Ross Brawn

Ross defines strategy as a philosophy from which process flows. But it is a philosophy of processes. He describes it as ‘integrating, applying processes and approaches

conflict uses up energy and resources; it creates external risk as people seek to outwit and undermine you; and it creates risk of internal division – the ultimate danger for any organization.

strategy is about winning, not fighting. He was struck by the insistence in the Sunzi that, ‘the best generals do not fight. The job is done by then.’

Build trust consciously

For Ross, trust is a conscious thing.

Ross avoided conflict, not by being a pushover, but by actively seeking people out, being approachable and by socializing with them. I saw this myself. I recall many occasions when Ross would sit down with me and chat in an airport or on a plane or (on one occasion) a helicopter flight from Nice airport to Monte Carlo. Ross just made the effort to be friendly and good company.

The result of this was that people always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Once Ross had evaluated his people and other resources, he would then seek to supplement them with external hires. As he says, he undertook this himself, treating this as an opportunity to get to know the candidates personally, even regarding negotiations of their package as a way of understanding them better. No leader is better than their immediate team, so this is a critical part of his methodology.

Within his teams, Ross fostered a culture of openness and order. His routines were designed to ensure a steady flow of information, the ability to control messaging, to encourage the kind of culture he wanted.

have the measure of time – using it as a resource – is essential to strategy. When things are tough, you have to do it in order to buy yourself time and space to make that step change. When things are good, you have to reinvest the time and space won by virtue of your leadership to sustain your momentum.