Business Lessons from Reaching the Highest Peaks
Few ambitious business people have goals that involve anything less than reaching the top in their careers. They see themselves becoming CEOs who lead large companies to unprecedented success . . . or founders of exciting start-up enterprises that grow to substantial size.
When asked what they like to read, striving business people often mention the biographies of successful business leaders. By contrast, they rarely read about lessons from the lives of successful business people.
That's a shame, particularly when the experiences provide valuable perspective on gaining business successes. Let me list some lessons you can use to benefit your business career:
1. Keep learning.
2. Meet more people from different backgrounds.
3. Push past your comfort zone.
4. Be responsible for your own emotional state.
5. Be humble.
6. Don't judge yourself by others.
7. Feel more connected to others by helping them succeed.
8. Don't be attached to a particular outcome.
9. Realize you have to live with your decisions.
10. Seek opportunities to grow by serving others.
Let me demonstrate the value of those lessons by sharing a little about the life of Ania Lichota, an investment banker who is also an associate professor at Rushmore University.
Professor Lichota was born in communist Poland where travel to gain new perspectives was difficult. Taking just a short trip required hours of waiting to apply for a visa, filling out rafts of forms, and bringing chocolate and other food goodies to bribe the people in government administration.
At 17, someone gave her an illustrated book, The Wonders of Civilization, describing 100 of the most beautiful places in the world. Awed by what she saw, she vowed to visit each place.
With that encouragement, she began to travel as much as possible after Poland stopped restricting foreign visits. To date, she has been in more than 50 countries and lived or worked extensively in 16 of them. She sees each visit as an opportunity to learn from local perspectives and experiences much different than her own:
"Of my top priorities, the first is learning, the second is human interaction, and the third is experiencing nature. In the current, fast developing world, learning is important because if everybody else is going forward, you start falling behind unless you learn. I am not judging anybody for not wanting to learn. There are many different definitions of personal happiness and success, and I fully accept that."
After completing studies in Poland, Professor Lichota earned a second Master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics. She worked across Europe for the next 13 years, specializing in business integration, Six Sigma, and change management in emerging economies. For seven of those years, she worked for the General Electric Company (GE), one of the world's most admired organizations.
While with GE, she earned MBA and Ph.D. degrees. Her dissertation described quickly integrating and refocusing sales offices located more than four hours apart (by plane) to meet stretch goals for a Russian bank just after it was acquired by GE. This posting was her first business experience of speaking Russian and learning Russia's commercial culture.
After graduation, Professor Lichota joined one of the world's leading investment banks where she worked on infrastructure development in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. During those years, she also joined the faculty at Rushmore to fulfill her desire to help people from emerging countries to develop their careers.
She supplements that teaching by offering public presentations and inspirational talks based on mountaineering, an interest she developed during her early years of European travel. Here is how she describes these experiences:
"Going back to basics in nature has become a way of life. After a climb, I simply take my mountains and experiences back home with me.
"Being on an expedition is like one long meditation and an occasion to reflect on myself. I came to the point where it is possible to flip the reality and see the civilization as a break from the real life -- the mountains -- and not the other way around.
"Mountaineering and the benefits of calmness it gives are very contagious, and I have managed to inspire others to discover the power of nature, and mountains in particular. I am glad they are trying and I will continue to support those who dare."
Why am I telling you about her climbing? When this article was written, Professor Lichota had stood atop the highest peaks on six of the world's seven continents and drawn important lessons from those experiences that will help you in business. She scheduled an ascent of the final continental summit, Mount Everest, for April 2010.
Why did an investment banker and business school professor take up such an arduous challenge? She wanted to develop herself and to raise money for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a Polish home orphanage, and (with the Mount Everest climb) the Sarswati Foundation to build a school in Nepal. It was a daunting challenge that she undertook:
"When I was making my initial decision, I did not have the money, I was not particularly fit, I was and am afraid of cold, I had never been above 5500 meters (14,764 feet), I did not have any professional mountaineering equipment, I was working full time, and I was going through a divorce.
