Every Role Makes the Car Faster
Connect every role to a comparable contribution and demand disciplined excellence
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
This framework turns an abstract team mission into role-level accountability. Begin with the final competitive outcome, then identify how every function influences the system that produces it. For each role, find the equivalent role in a competing organization and define what responsible outperformance looks like within that function. Accounting, cleaning, engineering, logistics, and leadership do not contribute in identical ways, but each can improve or weaken the environment in which the core product is created. When employees understand this causal chain, support work stops appearing peripheral and standards become relevant to everyone. The framework produces shared purpose without erasing specialist responsibilities: each person owns a different lever, but disciplined execution across all levers compounds into better organizational performance.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business through Toto Wolff's explanation that every Mercedes team member, including people in finance, accounting, and cleaning, contributes to making the race car faster.
Core principles
- 01Every function has a counterpart performing it for a competitor
- 02Support work contributes indirectly but materially to the final result
- 03Outperformance should be defined within each person's sphere of control
- 04Discipline and responsibility convert role performance into team advantage
- 05No contribution is too small to connect to the mission
How to run it
- 1
Define the finish line
State the mission-level outcome in language every function can understand, such as making the car faster or improving the customer's result.
Pro tip Use one vivid outcome rather than a collection of corporate abstractions.
Watch out Do not substitute a financial target if employees cannot connect it to their work.
- 2
Map each contribution
Trace how every role affects the people, processes, reliability, speed, or environment that produces the final result.
Pro tip Ask each function to explain its own causal chain before leadership edits it.
Watch out Avoid dismissing indirect contributions merely because they are difficult to quantify.
- 3
Find the counterpart
Identify who performs the same function in a competing organization or against an external benchmark.
Pro tip Use the comparison to clarify standards, not to encourage imitation.
Watch out Choose a genuinely comparable role and operating context.
- 4
Define role-level outperformance
Set controllable measures of quality, responsiveness, discipline, and responsibility for each function.
Pro tip Combine quantitative indicators with observable professional standards.
Watch out Do not hold people accountable for outcomes they cannot influence.
- 5
Reinforce mission linkage
Review performance in terms of both functional excellence and its contribution to the shared outcome.
Pro tip Celebrate examples from less visible teams to demonstrate that the message is real.
Watch out Recognizing only frontline stars will undermine the framework.
In the wild
A racing team improves bathroom cleaning, installs hand sanitizers, and assigns health management responsibility. Though removed from car engineering, better hygiene reduces avoidable illness among people whose availability and concentration affect race preparation.
→ An apparently minor support function improves workforce health and protects competitive execution.
A software company's finance team redesigns purchasing approvals for essential development tools. It retains controls while reducing preventable waiting time and measuring turnaround against peers.
→ Finance improves its own function and shortens the path from engineering decision to customer value.
Common mistakes
Celebrating only visible performers
Focusing recognition on frontline stars signals that supporting roles are secondary even when the system depends on them.
Using vague motivational language
People need a credible causal link and role-specific standard, not merely a slogan about teamwork.
Benchmarking without control
Comparisons become demoralizing when people are measured on results outside their authority or resources.
Is it for you?
Best for
Large cross-functional organizations where support teams struggle to see how their work affects performance.
Not ideal for
Leaders who invoke a shared mission while withholding the resources, authority, or fair measures needed to contribute.
From the transcript
“Absolutely every single team member contributes to the team's success.”
“And as long as you're able to outperform that person, and you keep that in mind, you're contributing to the team's dynamic and to the…”
“And that's why everyone in their position, if done with discipline and responsibility, is contributing to making the car faster.”
From the episode
Fueling Success for Mercedes F1 with Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff