynamic episode.

3:44 And the episode builds trust in the first few seconds. It's just a simple question, the connection, and it goes from a podcast to real life. Ralph, if you want to hit that first clip. When you said, how are you the space that I'm sitting in as I'm actually quite feeling quite lonely and and I learned about how to manage mental fitness during COVID more than I ever had prior because we had to deal with so much right? And so prior, I would have been embarrassed by saying I'm feeling lonely. I would have hit it, suppressed it. Don't like negative feelings, whereas now I'm just sitting in it not worried about it. I'm allowing it to go through me like I'm allowing myself to have a bad day at the gym.

4:35 We're actually going to go on a journey with Simon and Steven today. We're going to kind of go through from clip one through clip 5, the experience that is the podcast, and you're going to see some of the themes and reasons why this podcast is obsession worthy are going to be revealed as we go through this, Nick. Good morning, everybody. I was just going to ask, obviously this is probably pretty searchable if you just searched, I have a CEO with Simon Sinek, but does this podcast have a specific title that we can look out for? Yes, it does. I don't have it written down in front of me. It's on loneliness. We'll grab it and make sure we put it in the show notes. As we go through these clips, we're going to kind of explore some of the things that make it obsession worthy.

5:17 There are four key things that actually happened in this first clip as we go through it, But the first thing that we notice is we're there's intimacy. Like instantly, Simon Sinek offers his truth and it is very, very intimate truth. He says right from the beginning he's feeling lonely. And it's kind of practically expected that a Darius CEO starts out with something that's big and bold and dramatic and, you know, something to talk about. But This is why it's also binge worthy because it's such a big topic and it's personal to Simon Sinek, but it's also approachable and universal for others.

6:01 We all have felt loneliness in some point in our lives. So it's a universal truth that we I talk about a lot when I talk about these podcasts. But it's also very, very specific to what Simon was feeling. And this is a lot of vulnerability. The next point is it's a lot of vulnerability without the melodrama though. There's no crazy drama. It's just him saying what he's feeling and it's a really solid adult vulnerable story. So anything do you guys have anything you want to share about both the, you know, intimacy of this particular clip already or the vulnerability that Simon Sinek is showing in how he's he's answering this?

6:43 Go ahead, Sid. You may get into this a little bit later, but what is it about Stephen Bartlett or the way that he asked questions so we get somebody like Simon to immediately open up with vulnerability? Well, that is the question that I was going to ask everybody because I think there's for me, I noticed that there's just no judgment in the way he asked the questions. And there's they did mention, I don't want you to say fine because we know when people say fine, you're lying, but how are you really doing? What's interesting with a lot of Steven Bartlett content and all of his interviews that he does is when you hear him ask questions to the guests, it feels like like pure genuine curiosity.

7:30 Like he's not just asking a question for the sake of, OK, what's this episode going to be about? Like you hear him ask the question, you're like, oh, he's he's actually there in the moment having a real conversation with somebody. It doesn't feel fabricated at all. It just feels legitimate, if that makes sense. Absolutely. And I think I saw Sid, BC and Ralph, all three of you. Actually, I just was supporting what Dick was saying. But BC and Ralph can go ahead, yeah. I was just going to say one of the things I think we can learn from this is one of the things that I learned in Dale Carnegie, and that is take a genuine interest in other people. And that's exactly what he's doing here. He's taking a genuine interest in the person he's interviewing and that comes through amazingly.

8:11 Absolutely, and it continues to come through throughout the episode. I think that's what makes it such a powerful podcast. But BC, go ahead. In combination with what Nick was talking about, with the just genuine take and the genuine interest that he shows whenever he talks to somebody, he's also not dancing on the question. The question is very directed. I think the combination of genuineness and directness opens that very intimate door and as we will, I think see in a couple of clips here, Simon's think it's even more vulnerable as the conversation goes along. And like I said, we're kind of going to go on a journey with this particular podcast because it does, as it goes along, it does get more intimate and yet also more universal.

