A truly great leader
To my mind one of the most inspirational leaders in the news today is Ross Brawn owner of the Formula 1 racing team Brawn GP.
His career glitters. He was inspirational at Benetton where he helped Michael Schumacher to win two world titles and then he moved to Ferrari where he helped them to regain past glories as well as working with Schumacher to win further titles.
However, his true leadership showed when at the end of 2008 Honda F1, the team he was working for, decided to leave F1. Brawn was left with no funding and a lot of people about to be made redundant. He took the initiative and by March 2009 had established Brawn F1, saving lots of jobs despite putting his own money on the line.
The rest is history. He announced that there would be no team orders and that both drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello would be given equal status and equal support. Brawn F1 started winning races immediately and the team spirit was enhanced when people other than team principle Ross Brawn were invited to collect the constructers winning cup at the end of each successful race.
Yesterday Jenson Button won the F1 World Drivers Championship and Brawn F1 won the Constructers Championship.
Apart from thanking his team Ross Brawn also thanked those he was not able to save from redundancy at the end of last year.
“I also want to thank everyone who has worked with the team over the years that couldn’t be with us this season as we had to re-size at the start of it.” He added: “My sincere thanks go out to them because they worked so hard and should feel a part of our success.”
Ross Brawn has demonstrated all the key features of a great leader. He empowers his people, he shares out the glories but accepts the blame when things go wrong, he is fair and honest and he doesn’t forget anyone, even those he had to leave behind.