Members wnerf the Appco network at the Appco UK Owners’ Meeting
After winning a go-cart championship as a young boy, Lewis Hamilton took to the stage at a black-tie event in London and asked the MC if he might say a few words. He thanked his entire racing team and his support crew before passing a business card to the boss of McLaren racing. His racing team turned out to be a part-time mechanic and friend of his father, and his two greatest supporters were his parents.
This was the first time that Formula 1 expert Mark Gallagher had ever heard of Lewis Hamilton, but even then, Gallagher knew he would be a Formula 1 star.
Speaking to the Appco Owners’ Meeting in Liverpool about the importance of teamwork and people in business, Gallagher said that Hamilton’s knowledge, even as a child, that he was simply a part of a larger team made him stand out as a potential leader in the sport.
Gallagher argued that Formula 1 is perhaps the ultimate team sport, with drivers who depend on strategists, pit crews, engineers and sponsors to make sure that they’re the fastest on the day. The drivers who recognise their role within the team are the ones who tend to succeed.
The theme of Gallagher’s talk was about inspiring businesses to perform at their best by harnessing the potential for teamwork. No matter what their business model, Gallagher urged attendees to remember that teams, working towards a common goal, can achieve anything.
Recalling his time at Red Bull Racing, he told attendees that Formula 1 insiders believed it was impossible to beat the impressive three second pit stop record, especially considering that Red Bull didn’t have the racing heritage of competitors like Ferrari and McLaren. However, after months of work, pulling together the efforts of engineers, drivers, and pit crews Red Bull managed to reduce their pit time to two seconds.
Gallagher highlighted that it was the team’s ability to come together and work for months with limited success that ultimately helped them to break the record.