I had an interesting meeting with one of the board members of the British Bobsleigh team today (Scott Allaway, Commercial Director). We were chewing the fat about the art of the possible and got round to talking about how we deal with failure in our respective professions.
Working for a large organisation, my answer was typically about performance management. Scott on the other hand had a much more interesting story to tell.
Back in 2002 Scott raced motorbikes (GP 250s). He was in a race at Brands Hatch and was coming in to a corner on the course at Graham Hill at 150 mph. He applied the brakes and - nothing. Scott proceeded to crash into the barriers. It transpired that the mechanic responsible for the brakes on his bike had forgotten to tighten the nuts that held the brake pads onto the bike.
Despite calls for the mechanic to be sacked and even prosecuted for attempted murder Scott had another view:
...he should keep his job but from now on I want him to be responsible for my brakes all the time...
The mechanic and Scott lived to tell the tale. Quite a story and one which really inspired me.
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