YouSaid · the spoken record

Christian Horner

lines on the record: 81
first: 2022-10-13
most recent: 2022-10-13
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Now, absolutely. Obviously, you want to listen and you want to gauge, but at the end of the day, somebody's got to make a decision. Sometimes that might not be the most popular of decisions, but the most important thing is to make a decision, to say this is the direction that we're going in. And the most important thing with that, once you've committed to a decision, to make sure that you give it your best shot. But if it's not working. Recognize that it's not working and not be afraid to change, to stick your hands, okay, we got it wrong. Let's go another route because the worst thing is just repeating the same mistake after mistake, you know, after mistake. And I think, you know, good leadership Is strongly leadership where You know, people want to know what is the direction, what is the objective, why are we doing this?”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hadn't really changed from what had been underachieving at Jagia, we just put in clear leadership into a structure and started to instill a culture of it's not just about having the seventh biggest budget, which means you're going to finish seventh, it's a question of, okay, what can we do? How can we push the boundaries? How can we be more innovative? How can we take the fight to the guys at the front? Because we're not prepared to settle being seventh. We want to win. What is the fastest route to getting into a winning position?”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I come across. And, you know, that galvanized the team because, well, if Adrian says that's the direction we're going, technically that's the way we're going. And then put a sense of purpose into the design office. And that enabled me to attract more talent to supplement what was there, to weed out the few bits that needed tidying up. But the core basis of the team.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I thought, well, look, I'm going to go after the best in the business. And that was Adrian Newey. Adrian had had an incredible career at Williams and McLaren. A couple of years where McLaren hadn't been delivering at its potential and you could see that business was changing and it just felt like there was a window of opportunity. I made sure I got to. To meet Adrian, and I built up a relationship with him and his then wife and then managed to convince him to come and join the team. And that was a litmus moment because then suddenly people woke up and thought, wow, if Adrian New is prepared to come here, he must see something that he believes in. And, you know, we set off from there. And that then galvanized the technical grid because Adrian's the most single-minded engineer I've ever”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's what I did over the first couple of months. I spent time walking around the factory, engaging with people, listening. And then the picture started to come clear that, you know, there were pockets within the team that, you know, there was real capability and talent, but it was just clear that they weren't working collectively. There was this blame culture within the business where the drawing office blamed Aero, Aero blamed the wind tunnel, you know, R&D blamed production. The race team were blamed everybody. And there was just this blame culture that there was no accountability or collective, no responsibility. So it was then a question of, okay, how do we unpick that and how do we create the glue to bring this together? And for me, what was really needed was technical direction.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That first hour arrived Arriving in the office with a secretary that was in tears because her previous boss had been just fired. There was unopened Christmas cards on the desk, a half-drunk cup of coffee. And I think, okay, and a fairly disgruntled workforce that had been through a revolving door of management changes whilst the team had been owned by Jaguar. So it's like, okay, how am I, what's my game plan here? My plan was engage with the people, understand what are the issues. Listen, spend, you know, the next few months just listening and form your own picture. And so”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Enjoy this experience, whatever the outcome is going to be, we don't know. But just let's go in there with an approach of give it everything and enjoy it and embrace it. And in the end, you know, it paid off. And I think that as a leader, how you conduct yourself. permeates throughout her business. So if you're feeling the tension and you're passing that on, Then for me, that's not a healthy way to lead a team by fear. You want it to be inclusive. You want it to be open. You want people to be able to feel that they can. They've got a voice, and that voice will be, you know, will be heard rather than being afraid to speak up for fear of getting there, you know, their head taken off.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you see your counterpart smashing up headphones and pointing and ranting at cameras, you know that you've got to them because then you know that if they're venting in such a way and they're feeling that pressure, that the people beneath them are going to be offloaded onto as well, that they're going to be on the receiving end of that. And that, in my opinion, or in my experience caused people to tighten up. and I remember before the race in Abadabi getting all the guys together. I say, look whatever happens today is going to happen. All we can do is do the best that we can do today. And the most important thing is be proud of what you've achieved to get us to this position that we're fighting for this world championship, that we've taken it all the way down to the wire. And most of all, enjoy it.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think I think the Brits are quite good at that. You know, keeping a stiff upper lip and head down, get on with it. And for me, Last year's World Championship was very much about that. You could see, I mean, it was a Titanic battle, not just between the two drivers on track, but by, you know, the two teams off track and the person you're gauging yourself and you're pitched against as a team principal is your opposite number. It's a mental game as much as a physical activity as well. And of course it was the first time that that team in the seven, eight year period had come under any form of pressure. And I think you see people's true personalities and what they've really got when they're under pressure. So of course.