一部高分國產(chǎn)電視劇《狂飆》，掀起了2023年以來第一波收視熱潮。而在無數(shù)觀眾間引起巨大反響的莫過于劇中正反派的對決，以及此間觀眾流露出的對于勝利和強大的崇拜，以及對勝利文化的好奇與追求。

現(xiàn)實世界中不乏名副其實的“狂飆”運動，其中以F1賽事尤為引人注目。而在這樣一場激烈又充滿變數(shù)的競賽中，竟然存在一位“常勝將軍”：憑借出色的團隊管理，梅德賽斯車隊負責人托托?沃爾夫（Toto Wolff）帶領團隊創(chuàng)下了F1車賽有史以來的最長連勝記錄。

當然，成功并非無跡可尋，方法也不只適用于競技賽場。商業(yè)世界中同樣如此，“為每個人制定最高標準”、“無論勝負，深度復盤”等方法對于渴望勝利的組織而言，何嘗不是這段旅程的起點。

所以，“勝利文化”才會如此令人著迷。那么，其原因何在？作為全世界最難取勝之一的領域，保持多年常勝該從哪里做起？回到中國體育界中，又有哪些被我們忽略的常勝文化？

《哈佛商業(yè)評論》中文版2022年12月刊文章《F1頭號贏家的勝利文化》一文，從細節(jié)入手，從賽場延伸到職場，深入淺出地分析了“勝利文化”的迷人之處，以及我們可以從哪些成功的團隊管理經(jīng)驗入手，讓自己成為下一個常勝將軍。? ? ? ? ? ?

Formula One (F1) is the?most prestigious?motor-racing competition on the planet.

一級方程式（F1）是地球上聲譽最高的賽車比賽。

Every season, from March to December, 10 F1 teams participate in races across the world. The 2022 season features 22 “Grand Prix” weekends on five continents. Each involves three days of events: practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, qualifying sessions or short-sprint qualifying races to determine starting positions later on Saturday, and the actual race on Sunday. Close to half a billion unique viewers tune in to F1’s television coverage throughout the season, and the action on the ground can attract as many as 400,000 live spectators.

每個賽季從3月到12月，有10支F1車隊在世界各地參加比賽。2022年賽季在五大洲有22個“大獎賽”周末，每個周末賽程為三天：周五和周六上午進行自由練習、周六下午進行排位賽（確定出發(fā)排位順序的短程比賽），周日正式比賽。整個賽季有近五億人收看電視轉(zhuǎn)播，還有多達40萬觀眾到現(xiàn)場觀看比賽。

It is incredibly hard to win a Formula One race even once. The sport is often decided by margins measured in thousandths of seconds. Everything—from the engineering of the car in the factory to the multitude of decisions made on the track during a race weekend—needs to come together in order to produce a victory. Last year only four teams managed to win at least one Grand Prix. It is even harder to rack up enough points in a season to win either a Drivers’ Championship (for the driver with the highest number of points, awarded according to the order in which cars finish a race) or a Constructors’ Championship (for the best overall team performance). And because the FIA, motorsports’ governing body, regularly overhauls its regulations to increase F1’s competitiveness, putting together a string of championships is nearly impossible.

要贏下哪怕一場F1車賽都極其困難。這項運動往往由幾毫秒的差距決勝負。取得一場勝利，涉及車賽相關的一切因素——從賽車在工廠里的工程學，到車手在賽場上做出的各種決定。去年只有四支車隊贏得了一場或以上大獎賽。要想在一個賽季里獲得足夠的積分，贏得車手冠軍（根據(jù)賽車跑完全程的順序決勝，授予積分最高的車手）或車隊冠軍（授予整體表現(xiàn)最佳的車隊）的頭銜則更加困難。而且因為管理F1車賽的FIA會定期修改規(guī)則，提升車賽的激烈程度，連續(xù)奪冠幾乎不可能。

Nonetheless, there is one team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas (or Mercedes, for short), that has managed to dominate F1 over the past decade. It has put together the longest winning streak the sport has ever seen: In the 2021 season Mercedes won its eighth consecutive Constructors’ Championship. During that eight-year period, the team won nearly seven of every 10 Grand Prix races it competed in—a staggering feat.

盡管如此，仍有一支車隊在過去數(shù)十年里主宰了F1車賽——梅賽德斯AMG馬石油隊（Mercedes-AMG Petronas，簡稱梅賽德斯）。這支車隊創(chuàng)下了F1車賽有史以來的最長連勝紀錄。2021年賽季，梅賽德斯連續(xù)第八次獲得車隊冠軍。八年間，梅賽德斯隊的參賽獲勝率接近7/10，這個成績十分驚人。

Although that remarkable series of victories was a team effort, one person was at the helm of the organization throughout—Toto Wolff, the team principal. His role requires him to lead approximately 1,800 people, including an elite group of drivers, the engineers and mechanics who develop and manufacture the car and its engine, and other employees in various supporting functions. Wolff, who assumed the position in 2013, is widely regarded as one of the best team principals F1 has ever seen. And the Mercedes team under his leadership has every reason to claim the title of most successful team in the history of F1—and maybe in all of sports.

雖然這一系列引人注目的勝利歸功于團隊，但掌管團隊的一直是同一個人——車隊負責人托托·沃爾夫（Toto Wolff）。這份職責要求他領導約1800人，其中包括精英車手、開發(fā)和制造賽車及其引擎的工程師和機械師，以及其他各種支持職能的員工。沃爾夫于2013年就任這一職位，被眾人廣泛認為是F1有史以來最優(yōu)秀的車隊負責人。梅賽德斯車隊在他的領導下勢必成為F1史上最成功的車隊——或許也是所有體育賽事中最為成功的一支隊伍。

How has Wolff done it? How has he led Mercedes to one victory after another? Last year my colleague David Moreno Vicente and I had a unique opportunity to study the team’s operations up close, by joining Wolff and his colleagues on the road and going behind the scenes during race weekends, where we watched them working in the garage, practicing pit stops, and conducting race-strategy meetings. We also sat down for interviews with Wolff, his drivers, and many other team members. All of that resulted in a case study, first taught in my MBA class in March 2022, which Wolff himself attended as a guest lecturer. (He even had the Mercedes F1 car shipped to campus for the occasion.)

沃爾夫是如何做到的？他如何帶領梅賽德斯取得一場又一場勝利？去年，我和同事戴維·莫雷諾·維森特（David Moreno Vicente）得到一個近距離研究這支車隊運作的機會。我們在有比賽的周末與沃爾夫和他的同事們同行，了解車賽幕后，看他們在車庫工作、練習進站、開會討論比賽策略。我們還訪談了沃爾夫、賽車手和其他許多團隊成員。這些材料形成一篇案例，2022年3月在我的MBA課堂上首次講授。沃爾夫本人也作為客座講師出席（為此他甚至把梅賽德斯F1賽車運到了學校）。

While working on this project, I learned a great deal about the winning culture that characterizes the Mercedes team. In what follows, I have distilled my observations into six lessons for leaders hoping to cultivate their own winning teams, whether in sports or other realms. During my research I also came to understand how Wolff, with his mindset, values, and actions, shapes the culture at Mercedes. In fact, it was fascinating to discover how much his leadership traits map onto the culture he has fostered. There is a powerful message here for every leader—what you say and do comes to define the organization you lead—and so I aim, too, to highlight those connections.

研究過程中，我對梅賽德斯車隊獨有的勝利文化有了深入了解。本文從我的觀察中總結出六條經(jīng)驗，供希望培養(yǎng)勝利團隊的領導者參考——體育競賽和其他領域都適用。在研究中，我也漸漸明白沃爾夫如何以自己的思維方式、價值觀和行動塑造梅賽德斯的文化。事實上，探索他的領導力特質(zhì)在多大程度上與他所培養(yǎng)的文化相關，是一件非常有趣的事。他的故事釋放出一個強大的信息給每一位領導者：你的言行會定義你領導的組織。因此我也會強調(diào)領導者言行和組織文化之間的聯(lián)系。

Set the Highest Standards—for Everyone

制定最高標準——對每一個人

Wolff is a self-admitted stickler for even the smallest details. He told me that when he first visited the Mercedes team’s factory, in Brackley, England, he walked into the lobby and sat down to wait for the team principal he would come to replace. “On the table were a crumpled?Daily Mail?newspaper from the week before and two old paper coffee cups,” Wolff recalled. “I went up to the office to meet him, and at the end of our conversation I said, ‘I look forward to working together. But just one thing—that reception area doesn’t say “F1,” and that’s where it needs to start if we want to win.’ He said, ‘It’s the engineering that makes us win,’ and I replied, ‘No, it’s the attitude. It all starts with an attention to detail.’”

沃爾夫自認對最微小的細節(jié)都很執(zhí)著。他告訴我，第一次參觀梅賽德斯車隊在英國布拉克里的工廠時，他走進大廳坐下，等待即將被自己取代的上一任車隊負責人?！白郎戏胖环萆闲瞧诘摹睹咳锗]報》，皺巴巴的，還有兩個舊的咖啡紙杯，”沃爾夫回憶道，“我去辦公室找他，談完之后我說，‘我很期待與你共事，但有一件事我很介意——前臺那里沒有F1的字樣，我們想取勝，就必須從這個細節(jié)開始。’他說，‘讓我們獲勝的是工程?！一卮?，‘不是的。是態(tài)度。一切都源于對細節(jié)的關注?！?/p>

Wolff also told me about the first time he visited the bathroom in the team’s hospitality area at races. “It was dirty,” he said, “and I thought, ‘That cannot be. This is our home on a race weekend and where our sponsors come with their families.’” To remedy the situation, Wolff hired a full-time hygiene manager, Miguel Guerreiro, who now travels with the team. “I physically showed him how I wanted him to clean the toilet, how to put the brush back, how to wipe the floor, how to put the soap bottles with the front facing forward, how to sanitize the handles, and so on. And I walked him through what I wanted his schedule for the week to be, and how on Sundays, when it is busy, I want him to park himself right next to the bathroom and make sure it is spotless after every guest.”

