Ben Ainslie and Americas Cup World Series

I was glued over the weekend to the Americas Cup World Series which the British team LandRover BAR with Sir Ben Ainslie at the helm won. Reading and listening to interview over the weekend three things really struck me about Ben’s leadership:

1) His real sense of purpose of righting a wrong in British Maritime history ie. Britain having not won the Americas Cup…yet. Ben clearly has a purpose to put this right.

2) His determination and resilience even when behind, even when a long way behind to never give up and come back and win. His sailing career has been a fascinating case study for never giving up. Ben has the attitude whilst there is a chance of winning no matter how slight you get out there to win and never stop believing you can do it. It’s worked for him time and time again.

3) The importance of surrounding yourself with a brilliant team and looking outside of your own industry for innovation. Ben went out to the world of Formula 1 to bring on board Martin Whitmarsh of McClaren fame as the new CEO for LandRover BAR and Adrian Newey as a consultant designer.

All great lessons for growing our own businesses.