8:56 In a lot of ways, this clip creates this universal experience. It's, I call it a universal doorway, but it's really, even though you don't, you don't have to care about Simon Sinek to care about what the podcast is about. It opens up for the the door for everybody to kind of talk about loneliness in a unique way as this podcast develops. So it is, while it's about Simon Cynic, it's a bigger idea that is at play here. And then finally, the best thing about this particular podcast is it always gives you actionable takeaways.

9:37 And it does this a little bit later on in this particular clip, he does talk about how he's feeling and it gives language to discuss how loneliness feels and what people are wanting out of it. So it's giving actionable tips and advice on what you can use to discuss if you're feeling lonely. And when somebody helps you solve your problem, there's a good chance you're going to be coming back to them. So that is 1 big reason why it's obsession worthy because they're helping me solve my problem or at least understand how I can talk about when I'm feeling lonely. So that is the four things that this one little clip kind of does right off the bat.

10:20 And then my question was what did Steven do or not do to make it safe to for Simon to talk about feeling lonely? And I think we kind of talked a little bit about that. So that is, you know, definitely something that is part of the culture of this this show almost. I'm just going to champion what you were saying there, and I think one of the things we can learn as a podcaster, especially as an interviewer, is figure out ways to make that to build that relationship with the person you're interviewing. Make them feel safe, make them feel comfortable, bring them in to an intimate setting. I think so many times as podcast, as we have this list of questions and we don't listen. Sometimes we just have this pre planned agenda of we're going to ask this question, then we're going to ask this question, then we're going to ask this question.

11:06 But you've got and most one thing that Steve did very well is he listen to the answers. He didn't have this predetermined notion of here's where I'm going to go with this. He'd listen to the answers and he was able to pivot and actually draw that conversation out of the person he was talking to because he was listening. He was active listening and he was able to build that rapport with the purse. Yeah. And there there wasn't at any point any rushing through this episode. I mean it is a 2 hour long episode and I'm sure there was a lot more recorded, but there's no rushing through the episode. There's moments of silence, there's moments of of thought, there's moments where both are talking. But it really does work. And I think it it is a very thoughtful moment. And actually clip 2, which we're going to get ready for now. But in this next clip, Steven, the host does something that most hosts would never do.

11:59 He exposes his own assumption when he heard what Simon was saying, and then he kind of takes the word lonely and turns it into something really, really specific that opens up a whole other part of the conversation. So if we want to play that second clip, I. Was really surprised when you gave the answer regarding that. When I said the symptoms that that I've indicated to you that you are feeling lonely. I think even in my head I was expecting it to sound more like an absence of other humans around you. And that's the whole distinction between being alone and being lonely. Your answer was about how you you feel like you're not understood.

12:40 By who? There we go. And then that brings us to a whole other aspect. So it's not just about being lonely. It goes a little bit deeper and it's about not feeling understood. So Stephen really kind of tease up this difference between, you know, being lonely and feeling alone and then pressures the conversation in a very kind way to figure out what Simon actually means in this. And again, this is him listening. This is him putting out his overall feeling, getting Simon into this conversation a little bit deeper.

13:20 So again, it opens up a mirror to a doorway to everybody. It's it's universal sort of feeling, you know, we all want to be understood. We all want to have those connections. So overall, one of the things that I talk about a lot when it it comes to connecting with people, specificity is super important. It's actually addictive because when listener hears something that they can identify with and they go, oh, that's so me. That brings them into your content and that makes them a loyal audience member and somebody who's going to keep coming back. And the specificity of this conversation is definitely something that keeps people, you know, will allow people to see themselves in it and keep people coming back to the particular this particular podcast, which one of the things that makes obsession worthy.

14:08 Go ahead, Ralph. Yeah. And the thing I was going to say about that is he's connecting with a feeling that all of us have at some time in our lives, this idea of loneliness or not being understood or not being heard. And if you can do that to your audience, if you can bring them into the feelings that they're already feeling, you are going to build long term relationships with those folks because they're, oh, he gets it because it's easy to sit back. And I actually, it's interesting. I had never listened or watched one of Stephen Bartlett's things before this. And it was kind of like, I've heard about him and you know, you, how could you not hear about him? But I was really impressed with the way he was able to make me come. It's like I was a third person sitting in that room at that table because he was able to bring in feelings that I've felt.

14:50 He's able to bring in things that I'm thinking at the same time. And I think that is hugely, that is going to make a huge impact on your audience. Absolutely. When you can find that universal truth, that universal connection, whatever the emotion is, whatever the feeling is, whatever it is in your content that you can bring to that emotion, that universal level, that's going to help you connect with people. I think something that I think really all podcasters can take away from Stevens particular style with this show is that I think a lot of people when they start out as an interview style podcast, they think that questions it's just the one answer for that one question that you that you want, then you move on. But really, Steven treats every singular question that he might have prepared as a door into so many pivots and explorations of humanity.

15:43 And that's how you get the real meat of a show like this. And and that's why I think people should take away from Steven. You listen, you allow yourself to create new questions and branch questions in the moment because that's how the real journey with your guest happens. Otherwise you might have a really, really shallow conversation that doesn't provide a whole lot in the end. Yeah, Jonathan, what I was going to say is it and I'm going to date myself now, my 53 year old self, but it kind of reminds me of Barbara Walters. When Barbara Walters would do her interviews, you knew her goal was to make the person cry. Well, the reason she wanted to make the person cry, she wanted to connect at a human level with the audience.

16:26 And she realized if she did that, the person that's watching, the person listening is going to feel that same way. And I think that's the thing that Steven did, he open, he, he used open-ended questions, questions, he, he, he was able to pivot the conversation. I think it was classic. Yeah, it it was it was classic Baba Wawa. Go ahead, Nick. I just wanted to comment and actually pose a question and it it's kind of a tough question, but is he talking about like the questions that Steven was asking and how it is kind of, I was envisioning the exact same thing he was saying as he was saying like different doorways, different paths the the conversation can go down. And my question is how do we find the balance between continuing to explore down these different pathways and staying like kind of with the goal or the focus of the episode?

17:19 Because we obviously don't want to have a 2 hour episode of just randomness going in all different directions. So there has to be a little bit of like direction throughout the whole thing. So my question is like how do you balance that exploring but also staying to a specific lane? Or direction. I'm sorry for jumping in. The bottom line is that's why having a good outline is important. I love the second and third question that are not on script. And as long as you have your script and you know, as Nick leaves, as long as you have your script and you know where you want to go and you have your clock, you can kind of weave in and out of that and bring it back to the topic at hand. And one of the best ways to do that as a podcaster is not Even so much the, the pause or the pregnant pause, but just say, OK, let's get back to whatever the topic, you know, whatever you wanted to get into or shifting it. And, and I think that's important as a, as a podcaster. I mean we do it already in conversations so I think that's the main thing, but I know BC wanted to add. He doesn't say.

18:33 Alex is absolutely right to be sure. Knowing what your layout is can help you make sure that you don't, you know, go too far away and have a kind of a Babylon that doesn't lead anywhere. I would also want to add though that listening intently is also its its own discipline and when you keep in mind what your your end game is, it helps you notice particular moments within a first answer. That helps you realize a proper pivot, which can lead you into a couple branches that can still loop back around into the conversation. And if you're lucky, one of those pivots will actually bring up potentially either your next question or at least one of the questions you have yet to hit down the line of your outline. So I think combining those two approaches can really help bring about really awesome results in your conversation with your interviewee.

19:30 As much as he is a gifted question answer, Stephen Bartlett is an amazing listener. Like, he's got all his distractions removed. He's got his notes, and he is really listening. And that's what makes the conversation so engaging. Yeah, he may have wanted to talk about Simon's books, but the way he answered the first question took the conversation another way. So he's got this courage to say, OK, we can go wherever we want to go with this. And that's why it shows her two hours long, right? Because. He's listening and asking really great questions as a follow up, and listening to really listening is a skill that requires development. He listens and she also is able to, and they did this a few times in the episode.

