Ron Dennis and integrity

I love listening to Ron Dennis. Whilst Ronspeak comes with a certain level of corporate cliche, and its use of prosaic circumlocution can be irritating to some, the scale of Ron's achievement in the most competitive business in the world, bestows upon his utterances a sense of weight and solemnity, perhaps in the same way that the Higgs field purportedly bestows mass upon electrons and quarks.

Ron answered questions from the audience this week at the Autosport International show. Asked about his future plans, he intriguingly hinted at a semi-philanthropic role, helping to provide opportunities in life to young people. And in a year when others involved in the administration of Formula 1 continue to find themselves guided by dishonesty, expedience, vanity and self-interest, Ron remains a beacon of integrity:

Our company suffered a phenomenal fiscal penalty that would normally bring any organisation of our size to its knees, but in the end the one thing that came out – and we are not judging ourselves but we are judged by those people who really immersed themselves in the situation and really analysed everything about it, I believe the company emerged with its integrity, and I emerged with my integrity, and to me that is a priceless thing. Priceless.

Ron Dennis