沃爾夫還講了他第一次看到車隊服務區(qū)的衛(wèi)生間?！昂芘K。我心想，‘這樣不行。在有比賽的周末，這里就是我們的家，贊助商也會帶家人過來。’”為了改善這種狀況，沃爾夫聘用了一位全職的衛(wèi)生經(jīng)理——米格爾·格雷羅（Miguel Guerreiro）與車隊同行?！拔矣H自向他示范該如何清潔衛(wèi)生間，如何把刷子放回原處，如何擦地板，如何將洗手液的瓶子擺正，如何給門把手消毒等等。我還給他講了我希望他如何安排一周的工作日程。在人來人往的周日，我希望他就呆在洗手間旁邊，在每位客人用過之后都打掃得干干凈凈?！?/p>

Whenever I teach the case study, we end up talking a great deal about Guerreiro and about why Wolff—with everything he is responsible for—would occupy himself at such a granular level of detail with the cleanliness of the toilets. Is he micromanaging? Perhaps. But he is doing so with clear goals: to set the highest possible standards throughout the organization, to send a message that no job is too small for even the highest-ranking executive, and to highlight that every single team member plays a part in Mercedes’s performance.

每次課堂講這個案例，我們都會花很多時間討論這名衛(wèi)生經(jīng)理格雷羅，以及為什么沃爾夫明明有很多事情要管、卻在衛(wèi)生間清潔上花費這么多心思。是不是管太細了呢？或許是的。但他有明確的目的：在整個組織里盡可能地制定最高標準，他發(fā)出的信息是，即使是最高級別的管理者也不能忽視任何微小的工作，并且強調(diào)，每一位成員都在為團隊表現(xiàn)做貢獻。

Wolff’s approach has trickled down into every aspect of the organization. “When I walked into the garage 10 years ago, it was messy,” he told me. “Now we’re cleaning the floor every time the car has been in there. You’ll see no tire marks, no tool out of place. Everything is spotless and organized. I think that affects how we look after the cars too. We’re meticulous.”

沃爾夫的方法已經(jīng)滲透進組織的方方面面?！笆昵拔易哌M車庫，里面亂七八糟的，”他告訴我，“現(xiàn)在每次停過車之后我們都會打掃地面。你不會看到輪胎的痕跡，不會看到放錯地方的工具，一切都井井有條，毫無瑕疵。我想，這也影響了我們打理賽車的方式。我們一絲不茍?！?/p>

This mindset has contributed to the emergence of an organization that is obsessed with excellence—one that constantly aims to raise its standards and set the benchmark within its sport.

這種思維方式催生了一個癡迷追求卓越的組織——不斷提高標準，在其領域成為標桿。

Put People Front and Center

人是一切的中心

“I don’t run racing cars,” Wolff is fond of saying. “I run people that run racing cars.” He seeks to make his organization a people-centered one, and he genuinely cares about the individuals he works with. “Each person in the organization has hopes, dreams, fears, and anxieties, and it is important for me to understand what those are—to learn what drives a person,” said Wolff. Taking an interest in others is a key trait in any setting, but maybe especially so for an F1 team principal who has to deal with a multitude of very different stakeholders, from drivers, engineers, and other staff members to Mercedes board members, sponsors, the media, and governing-body officials.

“我管理的不是賽車，”沃爾夫喜歡這樣說，“而是賽車手?！彼η蠼⒁匀藶橹行牡慕M織，對與自己共事的人十分關心。他說，“組織中每一個人都懷有希望、夢想、恐懼和焦慮，了解這些對我而言很重要——了解驅(qū)動一個人的究竟是什么?！标P心他人，在任何環(huán)境中都是關鍵，但對于必須接觸從車手、工程師、其他工作人員到梅賽德斯董事、贊助商、媒體和監(jiān)管機構官員等眾多利益相關者的F1車隊負責人而言，這一點尤為重要。

Working effectively with world-class engineers in a highly specialized profession is often a challenge for team principals who, like Wolff, do not have a technical background. One Mercedes team executive I spoke with highlighted the risk of principals being held hostage by engineers—for instance, when something is not right with the car during a race weekend but no one is sure how to solve the problem.

在高度專業(yè)化的領域，與世界一流的工程師有效合作，對于沃爾夫這樣沒有技術背景的團隊負責人而言通常是一大挑戰(zhàn)。梅賽德斯車隊的一位高管與我交流時強調(diào)了負責人被工程師挾持的風險——比如賽車在有比賽的周末出了問題，但沒有人確定該如何解決問題。

Race weekends can be roller coasters of emotions, and it is easy to feel pressure as a principal if you don’t understand the technical details as deeply as others do. Wolff, however, accepts that. “I don’t know as much about aerodynamics as the engineers on the team do,” he said, “but I want to know about them as people, and I enjoy spending time with them, which makes it easier to figure out the best course of action in tough situations.” The effort he makes to build a rapport with his team members benefits all parties, explained one Mercedes executive: “This is a business that is dominated by engineers. It is not easy as an engineer, as you gradually get promoted and find yourself in a position of, say, technical director, to realize that you suddenly, for the first time in your career, have a boss who isn’t an engineer. But with Toto that transition has been relatively smooth, because he has spent a tremendous amount of time understanding what it is that we, as the engineering community, are trying to say.”

有比賽的周末可能讓人情緒大起大落，車隊負責人如果不像其他人那樣深入了解技術細節(jié)，就很容易感受到壓力。不過沃爾夫坦然接受?！拔覜]有團隊里的工程師那么懂空氣動力學，”他說，“但我希望了解他們每個人，而且很喜歡跟他們在一起，這樣就能在面對難題時更容易找到最佳行動方案?！彼εc團隊成員建立親善關系，讓各方都受益。梅賽德斯一位高管說：“這是一個由工程師主導的企業(yè)。作為工程師逐漸晉升，比如升到了技術總監(jiān)的位置，突然第一次有了一個不是工程師的上司，這種事其實不太好接受。但上司是托托，這種過渡就相對順利，因為他花了大量時間來理解我們工程團隊想說什么?！?/p>

Wolff knows that “it is not necessarily the best individuals who win races but the team that works best together,” as Mercedes’s chief people officer put it. That’s why, at the start of his second season at Mercedes, Wolff organized an offsite with nearly two dozen members of his leadership team to talk about the human side of the organization. They discussed their vision for the team, identified the core values they wanted to emphasize, and outlined their ambitions.

沃爾夫深知，“賽車中獲勝的未必是最優(yōu)秀的車手，而是合作得最好的團隊”，這是梅賽德斯的首席人事官說的。因此沃爾夫在擔任車隊負責人的第二個賽季伊始，與二十人左右的領導團隊組織了一次場外會議，討論組織人性化的一面。他們討論了車隊的愿景，確定了希望強調(diào)的核心價值觀，勾畫出團隊的雄心壯志。

Lots of leaders engage in such exercises with their teams, of course, but what makes these effective is the follow-through. Wolff realizes that changing an organization’s culture is a slow process that requires a consistent, year-after-year effort. So in Mercedes’s annual employee evaluations, the leadership team asks people to self-assess their performance on the team’s core values. And the team leaders spend a day each year clarifying their intentions ahead of a new season and summarizing the team’s goals in a short write-up that serves to guide their work throughout the year.

當然，很多領導者都與團隊做類似的活動，但能行之有效的是后續(xù)行動。沃爾夫意識到，改變組織文化是個緩慢的過程，需要年復一年的努力。因此在梅賽德斯的年度員工評估中，領導團隊要求員工對自己在團隊核心價值觀方面的表現(xiàn)進行自我評估。領導者每年會在新賽季之前花一天時間表明自己的意圖，把團隊目標總結成一篇概要，指導全年的工作。

Analyze Mistakes—Even When Winning

深度復盤，無論勝負

Performing with excellence does not mean that mistakes are never made. When something fails, Wolff is all about what he calls tough love or brutal honesty. “He tells you the truth even if it might not be what you want to hear,” as one team engineer put it. “He’ll just say, ‘This is where we are, this is where we need to get to, and this is how we are going to figure this out,’ in the spirit of ‘You’re not an idiot, but this is why it was an idiotic decision.’”

表現(xiàn)優(yōu)秀并不意味著從不犯錯。如果出了問題，沃爾夫會表現(xiàn)出他自稱的所謂“嚴厲的愛”或“冷酷的真誠”?！澳呐虏皇悄阆肼牭?，他也會直說，”一位車隊工程師說，“他會直截了當?shù)卣f，‘我們現(xiàn)在的處境是這樣，我們需要做到那樣，我們要這樣解決問題’，隱含的意思是‘你不蠢，但為什么這個決定很蠢’?！?/p>

Wolff’s directness has contributed to an organizational culture that places great value on analyzing its race-weekend performances thoroughly, regardless of the result. Win or lose, the team holds debrief meetings and always conducts them in exactly the same manner, with a focus on what can be improved the next time. “After a win,” Wolff noted, “most people go home and say, ‘That was a good weekend.’ They don’t go home and say, ‘Why did we win?’ It’s only when they lose that most people start to dig deep. But we have an ethos that we are upset about the small things we do wrong, and so we treat wins the same as losses.”

沃爾夫的直率，形成了一種極其重視對周末比賽（無論結果如何）進行深度復盤的組織文化。不管比賽結果如何，車隊都會開討論會，每次都一樣，重點放在下次可以改進的地方。沃爾夫說：“獲勝之后，大部分人回家會說‘這個周末真棒’，不會考慮‘我們獲勝的原因是什么’。只有在輸?shù)舯荣惖臅r候，大部分人才會深入思考。但我們的作風是，對自己犯的很小的錯誤都很懊惱。對待勝敗，我們都是這種態(tài)度?！?/p>

He added, “I remember a weekend in which we surprised ourselves with our straight-line speed. I told the team that I wanted to know what the cause was. We hadn’t suddenly witnessed any miracles with our power unit or chassis. So what was it? If you don’t understand what is happening on a good day, you surely won’t understand what is happening on a bad day.”

他補充道：“我記得有一個周末，我們的直線速度讓自己都吃驚。我告訴團隊，我想弄清楚原因。我們沒看到賽車的動力裝置和底盤上出現(xiàn)什么奇跡，那么究竟是為什么呢？如果搞不明白這種格外優(yōu)異的表現(xiàn)是怎么來的，到了表現(xiàn)糟糕的時候，肯定也不明白究竟為什么糟糕?！?/p>

Foster an Open, No-Blame Culture

彼此開放、不指責

In Wolff’s view, analyzing mistakes should not lead to assigning fault. In fact, Wolff advocates a no-blame culture and makes a point of—very publicly—backing individuals who make missteps. When he talks about the people on his team, he often refers to them as his “tribe” and defends them staunchly. He explains, “I’m there to protect my tribe, and I will fight back with all I have. I want my people to be able to say ‘I made a mistake’ and for us to move on from that.”

沃爾夫認為，分析錯誤不應導向追究責任人。沃爾夫提倡“不指責”的文化，公開對失誤的人表示支持。談到團隊里的人們，他常說這是自己的“部落”，堅定地捍衛(wèi)他們。他解釋說：“我會保護我的部落，會用我擁有的一切去反擊。我希望我的員工能坦然地說‘我犯了個錯’，讓我們吸取教訓、繼續(xù)前進。”

Wolff’s approach was on full display in the aftermath of a significant failure during a 2021 race in Monaco. During a pit stop for then-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, one of the mechanics tasked with changing a tire found it to be stuck in its position. As the clock ticked, all attempts to remove the tire proved fruitless, forcing Bottas to pull out of the competition midrace. The tire was so jammed, in fact, that the team had to ship the entire car back to its factory in the UK, where the wheel was cut off with a special tool. “That had never happened in F1. The mechanic was heartbroken,” Wolff said. “I stood up then and said, ‘Yes, you are going into the history books with the longest pit stop ever for a tire change—36 hours.’ But I also made sure to show him and everyone else in the garage and at the factory that I had his back when, after the race, a journalist tried to blame the mechanic. I was sending a message that I am protecting the team.”

沃爾夫的這一點，在2021年摩納哥一場比賽中車隊出現(xiàn)重大失誤后表現(xiàn)得淋漓盡致。當時梅賽德斯的車手瓦爾特里·博塔斯（Valtteri Bottas）進站，一名技工負責為他更換輪胎，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這個輪胎卡住了。時間漸漸過去，技工嘗試用各種方法卸下輪胎卻徒勞無功，博塔斯被迫中途退賽。團隊不得不把整輛車運回英國的工廠，用特殊的工具切除卡住的輪胎?！癋1車賽中從來沒有過這種事，那位技工十分痛心疾首，”沃爾夫說，“當時我站出來說，‘沒錯，你會因為進站換輪胎耗費時間最長——36小時——而載入史冊?！乙裁鞔_向他和車庫以及工廠里的所有人表示，如果賽后有記者想要歸咎于他，我會支持他。我在傳達一個信息：我會保護這支隊伍?！?/p>

It is easy for leaders to declare that they want their organization to refrain from assigning blame. But living up to that promise when setbacks inevitably present themselves is incredibly hard. “When someone makes a mistake in your company,” Wolff explained, “especially when that happens in front of 100 million people watching, the natural thing—almost like a pressure-release valve—is to say, ‘It’s his fault.’ But as a leader you have to fight that instinct and ask yourself, ‘How could that happen? Have we not provided the right tools, or the right training, or put the right people in the right place?’ In the end, even though I wasn’t the one changing that tire, the mistake is my responsibility.”

領導者希望組織內(nèi)不要互相指責，說起來容易。一旦不可避免遇到挫折，踐行這點就很困難。“如果公司里有人犯了錯，”沃爾夫說，“特別是在一億人的注視下犯了錯，領導者立即會想說‘這是他的錯’，這幾乎就像打開閥門釋放壓力一樣自然。但作為領導者，你必須跟這種本能作戰(zhàn)，反問自己，‘為什么會這樣？是不是我們沒有提供合適的工具，沒有提供合適的培訓，還是沒有做到人崗匹配？’說到底，雖然換輪胎的不是我，那個錯誤也終究是我的責任?！?/p>

Wolff is also not afraid to be honest with himself and others about his own failures. He recalled one such incident: “There was a race where I had a board member standing beside me in the garage, and rather than being fully available for the strategists, I was chatting away with him. We missed the window to pit the car. In the debrief on Monday morning in which the 30 or so heads of different departments come together, I admitted that I’d had a massively bad moment. I should have been a sparring partner for [my motorsport strategy director], and I was not. I was distracted. That loss goes on my shoulders.”

沃爾夫也從不懼對自己和他人坦承失敗。他回想起這樣一件事：“有一次比賽，一位董事跟我一起在車庫里。當時我沒有給戰(zhàn)略規(guī)劃師足夠的時間，而是跟那位董事聊得火熱。結果我們錯過了賽車進站的時機。周一上午的討論會上，30多位不同部門的負責人聚到一起，我承認自己犯了嚴重的錯誤。我原本應該好好跟賽車戰(zhàn)略總監(jiān)辯論問題，卻為別的事情分心了。那次失敗的責任全都在我。”

Wolff’s reluctance to assign blame to others and his willingness to accept it personally combine to foster a culture that encourages openness. “When they make a mistake, I want our people to know they don’t need to lie in order to retain their jobs,” Wolff said. “I want the organization to be one in which people feel safe speaking up. We live by the mantra?See it, say it, fix it.”

