Nimesh Mehta, SVP & CIO at National Life, leads tech operations to align business strategy with a strong customer focus.
In our business, tight internal deadlines, aggressive growth plans and rapid hiring often create a relentless rush to get everything done quickly—very much like race tracks. My experience on the race track has completely changed my views on moving fast in business.
A Race To Remember
A friend introduced me to the thrill of auto racing, and I decided to participate. How hard can driving in circles be?
Once I hit the track, my senses were overwhelmed. Being inside a racing car is a strange experience for those who don’t know. When you hit the gas pedal, the G-forces push you to your seat, and your whole body tenses and tightens in response. You feel the vibration coming from your tires clawing the asphalt. And finally, you get tunnel vision: All you see is the road ahead.
While my body was busy dealing with overpowering sensations, my attention was on the sharp turn ahead.
I was anxious, convinced I wouldn’t make it. The car in front of me accelerated, then swerved into the median. “I’m the next in line,” I thought. Suddenly, I heard my friend yelling, “Downshift. Now!” My legs hit the clutch on their own. My tires squealed, the tachometer redlined and the engine growled like it was about to blow up, but I slowed down just enough to gain control, steering into the turn. The car almost magically turned inches from the wall, and I could see the track again.
Then I heard his voice again: “Now go! Go! Go!” I shifted gears, and we were on the straightway again. My breathing eased as we left behind cars that were still recovering from that rough turn.
Lessons From Race Tracks For Your Boardroom
Here’s what I learned from that experience: Don’t lose control in turns, don’t hit the brakes as you won’t stop, don’t go faster but change your pace, and focus on a smooth recovery before you step on the gas pedal again.
That lesson applies to businesses as well.
When things happen at warp speed, it isn’t unusual for a few things to go wrong. As things change rapidly, leadership gets tunnel vision and the sheer momentum makes those mistakes bigger.
Imagine a company rushing to launch a new product line. The date to launch looms ahead. The business is getting anxious. Tunnel vision on the date sets in, and the team starts to descope features and reduce testing times. The team moves faster, not realizing they can’t meet the date, and hope becomes a strategy. In the meantime, marketing spending accelerates, and an inferior product is launched with the sentiment that it can be fixed later. The company fails to recognize its audience or competition, who take advantage and react to this move. Customers aren’t happy with the product, and the competition, although late, fills that gap and races ahead. For a startup, this could mean the end; and for an established organization, this would be a hit to their brand. The tragedy would be the business equivalent of a car speeding into a turn, relying on momentum for success.
That’s why it’s critical to slow down, shift gears, change your pace and address your challenges so you can speed up later. Here’s how.
See The Forest For The Trees
When in a rush, everything seems like a priority. In the middle of all that, it’s easy to lose sight of the hurdles ahead. It’s like being unfocused on the racing track—you’re so focused on speed that you forget to prepare for that sharp turn ahead. Just as in racing, where it’s imperative to manage speed and maintain control through turns, in business, it’s essential to adjust the pace and address challenges methodically rather than rushing through them recklessly. That speed can be fatal even in a boardroom. The graveyard of business is full of brands that failed to plan ahead, lost direction and crashed into the proverbial wall. This is a critical lesson in responding rather than reacting to hurdles.
Listen To Your Team
In auto racing, drivers rely on their teams for information beyond their immediate view. This keeps drivers alive and in the race. I would have crashed that day if my friend hadn’t been there.
The same goes for your business team. They’re your eyes and ears beyond what you can see. Their experience and skills give them a deeper understanding of new challenges ahead. Listen hard, trust their input and adjust your course before you hit a turn.
Commit To The Plan
The whole point of slowing down is to gain control over a tough situation. You get out of one by preparing ahead, seeking help from your team and committing to your plan.
It’s okay to feel like everything is falling apart. You must make peace with discomfort and show faith in your plan. You may need to push back against others’ instincts to derail the plan. This might be an investor or executive team pressure telling you to stop or go faster.
Think of it like this: Even when your senses are highly anxious, and adrenaline is pumping through your veins, you must have an out-of-body experience and commit to the turn. Let the world go into slow motion so you can change gears, steer the wheel and pay attention to your surroundings that are changing. You need to remain steadfast in your strategies to navigate obstacles. Without that, you won’t make it to the finish line.
Once you’re out on the turn, you can speed up—automate your processes, refine your product or adopt a growth strategy. If you don’t make it through the turn, you won’t get the chance to speed up.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
