Look into My Eyes

Tributes are appearing for Eddie Jordan after his untimely death was reported yesterday. He was a unique, multi-talented individual who achieved all that he did, doing it ‘his way.’

I came face to face, literally, with the energetic force that was Eddie Jordan when we first met in 2004. Here is the story I recounted in my book, “Exploding Turkeys and Spare Trousers, Adventures in Global Business.” The story is titled, ‘Look into My Eyes.’

“Are our eyes the windows to the soul?

I attended my first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2004. My co-authors and I were at the Imola race circuit in Italy, holding very precious paddock passes. These gave us behind the scenes access to the teams’ motorhomes so we could conduct interviews for the first edition of Performance at the Limit: Business Lessons from Formula 1 Racing.

In the modest Jordan Grand Prix Racing facility, we were recording a conversation with Team Principle, Eddie Jordan. Legendary driver Michael Schumacher had made his F1 debut on Jordan’s team in 1991. That led me to ask him, “How can you tell whether a young driver has what it takes to succeed in F1?”

We were seated next to each other on a banquette. Jordan’s goateed face leaned in extremely close to mine, he stared unblinkingly into my eyes, slowly moved even closer and emphatically said,

“I look into their $@%#ing eyes to see if they have the $@%#ing desire and $@%#ing stamina to succeed in this $@%#ing sport!”

My co-authors still enjoy recounting how stunned and overwhelmed I was, as I struggled not to fall on the floor.

Maybe the eyes are the portal to one’s soul. Given Schumacher’s 7 Driver World Championships, Jordan certainly saw something special in him.

On the other hand, upon looking into my eyes, Jordan knew instantly that I was better off writing about race cars than driving them!”