The only way to succeed was to surround myself with good people
From the FT
The only way to
succeed was to surround myself with good people.” This is his life-long mantra,
but he says many bosses do not share it. “Some think that will endanger their
own job.”
Above all, he needed
a great driver. “The first great pilote I talked to about joining
Ferrari was [Ayrton] Senna, in September 1993, in my hotel room at Villa d’Este
on Lake Como. He wanted to join, but only in 1994.” That was too early for
Todt, who still had other drivers under contract. The three-times world
champion joined Williams, and in 1994 crashed and died at Imola.
Todt hired reigning world champion Michael Schumacher,
who would become a dear friend. “How did we convince Schumacher?” says Todt.
“The attraction was the challenge. He had won championships with a lesser
automobile brand [Benetton]. We persuaded him that if he succeeded with
Ferrari, he would have a different dimension.”
But Schumacher took
years to succeed with Ferrari. That left “il Francese” — “the Frenchman” —
under attack in Italy. Being a foreigner helped Todt ignore Italian
controversies. Another of his gifts helped too: he had mastered Italian in six
months. He learnt it as he had German and English: not in school but rapidly in
practice.
From 2000 to 2004
Schumacher won five straight world driver’s titles. Ferrari ruled F1,
All the world is competitive but in many places the difference between being nº1 and nº2 are huge. F1 is one of those cases, to be nº1 it's a different league. You really need the best people and you can push them.
In business not everybody wants to be the best, sometimes you can live by being competent and reliable and simple to survive. I don't need to have a Ferrari.
If you are different you can survive because if you are different no one is like you and for sure someone will buy what you do.
Having said this i believe as Jean Todt (was to surround myself with good people) you have to let go the bad people in your organization every year and try to hire the best you can find. For the best people you need to pay them. With this strategy these people will move the organization forward.
Share story
0 comentários: