I’ve been a fan of Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh ever since I saw her in the Ang Lee-helmed 2000 hit movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, among the films that made the world take notice of Asian talent. Prior to that, she was the first Southeast Asian bond girl in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies, with the then-James Bond, Pierce Brosnan. So, I — and some of my colleagues in Rappler — were glad to have had the opportunity to meet…well, not Michelle, but her husband, Jean Todt.
Todt who?
For those not familiar with car racing, Todt is a French rally driver who won many international car rallies in the sixties and seventies. But that’s not what he’s famous for. After joining Italian car manufacturer Ferrari in 1993, he led its racing division, Scuderia Ferrari, win 14 Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Formula One World titles and 106 Grand Prix races. He made Ferrari, also known for its black and yellow “Prancing Horse” logo, the most successful Formula One racing team.
He would later take on leadership positions in the Ferrari-Maserati Group starting in 2004, and became its CEO in 2006. After leaving Ferrari in 2009, he was appointed by then-United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, a post that he still holds today.
Todt was in Manila recently to promote this advocacy and, on his last day in Manila, November 11, he met with Rappler executive editor Glenda Gloria, Rappler head of community Pia Ranada, and myself. Actually, he had asked to meet Rappler CEO Maria Ressa again, this time with her team in the newsroom (as they met only briefly in New York), but she was abroad.
So, why did he meet with Rappler?
After our nearly one-hour personal exchange with Todt, it became clear to me he was trying to do what he did when he was with Ferrari: build a team that can win a cause.
You see, when he was with Ferrari, Todt was credited for choosing the right people who could bring glory to Scuderia Ferrari, which was then not a great racing team. He then hired Ross Brawn, the technical director of one of Ferrari’s competitors, Benetton, and Rory Byrne (also formerly with Benetton), whom he described as the “great chief designer.” But it was Todt’s move to get German driver, Michael Schumacher, to leave Benetton and join Ferrari that made him an icon in the world of racing.
With the team that Todt put together, Schumacher became the most successful Formula 1 champion winning 5 straight world titles. From 1993 to 2008, Scuderia Ferrari won 14 Formula 1 World Titles and 106 Grand Prix victories.
“For success you need to have a great team and a great car. Then you can bring in the driver and he will be able to deliver. But most essential is the level of the team and the car which is supplied to the driver,” Todt said in an interview with French columnist Alain Elkann back in July 2022. “I tried to get the best people available, or to convince them to join us even if they were not on the market.”
Todt reiterated this strategy — the importance of building an excellent team — in his talk with Rappler. During his trip, he told us that he met with the people whom he thought would best be able to address the problem of road crashes. Road traffic deaths in the Philippines increased from 7,938 in 2011 to 11,096 in 2021, according to the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2023-2028. It’s the 8th leading cause of death for all ages, and road injuries cost around 2.6% of GDP. The plan seeks to reduce the number of road traffic deaths by 25% in 2028.
So, who did Todt meet with during his visit?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Health Secretary Ted Herbosa, Transport Secretary Jimmy Bautista, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Don Artes. He also met with his UN family in the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank, the French ambassador, and held a press conference. The Rappler visit was the last on his itinerary before he flew to London to see his wife where she was promoting her latest movie, the musical fantasy Wicked.
Todt was aware of Rappler’s critical stance toward the former administration of Rodrigo Duterte and asked for an update on Maria Ressa and Rappler’s legal battles. We told him there were only two cases left to be won with finality. He then went on to stress that the problem of road safety was one that every citizen and organization should support, regardless of one’s political beliefs.
He talked of how his home country France had a similar problem with road traffic deaths in its early years of motorization, but this would gradually go down through the years. In 1972, road fatalities in France peaked at 18,000 or a rate of 35 deaths per 100,000, but this would go down to 2,541 in 2020 or 3.9 deaths per 100,000, according to the International Transport Forum Road Safety Report 2021 on the situation in France.
In our conversation, Todt also stressed the importance of education, starting in the early years of school, on road safety, such as the importance of wearing helmets for those riding motorcycles, and other strategies that the UN and the World Health Organization have laid out. He talked about the safety measure he initiated in Ferrari — the “halo” metal bar in a racing car — that has helped save the lives of Formula 1 drivers.
Todt then asked what Rappler could contribute to the cause, and Pia told him about Rappler’s initiatives to make Manila and other cities in the Philippines livable. I’m sure that even though he didn’t get to meet Maria Ressa, he was encouraged by what a millennial Filipina told him.
And, given his leadership background, Todt knew the importance of monitoring performance and results. Before saying farewell, Todt vowed to return to the Philippines to see if the country’s road safety numbers would show improvement, and looked forward to meeting with Rappler again.
Todt reminded me of what the late soldier-engineer Fidel V. Ramos did when he was the country’s president — and even after as Citizen Eddie. His mantra was “unity, solidarity, and teamwork” toward achieving sustainable development for the Philippines. He often reminded people that we’re all in the same boat, and if one or some of those rowing the boat aren’t in unison with the rest, there would be slow progress.
[READ: Fidel Valdez Ramos: The president who guarded democracy, broke monopolies, made peace]
Todt’s message of building the right team to deliver results is so relevant today as we witness the worsening rift between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. Marcos’s choice of the then-Davao mayor as his running mate for the 2022 elections resulted in a landslide victory for both, but it wasn’t the right choice for nation-building. It was a short-sighted decision based on the need to win the elections.
But as we are now seeing unfold with the reported misuse of confidential and intelligence funds, Sara was not qualified as education secretary. And with her recent statements about wanting to — and of hiring someone — to kill the President, the First Lady, and the House Speaker, many have questioned her fitness to be the constitutional successor to the country’s CEO.
It’s a bitter lesson not just for the President, but also for the electorate. It’s also a clear sign on the need for political reforms, especially with respect to the country’s party system.
A reported quote from Todt several years ago on Scuderia Ferrari’s season is useful to our predicament: “.. to win, you need excellence from all points of view. And when excellence fails, it is important to understand where the error comes from. If you often make the same mistakes, then it means that there is something that needs to change.”
So, even though I didn’t get to meet Michelle Yeoh, I’m glad we were able to meet — and learn leadership lessons first-hand — from her better half.
Looking forward to meeting you again, Jean Todt! – Rappler.com
(BizSights is the first of a series of vlogs on business insights and perspectives. Share your thoughts on this vlog in Rappler’s Community Money Chat room.)
