McLaren's CEO views the team's public failure to qualify for the 2019 Indy 500 as a point of pride. The key wasn't the failure, but how the team analyzed its mistakes—like underestimating the challenge and poor staffing—and used them as a catalyst to rebuild and succeed later.
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McLaren's CEO, Zak Brown, admits he doesn't understand the complex aerodynamics his engineers work on. Instead, he adds value by assessing their credibility—seeing if they deliver on promises, if their predictions are accurate, and if they backtrack under pressure.
In a turnaround, a leader's most critical first step is restructuring their direct reports. McLaren's CEO replaced every key leader—CFO, HR, commercial, etc.—to create a unified group that could then drive cultural change down through their own departments.
McLaren's CEO Zak Brown re-frames leadership as a service function. His primary job is to ensure his 1,400-person team has the tools, funding, and motivation to succeed. He sees himself as one employee whose responsibility is to "keep them all fed and hungry."
McLaren's CEO operates by setting ambitious goals first and then finding the resources, rather than letting current resources limit his ambition. This approach, driven by a 'fear of defeat' from setting a high bar, creates the pressure needed to achieve what seems impossible.
Jensen Huang rejects "praise publicly, criticize privately." He criticizes publicly so the entire organization can learn from one person's mistake, optimizing for company-wide learning over individual comfort and avoiding political infighting.
Zak Brown's first move at the struggling McLaren F1 team was to overhaul the leadership team, bringing in fresh blood to create alignment before tackling technical or commercial issues. This established a new, winning culture from the top down.
A significant failure can be the necessary catalyst for crucial strategic changes, such as hiring key talent or overhauling planning. This externally forced reflection breaks through the leadership hubris that often causes leaders to wrongly believe enthusiasm alone is a strategy.
Entrepreneurs often view early mistakes as regrettable detours to be avoided. The proper framing is to see them as necessary, unskippable steps in development. Every fumble, pivot, and moment of uncertainty is essential preparation for what's next, transforming regret into an appreciation for the journey itself.
Passion is the driving force, but it becomes destructive when it turns into uncontrolled emotion. McLaren's CEO Zak Brown advises leaders to avoid making critical decisions in emotionally charged moments, instead waiting to regain composure for a more rational approach.
CEO Zach Brown revived McLaren not by firing everyone, but by transforming a "toxic work environment" into one of transparency and collaboration. He kept many of the same long-term employees, showing that fixing culture can unlock the potential of an existing team, even in a high-stakes environment.