沃爾夫這種不歸咎他人，愿意自行承擔責任的態(tài)度，在團隊中形成了一種鼓勵公開的文化。“如果員工犯了錯誤，我希望他們知道，不必為了保住工作而撒謊，”沃爾夫說，“我希望組織成為一個能讓人們放心說話的地方。我們的座右銘是‘看到問題、說出問題、解決問題’。”

That ethos is one that Lewis Hamilton, one of the team’s drivers and a seven-time winner of the Drivers’ Championship, fully endorses. “I’ve been in other environments where one person got the blame for something,” he said. “But we have to do things together. Even at the racetrack, when you know something has gone wrong and it is down to one person, we don’t single out that person and make them feel bad—we all bear the brunt of it.”

七次獲得錦標賽車手冠軍的梅賽德斯車隊車手劉易斯·漢密爾頓（Lewis Hamilton）極度推崇這一理念?！拔以谀欠N會讓個人承擔罪責的環(huán)境里待過，”他說，“但我們必須一起行動。即使是在賽道上，你一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)出了問題，而且是因為某個人出了問題，我們也不會責備這一個人、讓他難堪——我們會一起承擔壓力?！?/p>

Trust Superstars but Maintain Authority

信賴明星員工，同時保持權威

One of the most challenging aspects of a team principal’s job is managing the drivers. They are global celebrities, with all the demands on their time that fame entails. In addition, each team participating in a race has two drivers competing in separate cars, which offers strategic advantages but can also create tension. “The Constructors’ Championship is a reward for the entire team,” Hamilton explained. “As a driver, you’re somewhat conflicted, because you also want to beat the team’s other driver for the Drivers’ Championship.”

車隊負責人的工作中最大的一項挑戰(zhàn)就是管理車手。車手是國際名流，名氣使得各方都在搶占他們的時間。另外，每一支車隊都會有兩名車手分別駕駛賽車同時參賽，提供了戰(zhàn)略優(yōu)勢，但也可能造成關系緊張?！败囮牴谲娛菍φ麄€團隊的獎勵，”漢密爾頓解釋道，“作為車手會覺得有點矛盾，因為你也想擊敗自己團隊的另一位車手、贏得車手冠軍?！?/p>

Wolff is quite trusting of his drivers, observed Hamilton. “Some people in F1,” he said, “are of the mindset that a driver has to go to bed at 10 PM and shouldn’t do anything but race. I told Toto I am different. I have other creative outlets I’d like to tap into—fashion, for instance, and music—which allows me to do my job best. It helps me be in a happier place. Toto understands that—he has been super accommodating.” For Wolff it’s a matter of mutual respect: “We have a pact. The idea is, ‘You perform, and I create a framework for you that allows you to perform.’ He knows what is good for him—I trust him on that.”

根據(jù)漢密爾頓的觀察，沃爾夫十分信任車手。他說：“F1領域的一些人覺得，車手必須晚上十點鐘睡覺，除了比賽以外什么都不該做。我跟托托說，我不是這種人。我有其他用來表達創(chuàng)意的出口，比如時尚和音樂，這讓我高效工作，也讓我更加快樂。托托理解這一點——他一直非常包容?！睂ξ譅柗騺碚f，這是個相互尊重的問題，“我們有約定，主旨是，‘你去好好表現(xiàn)，我創(chuàng)造一套能讓你充分表現(xiàn)的框架’。他知道怎樣對自己最好，在這方面我信任他?！?/p>

For 10 days during the 2018 season, for instance, to commemorate the launch of his own fashion collection, Hamilton walked the runway at a Tommy Hilfiger show in Shanghai, flew to New York and then to London for a friend’s wedding, and eventually joined the team in Singapore a day before the weekend’s first practice sessions. “Lots of people were in disbelief that I allowed him to do so,” Wolff recalled. “I told Lewis, ‘You know people think I’ve lost the plot here,’ but he said, ‘Trust me.’ His performance that weekend was from another world. He delivered one of the best qualifying laps we have ever seen and then drove away from the field at the start of the race. No one came even close.”

有次，在2018年賽季的10天里，漢密爾頓為了紀念自己的時尚系列發(fā)布，在上海參加了湯米·希爾費格（Tommy Hilfiger）時裝秀，然后飛往紐約和倫敦參加朋友的婚禮，在周末第一場練習賽開始前一天才趕到新加坡與車隊會合。“很多人都不相信我居然允許他這么做，”沃爾夫回憶道，“我告訴他，‘你知道，別人都覺得這次我太亂來了’，但他回答，‘相信我’。那個周末他的表現(xiàn)簡直像是天外來客。他給出了我們見過的最優(yōu)秀的排位賽成績，之后正式比賽一開始就一馬當先，根本沒人能逼近他?！?/p>

Importantly, although Wolff gives his drivers considerable autonomy, he is not afraid to be a strong leader when the situation calls for it. He cited an incident at the Barcelona Grand Prix in 2016 between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who also drove for Mercedes at the time. They infamously clashed while leading the race, taking each other out on the first lap. “I felt that they were opportunistic,” Wolff recalled, “putting their own objectives before the team’s objectives. They did not respect that there were a thousand people who worked for them. I had to show the organization that I wouldn’t allow that behavior anymore. After the race, I demanded that both drivers come out to the space where all the engineers were. I told them, ‘Look at everybody here in this room, imagine everybody back at home and their families, and realize how you are making us look.’ I used some harsh words I cannot repeat here. I saw the engineers look at the floor, the drivers look at the floor….I said, ‘The next time you want to drive each other off the road, you think about all the faces here, and then you will think twice.’ And I told them that if it happened again, I would not hesitate to take them out of the car. I said, ‘Don’t challenge me on this—you don’t want to find out what I am capable of.’”

