{"id":31512,"date":"2025-11-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=31512"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:35","slug":"yes-you-can-learn-to-lead-but-you-can-also-learn-to-win","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/yes-you-can-learn-to-lead-but-you-can-also-learn-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, you Can Learn to Lead, but you Can Also Learn to Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 6 Nov 2025 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Yes, you Can Learn to Lead, but you Can Also Learn to Win<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/yes-you-can-learn-to-lead-but-you-can-also-learn-to-win\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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In another exclusive column, Peter Hodgkinson, the former Head of Build at Mercedes F1, reflects on his early career at the serial-winning Roush Racing team and what it taught him about leading and winning.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Main Image: John Harrelson\/Getty Images for NASCAR<\/p>\n

By Peter Hodgkinson<\/h6>\n
When I left New Zealand in January 1986, I had two long-held, clear goals in mind: get a job at Tom Walkinshaw Racing and then get into Formula 1.<\/h6>\n

I would achieve both goals in the decade or so that followed but, back in the mid-1980s, I needed experience. Going to the United States felt like a good place to start.<\/p>\n

I worked two jobs for a couple of years. By day, I served as an apprentice mechanic at Team McMillan Ford. Four nights per week, I was a dishwasher\/barman at an Auckland night club, routinely working until two in the morning. It was a slog but, if I were careful, I had enough money to last me about three months once I got to the States.<\/p>\n

My first thought was that everything in America was massive. I left Auckland Airport from Gate Six (the airport only had six gates at the time) but arrived in San Francisco at Gate 111B!<\/p>\n

In San Francisco I was reunited with Glen Hamilton, a friend with whom I had worked at McMillan Ford. He had already done a season in the US and had built up contacts in professional motorsport. We soon found jobs in Detroit at Roush Racing, a Factory Ford racing team. To get to Michigan, we bought an old Toyota station wagon and made the 2,000-mile journey across the country (stopping every 120 miles to pour the oil out of the catch tank back into the engine).<\/p>\n

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Me in the back of a Lincoln Mercury Capri in 1986. (Image used courtesy of Peter Hodgkinson.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Roush Racing was part of the Jack Roush Performance Engineering company, which was based in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit. It was a large organisation that did work predominately for the Ford Motor Company.<\/p>\n

As the Team Principal and founder, Jack Roush was so competitive. It was impossible to keep up with him and he worked unlike anyone else I\u2019d met.<\/p>\n

I would go on to work for Roush between 1986 and 1988. As I explain below, I have neither forgotten what the experience of working for serial winners taught me nor how Jack Roush and Lee White [Roush Racing Team Manager] influenced me as a leader.<\/p>\n

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Lee White and Jack Roush (in the background) in the pitlane at Daytona in 1988. (Image used courtesy of Peter Hodgkinson.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Nine championships in three seasons<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the 1986 season I was assigned to the International Motor Sports Association GTO [Grand Touring Over 2.5 litre] \u00a0team working on the Ford Mustangs of Scott Pruett and Bruce Jenner. Glen would work on our Mercury Merkur XR4Ti in the Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am Series.<\/p>\n

That first campaign could not have gone much better on the track as Roush won the drivers\u2019 and constructors\u2019 championships in both competitions.<\/p>\n

For all that success, I found it really tough going.<\/p>\n

My team had to compete in all the races and I had about one weekend off in nine months. I had to learn how to do 12 hours\u2019 work in eight and, every day, I had to focus twice as hard as everyone else because I didn\u2019t really know what I was doing. It was a \u2018mouth-shut, head-down\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Team Manager of the IMSA team was a fellow Kiwi called Alan Ladyman who had been racing in the US for a long time. He helped me to get up to speed; and the success continued. For the 1987 season, Glen and I worked together on Scott Pruett\u2019s SCCA Trans-Am Mercury Merkur and won 12 out of 13 races.<\/p>\n

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Scott Pruett\u2019s Ford Mustang at Sears Point in 1986. Our team won the 1986 IMSA GTO Championship with this car. (Image used courtesy of Peter Hodgkinson.)<\/p><\/div>\n

By 1988, I was running my own car and making decisions on setup and servicing. I was already leading a team and it hadn\u2019t even occurred to me that one day I would be leading people. At the time, I didn\u2019t even think about it. The team was me, Jim Swanson, Norm Johnson and Brian Hoye on the car, along with Edgar Alderman who looked after the engines. It was simple, there were no issues between us at all. We were just united behind the goal of winning and we all had to work as hard as each other. Everything we did was a shared experience and that was reflected in the way we worked. It was one of the best seasons in my career.<\/p>\n

In just three years, I had nine championships under my belt and, at the end of the 1988 season, I applied for a job at Tom Walkinshaw Racing USA and I was offered a position. Goal one achieved.<\/p>\n

By now, I had learned how to win. Looking back, how lucky I was to start my career as part of a winning organisation. I know people in F1 who have never won a race let alone a championship. Winning is hard but winning consistently over time is even harder as expectations increase.<\/p>\n

