The Diary Of A CEO

Hi Linkedin… this is a first for me, but I have some news!!!! 🚨 I am very excited because I can finally announce, after months of planning, recordings and amazing conversations… my brand new podcast is launching this week! Time to Begin Again. It doesn’t matter where you are right now, it is never too late to begin again. This podcast isn’t about me knowing all the answers. It’s about us. It’s about us walking this journey together and believing that we are never finished. Everyone. And I really mean EVERYONE, can begin again. The very first episode will be live on Thursday, and if you click on the link in the comments below we’ll send you all the details, so you don’t miss it. The conversations we’ve recorded have brought me to tears, made me howl with laughter and inspired me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. I am so incredibly proud of what we’re creating and I can’t wait for you to feel it all so soon. Davina x

THE SECRETS FINALLY OUT 💥💥💥 We’ve spent more than 3 years, and the energy of 30+ full time team members creating a podcast growth platform designed to scale podcast media brands globally. Today we’re opening that platform up to new voices! ✅ The Diary Of A CEO changed my life. ✅ Podcasting changed my life. 🌍 We realised more than a year ago that the platform we’ve built could scale new shows globally too! We’ve spent a year working on doing exactly this and today we’re launching Flight Studio! The worlds most innovative podcast growth platform. Designed to give important voices the audience their message deserves. Who would you love to see us work with? If you’ve got any questions about my thoughts on podcasting, please leave them in the comments - I’ll answer as many as I can! 👇🏾

Warning: This post contains controversial opinions (all are my own). I opened up Linkedin last week to discover a little surprise profile update… A blue badge naming me a ‘top voice’ on the platform. Little old me!! Everyone always asks for a perfect formula / strategy for growth on here (spoiler: that doesn’t exist) 

But what I can share are the 7 TRAPS I AVOIDED to get to this stage.

❌ I didn’t: 1. Buy a course about how to post on linkedin. The platform changes so frequently that the only way to learn is by doing and adapting. 2. Do what everyone else was doing. I soon learnt that the ‘linkedin post formula’ was the quickest way to fade into the background and become wallpaper. 3. Worry about what anyone else thought. A complete drain of time and energy. Post the silly thing, the idea, the thought, the opinion. I can’t explain how incredible a platform this is when you just stop caring. The reality is, no-one cares as much as you do. 4. Expect results over night. I’ve been sharing content on linkedin for nearly 4 years. Like every platform, growth is slow and then it’s quick. Keep posting consistently (and learning). 5. Assume I know everything. No-one does. Stay kind, thoughtful and humble. You simply never know who’s going to see your post on here. Or who knows who. Your digital reputation sticks. 6. Share aimlessly. Like every platform, you need goals and a means to get there in order to track progress and measure success. At the very least, know why you’re doing it. 7. Post at peak times. This never made sense to me, why would you post when the platforms are busiest? In the same way you want to avoid peak times for driving (too much traffic) avoid peak times for posting. Opt for just before and just after - and weekends. Weekends traffic is crazy reduced and great content prevails. Let me know if you want the full extensive list? There’s a *few* more things I’d highly recommend avoiding if you’re looking for growth.

Can we ever reach a work life balance?? 🤯 George Heaton is the owner and creative director of the British streetwear brand, Represent. Manchester born George started Represent with his brother Michael over 10 years ago from their garden shed - the brand is now shooting for £250 million in revenue by 2025. The multimillion pound business is disrupting the fashion industry and shaping the direction of streetwear. George is no stranger to knowing what it takes to build a hugely successful business! & in this conversation we discuss: - The reality of being an entrepreneur. - Is work life balance actually attainable? - Why people get in their own way when it comes to success. - Why he doesn’t believe in motivation. This conversation is one that my 16 year old entrepreneur self would have loved to of heard. So, wherever you are on your entrepreneur journey, trust me when I say there is something in this episode for you. OUT NOW 👉🏽 https://g2ul0.app.link/GHM

3 trips around the sun with The Diary Of A CEO team ❤️ There are no words to describe the journey, from working on Steven Bartlett's kitchen counter to 5 million Youtube subscribers, a social following of 10 million+, 3 job titles, countless sell out events and viral moments, a 30 person team and a brand new shiny gigantic office in the works. It's wild to think how much has happened in the last 3 years, and gosh, how much I've learnt, and yet knowing the best is truly yet to come. I'll always come back to Phil Knight's quote (Nike founder) who said: ‘I’d tell men and women in their mid-twenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling.’ because, it couldn't sum up the last 3 years better. It truly is a calling that I am so so grateful to be able to pursue. I can't wait to share some of the things we've got coming in year 4... and all the things none of us know about yet. Here we go!

