Toto Wolff to teach MBA course at Harvard Business School

The Austrian will teach a course for first and second year MBA students course under the title Mercedes F1: Leading a High-Performance Team.

The course will take place in January 2024, taking advantage of a rare relatively quiet period in Wolff’s usually hectic schedule as boss of the Brackley organisation.

Wolff will teach the course in conjunction with Professor Anita Elberse, with whom he has worked closely in recent years.

Dutch-born Elberse followed Wolff and the team during the 2021 season, studying the way he operated, and wrote a case study called ‘Toto Wolff and the Mercedes Formula One Team’, which led to previous appearances by Wolff at the university’s campus in Massachusetts.

The pair also collaborated on an article in the prestigious Harvard Business Review called ‘Number One in Formula One’, which encapsulated Wolff’s approach to leadership in six lessons.

The Executive Fellow role is granted to people working in various areas who are willing to teach in their spare time alongside their day jobs.

“I feel very honoured and privileged to continue working with the incredibly bright young minds at Harvard,” said Wolff.

“Whenever I step on campus, I am inspired by the students’ curiosity and ambition, and I leave energised by the special learning environment they create together with the brilliant faculty.”

“We very much look forward to welcoming Toto back to campus,” said Elberse. “I have seen first-hand how much our students benefit from learning about Toto’s leadership journey and from his deep knowledge of what it takes to run a highly successful sports team.

“With Toto on board, I am confident that we can make a profound positive difference in the development of the leaders of tomorrow.”

Professor Len Schlesinger, Chair of the Practice Faculty, said: “HBS is fortunate to be able to benefit from this dynamic partnership of Anita and Toto; I am confident it will be a spectacular experience for the students.”