20:16 Throw something back from earlier in the conversation as a way to bring the conversation along. So actually, you know, a couple times they said sitting in the mud with me, which is actually the next clip and a couple other things that they did and they brought those back in to remind us of where we've been in the conversation over the course of the two hours. And also bring in a new aspect of that same thing. So listening and just being very good at dropping the the keys that are going to keep the audience along for the ride. So I think that was definitely important. We are, I got three more clips, so I'm going to move on to the third clip.

20:58 But like I said, we're kind of following this journey, so we can it'll all tie back. But we already mentioned that I'm good. Let's go for the third clip. Simon kind of reframes his loneliness again. This is where it pivots again. It's still on loneliness, but it pivots again to mourning and asking for somebody to simply hold the space with him, sit in the mud, is what he says. He doesn't need somebody to fix it for him. He just needs somebody to be there with him. Thank you, I know that. But allow me to mourn the past. That's my loneliness. I'm just mourning. I'm in periods of mourning. I can, I can mourn loss, can't I? Like if I, if I lose a friend or a loved 1, you know, allow me to just like mourn and then I'll move forwards like I'm OK. I, I, I will move forward, but allow me to mourn loss. And, and that's all I'm doing is just allow me to mourn the loss and I'll be fine.

21:53 Just hold space for me. Come and sit in the mud with me. Ask me how I'm feeling, ask me how I'm doing. Just let me vent. Just sit in the mud with me. And you know, again, I think to your point, I think we just live in a world where most people are ill equipped on how to be there for a friend who's struggling. As they've kind of gone a couple levels deep with loneliness, they're sitting in that conversation and they're experiencing it now. And it came up to, you know, some of the things that were causing his loneliness were things that he had not been able to do in his life because he was focusing on work, not his personal life. So he's mourning the loss of that, but he doesn't need anybody to tell him how to fix it or tell him that it's OK. He just wants somebody to listen. Yeah, this is just a really, really beautiful moment. And one of the reasons I, I loved this episode is because I've known about Simons and Nick for a long time, but I don't think I've seen him in this depth before regarding emotion. And I think a really important point he makes here is that we go a lot of times through life with this armor. We don't realize a lot of times that over time this armor gets rusted.

23:10 It gets really clanky. It doesn't suit us anymore. And there's a real beauty in breaking. Sometimes you just have to break so that you can figure it out, be a rod nerve and then come out of it. And I think the fact that Steven was able to bring Simon into this and let this be a moment for the audience is just another not caveat. I'm losing my word, but another reason why we can look at this show and really kind of Revere it as a quite a piece of art or work within the podcasting. Sphere I feel like me and BC our minds are like connected right now because I'm I'm thinking the very same thing and sometimes going to bring up like what makes this podcast obsession worthy? It is the fact that it connects to your listener in such a high level, but also you're seeing someone that I'm assuming if you're listening to Diary of Aceo, you've likely heard of Simon Sinek as well.

24:11 You know of him, you know of his work and exactly what BC said. You're not. You never see this side of him. And it's kind of a a scroll stopping like, oh Dang, like this guy who is so successful, he has all of this stuff going for him. He has real emotions. He's going through stuff like we all go through. And it's not just him constantly getting up on stage and crushing it and talking about goals and success and all this stuff. Like he is a real person. And it, I don't know, this interview to me, like makes him more personal. It makes him more real than what people might see on like a channel play on YouTube. Absolutely.

24:55 And I think the relatability and the overall depth of the conversation makes it very, very something that we can all connect with. Ralph, go ahead. It's interesting. I recorded the show a couple weeks ago about something that I think all of us need to embrace a little bit. It's OK to tell somebody you're not OK. And I think we live in a culture right now where people are so afraid to be vulnerable. People are afraid to tell other people, Listen, I'm broken right now. I need help. I'm not OK. And that's the thing that comes through in this particular episode, more so than most of the things I've heard in a long time. And it it's OK to lean over to somebody and say I'm not OK. I think we need to embrace that. We need to understand that we all go through seasons of our lives where we're not OK.