Why we interviewed a spy in LA? 🕵🏻♀️🔥 The Launch of DOAC Untold At the end of 2023, our team discussed diversifying The Diary Of A CEO content and introducing guests with untold/ unbelievable stories. The aim was to expand the podcast’s brand, bring light to important conversations and diversify our content. The guests needed to have the same value and ability to give actionable advice but this time needed a powerful or unbelievable story. January 2024 we rolled this out: 100s of topics/ guests were researched 20 potential guests were pitched to the team 7 of these were pitched to Steven Bartlett 1 was a Yes: Andrew Bustamante, MBA Andrew is a former CIA officer who founded 'The EverydaySpy', an online education platform that teaches real-world international espionage techniques that can be used in everyday life and business. The episode released on Monday and hit 1 million views in just over 2 days 🚀 UNTOLD guests require more time to both find and research but aim now is to streamline the process and role out more of these styles of interview!

Most recent vlog showing what we’ve been up to this last week in LA. Yet again another killer vlog by Will Lindsay-Perez 👏🏻👏🏻

How many screens does it take to make a DOAC trailer? 🤔 Well, when it comes to the first stage… at least 3 And that’s because, not many people know this, but every trailer is first written as a script, allowing me to really hone in on the most important part of any video… the story. ❤️ When time is of the essence, as often is in the social/marketing world, people can often get distracted trying to juggle the many elements needed of a project. So bringing in processes like this… may add another item on your to-do list but it funnels out all of the other distractions and allows you to focus on the core purpose of the project, which, ultimately has the biggest influence on whether your project is successful or not. “Being process-oriented, not product-driven, is the most important and difficult skill for a designer to develop.” - Matthew Frederick (101 Things I Learned in Architecture School) 🔥

Be honest, what's your biggest failure?! 🚨👇🏼 We grow up being told to avoid failing at all costs AND now my job is to encourage failing as fast as possible. BUT, it's not failing and quitting, it's failing, taking those learnings and helping them shape and guide your future work. In the comments I want to create the biggest chain of 'failures' ever shared, because how will we ever feel comfortable admitting failure if we don't talk about them altogether? I'll start: We experimented with a new way to serve our YouTube videos to new viewers, however after we tried this we realised it decreased our AVD (Average View Duration). This failed, but that's ok because we learnt that this method didn't work and are now trialling a different route. The lesson: failing as fast as possible is the quickest way to success. So, what choice are you making? Embracing failure or ignoring it? Share a failure below and start the chain ❤️

🤯 HUGE NEWS! 🤯 Today, I'm incredibly excited to announce that The Diary of a CEO is joining forces with the UK Ministry of Defence. What does this mean?! 👀 DOAC content will be made available on their app, Defence Connect and used within the training, programmes and curriculums to over 150,000 incredible serving individuals. From sailors, soldiers and aviators, as well as civil servants and reserves. The content will be used to spark conversations and debate in both professional and personal development time, accessible by training teams at military academies and by individuals deployed overseas. Our mission is to build connection through conversation as far and wide as we can. The UK Armed Forces and Defence personnel will now be able to access The Diary Of A CEO conversations wherever their duty takes them! I'm extremely grateful to be able to say that these conversations have the power to change lives - They certainly have changed mine! It's a partnership that I could not be more grateful for and honoured to be a part of! I really hope the podcast can help to inspire, motivate and be a source of education for those when they need it most 🙏🏽 Episode dropping soon with a Navy Seal! What episodes do you think we should include?? Share them below! 👇🏽