Steven Bartlett: 5 striking lessons to build strong teams

Steven Bartlett spoke to hundreds of leaders for his podcast and book The Diary of a CEO. Uncovering powerful leadership insights for building strong, high-performing teams. Not just bestselling authors and well-known names. Also under-the-radar leaders with surprising lessons. He absorbed their ideas, tips and insights. Then tested them in his own teams. What stuck is what truly works. Most likely for you, too.

In this article we share 5 striking lessons to build strong teams:

• Lesson 1: Be an inconsistent leader
• Lesson 2: One question that determines whether someone belongs in your team
• Lesson 3: 1% motivates more than 50%
• Lesson 4: Don’t ask ‘how’, ask ‘who’
• Lesson 5: Don’t build products; build factories

Five lessons that might challenge your thinking as a leader. And help you build a razor-sharp, highly motivated team.

Lesson 1: be inconsistent to perform consistently

Bartlett advocates a counterintuitive principle in modern leadership:
“You need to be an inconsistent leader.”

Inconsistent? That sounds like a recipe for chaos.

Not according to Bartlett. He brings up the example of Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the most successful football managers of all time. Ferguson was known for treating every player differently. Not because he had favourites, but because he understood that each player has different buttons to push to bring out their best.

“He treated me differently from the rest of the team. He talked to me and constantly gave me advice. Thanks to him, I became a better player.” – Cristiano Ronaldo

“He came down hard on me, but that’s what I needed. He saw something in me he didn’t see in other players and challenged me to perform at my best.” – David Beckham

One gets a pat on the back. Another gets a sharp reprimand. Someone else needs the space to come to insights on their own.
The art of leadership lies in adapting your style to the person in front of you.

Bartlett puts it this way:
“If you’re in the business of motivating people, emotional management is everything.”

Lesson 2: one question that determines whether someone belongs in the team

A high-performing team needs a strong and aligned team culture. And culture is only as strong as its weakest link. But how do you tell who’s the weak link?

Bartlett uses a ‘three bars’ method for team-building. Simple, but powerful. For every team member, ask yourself one question:

If everyone on my team had this person’s values, attitude and talent: would the bar rise, stay the same, or drop?

• Bar raisers should be promoted and protected.
• Bar maintainers should be coached and developed.
• Bar lowerers should be let go, no matter how painful.

Sounds harsh? Maybe.

But as a leader, you know: one rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch. That one team member with negative energy or low engagement drags the group dynamic down.

This method isn’t about skills or performance.
It’s about cultural fit. About values.
About whether someone strengthens or weakens the team.

Lesson 3: 1% motivates more than 50%

Bartlett’s third lesson is about progress. He draws it from the concept of marginal gains in cycling, made famous by British coach Sir David Brailsford.

The core idea: focus on improving every detail by just 1%.

It’s almost ridiculously simple. People want to feel progress, not chase perfection. And that’s a big shift from how most organisations operate. They tend to set ambitious targets: “We want to grow 50% this year!” And hope everyone is motivated by the grand vision.

In reality, that backfires. Perfection feels too far away.
It demotivates.

What does work? Small, visible improvements.
Progress you can feel. A team that can say each week:
“Look, we’ve moved one step forward.”
That builds momentum. Momentum builds trust and employee engagement. And trust builds performance.

Lesson 4: don’t ask ‘how’. Ask ‘who’

Smart leaders ask a different kind of question.

Not:
“How do I do this?”

But:
“Who can do this?”

Many leaders believe they need to know and do everything themselves. Bartlett disagrees: “The game of value creation is about bringing together super-intelligent, incredibly talented people. Uniting them in a culture that brings out their best. And giving them a mission that’s worth their time.”

That means acknowledging others can do things better than you.
Creating space for your people to flourish. Even if it means you’re not always in the spotlight.

According to Bartlett, he spends half his time on recruitment and hiring top talent. Not because he’s indecisive, but because he knows that hiring the right people is the most strategic decision a leader can make.

Lesson 5: Don’t build products; build factories

Bartlett often uses an analogy from Elon Musk.
Musk spends more time building the factory (culture people, strategy) than the car (product). That reversal is crucial.

Most organizations obsess over their product or service.
But Bartlett argues: if you build the right factory - with the right people and a strong company culture - great products follow naturally.

In practical terms, that means:

• Investing in your culture from day one.
“Culture is not what you say, it’s what you tolerate.”
• Hiring people who already share your values, instead of trying to change them.
• Giving autonomy within clear frameworks.
People perform best when they feel ownership and trust.
• Communicating with context, not jargon.
Clarity beats complexity.
  
  

In conclusion: your key takeaway

Leadership isn’t about having all the answers.
It’s about asking the right questions. Bringing the right people together. Creating an environment where everyone can grow.

Steven Bartlett is coming to Amsterdam to talk about all of this. About how to build a brand people believe in. About how to assemble teams people want to stay in. About the mindset needed to keep leading bravely in uncertain times.

It’s a rare opportunity to learn from someone who’s redefining what leadership looks like.
Someone who’s proving that the next generation of leaders is no less ambitious - but far more human.

And maybe that’s exactly what we need right now.