The Diary of a CEOEmma Grede: Work-life balance is your problem to solve
Through grit, action, and zero qualifications she built her brands; why employer-led balance, evenings, and weekends are not the path to number one.
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:00
Work–Life Balance, Ambition, and the Myth of ‘Having It All’
The conversation opens with Grede’s provocative stance that work–life balance is an individual responsibility and fundamentally incompatible with being ‘number one’. She sets the tone by rejecting feel‑good narratives and demanding honesty about the sacrifices elite success requires.
- 2:00 – 13:00
East London Upbringing, Responsibility, and Early Grit
Grede recounts growing up in East London with a single mother and three younger sisters, effectively becoming a co‑parent. Financial precarity, early responsibility, and lack of a carefree childhood forged her maternal instincts, reliability, and determination not to repeat her mother’s struggles.
- 13:00 – 24:00
Money as Escape and Visualizing a Different Life
She describes idolizing money as the pathway out of a ‘shit’ environment and using fashion as a fantasy escape. Childhood drawings of an ideal Christmas scene later manifested almost exactly, illustrating how long‑held visions coupled with work can materialize.
- 24:00 – 33:00
From Fantasy to Action: Focus, Talent Enabling, and Noise
Grede explains how she translated dreams into action: laser focus, incremental self‑improvement, and a refusal to be derailed by others’ opinions. She realized she lacked design talent but excelled at enabling others’ creativity and turning vision into reality.
- 33:00 – 42:00
Feedback, Gut Decisions, and the ‘Personal Board of Directors’
The discussion turns to decision-making: how Grede gathers perspectives then ultimately trusts her own judgment. She describes her informal ‘board’ of trusted advisors, particularly her husband Jens, whose blunt feedback shifted her from an ‘employee mentality’ to CEO thinking.
- 42:00 – 49:00
Rethinking Mentors and Learning From Whoever Is Around You
Grede challenges the obsession with finding formal mentors, advocating instead for radical curiosity and extracting learning from bosses, clients, and anyone nearby. She stresses that the best mentors are often too busy to ‘mentor’ you traditionally, so you must self‑direct.
- 49:00 – 56:00
Defining Grit and Its Origins in Early Life
When asked which quality, if removed, would ensure she never became who she is, Grede names grit. She believes her early life—co‑parenting siblings, financial scarcity, and East London mentality—created an ‘I’ll do that’ reflex and a belief she’d do something special.
- 56:00 – 1:03:00
Can You Teach Grit? Remote Work, Office Culture, and Learning by Osmosis
Grede reflects on whether grit can be developed and laments the loss of in‑person learning in a post‑COVID, hybrid world. She insists the formative ‘osmosis’ of sitting near high performers and copying them is almost impossible to replicate over Zoom.
- 1:03:00 – 1:12:00
Spotting Stars: Excellence, Attitude, Flexibility, and T‑Shaped Leaders
She details what makes someone stand out as a future star in her organizations: mastery of their current role, curiosity across functions, and flexibility even in senior hires. Conversely, she explains why hiring people fixated on work–life balance is a non‑starter.
- 1:12:00 – 1:22:00
The Work–Life Balance Debate, Hustle Backlash, and Honest Trade-Offs
Grede and Bartlett dig deeply into the cultural backlash against hustle and founders’ post‑pandemic confusion. She holds that leaders have been ‘gaslit’ by online discourse and reiterates that building a great business requires prioritizing enterprise needs over universal employee comfort.
- 1:22:00 – 1:35:00
Leadership, Downsizing, and the Emotional Cost of Firing
The conversation moves to leadership lessons, especially around layoffs and restructuring. Grede recounts firing 15 of 60 employees at her first agency and how it forced her to mature as a leader, share information, and bring her team into problem‑solving.
- 1:35:00 – 1:40:00
Paranoia, Competition, and Being Copied
Grede admits to being ‘rightly paranoid’ given how often her brands are copied, but she treats imitation as a lagging indicator. By the time competitors have replicated something, she aims to be 18 months ahead.
- 1:40:00 – 1:50:00
From Agency Owner to Good American: Equity, Talent Deals, and the Khloé Pitch
Grede traces the evolution from running ITB, an entertainment marketing agency, to founding Good American. Frustrated by talent equity deals where she only earned flat fees, she decided to create her own brand and bring talent in as true equity partners, leading to the Good American concept and her pitch to Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian.
- 1:50:00 – 1:59:00
Inclusive Sizing, Product Truths, and What’s Changed Since 2018
Grede explains Good American’s core bet: no separate plus‑size section, just one product range in 19 sizes and the same sexy cuts for all bodies. She details how early digital arbitrage helped but didn’t define the brand, and how board members pushed her toward profitability over growth‑at‑all‑costs.
- 1:59:00 – 2:06:00
Brand Building in 2025: IRL Experiences, Community, and Purpose
The focus shifts to how to build brands now. Grede highlights experiential activations like the SKIMS 24/7 diner, community‑building, and purpose‑driven positioning as more potent than purely digital marketing. She also unpacks Good American’s move to B Corp status and how that aligned with internal values.
- 2:06:00 – 2:13:00
First Principles of Business: Conviction, Knowing Your Gaps, and Risk
Looking back at a photo of herself at 15, Grede outlines the core principles she’d teach that younger version: trust your gut, know what you don’t know and hire into your gaps, and accept that risk is unavoidable if you want more than a safe, predictable life.
- 2:13:00 – 2:23:00
Sales, Storytelling, and Trusting Intuition vs. Excitement
Grede discusses why the ability to sell—ideas, products, vision—is non‑negotiable for founders she backs. She explains her own sales approach as passion‑driven and problem‑solution‑oriented, and how she distinguishes deep gut intuition from fleeting excitement, especially in investing.
- 2:23:00 – 2:31:00
Prejudice, Identity, and Not Internalizing Others’ Biases
Prompted by a question on prejudice, Grede reflects on being a Black woman in business and the danger of internalizing stereotypes. She feels her race and background often distinguished her positively in UK rooms, while acknowledging race operates very differently and often more negatively in the US.
- 2:31:00 – 2:38:00
Caring Less About Others’ Opinions and Overestimating How Much People Watch Us
They explore how to care less about what others think. Grede notes that people vastly overestimate how much others are paying attention to them and emphasizes placing far more weight on your own self‑assessment than on external judgment.
- 2:38:00 – 2:49:00
Fertility, IVF, Miscarriage, and the Journey to Surrogacy
In one of the most personal segments, Grede recounts her fertility journey: two easy pregnancies followed by unexplained infertility, multiple failed IVF rounds, and three miscarriages. She ultimately chose surrogacy, which brought her twins and a profound sense of gratitude and perspective.
- 2:49:00 – 2:59:00
The Silence Around Fertility and the Biological Clock
Grede laments how rarely women openly discuss fertility struggles, even among close friends, and highlights the risks of assuming you can ‘get around to’ kids whenever. She urges more planning and realistic understanding of timelines and options like egg freezing.
- 2:59:00
Aspire: Scaling Mentorship Through Podcasting and Representation
The episode closes with Grede announcing her podcast, Aspire, designed to ‘scale mentorship’ by sharing her lessons and those of under‑represented guests. Bartlett underscores the unique representational power she has as a Black British woman who has built billion‑dollar US and UK businesses.
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