James Haskell: The Hard Truth About Success, Reinvention & Life After Rugby

James Haskell has spent most of his life performing under pressure.

He won 77 caps for England, toured with the British & Irish Lions, played professional rugby around the world and then had to figure out who he was when the game stopped.

Today, James is an entrepreneur, broadcaster, author, DJ and co-host of The Good, The Bad & The Rugby. He’s also building Blackeye Spirits alongside Mike Tindall and Alex Payne.

But this isn’t really an episode about rugby.

It’s about building a better founder, not just a better business.

We talk about why self-awareness may be the ultimate competitive advantage, how elite sport teaches you to handle brutal feedback, why ambitious people struggle to recognise when enough is enough, and how James rebuilt his identity after rugby.

We also get into focus, saying no, buying back your time, therapy, accountability, personal branding, choosing business opportunities, the creator economy, why information is becoming free and why implementation is becoming more valuable.

James is candid, funny and completely unfiltered throughout.

If you’re ambitious, stretched across too many things, or trying to work out what success actually means to you, there’s a lot in this one.

In This Episode

We cover:

What professional sport teaches you about business