A both skipper and chief executive of the Puma team competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, Ken Read has to divide his attention between sailing and managing. Whatever the role, Read is driven by one thing – winning the race
KEN READ’S OFFICE is a 70ft, state-of-the-art sailboat. His job is leading the Puma Ocean Racing team’s challenge across four oceans during the eight-month, 39,000-mile odyssey that is the Volvo Ocean Race. It is an environment in which temperaments and teamwork are tested to the limit.
“These boats are awesome, powerful, fast machines that on a good day are the greatest boats you could ever dream to sail and on a bad day, can scare the crap out of you,” says Read, who is somewhat unusual in combining the roles of skipper and chief executive of the Puma team.
Where Read’s job differs significantly from that of a conventional CEO is in its focus. Read is driven by one thing – winning the race. There is no long-term business strategy.
“At the end of the race it all dissolves,” he says. “If you’re going to do it again, you start from scratch with everything from your boat to your crew.”
Unsurprisingly, funding is a perennial issue. “If you think the race is about sailing, you’re wrong. It’s about selling propellers, or sneakers or whatever. The sailboat is just the method. Without the commercial dimension there is no race,” he says.
Read was lucky. Puma approached him for the 2008/09 race and renewed its sponsorship for 2011/12. “The chances of finding a sponsor by cold calling into their boardroom are slim. You’ve got to have contacts and get lucky,” Read says.
Asked how an organisation calculates the return on an investment of what up to now has been around €25 million (this is set to fall to around €15 million with the recent announcement of a single class design for future races), Read says: “That’s the million dollar question. All I can say is that, in my experience, if it is done properly, there can be huge payback.
“Puma experienced a lift in sales in all of its lifestyle brands in every country we visited during the race. The race is a great test bed for an outdoor brand like Puma. If we can use their products successfully, that says a lot.”
The Volvo Ocean Race tests both skill and endurance to the limit. The crews get as little as two hours sleep a day and live in cramped conditions inside a carbon shell. Temperatures fluctuate between minus 15 degrees and plus 40 degrees and sailors get ill and suffer painful injuries thousands of miles from medical help.
Food rations are also tight (to save on weight) and Read admits his big treat when ashore for rest is peanut butter and jelly.
Few managers would relish the prospect of managing a sleep- and food-deprived team working 24/7 and Read says getting the crew chemistry right is crucial.
However, he eschews psychological profiling, basing his selection on gut instinct and knowledge of the people involved.
“One bad egg will rip the whole thing apart, and this extends to the team on land including the crew’s families and spouses. You succeed on the strength of your people or you crash and burn,” he says.
The Puma team comprises 27 people, 11 of whom are on the boat. Read says a mistake professional sailing teams often make is having too many “chiefs”. “You have skippers with multiple PAs who have assistants with assistants. My PA is my Mac Book Pro.”
Because of the unpredictable environment, Read often has to make big decisions in a split second. “Situations arise at the drop of a hat and you have to deal with them as confidently as you can. You try to do the right thing and make bold, calculated decisions that will keep everyone safe and hopefully win you the race. You can’t let things simmer as nothing good will come of it,” he says.
“My overall view on managing people is why hire great people if you then micro manage them? Let them do their jobs. Be there to help, not to meddle. Yes, I have the final say if it comes down to it – but if you hire correctly, you don’t have rows.”
Even with a highly experienced elite crew and a boat embodying leading-edge nautical design, construction and technology, things can still go wrong. During the 2011/12 race team, Puma was challenging for the lead when it suffered the catastrophic loss of its mast on the very first leg from Spain to South Africa.
“It was a huge setback,” Read says. “If ever there was an opportunity to pack the whole thing in, this was it. Nobody even mentioned it. These guys never needed a ‘ra ra’ speech from me to keep going.”
In addition to being a professional sailor, Read is a businessman and the former owner of a sail-making company with which he still has connections. “I learn from doing big races like the Americas Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race and the company learns from me,” he says.
“My business background was a big factor for Puma. They wanted someone who understood sailing but also how to balance a budget, achieve a return on investment and manage a changing business.
“As with each new version of a car, with each new boat things get stronger and faster. There is some serious HP [horespower] in these boats. They are like 70ft rocket ships that get airborne between the waves.”
