LEWIS HAMILTON AND MERCEDES
Formula one CHAMPIONS
The best people in general are never looking to leave. They are well respected, well rewarded and have excellent prospects, so the right candidates must be found, an interest must be created and given the guidance necessary to join a new business; to do this a specialist is needed in their field. We understand the essence of talent in business, whether transformational or strategic. The best in class are not common and need to be nurtured during their engagement and after they
join their new firm. At ZYNA we have a track record that speaks for itself. In 2012 Lewis Hamilton quit McLaren, a team of proven, habitual winners, and decided to take flight with Mercedes, simultaneously turning down a deal which would have made him the best-paid driver in Formula One. Few had seen it coming and even less believed it made sense. Two years on, with Hamilton crowned World Champion, the response to Lewis’ bombshell makes for interesting reading.
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
NFL all-time leading player and coach
We seek to avoid the old familiar faces, cross fertilise between sectors and keep an eye on the rising generations. Recommendations become a matter of advising clients, (sometimes quite surprising advice) not bluntly presenting a shortlist or proposing the popular choices. In 2000, the New England Patriots were a mess. The Patriots had lost six of their final eight games during the 1999 season and fired head coach Pete Carroll. Bill Belichick was hired to replace Carroll, and the team made one of the biggest steals in NFL Draft history:
Tom Brady. Brady and Bill Belichick have combined to form one of the most successful quarterback-coach tandems in NFL history a move that would win the franchise three Super Bowls in the next five seasons. A lot of people think the Patriots just got lucky in drafting a future Hall of Famer so late in the draft. In reality, luck had very little to do with it. It’s not that the Patriots wanted to draft a tall, lanky, slow quarterback. Belichick did a lot of homework on him, along with his staff, on his mental makeup and leadership skills
Torvil AND Dean
1984 Olympic Ice Dance Gold medalists
Torvill and Dean’s 1984 Olympic free dance was skated to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. Olympics rules stated that the free dance must be 4 minutes long. They were told that the minimum time that Boléro could be condensed down to was 4 minutes 28 seconds. Torvill and Dean reviewed the Olympic
rule book and found that it stated that the actual timing of a skating routine began when the skaters started skating, rather than when the music started. They timed the performance so that when Torvill first placed a blade on the ice, they would have the maximum skating time remaining to dance for gold.