Glyn Hall has spent three decades building up South Africa's most successful motorsport team and export. Last month, in parallel with Red Bull's design guru, Adrian Newey, Hall left the team he founded.

In an era when the politically minded like to punt slogans such as "Proudly South African", the practical reality of succeeding through competitiveness demands being proudly global and proudly diverse. This applies to markets, logistics, technologies, and, at the centre of all of this, the ability of personalities to integrate, innovate and implement.

A month ago, the story broke in the international media of Formula One design expert Adrian Newey's imminent departure from the all-conquering Red Bull team. Newey's designs have won 12 constructors and 13 drivers' championships for three teams with seven different drivers.

An F1 team in the 1970s might have numbered 20 people; in the 1980s, 50 or 60. Today, the large teams are touching 1,500, with more than 100 in just the design office. Ferrari has over 400 people in its engine department alone.

Still, Newey's talent is regarded as extraordinary in terms of his ability to break down complex problems and seek advantage by interpreting the regulations differently from his peers. It involves the intersection of skills and technologies and places a premium on management.

As Newey himself writes, previously, "every motor racing team effectively had three engineering disciplines: the design and aerodynamics offices,...