It’s every
executive’s dream excuse for taking time off:
attend a seminar.
An hour north
of Sacramento at Thunderhill Raceway in Willow,
former champion racecar driver Robert Cornish
coaches executives to build advanced business
skills by using the unique pressure of
automobile racing. “It’s like rope-climbing on
steroids,” the CEO of Infinability says.
Many of his
clients are entrepreneurs and executives from
high-tech firms, some paying their own way. The
program is divided into two days and anyone can
sign up for one or both. Students start by
training on race car simulators that so closely
replicate the tactile elements of driving that
professional drivers use them for practice.
No direct advice
is offered by Infinability’s teachers on how to
drive, but they ask open-ended questions to
stimulate thinking, called “co-active” coaching.
Students trade off with their partners to act as
coaches and drivers. On the second day, they can
drive actual race cars. Either way, participants
begin to develop greater ability to make good
decisions very quickly.
“The experience
compels you to engage in whole-brain thinking
and makes the lessons about using intuition to
solve problems very real,” explains Cornish.
“The subconscious can process information two
million times faster than the analytical mind,
and our clients learn how to apply this to
making business decisions.”
Scott Howard,
director of technical services for IT service
provider Remedy Corp., took his team of senior
consultants through the original version of the
two-day course that used go-carts instead of
simulators to help them learn different
communication styles, since they were going to
be doing more cross-functionality work.
“Driving a Miata
at Thunderhill Raceway put all these
strong-minded individuals on a level playing
field,” Howard says. “As each car came in, they
had to get and give feedback on the performance
in a high-adrenaline situation.” It was an
eye-opening way to have the partner repeat back
the question -- and find out that it was not
being received the way it was intended.
Brad Rampelberg,
a sales executive at Sun Microsystems Inc.,
found the most valuable aspect of the
Infinability experience was the “power of
awareness and intention.” You are aware of the
physical fear, “but the program trains you to
continue to drive by putting your mind on what
needs to be done.”
Too often in
business, people become paralyzed by difficult
choices, afraid of making mistakes. “During
Infinability, we learned not to be burdened by
the problem, but to always look for the
solution,” Rampelberg says. He cited Sun
Chairman Scott McNealy as someone “who makes his
share of mistakes, but makes positive decisions
by focusing on what’s right and keeps moving
forward.”
“The power of
intention is unbelievable, being aware of
everything while your conscious mind is making
constant choices, similar to being in a sales
meeting, “says Howard.
The net result
of the intensive drive can be an inspired
business culture, Cornish asserts, where better
communication and improved interactions boost
company performance.
Scott S. Smith
is a contributing editor for California CEO.
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