Roger Black on life after track and field
Former Olympic 400m silver medallist Roger Black is now one of the most respected motivational speakers on the circuit. spikesmag.com catches up with him to find out more about his life after athletics and how his track and field past helped him in the world of business...
How did you get into motivational speaking?
RB: I got into it because I was asked to do it. You have a good Olympics, you're flavour of the month and people put on conferences and say 'oh yes, he's got something to say.' You find out very quickly whether you've got something interesting to say or not.
I had a lot of injuries and it's during that time you really address the motivational side of why you are doing it. During difficult times I read a lot of books, attended a lot of seminars and gained a lot of knowledge of personal development. What is interesting about my story is not that I ran 44 seconds (for the 400m) but that I came back from setbacks. That's what people can relate to.
Is there anything specific about athletics that fits well with motivational speaking?
RB: There's no doubt about it athletics is a brutally tough individual sport. Athletics lends itself to motivational speaking because it's all about self-awareness and self-motivation. When you’re in an Olympic final you’re on your own. In other sports you can hide behind a team or be on the winning side but have a rubbish game. Athletics is a fundamentally individual sport and therefore the pressure is greater. You have to take accountability for yourself and I think you need to do that in business, too.
Do you have to tailor your speech for each particular audience?
RB: You make a few changes (to the speech) but the nucleus of what I do is the same because you need to give people what they want to hear. Neil Armstrong doesn't not talk about walking on the moon. There is a limit to how many changes you can make.
What plans do you have for the future?
RB: My career as a motivational speaker has been established now but in the last year I have set up a performance training company with Steve Backley. Backley-Black works with and goes much deeper than motivational speaking. We deal with the key things from our experience that are relevant to businesses. We work alongside corporate coaches who'll go in with us to deliver those programmes.
What level of satisfaction do you gain compared to life on the track?
RB: It’s similar in many ways and different in others. Athletics was quite clearly the thing that I was born to do. It was everything to me. Business life is very important to me but not like athletics was. I have a family now, so business is not the be all and end all. There's not a lot in business that compares to standing on the Olympic rostrum. But what I like about what I do is delivering and, hopefully, inspiring. I love the feedback and the fact that my story can make a difference. The most rewarding comments always come from people who say: “I don't know who you are but I really liked what you said”. It's a very enjoyable industry to be in.
***Read more about Roger in out feature ‘what athletics did for me’ in our latest issue of SPIKES magazine***
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