Leadership Styles, Finding Purpose and No Blame Culture in F1 | Toto Wolff

I think it is very difficult for everybody because in a way you need to stay present and therefore the connection the everyday connection is important but but equally I think in our the strength of our organization is that we are very much in Parliament if one of us would be sidelined completely the rest of the pack would pick up the ball and run with it and that is a benefit I guess that is very special to the you to the Mercedes Avanti it's good to see you and I really mean see you because I think at the moment it's really reassuring to stay connected with people to actually see people on screens even though it's virtually yeah I think it helps a lot this is the benefit of Technology talking a lot about the downside of being permanently online and in on social media but in these days where everybody has to be self i isolated the possibility of facetiming or videoconferencing indeed helps of course at a time like this as a leader you would normally bring your team together to reassure them to make sure that everyone was feeling supported but of course that's something you just perhaps really cannot do at the moment how are you managing that on a practical level to lead the team I think it is very difficult for everybody because in a way you need to stay present and therefore the connection the everyday connection is important but but equally I think in our the strength of our organization is that we are very much in Parliament if one of us would be sidelined completely the rest of the pack would pick up the ball and run with it and that is a benefit I guess that is very special to the into the Mercedes Avanti I'm gonna come back to that theme of empowerment a little bit later on but just about there here in the now what are you focusing on at the moment and what have you been focusing on over the last few weeks the most important now is that health and well-being of all of us our families and our friends and our colleagues in the team and environment and I think you've seen various date and rumors spreading around you hear about similar cases that are real outliers that shouldn't be affected as badly as they are and add to the equation and the various strategies of Turk of the government government Austria my home country adopting a very early lockdown policy and three weeks later the virus is on its way down and the government is thinking about reopening slowly reopening the normal life and then you see Sweden has adopted a totally different strategy B everything remained basically as before and in adding the component of firm social distancing and and others have been in total uptown so we are really fighting an unknown enemy here and therefore from other one is an entertainment platform and the sport and we're all missing it but I think we have to contribute to what everybody is doing to help to reduce the cases and get ourselves all of us out of this terrible phase absolutely I'd like to go back now to the time you became team principal at the team and I want to ask you about how you approach that did you know what type of leader you were going to be no not really I my background is in finance and the organization that I run was twenty seven individuals investment individuals and and the Metheny management was actually done by somebody else and when I launched myself into Williams I started as a non-executive director and when the CEO decided to call it a day I was suddenly in a operational position and that worked pretty well in 2000 in 2012 and then one door opens and the next door open mysterious asked me where I was if they had to step in a managing role and becoming their joint venture partner which sounded very exciting at the time and here we go eight years later or in our eighth year I've been mayor is this company to the best of my ability I hope I can still contribute before in sixty championships and that this is a pretty good record a lot of people when they're sort of navigating the style of leadership that they want to have drawn experiences from past careers past jobs what experience have you drawn and that can be sort of you know if your old boss was very very strict do you want to have a much more lacy fair attitude how have you managed to collect all of your experience and then have a satisfactory style of leadership I never had a boss in my life because there was started very early with my own with my own business but I read a lot and whilst watching from the sidelines at Williams and at Hwa the team that runs the DTM cars I was able to to follow different management styles and they went from really micromanagement being into every detail and then the non empowerment of individuals to on the very other side letting almost not having any leash and letting everybody going on all kinds of directions and from from from then on I developed my my own way of of tackling it and I believe it's all about hiring and developing the right individuals forming a culture and the team spirit around them and then defining the core objective and once that is defined we leave it to each other in our respective fields to deliver on the core objective and that is something that you can't simply put on a PowerPoint but it takes many years to actually live it and we've been so far out doing quite well you've spoken in the past about having that objective having the passion which you obviously have for the job I'm sure you wouldn't have stayed in it for as long as you did have as if you didn't um but also the key element being purpose how do you establish that purpose what does that word really mean to you from your purpose is the single most important driver in your life this I read a nice comment somewhere that define happiness and it is three pillars it's somebody to love something to do in something to dream of and I think purpose is very much the combination of the two you need to enjoying what you do and unit you need to have a dream that you want to fulfill their needs to be a target that is almost visible in the form of a blueprint of yourself in front of yourself that you want to achieve and these targets may vary from person to person but it's very important to define these targets and then just try to achieve them and that keep personally that the key that gives me purpose I had a wonderful story about when you started at the team you brought everyone together for a team briefing and at the end someone turned to you and said nice words let's see if it happens I can imagine you're faced with people being skeptical at at all points of your job how do you deal with that how do you convince them to follow your your thought process your intention and your objective you can only lead by example that first pound holder it was was because when everybody left the room there was one guy from the machine shop fraud that was there for a long long time and my last words were trust me man lies behind this and I'm gonna stay in here for for many years and this team's gonna return to where it should be the Mercedes Formula One works team should be fighting at the forefront of the grid and he passed by me as one of the last leaving the room and said nice words we've heard that many times and it and I realized you can only actually live by your own standards I buy and buy your own objectives every single day and then slowly but surely this will cascade bound in the organization and everybody's gonna follow your lead and the lead of my colleagues that are the heads of departments or that are the layers through the company every single area is important to align to this core objective two key words that you've mentioned there most recently being trust and then when we started speaking you spoke about empowerment and those two are so important I would imagine when your a big team and a big company you have to let people go and continue running the business perhaps when you aren't physically there at a time like this and of