Last winter, I took one of several groups of leaders (see them here) to the top of a 12,400 foot mountain. They were visiting with me in my home in Colorado learning to make breakthroughs in their skiing and leadership skills. As we disembarked from the button tow at the top, a sudden snowstorm appeared, with big winds and visibility declining to about eight feet. We were the only people at the top of the mountain, and with no way down except on our skis, I huddled with my team in the storm.
“Here is the plan”, I told them. “The only way off the peak is to ski down the side of the mountain for about 1,000 feet as quickly as we can, in order to build up enough speed to shoot up the other side. But we won’t be able to see anything and you don’t know the mountain. So, I will ski first, because I know the terrain like the back of my hand. I want you to ski right behind me as close as possible, one after the other. Watch my skis – it will be the only thing you will be able to see in the whiteout. If you see the tails of my skis going up and down, you will know I’ve just gone over a bump and you can brace yourself accordingly. If my skis turn, follow the direction they take. Trust me – we are going to be OK.”
It went exactly as planned – a team of courageous, trusting and safe skiers and leaders high-fived their success after we safely zoomed into the void together and arrived on the other side – all in one piece.
Today we had a reunion telephone call with this team and we relived our euphoria and our experiences. “What is this “trust” and “courage” that makes for the essential components of leadership,” I wondered? “We know how important it is, but how is it acquired or bestowed? Every leader wants to know this”. One replied, “I trusted you because you loved me – I could see it in your eyes and I knew you wouldn’t do anything that would hurt me.” This got me to thinking about how important love is in building trust. Another said, “On the first day you explained how to ski moguls, then you demonstrated it, then you asked us to do it, then you explained and coached us. I trusted you from then on because you helped us to grow safely.” Another said, “You never forced us to go beyond our potential competence – out of our comfort zone, yes, but not out of our possible mastery”. And another said, “You didn’t buy into my fear – you simply didn’t think that my fears were justified. I thought about your view of me and decided that I liked it better than the view I had of myself – so I decided to trust you.” We had fun, we grew and learned together, we skied in magnificent surroundings, we laughed a lot, we stretched ourselves and we looked out for each other.
Courage, trust and love – magic and essential ingredients for leaders in quest of the extraordinary.