25:41 And I just think that is an awesome thing to shout from the rooftops that I'm not OK and and find the person that's willing to listen, not the person listen. I'm going to throw a men. I'm going to throw a men under the bus right now. My wife comes to me and she tells me something. The first thing I think of is how do I fix that? And you know what? That's the wrong answer. The first, the first thing I need to say is, OK, let me hear. Let me hear what she's saying. Let me listen to what she's saying because what she's really telling me is Ralph, I'm not OK right now. And I think it's so easy, especially if you have the, the sort of the type A personality like I have, like I, I spend all day fixing things. And sometimes you just have to not fix things. You just have to let the person speak because guess what? They're telling you they're not OK and they just need to be heard.

26:24 Are you looking at my notes and reading ahead? Ralph? You know I'm. Mental telepathy, my friend. I'm seeing through you. We've in a much strong way today, Jonathan. I think that this particular conversation is the epitome of what makes Diary the CEO actually work, because it pulls the universal emotions out of its guests and makes them approachable and accessible for everybody. And I think that's really one of the main reasons why this podcast works. I think Ralph said it too about Barbara Walters. People know what they're getting themselves into when they go on this show and and I think they're more open to being open. And I think we're in a very clip driven society right now. I mean, there's people right now that probably didn't see the Golden Globes that are going to watch all the clips and so that they can say they saw it.

27:19 I think it's the same thing with Simon Sinek in this case. Everybody's seen the famous clips that he's talked about and it's nice to kind of dive in. And also it's great when you have an environment where it's OK to be open, but when it's not so much you have that environment, he's asking the right questions. And I think that's the main thing. You could be in the right environment and not ask the question, or you could be, you could ask the right question and not be in the right environment. And I think that's why this show works so well because I've seen a bunch of different people on, I've listened to a bunch of different people. And I think that's the main thing that makes this so great. You know, there's certain people in, there's certain people in this world that just know how to pull out the right thing from the their guests.

28:08 And it's just amazing to watch, listen to. Yeah, it absolutely is. And it makes Diary CEO makes emotional depths actually feel normal. Like being going in depth and talking about your emotions is normal on the show, even from well known personalities. Everybody seems to be able to do it and they leverage empathy in a really unique way that makes listeners not only feel like they're entertained, but they're also being served by each episode and they're seeing something in themselves in each episode. It is just a very unique podcast in that sense. I have not seen another podcast out there that does this to this level in in how cleanly it does it and how almost smoothly it gets to people to be vulnerable.

28:57 It's like you show up in like Barbara Walters used to do. You get him to cry. You know, he gets them to open up on that first question almost every time. So which could be some scripting, but it is a well put together podcast. Go ahead, Ralph. Yeah, I was gonna say, Jonathan, what you might be alluding to, you wonder what hit the cutting room floor before that. And you wonder what was actually a part of the conversation. And that's and that's not a bad thing either. And that tells us something else as well. We have to be willing to go back and edit to make effectiveness. You know, who knows how that was cut up? You don't know if that was recorded one take and it just went from the beginning to the end.

29:37 But what it brings out is that there is a methodology and even once you get done, you're recording. Once you get done doing all that, you can go back and put this together in a way that ties that that emotion into it. That's OK thing to do. But that and see that takes time. But that's what you got to do if you're going to get to this level of impact. It's a unique level of impact that they have. So as we kind of move into the 4th clip, up until this point, the episode's been making, you know, loneliness as a, you know, is human, all these things. It's Simon's loneliness is framework for everybody to feel, you know, go through loneliness in a in a different way. And now what it does is that actually turns turns a little bit.

30:20 It's still talking about loneliness to lead up into this clip, but it now is talking about how leaders and how leaders are going to kind of lead with this conversation and what you can do to help somebody that wants that is going through something really. And it's a great way to rethink relationships. And it really dives deeper into leadership relationships and conversations and communication, but without dramatically changing the feel of the show, which is also impressive. And I always say leadership is about going first. That's why we call you leader, right? Doesn't mean you're have the answers. It doesn't mean you're right. It just means you stepped first into the unknown, that we took the risk to go 1st. And so in a relationship, one of you can take the lead, one of you can go first to set the example of what it looks like and feels like to say, I'm having a bad day today and I don't need you to fix it.

