Motorsports・Sports
How to Develop “Human Resources Who Move People’s Hearts”? Principal Takuma Sato’s Passion on a Talent Management System
In April 2023, Honda redefined “The Power of Dreams” for the first time in 23 years and announced a new tagline: “How we move you”. Translated into Japanese, it means “to move you with the power of dreams”. Racing drivers embody this tagline and give dreams and excitement to spectators. In this special feature, we will deliver interviews with Japanese drivers.
Takuma Sato, who won the Indy 500 twice in 2017 and 2020and who is currently the principal of Honda Racing School Suzuka (HRS) (*Click here for the first part of the article ). We asked Takuma, as the principal and head of HRS four-wheel driver training, how he has nurtured, with passion, the students who will carry the future of Honda’s motorsports.
Takuma Sato
Read MoreFocusing on developing human resources who can move people’s hearts
On September 6, 2023, at Suzuka Circuit, a scholarship selection was held by Honda Racing School Suzuka (HRS), a next-generation driver training organization.
A total of eight students will advance to this year’s scholarship selection. Up until this point, these promising young drivers have passed the advanced selection process STEP 1 and STEP 2 to enter the Formula class. Students who pass the STEP 2 selection and qualify for the Formula Class Advanced Course will receive direct instruction from instructors who are drivers who are active in various categories both domestically and internationally, and will ultimately proceed to the scholarship selection. Among these, only a few drivers who have achieved particularly excellent results will be given scholarships to compete in official formula car races such as FIA-F4 the following year.
Principal Takuma Sato giving advice to students at the scholarship selection
For 16 hours over four days, students will compete on the Suzuka International Racing Course using formula cars developed exclusively for this school. Principal Sato was among the instructors who enthusiastically communicated their passions to the students through gestures between circuit runs.
In his position as a principal who is at the top of four-wheel driver training at Honda Racing School Suzuka (HRS), as a graduate of Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula (currently Honda Racing School Suzuka Formula class), and as an active driver, he said he had a lot to tell the students in younger generations.
In the other part of the interview (https://global.honda/en/stories/078/), Principal Sato said that passion is the driving force behind making dreams come true. The key, he says, is the charm that moves people’s hearts
In order to become an F1 driver, you need to rise to the top of each staircase. When I was in school, I stubbornly believed in all possibilities. That’s why I told myself that if I didn’t get a scholarship, there would be no future for me, and I did not tolerate any compromises to achieve that goal.
I’m grateful that the school accepted that attitude at the time, and my approach has generally remained the same throughout my career. Fortunately, I have been supported by so many people and have been able to take on challenges on the front lines for many years. I believe that the breakthrough ability to achieve this goal was cultivated during my school days.
There are drivers who are passionate about winning races. There are fans who want to support them, teams and manufacturers who want to make their dreams come true together, and sponsors who support them. When everyone’s passions come together, the project begins to move forward. After all, people support people. A person’s charm is important.
If you’re just looking for a fast time, you don’t need HRS. All you have to do is sign a driver who is winning races. But I think it’s typical of Honda that they don’t do that. This is because Honda has always valued people and the connections they make. Honda is extremely particular about manufacturing, and aims to make as many people happy as possible through technology and products created with humanity. At Honda’s third-generation F1 team, where I competed, Honda trained young engineers and mechanics by bringing them to F1 every six months and returning them to the R & D.
Even if everything goes well on paper, unforeseen events can occur in the racetrack due to a complex interplay of factors, and immediate responses and countermeasures are required. Under the tremendous pressure of being constantly chased by time and results, they not only refine their individual skills but also the technical capabilities with the new colleagues, and with the power of a team, they are able to accomplish what they could not do alone. I think the emphasis was placed on nurturing engineers who could touch the hearts of many people by experiencing such cross-cultural communication in the extreme environment of a racetrack.
The same goes for drivers. Of course, being fast is an absolute requirement. But it’s not just about speed. What is needed is centripetal force to move people’s hearts. The purpose of HRS is to discover, support, and develop young drivers with such potential. A school should not only be a place to improve their skills to go faster, but also a place to nurture their spirit.
Principal Sato teaches the importance of nurturing the mind and connecting with people. Last year, a Talent Management System was introduced so that these factors could be linked to evaluation.
Introducing a talent management system and quantified expected values
What is the charm that can move people’s hearts? Principal Sato thought that it is the fun of creating something new, the challenge of exploring an unknown world, and the sense of anticipation. In order to pursue these goals, the school have introduced the Talent Management System specialized in the sports field jointly developed with Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, which centrally manages all data such as running results, physical performance, training content, and growth records. The system was created to scientifically calculate the strengths and weaknesses of athletes and evaluate them from multiple angles.
In 2023, just like the previous year, all runs from the start of the race in the spring until the final day of the scholarship selection will be “measured runs,” and practical points will be added to the “set runs,” which are simulated races. He has improved the accuracy of evaluation by introducing a deviation value system that covers not only simple rankings but also detailed contents such as time differences and instructor evaluations of hard work.
