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The Diary of a CEOThe Diary of a CEO

Professor Green: How To Overcome Life’s Hardest Challenges & Find A Purpose | E80

This weeks episode entitled 'Professor Green - How To Overcome Life’s Hardest Challenges & Find A Purpose.' topics: 0:00 Intro 02:45 Most pivotal moments from your early years 21:07 Becoming self-aware - getting older 29:47 Your dads suicide - mental health 45:35 The last conversation you had with your dad 55:33 Finding success and leaving people behind 01:01:34 Getting stabbed in the neck 01:13:35 How did you manage to make it over others? 01:21:33 Your new phase of life 01:26:36 How have you found the business world Stephen (Professor Green): https://www.instagram.com/professorgreen/ https://twitter.com/professorgreen Listen on: Apple podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-diary-of-a-ceo-by-steven-bartlett/id1291423644 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7iQXmUT7XGuZSzAMjoNWlX FOLLOW ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steven/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveBartlettSC Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-bartlett-56986834/ Sponsors: https://uk.huel.com/ https://fiverr.com/ceo

Steven BartletthostProfessor Green (Stephen Manderson)guest
May 10, 20211h 35mWatch on YouTube ↗

CHAPTERS

  1. 5:30 – 21:30

    Early Life: Generational Trauma And Ancestral ‘Shit’

    Manderson outlines his unconventional upbringing in a cramped Hackney flat with his great‑grandmother, grandmother, mother and uncles, and how generational trauma seeped into him alongside deep nurturing. He explains that his character was shaped less by single dramatic incidents and more by the constant background noise of arguments, financial stress, and inherited emotional patterns.

  2. 21:30 – 31:30

    Anxiety, Gut Health And The Sensitive Child

    He connects lifelong gut issues and childhood stomach pains to anxiety and early medical trauma. This becomes the foundation for his later obsession with the gut–brain axis, IBS, and the realization that mental and physical health are inseparable.

  3. 31:30 – 45:00

    School, Loss Of His Great‑Grandmother, And Slipping Off Track

    Manderson recalls being a bright student whose potential was undermined by poor attendance and unaddressed grief after his great‑grandmother’s death. Her passing removed his primary emotional anchor and coincided with his drift into a pupil referral unit.

  4. 45:00 – 58:00

    Father’s Suicide, Suicidal Ideation And Mental Health Labels

    The conversation turns to his father’s suicide and his attempts to understand what separates those who act on suicidal thoughts from those who don’t. He critiques over‑pathologizing normal sadness, emphasises tolerance of difficult feelings, and warns against self‑diagnosis and purely chemical narratives of depression.

  5. 58:00 – 1:21:00

    Unlearning Defensiveness: Therapy, Resilience And Ending Cycles

    Manderson explains the slow, painful work of unlearning defensive behaviours and inherited patterns so he doesn’t pass them to his son. He sees himself as the ‘common denominator’ in repeated relationship problems, and frames therapy as proactive resilience‑building rather than last‑resort crisis care.

  6. 1:21:00 – 1:51:00

    Bitterness, Forgiveness, Closure And Taking Back Power

    He reflects on letting go of bitterness toward his parents and others by acknowledging their limitations without needing their admissions of guilt. The pair unpack the myth of ‘closure’, arguing that tying your healing to someone else’s explanation or apology keeps you trapped.

  7. 1:51:00 – 2:14:00

    Violence, Being Stabbed In Shoreditch, And The Courtroom Dilemma

    Manderson recounts being stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle in Shoreditch after a minor altercation, and calling his nan believing he might die. He then unpacks the moral and cultural conflict he felt when compelled to testify in court under threat of losing his career.

  8. 2:14:00 – 2:35:00

    Music Career, Persistence, Success And Learning To Be Present

    He charts his long, stop‑start path in music—early deals, laziness, piracy‑era label collapses, and a decade of speculative work before real success. This leads into a broader reflection on ambition, moving goalposts, and the necessity of enjoying the process rather than chasing happiness in external milestones.

  9. 2:35:00 – 2:51:00

    Fatherhood, Relationships And Redefining Masculinity

    As a new father, Manderson talks about feeling surprisingly unconcerned about repeating generational cycles because of the work he’s done. He and Bartlett also explore how emotionally open men like him and Rio Ferdinand are helping redesign masculinity away from anger‑only emotional palettes.

  10. 2:51:00

    Entrepreneurship, Gut‑Health Brand A Gulp, And Leadership Philosophy

    Manderson details how near‑fatal complications from hiatus hernia surgery led him down a rabbit hole of gut‑health research and eventually to founding A Gulp. He also discusses his transition from being ‘the product’ as an artist to being in the engine room of a business, outlining his views on culture, ownership, detail and problem‑solving.

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