31:20 I know what I'm going through. I want you to. I want to tell you all of this stuff because I want you to be there with me and I want to be there with you because I don't want to feel this way alone. And that key second step, which I I learned literally in the car this weekend with my partner, was you then need to work with them to educate them on and vice versa on how you would like to be held correct. This clip is actually from a very personal moment in the podcast because both of them are talking about, you know, Simon talking about how he hasn't had this. He hasn't had a long relationship with anybody, you know, because he was on the road, all these things.

32:05 And Steven talking about his experience in a relationship and, you know, how he was always the strongman. Simon actually flips this and saying, well, you're not with the strong man. It's it's challenging the common belief that people are being strong by by hiding what they're struggling with and not sharing what they're struggling with. And Simon Says the exact opposite. The real strength is telling the truth to the person that you care about and letting them know how they can be there to support you. A simple flip like that, you know, the real strength is telling the truth. That's like a plot twist to your brain, and that's something that is going to keep. Your brain is going to keep going back to that and it latches on and it's going to remember that because it's a point where something that was normal was broken. And memorable moments like that make for a memorable podcast. And I think that's something just to keep in mind when you're highlighting, when you're talking about things. You can throw in a plot twist and that's going to connect with people.

33:05 But Ralph, I saw you. Exactly. Because what it does is you're listening to that or you're watching and you're going, whoa, wait a second, what did they just say? And you're going, oh, yeah, you're right. That's I feel the same way. Someone else is hearing what I'm saying. And I think that is huge. And you're right. That is what keeps the audience to to stay on that for two hours because they want to hear the next thing to twist. And they go, Oh yeah, I feel the same way too. I think another note here that's not being directly mentioned by either 1 is that this is also, I just had it essentially, this is also kind of letting the audience know, take this moment to reflect on whether or not you're in the kind of relationship that allows this. Because they're talking about also pulling from the last clip where where Simon Says hold space for me. And then Steven here mentions, you know, you have to sometimes teach your partner what holding space for you in particular looks like.

33:57 So if you're the kind of person who, when that break needs to happen, you're like, let me crash out. I I need to crash out. That's how I heal. Then this is letting the audience know to think, am I in the kind of relationship that will let this happen and let me be vulnerable in a way that feels safe and I know that's going to be respected? Yeah, but you know what BC I hear what you're saying dude. But trying to find that is not an easy task because we all come into relationships with our own baggage. And if you're not upfront about that at the beginning of a relationship and you're that person that is the saving person, the one, the protecting person, the strong person. It is really hard when you get deep into a relationship to all of a sudden flip that script.

34:44 So I hear what you're saying BC, but man, putting that in actual work is is doggone near impossible unless you build that in from the very front end of a strong relationship. And that that was some of the conversation they were having. They were definitely talking about how it's something that they need need to, you know, put into a relationship. It's something that they need to be open about communicating about. It was definitely a very deep and real part of the podcast because they were both talking about it in a way that they were were going through it and how to do it and how to communicate about it so that it is possible for you to share what you're really feeling. Because I don't know me. I'm personally, if I'm not sharing what I'm really feeling, I'm I'm lying to my, you know, my significant other that's not building a strong relationship.

35:32 But Jonathan, you also have not to overtalk you, Jonathan, but you also have to appreciate the Steven willing to do that on his show because he's got this persona that he is the strong person that he is the person that is able to conquer all these things. He's achieved huge success. So what what he's telling us as podcasters is be vulnerable yourself. Not only are you asking the person you're interviewing to be vulnerable, but you've got to be vulnerable yourself. And not everybody is made for that. So you've got to go into it that because it's an equal thing here. Absolutely. And, and part of his podcast is that he will reflect on what is being said by his guests and bring that into his life and reflect on that and comment and be very vulnerable about, you know, what that might be for him. And I think that's something, again, part of the Brilliances podcast is it allows everybody to to be vulnerable and explore what we can learn in that vulnerability. I mentioned it was very memorable moment. And that's that twist.

