The brain trainer of big business: Octavius Black is convinced that the answer to the UK’s productivity crisis lies only in the mind
Octavius Black is a name worthy of a Bond villain. But this charismatic Old Etonian calls himself the man who tells British business what to make of it.
He founded his company, Mind Gym, 23 years ago at his kitchen table with psychologist Dr. Sebastian Bailey. It has since grown into a major consulting firm, serving nearly two-thirds of Footsie’s members, along with more than half of the major U.S. companies in the S&P 100.
Within minutes of our meeting, he gives an impromptu demonstration of his technique, making a series of observations on me, including that I arrived on time and that I had a nice chat with his assistant on the way in.
Maybe it’s not meant to be nerve-wracking, but I feel a little exposed by the fact that he’s watching everything. The ability to read people and situations is great for a therapist or medium, but what, you might ask, does it have to do with big business?
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It may sound like corporate woo-woo, but companies like Burberry, GSK, Microsoft and Unilever are among those that pay well for Mind Gym’s services. These range from seminars and workshops to one-on-one coaching, in person and online via the Performa platform.
Black, 55, says there’s nothing light-hearted about it. He claims to use only scientifically proven techniques and methodologies, which in general terms means that everything in his programs has been shown to have a lasting effect on behavior.
And as distressing as it can be when an analysis is unleashed on you personally, he emphasizes that it can help individuals reach their full potential at work, improve businesses and even boost the economy.
Bold claims indeed.
His belief is that the productivity crisis in the UK can be alleviated by using psychology and better training managers.
Since the financial crash in 2008, the amount of output per worker in the UK has been low compared to countries such as the US, France and Germany. One of the keys to turning this around, Black says, is nurturing that neglected and often derided group of people: middle management.
“Leaders always complain about middle managers,” he says.
“So the way we’re going to transform productivity is by transforming management. We do this by preparing people to succeed. We start by giving them the psychological toolbox that tells them how to organize and motivate people to do work in the most productive way.” But the top copper is not left out.
In the summer of 2022, Burberry guided 80 directors through a series of workshops, networking events and six months of one-on-one virtual coaching on topics such as improving communication and reducing tension within a team.
Black is unrelentingly positive. When asked about his favorite psychological technique, he speaks of “descriptive praise,” meaning that he gives specific examples of good performance rather than general flattery.
“Instead of telling someone you’re awesome, lazy, or brilliant, tell them what strikes you,” he says. “So to my daughter I might say, ‘I notice you’re revising.’ ‘
That’s all very well, but does it also work at the enterprise level?
To the skeptics, Black simply says, “We know it works. Five million people have followed a Mind Gym program, so we have a decent sample size.’
It all sounds rather sensitive, but his views have brought him into conflict with the liberal-left orthodoxy. He does not believe in the effectiveness of unconscious bias training, which tries to prevent people from discriminating against others without realizing it.
He was also an outspoken critic of working from home full-time. “The science is really convincing. We’re all better off being in the office,” he says, adding that seeing a variety of people has a “profound impact” and is “really good for mental health.”
He is also a critic of the wellness industry in its current form. An occasional meditation or yoga session, he says, is not the way to get more productivity from exhausted employees. “We spend a huge amount on wellness meditation apps and fresh fruit, yoga, whatever, and there’s no impact.”
Instead, he argues, employees should feel confident about their job, like they belong on their team and that their work matters.
Black says psychology has evolved over the course of his career from a fringe social science to one with a mainstream following.
“I remember talking to a potential client 23 years ago when we were setting up the business. He said, “I’m a Gemini, what does that tell you?” They couldn’t distinguish psychology from astrology,” he says.
“It was really at that level at the time. Psychology was kind of a weird thing in the corner. That has completely changed. It’s gone from completely off-stage to center-stage.’
However, not everyone is convinced. Sales at Mind Gym rose 13 per cent to £55 million in the year to March, driven by a major contract with an international energy company. Mind Gym made a profit of £2.9 million, against a loss of £482,000 the previous year.
But the share price has yet to progress. When the company was listed on AIM in 2018 it was worth £145 million, but shares have since fallen and it’s now worth just £45 million. This year alone, the value is down 49 percent.
Mind Gym measures the amount of money companies are estimated to have made as a result of its services, although this is not made public. But perhaps one of the reasons the council is more persuasive about the company is that coaching is still seen as an intangible service whose benefits are hard to measure – and it could be the first thing to stop when a company cuts.
Black and his wife, libel lawyer Joanne Cash, own the majority of the company, with a 55.6 per cent stake worth £25 million.
In addition to receiving a CBE for Services to Entrepreneurship in the New Year’s Honors List, he has authored four best-selling books. He is also incredibly well connected.
After Eton – where his contemporaries included former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson – he studied political science, philosophy and economics at Oxford.
He remains good friends with the Camerons, as well as Leveling Up secretary Michael Gove.
How would he describe his own psychological state?
An extrovert through and through, he says. When he took the Myers-Briggs personality type test, he emerged as a “debater,” quick-witted, bold, and unafraid to challenge the status quo.
Myers-Briggs has been largely debunked as pseudoscience, and even Black is skeptical of this kind of personality testing.
Last year, Mind Gym bought a system called 10X, which it says offers the world’s most advanced psychometric analysis and is used in their online coaching.
As we discuss his own view of the world, such as his motivational style, he brings up Sex And The City characters. Black says he most closely resembles the main character, Carrie. It’s a strange comparison, considering she’s a perpetual bachelor with a chaotic love life and an addiction to expensive shoes.
He explains that the other three characters each show the three main “wants”: achievement, feeling support, being analytical, and wanting things to be done right. Carrie, he explains, is a little bit of everything, a “hub.”
When another TV show, Succession, comes up in the conversation, he says he sees it as an exploration of children’s different responses to parenting. But isn’t it tiring to really analyze everything and everyone, every minute of the day? What does he do to hit the power button?
He thinks for a moment and then says, “I have some pretty long walks. I find that very helpful for thinking; I have to move.
“And maybe a dog or a car or whatever comes by. There are trees blowing in the wind, so there’s just enough stimulation not to distract me, but it’s energizing.”
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