High Altitude Leadership: What the World’s Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us about Success

In this week’s blogs, I am going to further my examination into the elements (i.e. icebergs, mountain climbing, and extreme sports) and take a few pages from the book, High Altitude Leadership, by the extreme mountain climber, Chris Warner, and fellow scientist, Don Schmincke.

In the book, Schmincke and Warner reveal the secrets to becoming a High Altitude Leader, literally! In fact, according to the book’s official website, http://www.highaltitudeleadership.com, High Altitude Leadership is the travel guide for traversing the dangers on the road to success.

What drew me to blogging about this book were the immediate thoughts generated from a fellow colleague, Professor Tobin Porterfield. The professor drew references to several of Earth’s natural landmarks, such as K2 and Everest, and introduced the concept of leadership and teamwork to achieve a goal. What perplexed me most was Porterfield’s statement, “more people die on the way down K2, than those going up the mountain.”

As is the case with many mountain climbers, the exhilaration of scaling large rocks, the teamwork of working together to reach an intimidating peak, or mourning the death of a careless climber are all parts of the extreme sport. Furthermore, all of the advice provided in the reading is supported by Schmincke's research into team’s and/or group performance and correlates that information into the high failure rate of many management and leadership programs of companies.

According to the aforementioned website, "To thrive in the face of today's business challenges and tomorrow's unpredictable risks, you need to become the type of leader whose career, team, and company excels in the most extreme environments. With so much at risk, you have to be the High Altitude Leader who uses every bit of your talent and every ounce of your strength to guide your team to peak performance," say authors Schmincke and Warner.

Additionally, there are 8 specific ‘dangers’ that Schmincke and Warner elude to that can sabotage anyone – from locations ranging from 26,000 feet above sea level or the 26th floor suite of a corporate headquarters – that include: Fear, Selfishness, Tool Seduction, Arrogance, Lone Heroism, Cowardice, Comfort, and Gravity. By identifying these potential dangers, I plan on implementing a strategy to not only encourage decision-making, but empower team members to lead when leading is imperative.

K2 Climbing to the Summit Shared Summits Expedition from Chris Warner on Vimeo.