LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
S U C C E S S TA K E S PAT I E N C E
Winning the race: what we can learn from Formula 1 As school business leaders, it can often feel like being in a race to the finish line. LAURA WILLIAMS, school leadership coach and trainer, explains why victory requires patience, resilience and consistency
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n July, I had one of my wildest weekends ever at Silverstone watching the Formula 1. If you know me well, then you’ll know that F1 is a big deal for me. So, when I got to go on a pit walk and meet drivers and team principals, it’s fair to say I went full on fan girl - minus the hysterical screaming. Well, I was internally screaming but on the outside I was trying to be cool! F1 has been a part of my life for over 20 years so getting up close to all the action really was a dream come true! When it comes to F1, there’s so much that goes on beyond the track. It’s not as simple as a driver getting in a car and driving it faster than other drivers. There are many variables that can influence an outcome; so many ways that things can go wrong, so many ways to gain or lose a tenth, a hundredth or even a thousandth of a second. The teams fight to win by the finest of margins - all of their decisions have to be precise; all of their resources have to be deployed correctly and to the maximum. The actions of every single person in the team have to be executed not only at the right time
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October/November 2023
but also to perfection. The deeper you go into the sport and the longer you follow it, the more invested you become. There are heroes and villains, battles won and lost and complex and compelling story arcs. The roar across Silverstone when Lando Norris, a young british driver, took the lead of the race ahead of a double world champion in the best car on the grid in the first corner was deafening. When he finished second, closely followed by Lewis Hamilton (a british multiple driver championship winner) and Oscar Piastri (Lando’s teammate) the crowd went wild (including me!). FACING THE UPS AND DOWNS If you’re not a fan of F1 or you don’t follow it too closely, then you might not know that Lando and Oscar race for McLaren. McLaren are the second most successful team F1 has ever seen after Ferrari, winning 12 driver championships and 8 constructor championships. They won their last constructors trophy in 1998 and driver championship in 2008.