Business leaders gain insights on success from Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt during IMD event

July 6, 2009

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, the fastest man on earth, and his coach Glen Mills shared the reasons behind their success with a business audience at a special IMD event. At the Beijing Olympics last summer, Bolt put on three exhilarating sprint performances, winning gold medals and establishing world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100 relay. Arriving at the summit of any field or profession requires not only talent and luck, but also motivation. The event enabled the business audience in attendance to apply the principles of success from an Olympic champion.

“Success for me is just continuing to do great things. I am not fully successful. For me I will be a great athlete if I can do this year after year,” Bolt said.

“You tend to be far more successful if you prepare yourself for both success and failure,” Mills explained. “Some coaches talk only about success. But if you are prepared for all circumstances, then you are able to deal with the situation better.”

IMD Professor John Weeks, renowned sportscaster Marc Maury and the audience participated in a Q&A session with Bolt and Mills.

On the topic of motivation and standards, Bolt said: “My standard is championships, not time records. I want to be a legend. I want people to say that I am one of the greatest athletes ever in the sport.”

“He must keep up his standard,” added Mills. “He must be motivated to surpass what he has done. He hasn’t peaked yet. He has another two years before he peaks.”

Mills emphasized the importance of the psychological state.

“Over the years he has developed mental skills. I taught him to visualize and always see himself winning regardless of who he competes against. If success is in your subconscious, it is a part of you. So when you see people, you see people you are going to beat. If you are nervous, you visualize failure. If you visualize winning, you have fun,” Mills explained.

Bolt was hindered by injuries earlier in his career and suffered disappointments on the track. He spoke at length about overcoming failures. “The turning point was the World Championships in Osaka in 2007,” Bolt recalled. “I came in second and afterwards Coach and I sat down and analyzed the situation. The main thing was my lack of strength. I don’t like going to the gym. But I realized to get to the next level, I had to work on this weakness and spend more time in the gym.”

Bolt spoke about the joy of competing. “It makes me so excited to compete in front of my fans. I love competing. If you enjoy what you are doing, then it is much easier to be successful.”

Professor Weeks wrapped up the evening by urging business leaders to find the joy in their roles, just as Bolt and Mills had emphasized throughout the discussion. He also encouraged the participants to find purpose in their day-to-day activities.

He concluded: “Reaching the heights that Bolt has attained requires motivation, critical thinking and focus. Even more important, it requires turning early setbacks into advantages, turning weaknesses into strengths and developing the motivation required of a world champion. These three attributes are lessons that can apply to those working in business."

Read Professor Weeks’ complete analysis in the following article: Business lessons from a world-class athlete.

Video of the event will be available by tomorrow, July 7th, at 16:00 local time at http://www.imd.ch/YouTube_Usain_Bolt.

The event was hosted by AISTS and IMD with the support of PowerBar, Athletissima and the City of Lausanne. Tomorrow Bolt will compete in Athletissima in Lausanne.

Download photos.