course when you're traveling the world how do those two works and biologically the trust in the empowerment it works very well with us and I've seen on occasions where some of us where I'm traveling traveling a lot some of us were ill or busy with other topics speak privately personal topics or stuck in a project and we were always able to continue to make the bold run and this is something that is that is making me very proud Am I if I'm traveling I'm if I'm having days where I feel like I need to concentrate on something else I can give James I listen Nicole or Rob Thomas are calling and say guys I'm off flying for the next 48 72 hours because I've just got to do this and I know that with the brief about the objectives of topics that are outstanding they will do as good as a job as I do even in my feet and that is a very reassuring and comfortable feeling you often talk about the no blame culture that you have and the win and we lose we win and we lose together sort of quote and slogan that you live by how do you let that play out day to day the no blame culture because that's that's quite a tricky one to to keep engendered in a team it's a very tricky one because it's easy to comprehend on a rational level but the human mind is structured in a way that's when something happens when a problem comes up in the race or a part fails the human nature will always be it's your fault because that allows me to release pressure and the understanding depth is an important first step that is just the pressure release valve for yourself so what I'm trying to do is to Karma's have found be emotional but not all excited about the situation and I think we all know each other really well and and the guys that are part of the racing team they know that I will have good moments and bad moments but it's important to recalibrate yourself recondition yourself and then say okay watts what has actually gone wrong and only if you're calm reflected but also emotional leader people will be able to come out of there let's say hiding spaces and say I think we should have found out a fire escape and and I think this is a very important ingredient to make the team progress to uncover every problem that that has come up and not blame the person so where does ego sit within leadership because you need to be a strong person to lead a team but does that allow for any ego-tripper oh that's a very difficult question because I think ego can be a very strong driver but only goes out the limit I've seen big egos fail most of the big egos that were not able to self-reflect failed because they were they believed the weather really didn't Formula One or somewhere else I believe in somehow personal interests kept the season we all suffer a little bit from the imposter syndrome are we really contributing what other people think we are and and I think that keeps you grounded you question yourself all the time and and therefore keeping the ego and control is very important normal one is not the most important topic in the world there's things that are that are just overwhelming like the coronavirus at the moment and and when you look at our little micro cosmos something that just think that far along is the most important but you have to knowledge that maybe it's the most important for them maybe there's nothing else that really interests them and that's why their universe circles around Formula one but it doesn't give you the necessary attachment of the sport I think that's important do you think anyone can be a leader I think anyone who feels comfortable in taking responsibility and being feeling accountable for things can be a leader when you are standing on the top of the mountain the blue is great but it's very lonely you have to burden the responsibility the buck stops with you you are accountable things go along for a long time you need responsibility and that's why that's not for everybody some people are more structured in a way that they follow a single task they want to deliver to the highest of perfection some think they are maybe not the best people managers because working alone is more what they enjoy and what were they were they were they are good in and I just want to manage a large organization so you have to just ask yourself what is it that I can contribute to what is it where I think I'm maybe better than average how do you make sure you are progressing as a leader because it's difficult if you've got people around you that perhaps say yes a lot so how do you make sure that you are still still growing as a team principal and a leader I make sure that they don't say yes a lot first of all I don't mean I don't want to be called the leader because there's many leaders in the organization and not just not just the ones that are visible in front of the camera or that speak for the team there's many that lead their departments and their little groups and even their work in a very effective way and in that respect we are group of two thousand leaders The Machinist motorsport program on the engine side and on the chassis side this is obviously given us a time for self-reflection a time for thinking what do you think this despair about crisis could opportunity for the future I think it makes us appreciate more than small things going for a walk if we allowed to spending time with your family and your kids actually not rushing back from the office doing a little bit of lobby bar with a little one for five minutes and then next phone call but spending time and that is difficult and I can tell you that I am struggling with these things it's a completely new life I have more free time although I'm on the phone a lot and this morning I spent a long time with my three old which which is totally new and I enjoy but it also of course is different and then you know the other side I had my two children that I'm Jana in isolation which by the way I think - right cold from the ocean that woman to do and I haven't seen them for six weeks which is very painful indeed so all that is difficult times for all of us sometimes some of us have it a little bit easier with the amount of space that is available or the amount of activity hardest less but we will come out together we will come out stronger rough seas make good sailors whilst even it just doesn't feel good but when they're coming out of this we will be a different society with different values with a different mindset today thank you so much enjoy your time with your family enjoy some time of self-reflection and we look forward to seeing what would all be like when we come out of this period of our lives what can't thank eurozone and hi to everybody you fail it over yeah I'll go again

Channel: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team

Views: 72,097

Rating: 4.9765496 out of 5

Keywords: Formula One, Formula 1, F1, Formel 1, Grand Prix, GP, Race, Racing, Racetrack, Track, Circuit, Automotive, Auto, Car, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes, Benz, AMG, PETRONAS, Team, Silver Arrows, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Valtteri, Nico Rosberg, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, McLaren, W11, 2020, Toto Wolff, Wolff, Leadership, Leading, Business, Purpose, Motivational, Boss, Manage, Team Principal, TotoWolff, Toto

Id: q8mGymE7bXo

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 16 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Mercedes-AMGF1]

Hi everyone! Hope you don't mind us popping in and sharing this! Our Deep Dive series continues, episode two features Toto Wolff discussing leadership - he talks finding his own style, our no blame culture, finding purpose and lots more.

We hope you enjoy it :)

[u/longhornjeeplover]

Completely off the cuff and the man just spews leadership brilliance.

I like that they included the incident with the machine shop tech when Toto arrived and gave his first speech. Toto promised that Mercedes would be fighting at the front and he clearly overdelivered on that promise.