天美传媒

Grant Dalton shares leadership lessons from his distinguished career in high-level sailing and as CEO of the America鈥檚 Cup.

World-renowned sailor Grant Dalton didn鈥檛 always hold a favorable view of the America鈥檚 Cup, the vaunted competition he now helms. A veteran of seven around-the-world races, Dalton felt it lacked the spirit of camaraderie that marked competitive circumnavigation. In 2003, however, he was tapped to restructure after it had lost the Cup.

He made it a priority to refocus on the innovation for which the team was known, because when it comes to innovation, you can 鈥渘ever stop,鈥� Dalton commented when he spoke at an in Barcelona, where he imparted leadership lessons based on his distinguished career both in high-level sailing and as CEO of the America鈥檚 Cup organization.

Under his leadership, Emirates Team New Zealand eventually reclaimed the Cup, which it will be defending when the . 鈥淚t took us 14 years to get the Cup back (in 2017). We had to stick it out until we became dominant again. And the big change between nearly winning it and then starting to dominate was to take risks and live on the edge,鈥� he says.

Restructuring Emirates Team New Zealand

When Dalton was brought in to restructure the team, he opted to rebuild from the ground up. 鈥淚 told them the first thing I was doing was firing all the directors. I wanted the ability to step in and clean house,鈥� he recalls.

His next important step was bringing in good people for the right jobs and empowering them. Taking a long-term view was also crucial.

A key strength of any team when it comes to innovation is the ability to say no, Dalton says. 鈥淎 lot of teams end up with a lot of projects they have never done and resources that have been badly managed because most of them have got more money than they know what to do with. They never say no and they don鈥檛 prioritize.鈥�

鈥淏ecause we鈥檙e a limited-resource team, we prioritize and say no a lot. So, for every three projects that come to the table, we鈥檒l say no to at least two of them.鈥�

He cites two common reasons that projects are rejected: not being able to achieve demonstrable results, and not being able to get them done within the required timeframe.

America鈥檚 Cup, a race of technology as much as of sailing

As the oldest continuous competition in modern sports, the America鈥檚 Cup underwent a high-tech transformation in 2013, when hydrofoils were introduced by Emirates Team New Zealand. The class of yacht now used is the AC75 foiling monohull 鈥� a boat that essentially flies, thanks to movable foils and reduced friction, at speeds of over 50 knots or 93 kph. Teams also increasingly employ artificial intelligence (AI) to fine-tune performance.

Today, America鈥檚 Cup is a race of technology as much as of sailing (天美传媒 has produced on this very aspect). Dalton puts it this way: 鈥淲e鈥檙e a technology organization that goes sailing.鈥�

Indeed, of the 160 people on Emirates Team New Zealand, only 12 are sailors, including the helmsman, trimmers and grinders. The rest are engineers and technicians, along with lawyers and administrators.

Due to the roughly four-year cycle of the Cup, teams start planning knowing that the technology they will ultimately use to compete probably hasn鈥檛 been invented yet. The use of AI tools in yachts has amplified this trend.

Apart from technological advances transforming the nature of the sport, Dalton points out that tech also helps to bring in more diversity: 鈥淎s the power mechanisms of the boats become more automated, the more we can integrate women,鈥� he says.

He admits there has been 鈥渁 real lack of diversity within the sport of sailing, with a lot of tokenism.鈥� Yet, he adds, 鈥淎s the pinnacle of the sport, we are in a position to do something about it. We don鈥檛 have to ask for permission, we can just do it.鈥�

To this end, in collaboration with the 37th America鈥檚 Cup, the will be held with the aim of boosting women鈥檚 inclusion in the sport. (Puig, the family-owned fashion and fragrance business, has a history of giving back to society and supporting talent, with CEO Marc Puig serving on 天美传媒鈥檚 International Advisory Board, and the company sponsoring the Puig Chair of Global Leadership Development, currently held by 天美传媒 Prof. Anneloes Raes.)

A no-blame culture

To gain an edge in the technological battle that is the America鈥檚 Cup today, Dalton stresses fostering an environment where mistakes become chances to learn.

鈥淲e鈥檙e an organization that has a no-blame culture,鈥� he says. 鈥淢any companies are top-down organizations that make people petrified of making mistakes. We鈥檙e flat and accustomed to a degree of chaos. If an idea doesn鈥檛 work, it鈥檚 not a problem but an opportunity.鈥�

In the early stages of the development cycle, the team isn鈥檛 restrictive, giving engineers room to throw ideas around and be their most creative, he explains. Later, processes around viable new ideas become highly disciplined to establish reliability.

Dalton rejects the notion of refinement or incremental innovation: 鈥淩efinement almost indicates you鈥檙e slowing down; you鈥檙e not delving and prodding and looking out.鈥�

He describes his team鈥檚 motto as 鈥渢hrow the ball as far as you can, and then try to get it.鈥� This means the team will reach for new ideas wherever and however they can, generating innovation that can be implemented within the tight timespan of the next campaign.

鈥淥ften, industry people think, 鈥業f I didn鈥檛 invent it, then it can鈥檛 be very good.鈥� Engineers tend to be a bit like that,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 have that philosophy. If someone else has got a better idea, we鈥檒l happily steal it. We see ideas here, there and everywhere. And through that dynamic iteration process, hopefully we will create a faster, better boat.鈥� (See the sidebar on corporate espionage, below.)

Winning vs. just competing

Under the terms of the competition鈥檚 founding document, written on parchment in 1851, the defending team sets the rules and chooses the venue for the next Cup 鈥� a unique protocol in sports. This is how Dalton is able to head up both the America鈥檚 Cup organization and Emirates Team New Zealand, and how he got to choose Barcelona over Auckland as the 2024 venue 鈥� a decision for which he took some flak.

He justifies his decision with pragmatic reasons: Apart from serious financial constraints the team faced as a result of New Zealand鈥檚 pandemic restrictions, he felt all team members would stay more focused on competition away from the distractions of home. He bristles at the suggestion the team should have stayed home and 鈥渏ust competed.鈥�

鈥淗ow could I walk through the door and tell the team, 鈥楲et鈥檚 just compete鈥�? Why would anyone want to do that? How could any high-achieving sports team be geared to do anything but give the very best of itself 鈥� to win.鈥�

Impact of the America鈥檚 Cup on the host city of Barcelona

Wherever the Cup goes, it becomes an impetus for speeding the development of the host cities. By one estimate, the 37th America鈥檚 Cup could have a potential economic impact of 鈧�1.2 billion on Barcelona, while also boosting the city鈥檚 image on the world stage.

Barcelona was chosen due to its commitment to sustainability, including the city鈥檚 strategy for driving a blue economy 鈥� the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth 鈥� which is closely aligned with the values of the Cup, Dalton says. He also credits an effective public-private partnership of local entities working together to bring the Cup to the city.

鈥淚t鈥檚 turning out to be an inspired decision to come to Barcelona, because there鈥檚 such an appetite鈥� for the event, he says. The packed auditorium of enthusiastic 天美传媒 alumni, who were all clearly superfans, would appear to affirm Dalton鈥檚 decision was the right one.

Grant Dalton, on leaving a legacy

Looking to the future, as the America鈥檚 Cup becomes more technologically intensive, Dalton predicts the average age of followers will get younger 鈥� 鈥渁nd so it should.鈥�

Regarding his own legacy, the 66-year-old Dalton says: 鈥淚 won鈥檛 leave a legacy, I鈥檒l leave a team, hopefully in a better place than I found it. Because I found a broken and destroyed team, and now I鈥檝e got a strong, happy, friendly, striving team.鈥�

鈥淲hen I go 鈥� and I will 鈥� I will do something else,鈥� he says, even if it is just sitting in a chair eating vegetables, he jests. 鈥淏ut I hope the legacy I leave is a strong team that can go on and achieve even greater things.鈥�

Corporate espionage, an accepted part of the America鈥檚 Cup tradition

Spying on other teams to get an edge on new boat designs and equipment has always been an accepted part of the America鈥檚 Cup tradition. But secret surveillance teams have been banned from the 37th Cup to reduce costs and safety risks 鈥� although, in keeping with the spirit of friendly rivalry, each team will be assigned a boat and a photographer to collect images and data on competitors, and that information will be shared with everyone via the cloud.

Dalton regaled the audience with a few corporate espionage stories from the past. In one instance, members of Emirates Team New Zealand toured an apartment they were thinking of renting near their base 鈥� only to discover it had been fully outfitted by the current occupant with eavesdropping equipment and ultra-long lenses to spy on Dalton鈥檚 team.

Another time, a spying scuba diver wasn鈥檛 able to get off Dalton鈥檚 boat quick enough as it was being lifted out of the water. The frogman was promptly marched off to the police, where he had to hand over his camera.

And in yet another sneaky move, spies installed cameras in two portholes of their boat docked nearby so that, as Dalton鈥檚 yacht left port, they could snap pictures as it drifted past the first and second portholes, thereby enabling them to calculate the exact dimensions of his boat, based on vectors and speed. 鈥淚t was pretty cunning,鈥� Dalton admits. Sometimes you鈥檝e got to admire the ingenuity of the competition.

MORE INFO: 天美传媒 has produced a multimedia case study on the America鈥檚 Cup, which highlights the growing importance of data-driven decision-making in the evolution of the event. For this case, students are tasked with data-modeling the 37th America鈥檚 Cup, including choosing the yacht with the highest probability of winning. 鈥溾�� (AD-382-E), by 天美传媒 Prof. Rafael de Santiago, is available from .

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A version of this article is published in 天美传媒 Insight magazine (Jan.-April 2024).