What Leaders Can Learn from a Formula 1 Turnaround

Skip to content Share Podcast HBR IdeaCast / Episode 1058 What Leaders Can Learn from a Formula 1 Turnaround A conversation with the CEO of McLaren Racing on outperforming the competition. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify RSS What does it take to rebuild a legendary brand, lead through failure, and win on the world’s most competitive stage? Zac Brown , CEO of McLaren Racing, which competes in Formula 1 racing, explains how he helped guide the company through a rough chapter of its history, powering through financial strain and declining performance to change the company culture and get it back on the winning track. As part of the HBR Executive Live series , he spoke with host Adi Ignatius about staying sharp in a cutthroat industry, leveraging data and AI to get ahead, and how to lead an organization that is equal parts competition and collaboration. ADI IGNATIUS: I’m Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR IdeaCast. If you’re a fan of Formula 1, then you’re familiar with the complex elements of strategy, teamwork, and innovation that go into a successful racing season. If not, trust me, there are lessons in this for you as well. I’m speaking today with Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, which operates an iconic Formula One team. McLaren just won the overall F1 championship for the second straight year, the latest milestone in Brown’s remarkable turnaround of an enterprise that had lost its way. I spoke with Brown as part of a series of live events that we offer to our HBR Executive subscribers. The conversation wasn’t just about winning, but about what it takes to rebuild a brand, to overcome low morale, to learn through failures and setbacks, and to develop the clarity of vision required to make it back to the top. We’ll hear his insights into what leaders need for sustained high performance, and you might be amazed with how McLaren is using AI. Here’s my conversation with Zak Brown. Look, it’s hard to win in business. It’s hard to win in the professional sports world. You’ve now done it, the Constructors’ Championship, in two consecutive years. Talk about how you’ve accomplished that and what leadership and maybe organizational lessons there might be for listeners who aren’t familiar, who aren’t F1 fans. ZAK BROWN: You know, it’s never a simple answer, but if I had to put what was top of the list, it was people and specifically our culture. Obviously, we’re in the most technically advanced sport in the world, so technology clearly plays a huge role, but it’s the people utilizing the technology, working together to develop an awesome racing car, to give our two awesome racing drivers the chance to go out and win world championships. For us ... and I think this applies to business, certainly applies to sports teams ... which is getting everyone to understand their contribution to the sport. While we have let’s call it a thousand people, 600 of those touch the race...

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