Podcast: Mike Flewitt, CEO McLaren Automotive - aligning to win the race

Mike reflects with Louise on his journey along the road-less-travelled: to realise his lifelong dream of building a British road car business. As he took the driving seat, leading a fledgling company spun out of a racing titan, he used a human-centric approach to build a high-performance supercar brand that now competes with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini with a 23% share of the market.

Listen now

As Mike approached his 50th birthday, he bravely declined the cruise control option to retirement and took the road less travelled, joining what was then a fledgling road car company spun out of a racing titan. However, despite all the right ingredients, when Mike pulled up to the start line, he was shocked at the lack of alignment, the business being 3 months from the launch date of its newest model and a track that wasn’t clear. With some leaders distracted by its legacy racing roots, a disconnect between teams, and financial pressure from an unravelling relationship between management and shareholders, he wondered if he’d made the biggest mistake of his career. But Mike’s human-centric approach jump-started the brand, acting like a fuel-injection and radically accelerating performance to compete with the likes of Lambourghini and Ferrari, and growing the business to an impressive 23% share of the market. Join me to hear how this inspiring human-centric leader took his learnings from the early days on the factory floor in Liverpool to realise a lifelong dream on a global scale.

Listen now

For more on how I help leaders unlock growth by leading from a more human perspective, click here.