Racing, Mistakes, and Leading
Making mistakes is a great equalizer, it happens to everyone with regularity. The great separator is in how we handle ourselves after mistakes. A few months back, what I believe to be the benchmark for how to balance the inevitable blunders we all face was demonstrated by Aussie Formula 1 driver, Daniel Ricciardo.
A short background with some context before we dive in too deeply. In F1, each team has two drivers in essentially identical cars, save for some upgrades or test parts. That means that the main differentiator in a driver's success is the combination of the race strategy the team has them on and their own driving skill. This is also the reason why drivers are most often compared directly to their teammates: equal machines, who can get the most out of it? This also means that sometimes, it's in the best interest of the team to allow the faster driver to pass the other so that the faster car can get on with catching other teams instead of being stuck in a civil war, battling it out amongst themselves.
The great separator is in how we handle ourselves after mistakes.
A few months back at the Sochi Grand Prix, French F1 team Renault found themselves in such a situation. Ricciardo was finding much more pace than his teammate, Esteban Ocon who was immediately in front of him. The team ordered a swap, allowing Ricciardo to freely pass Ocon and concentrate on moving up the pack for the rest of the race. Here is where we find our Formula 1 faux pas.
Now, before we move on I have to stick up for Daniel a bit. When terms like "freely pass" are thrown around, I'm afraid it paints a picture of a nice Sunday drive through the neighborhood where passing is as simple as a turn signal and a little acceleration. Let me assure you this is not the case. These are still the fastest race cars on the planet, reaching speeds in excess of 200mph with no anti-lock brakes and no traction control. However, a whoopsie daisy is still a whoopsie daisy.
On lap 25, while overtaking Ocon into the particularly quick second turn, Ricciardo exceeded the limits of the track, earning himself a 5-second penalty. A few seconds later, his helmet radio beeps and his racing engineer informs him "You do have a 5-second penalty for the Turn 2 incident." With the gap between each driver's fastest lap being barely more than 4 seconds, a 5-second penalty has the potential to devastate a driver's race.
This is exactly the moment that Ricciardo demonstrated a strength of character, in the heat of a race, to which we all can aspire. Watch his response below:
He could have been frustrated with the stewards for the decision, he could have blamed his teammate for not giving him a better line into the corner, he could have blamed the team strategy for asking him to overtake in a difficult spot. "OK. I'll drive faster." Those were the first words out of his mouth followed immediately by, "Yeah, that's my bad."
"OK. I'll drive faster."
There are two takeaways that make this the gold-standard of handling mistakes in my mind and incredibly practical to all of us, even if you're not one of the 20 fastest drivers in the world.
Accept responsibility.
Immediately orient towards a solution.
Applying these principles (in any order) is an incredibly mature and productive way to manage a mistake, mitigate the fallout, and make progress away from a misstep. What's more, is that being able to comfortably operate in this way makes for an incredibly good teammate and someone that others learn to trust. This is not only who I aspire to be as a team member, but it's also what I look for when hiring new members to my team. No one is perfect, errors are inevitable, it's how we handle the errors that allow us to rise above the rest.
There's another hidden lesson in this situation specifically for leaders. Did you miss it? The golden example of leadership and accountability is the manner of response from his racing engineer. Go back and watch the clip again paying attention to how his engineer responds, "Cheers buddy."
No one is perfect, errors are inevitable, it's how we handle the errors that allow us to rise above the rest.
That's it. Two words that communicated trust, acknowledgment, and freedom for Ricciardo to get after it. That's a relationship and team culture that was established well before this incident. That's what I want to be as a leader, pursuant to mutual trust with my team and granting freedom for them to do what they do best, even when they make mistakes.
Besides, it's only a matter of time before it's my turn to say, "That's my bad. I'll drive faster."
p.s. Are you wondering if Ricciardo did in fact, drive faster? The answer is, yes. If you're a data nerd you can see his lap chart below or read the full article from F1 here.
p.p.s. Ricciardo is known for being one of the most fun-loving and easy-going drivers on grid, typical Aussie. Check this out if you're in for a chuckle at some of his antics.
p.p.p.s. Check out these awesome sport blunders!