Speaker A
We are
Steven Bartlett takes viewers behind the scenes at Flight Story, revealing the creative process and culture behind 'Diary of a CEO' and other shows.
Key Takeaways
- Studio design is integral to storytelling and reflects the show's tone and audience experience.
- Company culture values experimentation, failure, and continuous learning.
- Strong emphasis on investing in passionate, mission-driven people and businesses.
- Memorable and innovative physical spaces can reinforce brand identity and culture.
- Personal stories and relationships, like that with Jamal Edwards, deeply influence the company’s mission and content.
Summary
- Steven Bartlett showcases the Flight Story studio sets and their transformation into digital screens.
- Each show set is designed to reflect the tone and theme of its content, with detailed attention to elements like chairs and ambiance.
- Flight Story's office features thematic design elements inspired by flight, innovation, and speed, including a 25-foot rocket installation.
- The workspace houses various teams including editors, social media, marketing, finance, investment, and speaking divisions.
- Bartlett shares a tribute to Jamal Edwards, a key influence in his career and the creation of 'Diary of a CEO'.
- The company culture emphasizes experimentation and learning from failure, highlighted by an 'experimenter of the week' trophy.
- Flight Story invests in people with strong determination and 'life force energy,' exemplified by their portfolio companies.
- Bartlett introduces a Ukrainian refugee entrepreneur who joined Flight Story after pitching on Dragon’s Den, highlighting the company’s mission-driven culture.
- The studio and office environment is designed to be memorable, innovative, and engaging for both employees and visitors.
- The video provides insight into the intersection of media production, company culture, and personal stories behind the scenes.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
We are here at Flight Story and these are some of our studio sets.
Speaker A
The next step for us is turning all of these spaces into digital screens.
Speaker A
So, the show behind me is Paul Brunson's show, and the show over there is Davina McCall's show.
Speaker A
We've got another show behind you.
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The Diary of a CEO is in another building.
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But we're building out all of these sort of thematic sets that elevate the conversation.
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And we think a lot about a lot of the details.
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So we had about two months of debate just about the chair.
Speaker A
Because the chair has to represent the conversation, so on my show, which is kind of like having a difficult conversation with your parents about something.
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The aesthetic we've chosen is a bit gothic, a bit cold, it's silver, it's steel, and the chairs are like kitchen table chairs that you're like very upright, not that comfortable.
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But that is like having a conversation with your best friend over a coffee at home.
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Okay, so we have been in this building only for a couple of months now.
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So it's still being built as we speak.
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But if I take you over here, this whole space will remain open.
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And this is really kind of the launch pad.
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The company's called Flight Story, so it's all themed around flight and innovation and speed.
Speaker A
I can actually show you some of the designs if you come over here.
Speaker A
So,
Speaker A
these are all the studios are going to look like.
Speaker A
These are the digital screens that I was talking about.
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Where we currently have the Diary of a CEO studio like this.
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It will eventually just be digital screens.
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The outdoor area.
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Is going to look a little bit like this.
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Through there, we're going to have our own coffee shop with a barista.
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And this is the entrance with the spaceman hanging from the roof.
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And you should be able to speak to it, tell it who you are and who you're here to see.
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You'll have a chat with the walls.
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And the walls will let you into the building.
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The best thing about this space.
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If I do say so myself, is the rocket.
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And I'll show you what I mean by the rocket.
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So,
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there will be a 25-foot rocket here coming up into this space with planets orbiting it.
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And the planets that are orbiting it are all the companies within Flight Story.
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Useless absurdity will define you more than useful practicality.
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What I mean by that is it tends to be the case that the most absurd things a brand or company does.
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Um, end up mattering more to cementing who that brand is than anything else that they do.
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The thing that will be most memorable in our company.
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Um, and the thing that will cement our brand the most.
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Is if you, when you walk into this space, it feels different.
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And you will not forget seeing a 25-foot rocket in the middle of an office with smoke coming out of the bottom of it.
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So, and it's just cool, you know?
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And I just, I think people don't put enough value on just like cool stuff.
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This is one of our mezz floors.
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Again, brand new.
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We've got, I don't know, maybe 70 people up here, different teams.
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But this is where a lot of the editors sit for our shows.
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Editing clips, editing the long form episodes, editing across all social platforms as well.
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We have over here the experimentation and failure team.
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Who are constantly testing and experimenting.
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Um, if I move a little bit further on.
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We have some of our, I can tell by a lot of the stuff on their desks.
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Even though they're not sat there.
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We have the social team here and marketing team.
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So producing social content, clips, etcetera.
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Newsletters and all those kinds of things.
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Here, see that there is an important thing.
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This is the experimenter of the week trophy.
