Fine sailor is known in bad weather

By Selwyn Parker

Between the lines

Many companies will see the America's Cup regatta as an opportunity for corporate entertainment, and fair enough. There can't be many better ways to spend an afternoon than bobbing up and down in the Gulf and watching the world's best racing sailors put their graceful 75-footers through their paces.

Up close though, it's different. Hardly an unnecessary word is spoken. The yacht's hull groans and creaks under the enormous loads imposed by the hydraulics that control the rig. In a seaway, the bow plunges up and down like a rodeo bull and green water pours over the bow.

And another 75-footer might be thundering down at 12 knots and claiming right of way.

Far from being an exercise in watching grass grow, the America's Cup is actually an exercise in managing turbulence. If that sounds unlikely to a chief executive who has just seen his export margins wiped out by a jump in, say, the yen or greenback, just think about it a little. Once the boat's in the water, the name of the game in all yacht-racing is about reacting instantly to the always volatile elements. Racing yachties have to deal with change every minute of their racing day.

American management theorist Geoffrey Colvin recognised this in a reference to last year's punishing BT Global Challenge.

"Some of the best advice I've heard [about weathering turbulence] comes not from business gurus but from a group of landlubbers who sailed around the world through the most brutal, punishing conditions on earth".

As the Italian proverb puts it, "the good seaman is known in bad weather." You could say exactly the same about chief executives.

Most America's Cup syndicates merit study because they are purpose-designed for peak performance in all circumstances.

As such, they share several common characteristics. For a start, everything that can be done to give them an edge is done. The syndicates are built around people with the best-possible skills in highly specialised tasks. They assemble the best equipment - boat, sails, hardware. They bust themselves in preparation, for example in reconnaissance of weather conditions before designing the boat or rig. And sometimes they do a little industrial espionage to check on the competition.

But you've really got to sail with these specialists to learn their secrets. On an America's Cup yacht, status is based entirely on performance and everybody knows whether they're good or not. They don't grizzle; they just do it. Under pressure, they're like ice. Off the water, they stick together like Uhu - team-building doesn't begin to describe it. Most of them have a highly developed sense of humour.

And though few America's Cup yachties have ever read a book on management, we can learn a lot from them.