Mary Portas: How To Stop Living A Life That Isn't True To You | E85

I like a really good life, and I have a very good life. (instrumental music) I knew I was a bit different, as well, though, you know? I d- you felt it, right? I did feel different. I was doing TV shows, radio shows. I had my own collection. I had the business. Oh, God, how shit is that life? And I lost me in that. It, there wasn't times where it wasn't fantastic. There was. But where was I? I didn't stop to breathe. We've really fucked this planet for you guys. We were blind. We're blind consumers living a life while we slowly killed the planet and our wellbeing. So, it has to be you guys that go, "No." My mother died when I was, very suddenly of, of, um, encephalitis when I was 16. And she was the center of, you know, the world. And I had to grow up very quickly, and all that misbehavior went into sort of responsibility. This is, this is really painful, yet somehow I'd, I wasn't able to express it. (instrumental music)

Mary Portas, you may know her from the high street, you may know her from business, or you may know her from her books. But the experience I had with her today is honestly incredible. She is hilarious, she is smart, she's witty, and she is willing to be honest at all costs. And that really speaks to one of the central principles she'll talk about today, which is this idea of the importance of being true to yourself. She's made the mistake that 99% of people that are listening to this are going to make, are currently making, or are in the process of overcoming, which is living a life that isn't true to who you actually are. And today, she's also gonna tell you about an idea that will be fairly radical to some people, especially people who are building and have built big businesses, which is based on her new book, Rebuild: How to Thrive in the New Kindness Economy. She has achieved things that most people in business would never even dream of. She's been a media star, she's been a political figure at times, and through it all, through the hardest of times, through grief, through trauma, through broken marriages, through public scrutiny in the press, she has emerged as an incredibly outspoken, honest, humble, intellectually challenging and stimulating, humorous inspiration, leader, entrepreneur, and public figure. I laughed, I realized, and I was deeply inspired. And you will be too. So, without further ado, I'm Steven Bartlett, and this is The Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody's listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself. (instrumental music) Mary, um, you're a very stand-out person with a very stand-out personality, and you've managed to achieve some pretty remarkable things in your life, and, uh, uh, f- from a place of curiosity, that always makes me wonder what it is that made you different, and I like to always start with people's childhoods and their upbringings because I tend to believe that that's the most influential part of their life typically. So, is there anything from your, um, younger years that you think has been defining in the person you went on to become?