36:33 That plot twist is what gets it kind of stuck in our head. But you're also left with the emotions and the ability to act on them because at the same time they talk about the emotions, but they also provide practical next steps that you as the listener can apply. Like go first, model the behavior, teach them how you want to be, you know, how you want to be handled in this situation. And that having again, fixing the problem and it may not fix the entire problem, but giving them tools to fix the problem that they may be having is a great way to keep people coming back to your podcast. If you solve a problem for them, you're going to they're going to come back.

37:17 And that's why, you know, when we talk about little things like starting out with having lead magnets, I talked to Mark about this all the time. He needs more lead magnets, something that solves a quick problem, that gets people to come back. And that's something that this by providing insight and ways that they can step through this, this podcast is doing. This next clip kind of brings us full circle and it shows us how powerful and real the conversations are on this podcast. We're approaching the end of the episode when Simon Sinek realizes something he's never realized before and says publicly, something that very few high achievers would ever say. It's a slightly longer clip, but we're going to. You can hit it now, Ralph.

38:03 Thank you. You spent your life being a fantastic servant to me from before we even met to to many more people like me. And you know that you said millions to your left, millions to your right, it's millions. You've been a fantastic service to to millions. And sometimes even in my own life, I reflect and think the service that I did, whether it was building the service to my employees or the service to the outside world, it came at a cost. And that was often the service to one individual who was right there, who I sometimes took for granted over and over again to the point that I lost them and then had to live with the regret. But I mean, it just seems so obvious to me that because you have the awareness of all of that, you're perfectly placed to serve. I'm having a thought and insight right now, which I hadn't had before, which is we've talked about, you know, everything that we gain in this life comes at a cost. And the only question is, was the cost worth it? And so now if you say I put all of this focused on this movement and it came at such a personal cost, right? Like, I took my eye off the ball. I wasn't investing the time to be a better boyfriend, to learn how to have relationship, to learn how to manage, you know, some of the symptoms of the ADHD, just to forget about the ADHD, just to learn not to be an idiot, You know, was it worth it?

39:25 And the sad thing is, it was. Let that sit for a second. That, right there, is why the show works. It's not just ideas. It's real life, it's identity, it's fears, and then it's something that you're given the tools to handle. This podcast is not a normal podcast, but it it gives you, it went full circle here and I'm still catching up to it and going because even Simon Sinek at the end of this podcast episode said, do I need to pay you for this therapy session? Because it was a therapy session for everybody. It was a full on exploration of loneliness and growth and communication and relationships.

40:19 And in the end, is it all worth it? Is it worth it? And Simon said it was all the loneliness, all the things that he struggled with, all the things that he let go of to make this movement something that happened. It was worth it to him. And he discovered that while being interviewed in this podcast. That's what says a lot about the podcast. I was going to say, one of the things I was going to go back to your last clip actually, and that is, see, as content creators, sometimes we think when we put something out there, it's what we're trying to get more people to connect to us. We're trying to get more people to do this. We're trying to get more people to do that. But I think if we have a different mindset and we first seek to serve them, to serve them first, then the other things are going to fall into place. If you go out there with the idea that I'm going to sell a course or I'm going to sell a mini thing, or I'm going to sell coaching, or I'm going to sell downloads or I'm going to sell some product, I don't think that's going to be as effective as if you go into this with.

41:19 And that's what they said there, the servant feeling of that. And when you serve your audience, when you give them something they can use and not expect anything back, that's how you build those relationships. And once you've built that relationship, then it's autos almost automatic that they're going to want to do other things with you. But you've got to start by serving. And that's the thing. You know, there's probably a lot of people jumping into the podcasting space right now. It's the beginning of the year and everything. Oh, you, I'm going to get in to do this because I'm going to make money with this. I'm going to run, I'm going to, I'm going to have all these followers. That's the wrong approach. You've got to start by starting by saying, what am I going to serve my audience? What am I going to give them? How am I going to be of service to them? And I think we can all learn from that because that's exactly what this particular show did.

