Organization Horsepower: Thinking Like a Motorcycle Racing Team

Business can be abstract and detached. By comparison, motorcycle racing is primal and visceral, and has an unmistakable goal. Harrison Withers, expert talent development consultant and amateur motorcycle racer, has cleverly brought those two worlds together, finding unique parallels between concepts of business and those of motorcycle racing. He views the relationship between the two through the lens of technology, people, and performance. It all starts with the motivation to engage why business practitioners and racers alike not only accept the risk, but embrace and ultimately love it. Analogies abound between business and racing: Where people fit on the team, how performance is measured, how it is improved, and how to put predictive models into practice; competitive class structures, organizational design, the role of simulation in testing and practice, and race-day execution. Harrison s thoughts bring to light some connections we ve never thought of before and in so doing given us a fresh perspective on business. Book foreword by Erik Buell, motorcycling legend and managing member of Erik Buell Racing.

Harrison Withers has been searching for ways to help people perform better since 1993. He has a talent for figuring out what the true cause of a problem is and what barriers need to be overcome to get a person where they want to go. He's passionate about helping people make a measurable difference in their businesses. A graduate of Michigan Technological University, Harrison has almost 2 decades of experience in the learning, performance improvement, and human resources fields and is expert at technology implementations linked to performance improvement including social, collaborative, and mobile technologies. His writing and thought leadership extends through regular blogs on both business and guitar building. He has been a featured contributor for the Management Innovation eXchange with Adapting Business Metrics to Build Credibility and Trust. He was also the editor and curator for Quotes, Facts, Benchmarks, and Best Practices on People and Analytics. Harrison is a regular consultant to businesses that seek to significantly improve or transform their approach to talent development in the areas of onboarding, sales and leadership development. He is also a frequent speaker on talent development and the role of technology as part of a talent development strategy.