
27 segments available
No.1 Comedy Icon KEVIN HART reveals how he built a billion-dollar career on $25, slept in a hallway, overcame failure, and turned standup stress into global Hollywood success. Kevin Hart is a world-renowned comedian, actor, producer, and Founder of Hartbeat, a global, multi-platform entertainment company. He is the author of bestselling books such as, ‘It Will All Work Out: The Freedom of Letting Go’, and features in the upcoming Netflix comedy special, KEVIN HART: ACTING MY AGE. He explains: ◼️What 13 years of rejection taught him about leadership and success ◼️How masculinity and discipline helped him overcome stress and self-doubt ◼️Why most people never make it in Hollywood, and how he did ◼️The moment he realized comedy wasn’t a dream, but was a business ◼️How growing up around crime shaped his ambition 00:00 Intro 02:47 What Made You Who You Are Today? 03:29 There's No Success Without Failure 04:04 What Were You Like as a Kid? 06:45 I Didn’t Grow Up with My Dad at Home 09:57 The Biggest Lesson I Learned from My Mother 15:09 I Thought My Future Was in a Shoe Store 16:34 The Proposition That Changed My Life 22:40 13 Years of Struggle & Failures to Reach the Top 27:04 How I Got Into Business & Business Development 29:31 The Importance of Not Quitting 31:54 Advice to Young People 38:21 The One Moment I Knew Things Would Change Forever 40:31 It Took 13 Years to Make It 45:25 The Deep Expertise That Allows You to Succeed 47:37 Be Comfortable with Coming Across as Stupid 53:18 Seeing Behind the Curtains 59:12 How Much About Business Is About People? 1:02:34 The Importance of Communication in Business 1:04:50 How Do You Know Who to Trust in Business? 1:10:24 What's the Cost of Success? 1:18:05 Kevin Hart Show: Acting My Age 1:19:29 The Men's Crisis 1:20:54 What Does It Take to Be a Good Man? 1:26:19 What’s the Best Advice You Got as an Adult? 1:27:56 One More Thing About What's Happening with Men 1:30:19 Is There a Cost for Your Family? Follow Kevin: Instagram - https://bit.ly/4pgdUND X - https://bit.ly/4i60W2I Facebook - https://bit.ly/4peILtW LOL! Network - https://bit.ly/43rS1T1 Kevin’s Netflix Comedy Special ‘KEVIN HART: ACTING MY AGE’ releases globally on Monday, November 24, 2025. He reflects on the trials and triumphs of his 40s, managing family dynamics, and embracing the wisdom of aging. You can purchase Kevin’s book, ‘It Will All Work Out: The Freedom of Letting Go', here: https://amzn.to/4jgTdiP The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Be the first to hear about Steven's new book - https://bit.ly/jfdi-doac ◼️Shop the 1% Diary - https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Third Edition) - https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/pages/steven use DOAC22 for $10 off Note and NotePin or https://amzn.to/47ahktN Stan Store - https://stevenbartlett.stan.store for your 14-Day free trial KetoneIQ - Visit https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order
"You can't be afraid to verbalize your ignorance. That's holding you back. >> Give me an example. >> I can give you several like investing. Like you're telling me that if I put this money in here right..."
"In so many ways, you're clearly an anomaly. For you to be the way that you are, there must be some kind of early context that people need to be aware of, a certain wiring or a cauldron that has has so..."
">> Do you think at the at the very core of you that's what's motivating you because >> absolutely >> that's like a process but the the outcome of that is success in all its forms. It's material succes..."
"Had I met you at 10 years old or 15 years old, how similar would you have looked in? >> Not even close. >> Not even close. Not motivated to do the things that I didn't want to do. Uh not a good studen..."
"her. >> And they separated. >> Yeah. They were never never married. >> Never married. >> Never married. >> And did they physically separate at a certain point? I mean, I think my dad my dad only lived..."
"differently. I mean, one of those lessons that your mother was trying to lay down can be seen >> in a Bible thousand%. >> With this, there's a >> Mhm. >> Best story ever. Best story um that I'm able t..."
"on. >> Was it finding the thing, your thing that put some wind in your sales and made you more of a apparently sort of motivated individual? Cuz at some point you go from being that Kevin to the Kevin..."
"That's where the real beacon of light presented itself through ideas of my friends. You should do standup because you're funny. You should try standup. >> Do you remember where you were when they said..."
"you I will figure it out. >> Can you draw me a picture? If your career was a graph? >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, I'm going to say here is 18 years old and you're 40 46 now. So, you're 46 now. This is the axis..."
"it just happened so fast. So now because the movies are working, I'm like, this is so cool. But while this is happening, I should figure out like how to kind of create my own source of like opportunit..."
"You're looking at things in a much granular scale. And now I go way back here to when I was like not really focusing, not thinking about life, not thinking about how things connect. I'm now able to ta..."
"different and this is what we need more of. That's my graph. >> I've got some questions about the graph. So, I guess the parts that I'm curious about are this initial period when you're 18 where like ..."
"moment comes. >> When did your moment come? >> Shaq's all-star comedy jam. The reason why I equated with the story with cat. Uh I believe it was Tommy Davidson. It was D set of the Entertainer was a h..."
"boom. >> So about 12, 13 years from the moment you did your first sort of standup event to you having your moment. And I find that fascinating cuz those 13 years most people >> aren't willing to do so..."
">> I was speaking to Evan at Snapchat and he was talking about T-shaped people. So you have like a broad understanding of of a lot of things, but then you're like really deep on one particular thing. ..."
"do I help? Where did you learn? So when I look at this graph here, I see this sort of moment where things become go up and to the right very quickly where you start to get into entrepreneurship. But a..."
"products. There's also unknown unknowns, which you would have experienced. I remember you talking about um you got to see behind curtains and you didn't even know people were behind there. And when wh..."
"expect me to be in. How much of this game have you learned in hindsight is about people about like getting because even when that person was saying to you that analogy you gave of they're telling you ..."
"than I am a person. [laughter] I I am a hard drive of can I talk to you? I want to tell you what's going on. I have an issue with. Hey man, look, I'm trying to do this. I don't know what they trying t..."
"what I'm doing is wrong. >> How does one build an empire that relies on people when they naturally don't come from a place of that information? So they they might have trust issues like you were refer..."
"You've got all this empire of companies and businesses and ventures you've started. They say that you can't have everything in life, >> especially not at the same time. >> So, what is the cost of this..."
"not new necessarily. I actually saw it in in London. Me and my girlfriend were were near the front row when you came and did um acting acting my age in London. The show was absolutely hilarious and we..."
"age and all the fun that comes with it. >> What about being a man? It's it's confusing. I think it's more confusing than ever for many to be a man. And we often talk about this masculinity crisis wher..."
"when it's evolving. The conversation of a of a man and what makes a man a man is weird. It's like >> it's not evolving right. And you know, I was raised on a foundation of a leader or leadership. And ..."
"next, not knowing who they're leaving it for. The question left for you is, what is the advice you got as an adult that had the most significant impact on your life? >> I'm going to go to best the bes..."
"reason. >> Yeah. Yeah. You know what you just made me think about too and and I I want to backtrack before we leave. One thing that's like kind of crazy just when you were talking about the conversati..."
"a little bit. and I can relate. So, it's not like I'm like passing judgment because you just described my entire life. >> Um, you're not going to be as present with your loved ones. You're not going t..."