There is however, an alternative explanation to that of pointing to luck. A commentator on the TV this afternoon reported, “Hamilton has 14 years of racing experience and he’s only 22”. Another commentator suggested factors like strategy, risk management, and working well with his teams – the team that built the car, the pit stop team etc.

I find this explanation more convincing, yet there is perhaps an even more potent theory to help make sense of Hamilton’s success. Studies into expert performance suggest a pre-condition of ten years of almost brutal practice and rehearsal. Consider, for example:

• When he was 9 years old Hamilton approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis and said, “I’m going to race for you one day…I’m going to race for McLaren”.

• At age 11, he was signed to McLaren’s development programme while still attending the John Henry Newman School

• Throughout there has been robust practice and rehearsal.

So, what is this entry doing on a blog on business leadership? Because the link between; talent, rigorous practice, rehearsal, and application is not always clearly made when training and developing managers and leaders. In some instances, the assumption seems to be that the describing and acquiring of a few competences will do the job. Indeed, referring to practice and application, Hamilton said this in a recent interview:

‘The more racing you do the more you learn. I’m a racer naturally, so that’s why I believe I’m good in the races. In the race it’s all about consistency, and to get consistency you need to learn about the car and that comes from testing. But the test is mainly to build your awareness of what is around you, that you are understanding the car and to fine tune the car and yourself. Sometimes I don’t make any changes to the car and I find half a second in myself. Some people find it really difficult, like the engineers, they say, “What can we do?” and I say “Don’t do anything. I quite like the car as it is, I just need to improve myself.”’

No, I do not think this luck thing is the full explanation. In my view, the unflappable Bernie Ecclestone is right when he says, ‘He’s go a lot of talent… He’ll win the championship-but I don’t think this year’. Talent has something to do with it – so has discipline and application.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Leadership, Purpose and Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.