33 minutes | Friday, 25 September 2026
What if the right work-life balance looks completely different at every stage of your life?
Nicola Kilner is the Co-Founder and CEO of DECIEM, the company behind The Ordinary, one of the world’s most disruptive and successful beauty brands.
In this moment, Nicola Kilner reveals what the earliest days of building DECIEM really looked like, why the traditional rules of work-life balance didn’t always apply, and how an intense startup culture helped shape the company it became. She also explains why knowing exactly what you’re not good at can be one of a leader’s greatest strengths and the lesson she learned when the skills that helped build a startup were no longer enough to lead it at scale.
Listen to the full episode here!
Spotify: https://g2ul0.app.link/qzeuYcCBF6b
Apple: https://g2ul0.app.link/uzyOKKoBF6b
Watch the Episodes On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDiaryOfACEO/videos
Nicola Kilner: https://theordinary.com/en-gb/about-us/our-founder.html
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