Champion🏆
Lauda | Commitment | Resilience
Last week, we talked about your wheel and the best way to manage all those plates spinning. This week, I will talk about the fastest wheels on the planet, Formula1, and more specifically, one of his heroes, Niki Lauda. Today, I will bring some colour to the topic of resilience that I discussed a couple of weeks ago.
But before we get onto that, since last Tuesday, I’ve received several comments along the lines of “thanks for the wheel of life, great tool” or “this is the first thing my coach made me do”….so don’t keep this secret to yourself, share last week’s letter around for people to use it and build their own compelling future! Here is the link to it in case - YOUR WHEEL
Let’s jump now on those fastest wheels.
Maybe it has gone unnoticed if you are not an F1 fan, but in case you are remotely connected to the Dutch community, Max Verstappen, 24, is the new Formula One World Champion as of a few weeks ago. I love the Dutch but gosh, they couldn’t stop talking about it. Actually, since then they couldn’t stop talking about the fact that many things are Dutch, and the world doesn’t know about it. Apparently, carrots are orange thanks to the Dutch…I’ll let you ponder that one!
I am not a big F1 fan, but a friend recommended a Netflix show called Drive. Like any bloody Netflix show, you easily get immersed in it, and that’s definitely what happened to me.
Formula 1 is harsh, fast, mighty, loud, dangerous, expensive…pick your superlative! Engineering at its finest where every angle, millisecond, or curve on the car counts. The edge between life and death is constant too.
Several people have marked the history of this sport but not many like Niki Lauda. In the later part of his life as an advisor to Mercedes, but more so thanks to a famous career, and a famous crash.
Lauda’s rise to fame and famous rivalry with James Blunt is captured in a sensational movie called Rush, where Daniel Bruhl plays Niki Lauda — a portrayal that was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor — with Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt.
This movie depicts how the enmity of two extremely skilled Formula One racers pushed them to their limits.
Lauda is not only famous for his three-world titles (1975, 1977, and 1984) or being the only driver in F1 history to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren, the sport's two most successful constructors, but also for the crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix, that burnt his face and sent him to coma but did not stop him to return to racing after just 40 days.
The images of his recovery are truly impressive, and the pain he went through is agonising to watch — probably to a level not many would dare endure.
I don’t know how much the movie dramatized the true story but this movie does not just depict this harsh rivalry, it also shows the antimonic style in goals, challenges and success.
Blunt had money. Lauda didn’t and had to be resourceful. In 1971 he secured a loan against his life insurance policy to buy his way into the March Engineering Formula Two team.
Hunt was probably a better driver on pure skills, but was not consistent or reliable, with mood swings and was challenging to manage. Lauda was consistent, disciplined, and hardworking.
Hunt partied, smoked, drank. Lauda left the party early, as he was committed.
Hunt quit F1 after winning 1 title (as Lauda crashed that year). Lauda won 3 titles over 9 years.
Hunt was satisfied. Lauda was never satisfied.
Hunt died at 45 of a heart attack, a fast life from start to finish.
"When I heard he'd died age 45 of a heart attack I wasn't surprised, I was just sad.[…]Hunt was one of the very few I liked, one of a smaller number of people I respected and the only person I had envied,” said Lauda.
My take on Lauda’s reasons for success is simple:
Resourcefulness
Passion
Commitment
Resilience
Discipline
Question: How committed are you to winning?
(whatever “win” means to you)