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This trophy every week goes to the person that has failed the most.
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Conducted the most experiments, tried the most things.
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I've never won it.
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So I think there's some funny business going on because talk about experimentation.
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It was my idea.
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And I've not won this thing once, so we are going to fix that at some point.
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But this week it was deserved.
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So we've got our finance teams here.
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We've got the investment team here that are doing a lot of our investments and a lot of the companies in our fund.
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Actually, this is quite important.
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Let me show you this.
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So,
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this is a picture of Jamal Edwards.
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Um, who was really important in my story.
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He passed away three years ago.
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I think at the age of 31 or 32.
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But when I was in Manchester and I was 18 years old and I was dreaming about starting a business, he was the only young black man in the UK that hadn't come from money.
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That I could see out there in the public who had really made a success of himself by building his own media company called SBTV.
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And so when I was 18, 19, 20 years old, I was on Skype desperately trying to get Jamal's attention and desperately trying to ask him questions about business.
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When I got further down the line in business, I reached out to him and we met up and I actually interviewed him on the Diary of a CEO.
Speaker A
And he gave me some incredible advice and I became great friends with him.
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And then he passed away.
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Really interesting that he, he sits in the office because he is part of the reason why the Diary of a CEO exists.
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He's part of the reason why my career existed.
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I don't think people understand how much of an impact he had on so many people's lives.
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And I don't even think he realizes that.
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Because a lot of them never got to tell him.
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So rest in peace and thank you to Jamal Edwards.
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In here, we have more of our teams.
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So I sit over there in the corner with my private office team.
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So like my chief of staff, my assistants and stuff like that.
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And some of my investment team.
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Finance teams here.
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We run a speaking division as well.
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So our speaking team sits there.
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And what I mean by speaking team is, um, we put on a lot of events.
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I do a lot of speaking.
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But all of our other hosts on our shows do speaking as well.
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So we have a team here that, um, organize those events and manage them, manage our speaking business.
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Interestingly, you can see some drinks here.
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These are all actually investments we've made.
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This is the fastest growing, hashtag ad.
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This is the fastest growing, um, tea brand in the UK.
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Is he here?
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Teddy?
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It's called Perfect Ted.
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He's, he's Teddy.
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So it's named after him.
Speaker B
Very egotistical, right?
Speaker A
No, but it's, it's a great name.
Speaker A
It was these guys that in my second year of Dragon's Den that taught me that if you, what you should really be investing in is people with life force energy.
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It's like the best way I can describe it.
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Like people who have that thing that makes them move problems out the way.
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Some people put problems in front of them.
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Remarkable thing you see in business.
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Like some people will say, no, we can't do it because.
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And then there's this other group of people that will say, we can do it because.
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And these guys, they have this energy where they just, I don't think anything can stop them.
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So funnily enough, we, um, we have this survey that we send around to see, to check if someone's aligned to our culture.
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And they scored almost perfect scores in terms of alignment with our current team.
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So when we were thinking about which of our investments to move into the building, absolute no-brainer.
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Um, because they have the same energy.
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So another wonderful individual I shall introduce you to.
Speaker A
Are you nervous?
Speaker A
Because I'm bringing a camera around you.
Speaker C
Uh, yeah.
Speaker A
Are you?
Speaker A
Explain who you are, explain your story, explain, um, what you're doing here.
Speaker C
So,
Speaker C
uh, I'm Ukrainian refugee.
Speaker C
I arrived to the UK after full invasion.
Speaker C
And I set up a distribution company.
Speaker C
Uh, which represents Ukrainian brands and services and I help Ukrainian manufacturers and businesses to, uh, say, work in places.
Speaker C
Which is really important right now.
Speaker C
So, yeah, everything around this project to help my home country to survive.
Speaker A
We met on Dragon's Den where you pitched your business.
Speaker A
And I was so blown away.
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In part by your business and the amazing products you have, but really more so by you as a person.
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Because of your like unflinching determination and sense of like mission towards helping your country.
Speaker A
And so when I heard she was based in Huddersfield, and I, I felt that the best chance your business would have would be to be based in London and to have some space and a warehouse, etcetera.
Speaker A
She came and joined us in London and has been working here for how many months now?
Speaker C
Uh, third.
Speaker A
The third month she's been here now.
Speaker A
So, um, it's wonderful to have you here.
Speaker A
The office has gone out of fashion.
Speaker A
But what's come into fashion is community and bringing people together.
Speaker A
So you want people that are going to raise the bar.
Topics:Steven BartlettDiary of a CEOFlight Storystudio designmedia productioncompany cultureexperimentationentrepreneurshipJamal EdwardsDragon's Den
