The best practices of managing, selling or running companies are often found in the most unlikely places. There’s a harmony in the way the universe is designed that makes a truth in one field transferable to another.
Earlier this year, I read No Shortcuts to the Top written by one of the top mountaineers in the world, Ed Viesturs. Ed is one of a handful of climbers to have reached the summits of all fourteen 8,000-plus meter peaks, without supplemental oxygen, and lived to tell about it.
Many climbers have made it their goal to achieve the same feat and have either given up or died in the process. As I read his story, I was drawn to the principles by which he lived. Some of these principles were consciously acknowledged by him and others more unconscious. Together all of them helped contribute to his remarkable success. Here are some of the principles:
1. He set goals that challenged the best of who he was. He was intrinsically motivated, following his talents and interests, even when they didn’t pay off financially, for decades.
2. Instead of being overwhelmed by the apparent “impossibility” of his goal, he would break it down into manageable pieces. Even while on each mountain, he’d refuse to think about how far he had to go; instead he focused every bit of his attention on the next group of rocks, outcropping, or snow drift. Throughout his life, Ed was always doing something to reach his goal.
3. He surrounded himself with talented people. He did his best to find driven, passionate, contributing, trustworthy individuals for each of the teams on each of his climbs.
4. Early in his career he concluded that you can’t “conquer the mountain.” He said that those who get caught up in “summit fever” get so fixated on the end goal that they become blind to signs of danger and refuse to re-assess the needs of the current conditions. Many of these climbers die alone on the summit. The universal truth seems obvious. When someone has the arrogance to place their goals above everyone and everything around them they’ll soon find themselves in a wrestling match with the world that they’re bound to lose. He said that by “listening to the mountain” (meaning conditions, weather, climbing partners health, etc) he has managed not only to survive but eventually reach his goals.
It’s a simple but powerful formula; each of us has an opportunity to apply these universal rules to ourselves and those we manage, in an attempt to try to accomplish something special. Whether you're setting recruiting goals or coaching people to raise their performance level, don’t settle for mediocrity, or accept carelessness.
I’m currently studying the newest research on motivation and look forward to sharing the findings with you. As a preview, I can tell you that there are proven ways to help create the conditions for high performance. But for now, try to begin to set some high goals, break them down into manageable pieces, and then focus day-to-day on the next snow drift, not the peak.
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