"I do it because only through pushing my comfort zone can I develop and grow as an individual and be able to add value to the world."
Let me share some of Professor Lichota's comments about her peak experiences, beginning with Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Planned as a romantic trip with a boyfriend, it turned out to be a solo journey with new acquaintances instead:
"I left on the summit the need to depend on others for emotional well being. I understood that being happy is a state of mind, and everybody is fully responsible for their own. I chose to never feel down again. Your inner security and strength are yours to make; you need to take the responsibility for your own emotional life."
To celebrate her Ph.D., Professor Lichota chose an expedition to Mount Elbrus in Russia (Europe's highest peak). This was a tough glacier climb, and she still avoided buying professional climbing equipment. It was a tough trip and she had to help another climber on the way down. The lesson here was:
"I left my pride on the summit. I understood that there is no point in comparing yourself to others on the mountain and during life in general. We are too unique and come from backgrounds that are too different to try to find a common denominator for competition."
Her next climb was on Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina. She was pleased to find that she handled the high altitude challenge well. Here were the new lessons:
"I left solitude on the summit. My nickname was Giggles. Throughout the trip, I provided support to others, I helped others, and I was able to be all aspects of myself . . . from being silly to being very serious, whatever the circumstance was. I clearly understood that I could always retreat to my own company to re-charge, but my full potential can only be realized by being there for others."
She next ascended Mount McKinley in Alaska, a very long and arduous climb in the cold, from which she gained these perspectives:
"I left my ego on the summit: I felt so insignificant and humbled by almighty nature; and I felt beaten up and slapped again with my full consent. I walked on amazingly painful blisters overnight through images of outstanding natural beauty and scary crevasses. I am still admiring what I saw, and experienced true companionship with my whole soul."
Her next climb was in Indonesia, the Carstensz Pyramid. It turned out to be a difficult rock climb where the expedition organizer was not so well organized. The learning was valuable, however:
"I decided to leave on the summit my omnipresent desire to make things happen for myself as well as for others. I consciously decided that I need to let go of what will come and what the outcome will be. My strength is that I can deal with it, whatever it will be."
The sixth climb was up Mount Vinson in Antarctica. Without realizing it, she began the journey while severely anemic and en route couldn't eat. Although she made it to the top, she didn't feel great about it. Here were the lessons she learned about personal responsibility:
"I left on the summit any lack of personal integrity left in me. This trip was my 'character corruption prevention' experience. I fully learned what personal responsibility means. In this harsh environment you pay the full price for every decision you make, from what gloves to buy, who to book the trip with, how much to drink, what book to take and when and how to relieve yourself. Whatever your decision is, you will pay the full price sooner or later."
Mount Everest in Nepal looms ahead of her. While staying focused on preparation for that highest of all peaks, she has also kept her eye on helping others. Here is what she has to say about the trip's fund-raising purpose:
"The plan is to build a village school in Nepal from the money we will collect. These funds will go directly to the Sarswati Foundation and its highly capable team in Nepal."
If you are like me, you are probably wondering what tasks will challenge her to learn more important business and life lessons after topping the seven summits. Here is her current list of challenging opportunities:
-- swimming the English channel
-- rafting down the world's longest rivers
-- sky diving
-- long hot air balloon flights
I hope that learning about Professor Lichota has helped you to have the perspectives and experiences of the high mountains available when you contemplate your business opportunities and challenges.
What can you do today to expand your opportunities by employing those perspectives?
About the Author:
Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University, an online graduate school, where he often teaches mid-career professionals who want to to become more successful business leaders and entrepreneurs through earning MBA, DBA, and Ph.D. degrees. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning, visit Rushmore's Web site. To support Professor Lichota's efforts to build a school in Nepal, please donate what you can.
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