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, of course. I mean, you're always thinking, what can I do better? How could I perform better as a CEO or as a team principal? Did I handle that situation correctly? Is there... Another way that we could have addressed that. And I think that what I've learned over time is that I used to, you know, when I first came into the sport I'd worry about almost everything. I quickly came to the conclusion, well, there's no point in worrying about everything. Worry about the things you can control, the things that you can't control. Don't let them take your energy. Don't let them take your focus or distract you. Focus on the things that you're empowered to make a difference in. And then I just, I'm able to become more disciplined with my time and implying my time more effectively than being spread too thin.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Formula One attracts them. And egos and assholes are not too far apart sometimes. But there's no eye in team. And I think that you quickly, you see if you have a talented individual that isn't working in a team environment, they quickly become isolated. And they either change their way and embrace the team, or they end up falling by the wayside and not achieving their potential because it's too big a sport to be. An individualist in it, you need to rely on trust in the other people around you and the other departments around you to be able to fulfill your part.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's not because there's a lot of pride people have egos as well, but I think it's accepting where your strengths and where your weaknesses are. And I think that not everybody can be a phenomenal aerodynamicist or engine engineer or a chassis designer or a number one mechanic. And it's a matter of identifying the right people for the right roles and empowering them to get on their job. There's no point me employing Adrian Newey as probably the best aerodynamics in the history of the sport and then telling him how to do his job or telling Max Vesta and how to drive a car. You can point out things that you're seeing. And you can offer some guidance. But in terms of it's down to them in their specialist areas to operate and you try and give them the right tools and the right environment that enables them to flourish and succeed.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. So 22 different departments across the business. And for me, it's about getting the right people in the right roles and empowering them to do their job so that they've got clear objectives, clear targets that they're shooting for. And then backing them. So I see a lot of my role is to ensure that they've got the support around them. They've got the tools around them that they're defended when they need defending and that they're guided when they need guidance. And I think that there's no point, I'm not an aerodynamicist or an engine engineer or I don't have any formal qualifications bar a couple of A-levels. So I'm not a specialist in any one area. So my role is to ensure that I'm putting the right people in the right roles and getting them collectively to work together.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, an eclectic mix of people that create a team. But so long as the goal that everybody is reaching for and striving for is the same. You know, you're going to have a myriad of different personalities. We're sort of seven to eight hundred people. You know, in our team, plus, then on top of that, we've got an engine group that we're building as well. So over a thousand people on one campus in Mildon Keynes. And of course, you're going to get a vast range. personalities and characters but the one thing is common is it's all about the car it's all about forming on the track”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you need within a team you need different strengths for different roles. And so within Formula One, you've got obviously the design side of the business, the creative side of the business. You've got the operational side where you've got a manufacturer, these incredible cars and then operate them cost effectively at 22 grand prix around the globe. And so you need different people for different roles, but it's all having that commonality, which is the car, which is, you know, these two amazing machines that we have to turn out, or these 22 races a year. And to operate at their optimum. And that is the focal point that everybody's, you know, vested interest is involved in. So you've got to have...”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you have to lead by example, and I think that, you know, it's all about Just continually looking to improve, to be better. So, for example, the races that we win, you can always learn. It's never, ever enough. The last race we won in Monza, could we have done a better job on the strategy? Could we have been quicker in the pit stop? Could we have had a better start? Was our preparation in the lead up to the race? You know, good enough. Did we focus enough attention in the practice sessions on the things that turned out to be important in the Grand Prix? So being self-analytical is a key aspect of driving performance and never being satisfied saying, yeah, no, that was good enough because it never is. There's always something that you can learn that you can improve and that you can build on as you're building this database of continual knowledge.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That essence of it never being enough, always striving to achieve more. And then it's almost the fear of failure that drives you on. Because once you've sampled and you've tasted success, it becomes addictive like a drug and you just want to experience it again and have that winning feeling.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's just a question of leaving no stone unturned, just always pursuing all the incremental areas because they all add up. And it's all about attention to details. And sometimes it's the smallest things that can make the largest of difference. And you collectively add all of those elements together. And they add up at the end of the day. Particularly in the business that I'm operating in in Formula One, it is all about the detail, it is all about leaving no stone unturned, about pushing the boundaries, about extracting every ounce of performance out of these amazing machines, which are ultimately it's the people that drive that. And so it's therefore creating a culture that empowers that.