When Data Says No (But You Don’t)

The Porsche 911 was dead in 1981. Then one man grabbed a marker.

If things had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have been staring at the brand-new Porsche 911 over the weekend.

(Btw: This isn't a picture of the new 911... I'm posting this one I saw on Saturday because I LOVE the number plate hahaha).

Lets go back to 1980.

Porsche is in trouble. Sales were down. Their newest models—the 924 and 928—weren’t selling as well as they had hoped, and the Board had made what seemed like the only logical decision:

Phase out the 911.

The car was too expensive to build.
Too difficult to evolve.

They needed something fresh, something the world actually wanted.

So, they drew up the plans.

And right there, in black and white, on the production charts pinned to the wall of Porsche’s engineering office, was the company’s future strategy:
✔️ 928 production—ramping up.
✔️ 944 production—full steam ahead.
❌ 911 production—ends in 1981.

That was it. The official end of an icon.

Then Peter Schutz walked in.

He was the first American CEO Porsche had ever hired. Here's what he said:

"You have to understand that, in Germany, once a decision is made, it’s made. As far as the company was concerned, the 911 was history. But I overturned the board’s decision in my third week on the job.

I remember the day quite well: I went down to the office of our lead engineer, Professor Helmuth Bott, to discuss plans for our upcoming model.

I noticed a chart hanging on his wall that depicted the ongoing development trends of our top three lines: 911, 928, and 944.

The 911, the line stopped in 1981.

I grabbed a marker off Professor Bott’s desk and extended the 911 line across the page, onto the wall, and out the door.

When I came back, Bott stood there, grinning. “Do we understand each other?” I asked. And with a nod, we did."

--
This is Porsche folklore.

And just like that, the decision was made. No meetings. No committees. No PowerPoint decks.

A single stroke of ink that changed automotive history.

Porsche doubled down on the 911.

Instead of killing it off, they evolved it, refined it, made it AMAZING.

And today? It’s one of the most iconic cars in the world.

This story stuck with me so much, I had to talk about it in today’s podcast episode.

Because this isn’t just about cars.

It’s about knowing what matters and refusing to let the world convince you otherwise.

Because sometimes, the data says no.
The experts say no.
The world tells you to move on.

But deep down, you know better.

So let me ask you:

What’s your equivalent of the 911?

- What’s the thing you’ve been told to phase out, walk away from, let go of—but you know it still has a future?

And maybe the better question is…

When are you going to grab the marker and draw your own damn line?

hashtag#Leadership hashtag#Drawtheline