The leadership X factor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why was Roush Racing so successful?<\/p>\n

The first thing to say is we were well led and supported. Jack Roush and Lee White ensured we had the support from Ford and the sponsors too. This allowed the team to build up its capabilities and its capacity to stay ahead of stiff competition from the likes of Nissan, Chevrolet, Porsche and Audi. There was a laser-like focus on bringing performance and improvements to each race. We had everything we needed to be successful so there were no excuses.<\/p>\n

Jack was a truly inspirational leader. He always led from the front, not because he had to or wanted to, he just didn\u2019t know any other way of working. He had this amazing ability of making you feel completely comfortable around him and you could say anything to him even in really challenging moments. He was tough but fair. He also had the leadership X factor.<\/p>\n

Upon reflection, the levels of psychological safety were incredible too.<\/p>\n

Lee was the complete opposite in his leadership style but just as effective and charismatic. While Jack was inspirational, Lee taught you things without you even knowing you were learning. For the rest of my career, I tried to model my leadership style on what I learnt from these two men.<\/p>\n

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A 1988 Lincoln Mercury Merkur outside the workshops in Detroit. A 1000hp monster. We won the 1988 IMSA GTO championship with this car. (Image used courtesy of Peter Hodgkinson.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Winning in a world before defined \u2018missions\u2019, \u2018visions\u2019 and \u2018values\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Roush, we outworked and outperformed the opposition. As mechanics, we went to more races than other teams as we were competing in two different championship series, so we were battle hardened, good in the pitlane, and we didn\u2019t make many mistakes.<\/p>\n

We focused on the details, the little things. The cars were well presented and were always immaculately prepared. Under the awning where we worked on the cars at the track, it was always tidy. The standard at Roush was excellence \u2013 nothing else was good enough. There was a clear, shared purpose and that was to win but in the right way: by the rules and respecting our competition.<\/p>\n

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My car crew in 1988 at Watkins Glen. Norm Johnson (kneeling), Brian Hoye (leaning on the roof), and (left to right) the late Daryl Clasen, Peter Hodgkinson, Scott Pruett, Edger Alderman, and Jim Swanson. (Image used courtesy of Peter Hodgkinson.)<\/p><\/div>\n

These were the days before organisations had clearly defined \u2018missions\u2019, \u2018visions\u2019, \u2018values\u2019 etc. At Roush, we got these things from how our leaders behaved, the language they used, and how they turned up in difficult moments. They modelled the things that were important in leadership and this filtered down to the whole team. This was a tough place to work \u2013 really tough \u2013 but it was made enjoyable as we were successful, well-led, respected and appreciated for our efforts.<\/p>\n

After I left Roush, I won a few races at Tom Walkinshaw Racing including Le Mans in both 1990 and 1996. I won my first GP in 2006 and my first F1 championship came in 2009 at Brawn, 21 years after my last championship at Roush.<\/p>\n

Final reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have never forgotten what working at Roush taught me. The experience:<\/p>\n

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  • Instilled in me the work ethic you must possess if you want to be successful.<\/li>\n
  • Established excellence as my standard. When people see high standards everyone raises their game.<\/li>\n
  • Taught me the importance of resilience, which was another skill I developed at Roush. You had to be pretty thick-skinned to survive as it was a tough crowd and you couldn\u2019t allow things to get you down for more than a minute. No sulking!<\/li>\n
  • Demonstrated that the leader sets the tone everyday by the way they turn up. You must adapt your style to the situation, really think about what messages are you giving your team through your actions and words.<\/li>\n
  • Showed me you must give your people the tools they need to perform and always look to improve their capabilities. It\u2019s also on the leader to help their people to develop and grow.<\/li>\n
  • Reminded me why it\u2019s important to have a goal. I had two clear goals when I left New Zealand and this kept me focused on what I wanted to achieve in the long term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Winning is tough, winning consistently is even harder. Sometimes it just comes down to outworking the other fella.<\/p>\n

    Peter Hodgkinson is a leadership and performance specialist skilled in helping high-performers become better at what they do. As an accomplished manager and mechanic, Peter has enjoyed almost three decades of success in elite sporting environments. His work in motorsport, as part of winning teams at Le Mans and Daytona, culminated in seven Formula 1 driver\u2019s world championships won at Brawn and Mercedes, where he led car-building operations. Peter was Mercedes\u2019 Head of Build during Lewis Hamilton\u2019s era-defining run of six world titles. After a spell serving as Mercedes\u2019 Head of Employee Engagement, Peter returned to the Factory Floor as Build Operations Manager for the INEOS Britannia sailing team when Mercedes supported their quest for the 37th<\/sup>\u00a0America\u2019s Cup.<\/em><\/p>\n

    If you would like to speak to Peter, please contact a member of the Leaders Performance Institute team.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Further reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    There Is a Fine Line Between Protecting your Team from Excessive Workload and Delivering the Required Work. Here Are Five Considerations for any Leader in a High-Performance Environment<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n