I finally got around to watching “Senna” this week.
While you couldn’t call me a huge motorsport fan I, like millions of others around the world, was drawn to Formula 1 in the late 1980’s hooked by the spectacle that was Senna versus Prost.
It is a classic tale. On one side, the World Champion, an establishment figure from the Old World, Frenchman Alain Prost known as “The Professor” for his calculated approach to each race and his broader career. On the other side, the young, maverick driver from the New World, Brazilian Ayrton Senna who believed his talent and success were God-given and that his integrity and talent were all he needed to get ahead.
It got me thinking.
While we all like to think that integrity and talent are the key factors to success most of us accept that politics plays a part in the success of anything. But where is the balance?
Team mates. Rivals.
About 40% of the projects I work on depend on sponsorship or partner funding to proceed each year. Each year we commence the painful task of asking for money. We spend a lot of time and resources (a lot!) demonstrating how our programs are the perfect fit for a wide range of potential sponsors and partners.
These programs buck tradition, they are innovative, different and don’t always fit neatly into the funding parameters of potential partners. The inability to “tick a box” often sees us booted out the door before we can demonstrate how the programs do fit their broader objectives.
In some instances it seems no matter how innovative and altruistic your program is, you are assessed on a political framework that nods to tradition over innovation.
Senna often beat Prost on the track, but he never beat him in the steward’s room or the hallways of the FIA (Federation Intenationale de l’Automobile). Rules were changed and conventions ignored to benefit Prost* who was seen as “one of us” by the governing body.
FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre and Alain Prost confer.
So while Senna had enormous natural talent, Prost value-added to his talent by winning over the sport’s officials thereby ensuring that what he wanted would be seen as what the FIA needed.
He knew how to play the game.
Having worked in politics I’ve seen the game played by some of the best. How you managed politics determined how far your career progressed.
But to win elections we knew we couldn’t just rely on our base support.
We had to balance the politics with winning a larger share of the vote.
We also knew that to capture the swinging voter, we needed different approaches, varied communication styles and channels and the ability to paint a picture of a better future.
It is the same with agriculture. We communicate pretty well with our base – farmers and rural people. We don’t communicate as well with urban Australians. We don’t show them how we play a part in their lives. We don’t pop up in unusual places or with different messages. And we don’t show them our future without farming.
Traditional approaches will get results, but they will be the traditional results.
Both Senna and Prost were multiple World Champions despite their different approaches to racing. It was indeed this difference in their styles that made the rivalry so compelling and introduced a whole new audience (like me!) to Formula 1.
I know funds are limited, but agriculture must get smart. If we don’t tell agriculture’s story in new ways to new audiences, others will. You can bet on that.
Ayrton Senna died in 1994 when his car failed to take a corner as he led the San Marino Grand Prix. By the end of his 10-year career, he was still shaking the upper echelons of the sport by declaring Formula 1 was all about politics and money.
While watching the film it saddened me to think that perhaps Prost’s approach was correct. Perhaps playing politics is just as important as talent. Maybe what we need to do is play the game and stop trying to buck tradition. After all, it is Prost who is still alive.
But then I was reminded that 18 years after his death it is Ayrton Senna who is remembered as one of the sport's greatest drivers.
We need more Sennas in agriculture. People who love the industry and can communicate that love to a new audience. People who can capture the imagination of an audience who never thought it mattered before.
*Your views on this may vary depend on whether you were in the Prost or Senna camp!
