HBR IdeaCast Summary

Episode: What Leaders Can Learn from a Formula 1 Turnaround

Date: December 23, 2025
Host: Adi Ignatius (A)
Guest: Zak Brown (C), CEO of McLaren Racing

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the extraordinary turnaround of the McLaren Formula 1 team, led by CEO Zak Brown. It explores essential lessons in leadership, culture change, organizational resilience, and innovation—including how technology (and specifically AI) is redefining high performance both on and off the track. Through candid discussion and real-world examples, Brown shares practical insights for any leader seeking to rebuild underperforming organizations, make tough decisions, and foster sustained success.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Foundation of a Turnaround: Culture and People

• Culture at the Core:
  • Brown credits culture and people for McLaren's championship revival, emphasizing the need for every team member—visible or not—to recognize their value.

    "It's about getting everyone to understand how they contribute to a common mission." — Zak Brown (02:55)

• Every function, from finance to HR, is pivotal for high performance, not just those who 'touch the race car.'
• Reversing momentum required transparency, trust-building, and open communication.

  "When you have lack of alignment, lack of trust inside your own house, until you get your house in order, forget about making any impact to the outer world." — Zak Brown (04:30)

2. Managing Change: Overcoming Resistance and Building Alignment

• Three Mindsets Within Organizations:
  • Embracers of change
  • Fence-sitters (often fatigued by leadership turnover or instability)
  • Detractors ("loser's mindset")
• Brown's approach:
  • Assess and reshape the leadership team
  • Foster open debate and strong alignment
  • Encourage department-wide energy and positivity

    "We all challenge each other, we’re very performance oriented, we’re very straight talking... you get some positive energy, trust going. And then it’s amazing how quickly that accelerates..." — Zak Brown (06:45)

• On how long to give detractors:

  "I'm patient as long as I see progress. I have very little patience if I don't see progress." — Zak Brown (20:54)

3. Balancing Tradition and Entertainment

• Brown rejects the idea that sport and entertainment are at odds:

  "If you buy a ticket to go see a fireworks show, a motor race, a movie, that's entertainment... The sport takes place on the field. The entertainment part is how do you get our fans... closer to the sport." — Zak Brown (08:30)

• Importance of digital engagement and media (Netflix’s role) in reaching new fans.

4. Leveraging Data and AI for Competitive Advantage

• Data Volume:

  "We pull down one and a half terabytes of data, which is about 10 million documents... We have 300 sensors on the car." — Zak Brown (09:55)

• AI Use Cases:
  • Race strategy, tire degradation analysis, competitor monitoring, real-time decision support
  • Innovative AI-driven tactics include:
    • Deciphering and planting misleading radio messages
    • Voice recognition to detect deception in competitor strategy
    • Early-stage use in aerodynamic development

    "AI helps us... We're starting to use it in aerodynamic development, but I think it's early days and only going to evolve very quickly." — Zak Brown (12:35)

• Data vs. Instinct:

  "You get all this data in, you still need to make a decision because data can be misleading... at the end of the day, the human is still making the decision." — Zak Brown (13:45)

5. Calculated Risk and Ambition

• Brown’s leadership is shaped by being “motivated by the fear of defeat,” setting higher targets than resources allow, and thriving under pressure.

  "I've always had bigger ambitions than resources... I always kind of just set the bar a little bit higher than I thought I could jump." — Zak Brown (14:35)

6. Brand, Legacy, and Talent Magnetism

• McLaren as a Mega Brand:
  • Historical prestige and reputation aid in attracting the best talent, sponsors, and drivers.

    "We're a mega brand... that gives us a little bit of a head start, if you like, on some of our competitors." — Zak Brown (16:15)

7. Empowering and Recognizing the Broader Team

• Beyond drivers and engineers, every employee’s contribution is valued.
  • Rotation of podium appearances to honor behind-the-scenes staff, including groundbreaking inclusion of female leaders.

  "It is about letting people know and letting them be part of the journey." — Zak Brown (19:15)

8. Learning from Failure and Resilience

• Brown cites failure to qualify for the 2019 Indy 500 as a formative moment, emphasizing learning from mistakes and persevering rather than giving up.

  "In racing, you crash the car, you rebuild the car, you go again." — Zak Brown (22:17)

• Embraces mistakes as long as they’re not repeated.

9. Translating Racing Principles into Leadership

• Key qualities for both drivers and leaders:
  • Assembling great teams
  • Using advanced technology
  • Effective communication (listening and speaking)
  • Trust and risk assessment

    "I find a tremendous amount of similarities behind sitting in a race car and sitting behind a desk as CEO." — Zak Brown (25:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Change Management:

  "You have a group on the fence... They need to buy in. There's just kind of skepticism." — Zak Brown (05:45)

• On AI’s Surprising Uses:

  "We're all listening to each other... sometimes throwing some bogus signs out there because we’re trying to pull people into different strategies." — Zak Brown (11:28)

• On Failure:

  "Mistakes are OK. Just don’t make the same one twice because then you’re not learning." — Zak Brown (21:35)

• On High-Profile Setbacks:

  "We didn’t qualify for the Indy 500 in 2019... that’s a total car crash, forgive the pun. And I made a lot of mistakes along the way. But we didn’t quit, we learned." — Zak Brown (21:57)

• On Team Recognition:

  "We put up two female employees this year... It was the 11th time a woman’s been on the podium in the history of Formula One. That drew a lot of positive attention." — Zak Brown (18:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Winning through Culture & People: 02:12–03:55
• Early Turnaround Decisions & Change Management: 03:55–07:54
• Balancing Tradition and Entertainment: 07:54–09:40
• Data, AI, and Race Strategy: 09:40–13:12
• Risk-Taking Philosophy: 14:14–15:43
• Brand and Talent Recruitment: 16:06–17:21
• Teamwide Recognition: 17:43–19:35
• Handling Detractors and Cultural Change: 19:35–21:13
• Learning from Setbacks: 21:13–23:11
• Leadership Parallels (Racing and Business): 23:11–25:10

Summary Tone and Closing Thoughts

The conversation is brisk, candid, and practical, with Zak Brown blending humility, humor, and sharp insight. The takeaways are actionable for leaders in any industry: invest in your people, foster trust and alignment, face down skepticism with clarity and resolve, and don’t fear bold bets or learning from hard failures.

For further details and executive leadership content, visit hbr.org/executive.