A person’s charm lies in the expectations they have for that person. It’s difficult to be asked to quantify your future potential. For example, if you compare two students, you may find that one student is currently faster, but there is a possibility that the other student’s potential will reverse the results in the future. It’s easy to say, but it’s hard for students to judge their possibilities based solely on the instructor’s subjective opinion.
Instructors are also human, so they cannot completely predict the future. Therefore, I thought that if we could scientifically back up each instructor ’s evaluation with data, the accuracy of measuring expected values would improve.
Formula class advanced course completion ceremony
Principal Sato believes that it is important to evaluate from various viewpoints, improve accuracy, and maintain a balance between qualitative and quantitative aspects. He said that he had a painful experience in the past where he could not be understood through qualitative evaluation alone, which made him want to improve the Talent Management System.
Recognized Ayumu Iwasa’s potential quickly and appealed directly to Honda
This is his fourth year as principal, and he has sent out many students so far. For Principal Sato, coaching Ayumu Iwasa, who is attracting attention as the racer closest to F1, is particularly memorable.
Iwasa is Principal Sato’s first graduate since starting work as the principal at HRS in 2019. Reforms that continue to this day had already begun at this time.
Honda wanted to take the school to the next stage. While making the most of the good things about the Suzuka Racing School, which has been around for a long time, a new approach should be taken to areas that need to evolve with the times. This includes discussions about teaching philosophy and a project to introduce a new car for practices in the school. In addition to stepping up to the domestic F4, with after graduation care in mind, which is programmed as a regular step-up, we also considered overseas scholarships at an early stage as a special placement.
Principal Takuma Sato (left) and Ayumu Iwasa (right)
The proposal was made at a time when collaboration with the French Federation of Automobile Sport (Fédération Française du Sport Automobile/FFSA) was just beginning, but Honda said "No" to the school’s initial approach. So he went to Honda’s head office in Aoyama and had a direct discussion.
I was asked how drivers’ abilities should be measured though the idea of investing for drivers’ future is understandable. So, along with Iwasa, I suggested that we bring along Ren Sato, who at the time had already won the domestic F4 championship and was one of Honda’s top young drivers. There was a lot of excitement about the return of overseas scholarships after a long absence, but this was not necessarily the fixed policy then. We want to support students in making the best step forward in school and F4. I hope to be able to provide support from a driver’s perspective and serve as a bridge to the next challenge.
As a result, Iwasa performed better than expected and won the French F4 championship in his first year. Now, as the driver closest to F1, he has grown into a driver representing the country.
The reason I was able to negotiate with such confidence was because I had been close to him at school and watched him grow. Iwasa has lived up to our expectations and is truly reliable, and Ren Sato has also grown greatly. This was the origin of the Talent Management System, which quantifies future possibilities.
Hoping to become a person who can continue to stand on the stage of challenges
The talent management system, which took three years to complete with the support of Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC, was fully introduced at 2022 scholarship selection. From that point, the school will begin to refine and establish the system that has been built by applying various coefficients while collecting data
What we need to focus on is how to demonstrate drivers’ abilities, produce results, and acquire the strength to continue to grow as they step up. With the introduction of the Talent Management System, instructor evaluations are numerically supported by data, making it possible to understand student growth more fairly and accurately.
And by using the cloud system, we can understand the situation in real time from anywhere. By creating such an environment and seeing the growth of each student at the school, we would like to find and support “drivers who can move people’s hearts”.
Principal Takuma Sato (left), Vice Principal Shinji Nakano (right), and 4 students who advanced to the scholarship selection (center)
Four candidates were selected in the 2023 scholarship selection. There were students who were able to make it this far, and there were students who were not able to make it, and the scholarship selection also became a major crossroads for them. We asked Principal Sato to give a message to young people chasing their dreams.
Yuki (Tsunoda) is now one of Japan’s leading drivers, but he hasn’t received any scholarships either. The drivers who came to help with the selection today are also active in F4, but some of them did not graduate at the top.
The scholarship is not everything, but I hope that they will be able to take on the next challenge by turning their confidence in being able to take part in the selection, what they have learned here, and their thoughts into energy.
No one wants to fail, and it takes a lot of courage to take on a challenge. Even in a world where all kinds of information are easily available, there are still not many people who can take action and take on challenges. Society and the world are not easy. That’s why I want them to take on the challenge at school. I want them to go beyond their limits, make mistakes, find answers to overcome challenges, and raise their limits to the next level. That process is what growth is all about. I believe that only those who can keep trying are the ones who can achieve their dreams.
Original article issued on October 18, 2023
Index
F1, which our students are aiming for, is a very tough world. Although the students are rivals at the scholarship selection event, they are still classmates from the same school and are friends who support each other while improving their skills.
However, if they go out of school and fight in the motorsports field of the world, they will be faced with a situation where they will struggle alone, with no one to protect them. Sometimes there is nothing they can do on their own. However, it is only themselves who can forge that path. What kind of power do they need to acquire in order to do this? We believe that our role is to support them in realizing this.