3 More Questions (Zak Brown) with David Novak and Koula Callahan

0:04David Novak:Welcome to How Leaders Lead. It's Monday, which means it's time for another edition of Three More Questions with David Novak. David, we've got a really fun conversation to debrief today because we're talking about your discussion with the CEO of McLaren Racing. He's Zak Brown, and I am so glad that we had him on the show because now I feel like I actually have something to contribute when all of my friends are talking about F1 racing because that's all anyone could talk about right now. Yeah, absolutely. And Brad Pitt's new movie is out and everybody's going to that and loving it. I got to have this opportunity to talk to Zach because of my good friend, Jeff Yang, who told me about Zach.

0:43And he said, you got to meet this guy. He's incredible. And as it turns out, I'd actually met Zach years ago when I was running marketing at Pizza Hut and he was trying to sell me a NASCAR sponsorship. And I probably wasn't smart enough to figure out that that was what I should do. And in fact, I didn't. But at any rate, you can't win them all. But he's a heck of a leader. And I know why Jeff wanted me to talk to him because he knows how to lead people. He knows how to innovate. And he just knows the business ticks only when you get everybody moving on the same page.

1:17David Novak:Absolutely, David. Well, rev up your engine because we're about to drive into the questions that we got teed up for you today. So rev up your engines, Kula. Let's go.

1:31David Novak:Question number one, David, I have to ask you this. What is the most interesting thing that you learned about F1 racing that you didn't know previously after interviewing Zach? Well, I think it's a combination of the high touch and high tech. You know, this is a business that requires teamwork and everybody has got to be aligned and be focused on the mission. And that takes high touch. But it's also driven by performance, which is driven a lot by technology today. So it's that marriage between the high touch and the technology that Zach touches on that I think is really important. But he knows, though, just like any business, you're only going to be as successful as the people that you have on your team.

2:20And I just love how he practices the engagement with all of them and makes himself so approachable and has created an environment where people can chime in at all levels to make sure that you get the best possible performance. performance.

2:34David Novak:You know, David, we've had a couple major league sports team owners on the podcast before, and I don't know why, but for some reason, I just never thought of a racing team as being such a, like you were saying, high touch, high tech business. But what was so interesting to me is the way that Zach approaches this team, McLaren Racing, if you will, is not unlike the way that any of the leaders that we have on the show approach their business. I mean, his team you know you think about the guy popping champagne at the end of the race who won like you think about that guy as the team but zach's team there's 1300 people who are part of the mclaren racing team so when you think about a team of that magnitude i mean you have to approach your business that way and i think that's why mclaren is the only racing team that's won the triple crown it's because of the business mind he takes to what they do yeah and he's building dynasty like performance.

3:31And he has to deal with very highly talented people. He has the two best drivers in the entire industry. And yet somehow everyone on the team, including those drivers, know that everybody only wins if the Queen Mary makes it to shore. Okay. You know, it's like that Queen Mary is that car. That Queen Mary has got to finish that finish line. And the only way you can win in Formula One is if you've got everybody working together to make it happen.

3:58David Novak:Question number two. Zach preaches the importance of ensuring every person on your team is tied to the overall performance of the organization. Similar, David, to what you just shared in your answer to number one. Practically speaking, though, how does a leader go about doing that? Ensuring that everybody down to the person on the HR team is tied to the overall performance of the organization? Well, you communicate, you communicate, you communicate. And then part of that communication is what you find in every great organization that wins, is the deep down belief and action behind that belief that everyone counts.

4:34So everyone knows the mission. Everybody knows that if they do their part of the mission, you will be successful. And then people are compensated and rewarded and recognized on doing their part of the job in a way that leads to victory. I think that is so important.

4:52David Novak:David, one of my favorite Davidisms, if you will, that you've taught me that you told everybody to do at your time during your time at Yum is to take care of your piece of yum to the general manager down to the person who's boxing up the pizza and putting them in delivery car. I love that concept. And it's similar, I think, to what you're saying. Yeah, there's no question about it. You want everybody in your organization to know that they count. And then if everybody does their job, it'll all add up. And that's how you win. If somebody doesn't do their job, you're going to have less performance than you would.

5:25And I think that's just deep down fundamental belief you got to have as a leader and then you got to communicate the heck out of it.

5:33David Novak:Question number three. During the interview, Zach shares all of these interesting and applicable lessons from the pit. And one of them is this. In high pressure moments, clarity beats consensus. David, what's your take on that? How do you think about those moments? Well, someone told me the other day, I was at a dinner party, and they talked about, I think it was the four Ps, and there might be a P that I'm missing. Okay, but they talked about the four Ps. It might have been five, but I can just remember four right now, which is practice prevents poor performance. If you practice and you get that process and discipline around execution, that drives high performance and prevents the poor performance.

6:16So, you know, in business, you never know what's going to happen. But if something goes wrong and you've prepared yourself for it, you've prepared for the fact that things are not always going to be 100 % right, and you know what to do when things go wrong, that practice pays off because you'll perform even in those toughest environments. And I think that's what he means there, because when you're clear on what needs to be done, you just do it and you don't huddle around and try to figure out what to do because you and your team already know what needs to be done. And that's how you execute with speed.

6:52And that's how you get the best performance.

6:54David Novak:I love in the interview when he talks about, you know, you've got 18 seconds when a driver pulls in the pit to figure out what the incident is and how to fix it. And so there's no time, David, like you said, to huddle up. there's no time to coalition build and make sure this person is okay with what you just got to freaking do it. And I love how that image in my mind applies to the high pressure moments that we find ourselves in as leaders. Not every single decision you make has to be this one that's belabored over and talked over and gets approval on. I mean, you talk about death to bureaucracy and business all the time.

7:29David Novak:I just love this idea. It's like, Hey, we, we have 20 seconds to figure this out. We got to go. So just think you're the chief of a fire department. Okay. You get the call. Do you want to bring your team together and huddle up and say, Hey, should we go like, help this, uh, these people or not? No, you want to get in that truck. You want to know where the house is and you want to be ready to deliver excellence and save that family and save that house. That's what you do. And you practiced it. You don't leave it to chance. You're just ready to go and you know what to do. I remember the fifth P because I've heard this before.

8:06David Novak:Practice prevents piss poor performance. Maybe, maybe, but I don't know if that's it. Well, that's my version of it. So you can take that and just tell people that I told you what it was. Okay. All right. All right. I think it is five Ps, but I don't know if that's the one, but I at least got four. You did get four. All right. I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. Well, if you haven't listened to the episode with Zach Brown, definitely go back and give it a listen, especially now that the F1 movie has come out. I mean, I truly do feel like everybody's talking about F1 right now. So you'll be the coolest one out of your friend group if you know the story behind Zach Brown and all the amazing work he's doing at McLaren Racing.

8:50David Novak:David, that does it for our episode of three more questions for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to How Leaders Lead. We're on a mission to make the world a better place by developing better leaders. And if you carve out a little time with us, each and every week, we'll help you build the confidence you need to lead well. And coming up next on How Leaders Lead is my conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, a high-performance psychologist and founder of Finding Mastery.