Otmar Szafnauer has been on a wild ride. Born in Semlac, a small village in Romania, he immigrated with his family to Detroit, Michigan as a young boy.

Szafnauer received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Wayne State University and a master's degree in business and finance from the University of Detroit.

He joined the Ford Motor Company and was appointed program manager for Ford in the United States. While he was working at Ford, Szafnauer had larger ambitions and attended the Jim Russell Car Racing School. The engineer turned race car driver.

After Ford, Szafnauer became the operations director at British American Racing in Formula 1 (F1), hired by Honda. He then rose to vice-president of Honda racing developments and became a member of the management board of the Honda F1 team. Szafnauer later joined Force India. He was, up until very recently, the CEO and team principal of the Aston Martin F1 Team.

In an in-depth conversation, Szafnauer shared his management philosophy.