Thank You Niki

I keep this photo in my office as a reminder of the power of resilience, grit and sweating the details.

Niki Lauda was a racing legend. I heard of him in my 20’s as I passed days listening to BBC World when recovering from a painful, unanticipated surgery while living in Argentina. I learned the story of a tenacious Austrian driver who when cut off from his family wealth cobbled together bank loans and sponsorships to launch his first team; who beat more talented drivers to become a 3 time world champion by mastering the technical facets of the high-performance cars he drove, allowing him to communicate more effectively with his engineers and shave off time in a sport where split seconds count; who survived a horrific crash that severely burned much of his face and seared his lungs with toxic smoke, and battled to get back behind the wheel and compete 6-weeks later, finishing 5th as he bled through bandages.

After racing, Lauda became a visionary entrepreneur in the aviation sector, building and selling 3 airlines. He also returned to racing as the chairman of the Mercedes team which he led to victory by recruiting and mentoring winning drivers. A true capitalist, he even made money renting out space to advertisers on the baseball cap he wore to cover his burn scars. He might be gone but his legend will continue to inspire

#ThankYouNiki