重要的是，盡管沃爾夫給了車手很大的自主權，但他并不憚于在必要時展示強硬。

他提起2016年巴塞羅那大獎賽時，漢密爾頓和當時梅賽德斯的另一位車手尼科·羅斯伯格（Nico Rosberg）之間的事件。他們在比賽中雙雙領先，卻發(fā)生了沖突，開場第一圈就撞車一起退賽?！拔矣X得他倆對其他人不公平，把自己的目標置于車隊目標之上。他們不尊重其他一千個為他們工作的人。我必須告訴團隊，我不會允許這種行為再度出現(xiàn)。比賽結束后，我把他們兩個叫到全體工程師都在的地方。我對他們說，‘看著這里的每一個人，想象一下他們回到家如何面對家人，想想看你們讓我們看起來像什么?！艺f了些非常尖刻的話，現(xiàn)在都說不出口了。我看到工程師們低著頭，車手們也低著頭?！艺f，‘下次再想把對方擠出賽道的時候，你們最好想想這里所有人的面孔，多想想。’我還告訴他們，如果再發(fā)生這種狀況，我會毫不猶豫地把他們從賽車里揪出來。我說，‘別在這方面挑戰(zhàn)我——你們不會想知道我能干出什么事來?！?/p>

Wolff readily praises his drivers (they “would not be F1 drivers if they weren’t intelligent,” he said), and he understands that anyone can make a mistake. “But they need to know,” he added, “that you have your limits, and that you have a side they won’t like and don’t want to see.”

沃爾夫很樂意贊美自己的車手（他說，他們“要是不聰明就當不了F1車手”），而且他明白，每個人都可能犯錯?！暗仨氉屗麄冎溃彼a充說，“你有你的底線，有他們不會喜歡、不想看到的一面?！?/p>

Relentlessly Battle Complacency

對抗自滿

Wolff deeply dislikes losing. “I cannot stand the humiliation we would face,” he told me, “and I will do everything I can to avoid it. I just cannot take losing against someone. You must never, ever believe that the winning will continue. On the contrary, I always worry that it could end—that this is the cliff, and I am staring at the abyss.”

沃爾夫很不喜歡失敗?！拔覠o法忍受失敗后的羞辱，”他告訴我，“我會盡一切努力避免失敗。我只是不會因為失敗沖別人撒氣。但你絕對不要相信勝利一定會持續(xù)。相反，我總是擔心勝利會終結——峭壁就在眼前，我凝望著深淵?！?/p>

Wolff showed his competitiveness in 2018 after Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari’s driver, won a race in the UK in front of a huge crowd of mostly British fans who were supporting their fellow countryman Hamilton. “In the final lap,” Wolff recalled, “when Vettel is celebrating, he tells his team on the radio something in Italian like ‘We won in their home!’ That’s such an insult. It was also the best thing that could have happened to us. We played that segment over and over again in our factory. And by the end of the season, we were champions again.” He added, “For me, the joy of winning is normally much less intense than the pain of losing. The fear of losing stays with me. And that’s helpful—I wouldn’t ever want to get used to it. Getting used to losing is the biggest reason for losing.”

沃爾夫在2018年展示了他的好勝心。當時法拉利車手塞巴斯蒂安·維特爾（Sebastian Vettel）在一大批支持本國車手漢密爾頓的英國車迷面前贏下了一場在英國舉辦的車賽。沃爾夫回憶道：“最后一圈的時候，維特爾慶祝自己的勝利，在廣播里用意大利語跟自己的車隊說些‘我們在他們家里贏了！’之類的話。那真是莫大的羞辱。但那也是我們能遇到的最好的事。我們在工廠里反復播放這段話。那個賽季結束時，我們又獲得了冠軍。”他繼續(xù)說：“對我來說，勝利的喜悅遠不及失敗的痛苦。對失敗的恐懼始終伴隨著我，這很有用——我從來不會想要習慣這種感受。習慣于失敗，就是失敗的最大原因?！?/p>

Several executives I interviewed made it clear that this mindset has permeated the culture at Mercedes and in fact may be the key to the team’s winning streak. “We try very, very hard to keep reminding ourselves that our competitors are very good, that they will be hurting when we win, and that hurting generally leads to trying desperately hard,” one executive said. “We work more hours today than we did in 2014, the drivers spend more time in the simulator than they did in 2014, we spend more time going through data analyzing what went right and wrong—everything is levels deeper than what we did back then….It is the opposite of complacency.”