42:06 It served us. It served both of them in the show themselves. So start off with the idea of service and everything else just kind of clicks. Absolutely, Ralph. One thing that Simon Says is he Simon, every time I say Simon Says I'm like, put your right hand on blue. But he mentions that he, what he truly loves to do is serve those that serve others. And some of these stories that he's he shared were really, really powerful and in how he's serving those that serve others. And that is part of his movement and what he wants to do with his life. And that was again, it was a really powerful, there was a few really powerful conversations there. If you haven't listened to this full episode, I would highly recommend because it was it kind of blew my mind a little bit with how well it pulled it together. And I want to thank Matt Bliss because this one was kind of off my radar.

43:03 I'm a huge Simon Sinek fan. So I kind of pushed this one off my radar because I really liked, you know, I like Simon Sinek. I figured I was a little biased on this one, but Matt Bliss actually recommended this one and this one does did it kind of showed off this podcast perfectly. So I want to thank him for that. I have a few takeaways, but go ahead, Ralph. Well, that's why I was going to ask you, Jonathan, I think it's a great time to talk about what are the takeaways, What can we as audience members this morning, what can we take away from this today that we can put into our own content that would be beneficial for us, Jonathan? So I think I teed you up right there, my friend. One of them, I think is the vulnerability that both the guest and the host showed on this episode was a huge reminder that we can be vulnerable. We don't have to be the strong man. We don't have to be the person that's always fixing the problem.

43:56 We can be the person that is struggling through something, that needs a little help through something. It doesn't. Even as a high achiever like Simon Sinek, he started this episode and continued throughout the episode talking about loneliness, something that's very personal, very vulnerable, and it made such an engaging conversation. If they hadn't been vulnerable, then this podcast would have been about 3 minutes long, probably because so much of it was about vulnerability. The other thing that I think is a really good take away is the interviews and the conversations that he has on this podcast are really mirroring universal human truths.

44:41 What are the things that are always going to be true? What are the things that you can talk about that are going to reveal truths to your audience? So diving a little bit deeper in your conversations and the things that you talk about, two things that people are going to actually connect with because universal truths are those things that people connect with. And those are emotions, feelings, things that happen to everybody that we can all say. That's me. Because when you get somebody to say that's so me, that's the connection that you want to build with your audience. That's the connection that keeps them coming back. When they see themselves in your content, when they feel seen, heard and understood, they're going to keep coming back.

45:26 So those are two of the big takeaways. I have a couple more, but I want to check in before I finish up. Empathy is the third one. And and this podcast uses empathy as their differentiator. When you think of ACEO, it's not what you think of when you get this when you listen to this podcast because it's you're getting actual emotional leadership. When you listen to this podcast, you get what is happening in somebody who is well adjusted, sensible, but still masculine and emotional. It's just empathy is present and it makes a huge difference in the way that ACEO operates and the way that the the podcast actually shows up. So that was the 3rd and I think that was my last take away was that one there were out.

46:17 There were a lot of other ones that we mentioned throughout the episode, but those are the three big ones that I wanted to mention. Does anybody else have anything they want to share about this particular podcast? Two more things I wanted to say #1 is I think we all can learn to be better active listeners. I think that is huge. And you may have said that in a different way, but I just feel like that. And the second thing, and I talk about this all the time, is build relationships. If you hear nothing else from this show today, it's all about building relationships with your audience, with the person you're interviewing. That is huge. So two things, active listening and building an audience and building relationships. Absolutely. And and I always say relationships start from the ground floor. When is somebody even just comments on something on your post on your podcast?

47:04 That's the start of a relationship. So make sure you don't miss those opportunities to connect with people. Well, thank you guys for joining us for another obsession worthy podcast episode. I if Mark wants me to do this again next Monday, I'll do this again next Monday. Hopefully you guys got some value out of it, got some things you can take away and use in your own podcast. And I want to thank you for that. And I will end the room by saying make it a great day. Take care.