Jake Humphrey: Entrepreneur, TV sports presenter, co-founder of production company Whisper, host of the High Performance Podcast, and investor in Coral Eyewear.
What this episode covers
Jake Humphrey returns to Diary of a CEO to discuss the patterns he has uncovered after a year of interviewing 50 of the world's most accomplished people for his High Performance Podcast. He and Steven explore Matthew McConaughey's 'don't leave crumbs' philosophy, the difference between hard work and struggle, and the realization that happiness should be the true measure of success. They open up about anxiety, perfectionism, social media authenticity, and how childhood adversity often fuels top performers. The conversation closes on building a podcast from scratch, the art of asking, and the responsibility of platforms to lift up underrepresented voices.
The guest's own work
Coral Eyewear
Coral Eyewear
“coral yeah i want to talk about this so eyewear brand i received these lovely um sunglasses in the post”— Jake Humphrey
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Happy Place
Fearne Cotton
“i rang an old friend of mine from children's bbc ... fern cotton who does happy place i said hey i think i'm doing a podcast now”— Jake Humphrey
Dallas Buyers Club
Jean-Marc Vallee
“my wife was in the bath ... because she was like she loves dallas buyers club she was excited”— Jake Humphrey
Jo Loves
Jo Malone
“we just recorded with joe malone um who set up the amazing joe malone brand she now runs joe loves”— Jake Humphrey
Big reveals from this episode
- Matthew McConaughey's core lesson to Jake: 'don't leave crumbs' - never make a bad decision now that you have to regret later.
- David Coulthard taught Jake to stop focusing on praise and instead ask 'how does going through the good stuff make the boat go faster.'
- Jake reveals he has not made a single penny from a full year of running the High Performance Podcast.
- Johnny Wilkinson told Jake winning the Rugby World Cup is no more important than doing the washing up.
- Rugby league coach Sean Wane, abused by his father as a child, said he genuinely does not care about being happy.
- Jake says nothing in his material success has ever beaten the thrill of buying his first car, a green MGF for under 10 grand.
- Fearne Cotton convinced Jake to start his podcast despite his fear that the market was oversaturated.
Worth remembering
- Clive Woodward's England rugby squad used 'Lombardi time', meaning always being ten minutes early.
- Steven explains his decision-making framework based on calculating probabilities of harm rather than emotion.
- Eddie Hearn told Jake he wants to sell Matchroom for five billion, traced back to his father's lack of praise.
- Holly Tucker's line: she'd 'rather have a hole than an arsehole' - rather be alone than with someone she dislikes.
- Jake once sat alongside Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Robin van Persie despite earning just 6,000 pounds a year after failing his A-levels.
- Steven argues the supply of authenticity on social media is low while demand is high, citing Christian and Joe Wicks.
- Steven says his success has been predicated on knowing how to ask someone for something they had little incentive to give.
- Jake funds a scholarship at UEA paying 15,000 pounds over a course for low-income film and TV students.
- Coral Eyewear, founded by 19-year-old George Bailey, makes glasses from recycled ocean fishing nets and landfill plastic.
- Jake's revised mantra is 'consistently happily relentless' after regretting the word 'relentless' alone.