Athlete CEO #030: Olympic Legend Michael Johnson on Winning in Sports and Business

Athlete CEO

As a professional athlete, all of your passion, focus, and attention is on your sport. However, whether it’s 5 years, or 20, it’s only a season of your life – what comes next?

This week, Erik & Brandon are joined by Olympic legend Michael Johnson to discuss finding your passions beyond your sports career.

Over his 12-year career as a professional athlete at the top of his sport, Michael became a household name as he earned 13 Olympic and World championship gold medals and broke world records in multiple events.

And he was only getting started.

Michael knew from a young age that he had a passion beyond the sports world, and since his retirement as a professional athlete, has gone on to become a prolific businessman and entrepreneur.

Michael shares his wisdom and experience about his time at the top of his sport, and then what it was like to pivot his career to successful ventures including the Michael Johnson Performance Center, which has partnered with some of the biggest organizations in sports performance and medicine. Other topics discussed include:

• When in his career that Michael began to think about life after sport
• Hard advice for the athlete who says there isn’t time to focus on the next stage of his or her career
• How to find your passion
• His path and lessons learned to founding the Michael Johnson Performance Center
• Other ventures Michael is working on
• A framework to consider for athletes trying to decide between lending their name to a brand they believe in vs rolling up their sleeves and helping to lead it
• Wisdom when considering private investment opportunities as a professional athlete
• Taking ownership over your comprehensive health and wellness
• Learning from and growing out of adversity in your life or career