我采訪過的幾位梅賽德斯車隊高管都明確表示，這種思維方式已經(jīng)滲透進車隊的文化，或許這正是他們能夠連續(xù)獲勝的關鍵所在。“我們非常、非常努力地不斷提醒自己，競爭對手非常優(yōu)秀，他們會因為我們的勝利而受傷，并且會因為受傷而更加努力要打敗我們，”一位高管說，“我們現(xiàn)在工作的時間比2014年更長，車手在模擬器上花的時間更多，我們花更多時間進行數(shù)據(jù)分析，分析哪些地方做得對、哪些地方不對——在各個維度都比從前更加深入?！@是自滿的反面?！?/p>

One way in which Wolff fosters ongoing competitiveness is by encouraging his team members—from the engineers to the marketing people—to find out who their counterparts are on rival teams and commit to surpassing them. This motivational strategy is evident from an email he sent to the entire organization ahead of the 2021 season. In that email, after pointing out that Mercedes was significantly underperforming in preseason testing, he added:

沃爾夫激發(fā)好勝心的另一種方式是鼓勵團隊成員——從工程師到營銷人員——關注對手團隊中同樣職位的人，并且立志超越他們。這種激勵策略，在他2021年賽季前發(fā)送給所有人的郵件中可見一斑。他在那封郵件里指出，梅賽德斯賽前測試的發(fā)揮欠佳，然后又說：

It’s all there; we need to channel the force into the right direction. And this direction points to Milton Keynes [the home base of rival team Red Bull]. We have spoken about this in the past: Take the time to find out who your opposite person is there and look at him or her every day. Put the picture right in front of you so you know whom to beat. Each of you in whatever department and role will make a difference for our performance for this season and the seasons to come if you do a better job than this opposite person. Never underestimate the power of our collective group that focuses on our joint mission and target.

都在那里了，我們需要將力量對準正確的方向，這次是指向米爾頓·凱恩斯（Milton Keynes，對手紅牛車隊的大本營）。以前我們就說過：花些時間找到對手車隊里與你位置相當?shù)娜?，每天盯著他或她。讓這個人每天都在你眼前，你就知道該擊敗誰。不管在哪個部門，不管承擔怎樣的職責，每一個人都可以為本賽季和下一賽季的成績做出貢獻，只要你比對方做得好就可以了。絕不要低估我們的力量，當我們整個團隊齊心協(xié)力專注于共同使命和目標的時候。

Such a focus is vital, Wolff understands, because F1 is a sport of margins like no other. As Ola K?llenius, the chairman of Mercedes-Benz, put it, “A lap difference of a tenth of a second on average over the course of a season decides who is going to be champion—that’s a few meters on a five-kilometer track. So it is incredibly difficult to win an F1 championship, let alone eight in a row. Everyone needs to have the mindset to want to chase every thousandth of a second all these years.” He continued, “If you have won several times, like Mercedes has, you become the one being chased. You are no longer the hunter—you are the prey—but you want to keep the hunter mentality alive. Toto has been masterful at not getting complacent himself, and not letting anyone around him get complacent either.”

沃爾夫明白，這種專注至關重要，因為F1是一項獨一無二的以微弱優(yōu)勢取勝的運動。梅賽德斯奔馳董事長康林松（Ola K?llenius）說：“一個賽季里決定冠軍的是平均十分之一秒的圈差，在五公里的賽道上只不過幾米而已。因此要贏得F1冠軍的難度非常高，更別說連續(xù)八次奪冠了。這需要所有人都在這幾年里保持著追逐每一毫秒的心態(tài)?！彼^續(xù)說：“像梅賽德斯車隊這樣贏過幾次之后，就會成為被追逐的目標。不再是獵手，而是獵物，但我們還需要保持活躍的獵人狀態(tài)。托托已經(jīng)是這方面的大師，他不讓自己洋洋自得，也不讓身邊任何人自滿?！?/p>

Although most Formula One fans may pay keenest attention to the performances of individual drivers during race weekends, the real battle in the sport is about much more than that. For a team to win even a single Formula One championship, not to mention eight in a row, every part of the organization has to do superb work all season long and come together with an extraordinary sense of focus and purpose. Such a feat is likely possible only with the guidance of a highly effective leader—someone like Toto Wolff, who has an unwavering desire to compete and understands that establishing a winning culture is an all-encompassing, never-ending process.

在那些有賽事的周末，大多數(shù)F1車迷會熱切關注車手個人的表現(xiàn)，但這項運動中真正的競爭遠不止于此。對于一支車隊而言，要在一場F1錦標賽中奪冠，就需要組織的每個部分都在整個賽季保持優(yōu)異表現(xiàn)，并懷著超乎尋常的專注和目標感齊心協(xié)力，更何況連續(xù)八次奪冠。實現(xiàn)這樣的杰出成就，必須有高效領導者的引領——比如托托·沃爾夫，他雷打不動地渴望勝利，而且明白，建立勝利文化是一場全方位的、永無止境的旅程。

Anita Elberse?is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

阿妮塔·埃爾伯斯是哈佛商學院工商管理學林肯·菲林教席教授。

蔣薈蓉 | 譯?? 時青靖 | 校?? 程明霞 | 編輯