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you could see it as both in many respects. I'm probably more practical in my thinking, so I'm not engaged with the supernatural. But I'm a great believer that if you visualize something, if you see yourself being on that podium and you believe in it and you want it and you really strive for it, you can achieve it. And I didn't achieve it as a driver, but I went on to achieve it as a team principal. And whether that's winning a Grand Prix or winning a world championship. Winning constructors' world championship, it's having that belief, never losing sight of that goal because that's what takes you through the tough days, the difficult days, when everything seems to be conspiring against you, that you've got to keep believing in that target and visualizing that target. And I would say by and large, during my career, that's come true”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Aspects of it. And I think visualization is a big thing as well. So I think if you visualize something and you really want it, I've found in certainly in my life that's absolutely achievable because you're setting yourself a target. You're setting yourself a goal and that's what you've got to shoot for.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's something that's in your DNA. And look, I'm one of three boys in our family, and I'm very different to my brothers. And, you know, I've got the same parents, but we're all very different. And I think you either have it or you don't. I always had this inner drive and desire. There was purely focused around motorization. I didn't envisage myself being a tennis player or anything else. I just wanted to race. I just wanted to compete and I would watch hours and hours of video footage on VHS tapes of old races and grand prix and study the minutest of details of what racing boots Nigel Mancel was wearing or you totally engross yourself in all.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so she had an awful lot of drive in her. And so it was a combination, you know, of the two. So once I discovered this world of motor racing around the age of 12, my father and I were able to then, you know, we spent quite a lot of time together, you know, traveling the country and then racing internationally and then into car racing and so on. And it was a great thing to be able to share with him. And he, you know, he made a lot of sacrifices to help me in my career. My brothers both had the chance to have a go at racing neither of them were interested. And so we spent a lot of time going up and down the country, the different cart races. My mum would pack her, you know, pack all the sandwiches up and, you know, it became a family thing, going to these different racing events.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They had a huge influence on me both in In different ways. My father worked in the automotive industry, so he shared a passion for cars and engines and motor racing. He'd done some marshalling in his youth and always liked being around cars. He always had nice cars and working in that industry. He was hugely, hugely knowledgeable. And my mother, my mother would always encourage us to follow our dreams and she'd always push us as children never to accept, you know, just being You know, run of the mill, always push yourself, always extend yourself”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A newspaper this secondhand sort of 20 year old go kart and it was too low to drive around a farm or on the grass. So we found a track and suddenly I discovered this you could race these things and suddenly that weted my appetite at a very young age And Nigel Mantsell at the time was a complete hero of mine. I was starting to get into Formula One. So from a very early age, I became almost obsessive about wanting to be a racing driver to the point that I didn't want to grow any taller. I got, you know, to five foot seven and thought, I don't want to grow any taller. I was almost willing myself to... To be sure, because all AC drivers tended to be sort of piteized during that time. So for me, that was my dream. I could just. Visualize myself being a racing driver, and that's everything else became secondary at that point.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I wanted to be evil can evil. You know, I wanted to be a stump man. And then there was a program, the full guy with Lee Majors in it who drove around in a big truck and so on. He was a stump man. And I thought that was super cool. So I was always fascinated by cars and speed and so on. So that attracted me to Just the world of engines. And from a very early age, from about 12, I was pestering and pestering my mum because I knew my father wouldn't. Wouldn't buy me one to get to buy a motorized go-kart. And I saved out what I had. And then for my 12th birthday, we found this thing in the back of a...”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're always slightly different. The younger ones always ends up being the spoilt one. The older ones are sensible one and the middle one tends to be in his own lane. Certainly from the middle children I've met.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm the middle child of three, so my older brother was the sensible one of the three boys. And then my younger brother was more outrageous, I would say. And the middle child is always that slightly awkward one. Particularly within three. So I didn't excel at school. I wasn't that interested in school. School for me was almost like a social thing, but I enjoyed sport and I enjoyed team sport at school. So where my older brother was quite academic, he was crap at sport. Whereas, you know, I played in the football team or the cricket team or whatever was going. And, you know, I just enjoyed that. And I think that being a being a middle child.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What drives me I'm naturally a competitive person and I've always enjoyed competition. I've always enjoyed working within a team of people and winning, winning. There's just no feeling like it, whether it's achieving a checked flag first or sealing a deal to get on a car. That's always what's driven me. It's always been about the competition.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It sort of crept up on me without, you know, recognizing it. It's just your body telling you that there's a lot going on here. And for me, I've had enough.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When I came into the sport, I was the youngest team principal in Formula One. I still am to this day ironically, and I don't have any formal qualifications bar a couple of A-levels. I wanted to make sure that we were the team on the upward graft and think, okay, how can we turn shit into fertilizer?”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's a mental game, and when you see your counterpart smashing up headphones and ranting at cameras, you know that you've got to.”
2022-10-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Christian Horner: The Truth Behind Red Bull Racing's Success! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT