Graham Hill's Drive

As his wikipedia entry so succinctly states, Graham Hill is the only driver to win the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport, namely the F1 World Championship (twice), Le Mans and the Indy 500.

I just watched a fascinating BBC doc on his life, which began with a marvellous quote from him.  I can hear it uttered by those leading sales efforts at sales meetings across the globe…

“Time is of the essence … and I’m very short of essence”

Yet a true reminder of his pursuit of excellence comes from 1960s black and white interview footage around half-way in.  It appears in the context of contrasting his immensely popular jovial playboy nature with the transformation to a steel-like focus once around a racing car:

“I know I’ve got a bit of a reputation for being awkward, so I’m told [chuckles] and I think this is because … I set very high standards for myself and I expect other people to come up to that same standard.  So you’re bound to … if you don’t get what you want … press for it and though it might mean somebody else working that little bit harder, they might think I’m being particular, but I want everything to be exactly right and that is important, and that’s the way I drive and the way I expect things to be done.  On the whole I think it pays off.”

There’s nothing wrong in striving for perfection, whether in motor racing or selling.