Quote · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Most Replayed Moment: The Mid-Year Reset - Atomic Habits Author On How To Get Back On Track
Where this was said
Identity Labels, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Voter Study
At 19:05 · chapter starts 17:40
Steven Bartlett gives the listener a behind-the-scenes look at his leadership style: he intentionally labels his team members by identity rather than praising their actions. Studies he's read show that 'you are a kind person' leads to more kind behaviour than 'that was kind.' So he calls team members innovators and experimenters, not because they were innovative once, but to build the identity. Clear reinforces this with the voter turnout research: prompting people to identify as 'a voter' produced significantly higher turnout than simply asking if they intended to vote. The same architecture — identity first, behaviour second — appears in both cases. Clear illustrates with the smoking example from Atomic Habits: 'I'm trying not to smoke' still positions the person as a smoker trying to resist. 'I'm not a smoker' signals a completed identity shift. Bartlett connects this to Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance — the psychological discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs. If your identity is 'I am a great accountant' and AI threatens that story, your instinct is to dismiss either the AI or your own identity. We are poorly equipped to hold two contradictory things as simultaneously true. The lesson for habits: the more your actions reinforce a clear identity, the less dissonance you have to manage. [1] — Steven Bartlett "Say 'that was kind' and behaviour barely moves. Say 'you are a kind person' and behaviour shifts. Research on voter turnout shows the same …" 17:40
Say 'that was kind' and behaviour barely moves. Say 'you are a kind person' and behaviour shifts. Research on voter turnout shows the same pattern — 'you are a voter' outperforms 'are you going to vote?' Steven Bartlett uses this deliberately with his team every day.
Research showed that people were significantly more likely to vote if they were prompted to identify as 'a voter' rather than simply asked if they were voting that day.
When habits clash with your social group's norms, the desire to belong almost always wins over the desire to improve. The solution isn't to fire your friends — it's to find specific spaces where your desired behaviour is already normal. Join groups where your target habit is just what everyone does.
