Keynote Speaker                                                       

Business Health Management – Stress Management – Personality Development – Strong Self-Management

Between the fronts: Successful! Celebrity status! Millions of people on the TV! Afterward pressure! Stress! Conflicts! Burnouts! Suicide attampt !

Once a bestselling author and documentarian, today he is a successful TOP keynote speaker and mental coach!

Babak Rafati is a very popular guest speaker and TOP keynote speaker at corporate events and leadership congresses (among others) at DAX companies (German leading companies) and major events. The core topics of his motivational and impulsive lectures are  business health management, performance pressure, burnout prevention, stress management, change management and positive psychology. Throughout his lectures, he gives both deep and impressive insights into his borderline experiences of elite sport, revealing a striking parallel to everyday life. Entertaining and relaxed, in infotainment he presents current and complex topics and enables participants to develop a different view of themselves with respect to their jobs. The core message he conveys is fundamental to a healthy work–life balance. Bosses, colleagues or the job aren’t the causes of our stress at the workplace. 

In listening to his Speeches, one thing becomes clear:  companies have equal weapons. Good staff, modern technology, etc. The competitive advantage in the future lies in ‘Mental Health. Recognising relationships, motives, causes and people that creates motivation for employees as a fuel that drives performance. Instead of job termination we should cancel and change our inner attitude.

A detailed description of the Speech can be found under the heading Speaking Topics

A Quality Award! He is listed alongside his expertise in numerous leading speaker agencies across Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is, moreover, regularly recommended and mediated by them.  

A unique feature! Some agencies proclaim that he is the first ‘celebrity-VIP elite athlete’ outed in public with respect to controversial issues in his professional life and reports from his practical experience. This competence and credibility makes him unique. As a result, he is a very popular Keynote Speaker and Mental Coach in the world of business and management. He has also made numerous TV appearances and is a regular guest on TV shows. This ‘crisis manager’ is often referred to as a pioneer and a visionary.

Renowned physicians and Bundesliga managers praise his pioneering role and his media-effective attitude. ‘It is immensely important and extremely commendable that Babak Rafati publicises the issues of performance pressure and burnout in our society and all people in elite sports and at work. He describes his extreme ‘on the border’ experiences in a vivid way and this has a preventive effect – an enrichment!

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the trend of mental illnesses, especially in everyday working life, is rapidly growing. A hot topic. Alarming! Rafati has thus already entered a terrain that will be trend-setting in our professional life. 

Mental Coach - Motivational Speaker

Babak Rafati teaches describes his practical experiences and teaches strategies as a mental coach. He accompanies  public figures and VIPs, such as professional footballers or top managers,  who suffer from stress, pressure and exhaustion, in order to help them regain their balance and prior levels of performance. The handling of media and superiors at the management level is also taught on the basis of each individual’s own experiences. An interesting and exciting transaction analysis (TA) from a practical point of view that sheds light on the behaviour and background of supervisors in order to develop an understanding of them. Knowledge creates understanding, which creates a willingness to change.  

Referee

Babak Rafati was a banker in senior management and a Professional Referee for 25 years. He has 15 years of experience in professional football, having played in the elite German Football Association with over 200 games under his belt in the first and second levels of Bundesliga. He also played in the DFB Cup and, from 2008 – 2011, he was an active FIFA referee at the international level. Overall, he has refereed teams from over 50 countries. That’s more than a quarter of all the countries on Earth! In his professional career, he has accompanied superstars and world-class players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Mesut Özil, Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Diego Maradona, Neymar, and Manuel Neuer. Today, Rafati referees special events such as farewell games for professional footballers. 

Suicide Attempt

Following the tragic suicide of the German national goalkeeper Robert Enke in 2009, Babak Rafati attempted to take his own life on the 19 thof November 2011 in a hotel room before the beginning of the first Bundesliga match. This shook the entire footballing world. This desperate act was the result of burnout/depression, triggered by bullying, pressure and stress. In 2012, he retired and put an end to his impressive career. After his recovery, his best-selling book, I Whistle on Death, was released in March 2013. The book was a sensation, mainly because of the explosiveness of the taboo subjects in combination with top-class sport, which is something that nobody expected. 

Documentary & ‘My Role Model’ Award

 A documentary by the German Bavarian Broadcasting BR in the Lifelinesseries titled, After the Game, was broadcasted and detailed Babak Rafati’s life story. He is regarded as a figurehead and ambassador for society with respect to topics such as stress, the pressure to perform and job-related burnout. You can see the film in the media library of the Bayerischer Rundfunk and the ARD (German public broadcaster). 

Additinally in 2018, along with many other professional footballers, politicans and public figures, he has received the German recognized ‘My Role Model’ Award. 

Corporate Health Award Ambassador 

Babak Rafati and his wife (alongside the managing director of this agency, Rouja Rafati, who played a crucial role in the process of Babak’s crisis and comeback), were awarded the Ambassador Corporate Health Award in 2018 by several associations, including Handelsblatt (major German newspaper), the German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), EuPD Research Sustainable Management and the IAS Group, for their exemplary commitment to helping others. With their expertise and familiarity, they will act as the face of German companies with respect to the topic of business health management. Babak Rafati and his wife are predestined for healthy and sustainable personnel management in the world of work. They are often invited by companies to give out special awards and honours.