Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett has spoken candidly about the challenges of getting his work/ life balance right and his desire to start a family.
The multi-millionaire has never been more successful professionally having recently signed a deal with the world’s No 1 talent agent, WME, to represent him in the USA.
The entrepreneur will be splitting his time between Los Angeles and the UK but has given a rare insight into his personal life.
Yesterday he shared a two-and-a-half minute video clip of an interview he did with Simon Sinek, in which the author and public speaker turned the tables on the Dragons’ Den star and gave him some blunt advice about his priorities.
At times during the exchange Bartlett looked uncomfortable but thanked Sinek for his searing honesty.
“I wasn’t prepared to be put on the spot like this but you told me what I probably didn’t want to hear,” he admitted.
Bartlett rarely goes into detail about his personal life but the media has reported his girlfriend is Melanie Vaz Lopes, a nutritionist and influencer from France.
Last month Bartlett’s former Social Chain partner Dominic McGregor, and his wife Georgina, revealed they’d become parents to a baby boy.
The interview with Sinek was recorded last year for an episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast, when Bartlett and his girlfriend were both 31. It starts with the host talking about being at a crossroads in his life.
Simon Sinek during his interview with Steven Bartlett
Steven Bartlett (SB): “Every time we’ve met we’ve both been at crossroads and those crossroads are professional crossroads, personal crossroads etc. I’m at a phase in my life when I’m thinking about fatherhood and becoming a Dad.”
Simon Sinek (S): “How old are you now?”
SB: “31. I’m right at that age and my partner is 31. That’s a crossroad I’m at.”
SS: “What are you going to do about it?”
SB: “I don’t know.”
SS: “What are you thinking about?”
SB: “I think I’m collecting evidence to form a perspective.”
SS: “That’s bulls**t. You have a perspective. You don’t need evidence, you have all the evidence. You do this podcast every day of your life. You do none of the talking on your podcast, you do all the listening. That’s nonsense. You have an opinion. You have a perspective. I’d like to know what that perspective is. You’re at a crossroads where you said yourself ‘I’m questioning the priorities I made’ so that means you have a point of view.”
SB: “I’m worried that I’m bullsh**ting myself about why I’m working.”
SS: “What is the bullsh*t line you’re giving yourself. Why are you working?”
SB: “It’s like the fisherman line ‘then I’ll make more boats and then we’ll make (even) more boats.”
SS: “For what reason? Why is it important to you to keep having all those boats on the water?”
SB: “I wonder whether it’s about the end or it’s just about the fun of the journey. That’s what I’m not sure. Is it about the end or is about being able to do greater levels of freedom in the future, which sounds like bullsh*t as I’ve got so much freedom now. Or is life just about climb, not getting to the top and having this incredible view. I just have to keep myself sufficiently challenged in my life. That’s why I’m giving myself more responsibilities, setting myself bigger goals, bigger challenges.”
SS: “If that’s the answer you wouldn’t be at a crossroads. This wouldn’t be a conversation. Here’s the blunt question. What in your life is off?”
SB: “I think it’s probably the balance of my romantic relationship. I think I’m just deferring. I feel like I’m telling myself I’ll really focus in the way that I need to on my romantic relationship, which is also then going to become my family, especially this year. I’ve been doing that all year that I’ll have time for my relationship in three years when I sell the business or something, that’s what I’ve been telling myself and I feel that disconnection, not just in my romantic relationships but I feel that disconnection because I’ve told myself now that I’ll figure it out in three years.”
SS: “If it was a business problem you’d say ‘no, I’ll figure it out now’ because that problem will not go away. How are you giving yourself a different standard for your romantic relationship, something that is the utmost importance to you, the desire to start a family one day? Why the different standard? A lower standard for your personal relationship than your professional work.”