Toto Wolff reveals how 'trauma and humiliation' SHAPED him

Toto Wolff

Wolff reveals how 'trauma and humiliation' SHAPED him

The Mercedes chief was talking on Sky Sports' 'Secrets of Success' documentary

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:57

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Toto Wolff has talked about the way 'humiliation and trauma' have shaped him as a man and a leader, although he admitted that he would prefer not to have gone through them.

The Austrian Mercedes boss told Sky Sports' 'Secrets of Success' documentary that his father's battle with brain cancer shaped him as a boy, saying the trauma remains part of him.

The two-hour documentary saw a number of sporting leaders from cricket, rugby union, the NFL, cycling and football talking to former England cricket captain Nasser Hussain about their leadership styles and journeys.

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"You are good at things and bad at others," he responded, when asked if leaders were born or made. "You have a certain degree of talent but there is a bit influence through your childhood. I believe that there were many things in my life, humiliation and trauma, that were beneficial for my later career. I'd rather not have them.

Wolff: 'Great leaders need luck'

"[Leadership] is a mix in my opinion, talent needs to meet hard work, passion and enthusiasm, particularly with children and teenagers that grow up. The right support network, and then a big portion of luck."

Wolff's Mercedes team won an astonishing eight consecutive constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021, smashing the previous record of six held by the Ferrari team of the late 90s and early 2000s.

"It has an impact until today," he said when asked about his father's death. "Since I can remember, my father was ill with brain cancer, he suffered with it for ten years and eventually died when I was 15. There is a time where as a boy you need a father. That wasn't the case for me.

"We were in financially difficult circumstances which didn't help either, so that certainly is a part of how I am today with all the bad sides that come with it, the trauma, but on the other side ambition and eagerness to do well."