In my work with organizations, I take the excellence of Formula 1 racing teams in achieving high performance and turn it into business wisdom.

Last week in London, at the Thinkers50 event in the 15^th century Guildhall, we heard from experts on the topic of “Regenerative Leadership.” Among them was Amy Edmondson best known for her pioneering work on psychological safety. In 2004, when were writing the first edition of “Performance at the Limit, Business Lessons from Formula 1 Motor Racing,” we were not aware of her research and that term.

In fact, during a panel discussion Edmondson said that while her original paper on the subject was published in 1999, it was not until Google shared its “Project Aristotle” in 2016, seventeen years later, that a massive surge of interest in psychological safety was triggered.

In our book, we describe an incident from the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix when Nigel Mansell driving for the WilliamsF1 team, came in for a routine pit stop. As he pulled out into the pit lane his right rear tire fell off when a wheel nut was not tightened properly. This eventually disqualified him from the race and ended his chance for the F1 Drivers’ Championship.

 We interviewed the WilliamsF1pit stop crew chief about that incident and asked how he managed the team’s reaction. He gave us a quote which always resonates with my audiences, “WE ISOLATED THE PROBLEM, NOT THE PERSON.” That gave rise to our including the importance of creating a “NO BLAME CULTURE” as one of the key lessons to create high performance teams.

In addition to the Thinkers50 event, my four days in London included several social, learning and sharing sessions with my wonderful colleagues in the 100 Coaches community. This marvelous group of coaches, authors, podcasters, executives, and change agents have been brought together by Marshall Goldsmith. Its mission is to elevate the impact of world-class leadership professionals through connection and learning.

I was also included in a delegation from Finland organized by the Nordic Business Forum and was pleased to meet new colleagues at dinner and during networking sessions.

There is nothing like people coming together in-person to learn from each other. And the Thinkers50 Gala was a great reason to bring out my tuxedo and wear my Formula 1 cufflinks.