Business leaders at every level are talking about talent retention, but let me share a hard truth from the racetrack. When milliseconds separate victory from defeat, you don’t rely on gut instinct, you trust the data.
After two decades in both racing and corporate leadership, I’ve watched too many organisations crash and burn by ignoring the very metrics that could have saved them. The parallels are striking, and the cost of falling behind is devastating.
What really grabbed me recently was AGL’s Chief People Officer, Amanda Lee, stating: ‘We’re working towards getting data faster, getting better insights, and turning those insights into actions.’
Hearing this gave me flashbacks to racing’s transformation, that pivotal moment when we stopped relying on instinct and started trusting data.
Here’s what’s keeping me up at night guys… too many leaders are still running their teams like we used to race, on pure gut feel. It’s nearly 2025! Think about that. It’s like trying to win Formula 1 with a stopwatch and a prayer.
Let’s look at what AGL’s doing with Workday that’s changing their game:
They’ve scrapped annual reviews for real-time analytics (because imagine trying to win a race with last year’s data). They’re using AI to predict career trajectories before their people even map them out. And they’re catching performance issues before they become resignations, or as we’d say in racing, DNFs.
Through Workday’s career hub and talent tools, they’re reading the future like we read track conditions, spotting development gaps like we spot brake wear, and building capabilities before they’re needed (because trust me, you don’t want to learn pit stops during a race).
The question isn’t whether to use data anymore, that ship has sailed.
The real questions are:
- How quickly can you detect flight risks in your talent pool?
- Are you still running plays from last season’s book?
- When did you last upgrade your leadership dashboard?
Here’s the bottom line, just like the most successful race teams don’t simply throw money at the car, they invest in the entire ecosystem, AGL gets it. Their partnership with Swinburne Edge isn’t just about learning new tech. It’s about building the human capability to use it effectively.
Time to make your call:
Are you still leading with outdated tools? Because in both racing and business, the teams embracing data-driven decisions while maintaining the human touch are the ones spraying the champagne.
Ready to stop guessing and start knowing?
Let’s talk about upgrading your leadership approach. Because sometimes, just like in racing, the difference between keeping and losing your best talent comes down to having the right insights at the right moment.
P.S. Remember the skeptics who said racing was all about feel? They’re watching races from home now. Don’t let that be your leadership legacy.
