The MountainWorld™ Blog

Thursday Thought: Hegel, MLK, Obama, and the Dalai Lama

I definitely tend toward the left side of the political spectrum, and identify myself more as a Democrat than otherwise. But, I make a conscious effort not to be partisan...I try my best to praise the positive things the "other side" does and accomplishes, and make my voice heard when the leaders I support are, in my estimation, making bad decisions.

This, to me, is the very essence of democracy: The ability - and, in fact, the need - to voice our disagreement with those in power, whether they be friend or foe. As the historian Henry Commager wrote: If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.

So, it was with dismay that I heard President Obama chose not to meet with the Dalai Lama while he was in Washington to accept the Lantos Human Rights Prize. I'm a supporter of Tibet and it's quest for spiritual autonomy, but, even more so, I feel strongly that, for us to be a leader on the world stage, we must be willing to make a stand, to defend our beliefs and our ethics...regardless of the political capital on the table.

Certainly, President Obama felt that a meeting with the Dalai Lama would create friction in US-China relations. It almost certainly would. But, our ethics and beliefs should transcend our short-term priorities. By meeting with the Dalai Lama - which has been done by all sitting US presidents since George H.W. Bush - Obama would have sent a clear message to China, and to the world, that we as a nation believe what we say, stand up for our core values, and have a true desire to make the world a better place for all people.

Today's Thursday Thought offers a little advice on taking a stand to President Obama, and indeed to all of us, from the great minds of Georg Hegel and Martin Luther King, Jr:

To be independent of public opinion is the first condition of achieving anything great.
- G.W.F. Hegel

Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe?
Expediency asks the question: Is it politic?
Vanity asks the question: Is it popular?
But conscience asks the question: Is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular,
but one must take it because it is right.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

And, for those who are interested, here is a video of the Dalai Lama accepting the Lantos Prize on Tuesday:

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

The Loss of a Legend: Dr. Charlie Houston, 1913-2009

Dr. Charles Houston, 1913-2009
From Alpinist Magazine

This morning, from several people, I heard the sad news that a climbing legend, Charlie Houston, passed away yesterday at his home in Burlington, Vermont.

Dr. Charles Snead Houston was a legend in every sense of the word. From pioneering climbs like Nanda Devi in 1936 and K2 1938 & 1953 to pioneering the field of high-altitude physiology, Dr. Houston never stopped forging ahead, breaking new ground and being a leader in all that he did.

I've written a great deal about Charlie on this blog, and there's too much to recount about his life here and now. So, here's a few resources if you are interested:

• The Brotherhood of the Rope post
• Post about Houston's memoir, The Brotherhood of the Rope
• Post about the passing of Bob Bates, a compatriot of Houston
• Thursday Thought from August 27, 2009, about Dr. Houston
• Interview with Houston on PBS NOW
• Books by and about Charlie Houston at Amazon

And, as I think he would like it, I'm going to head out into the hills today, and think about life, about mountains, and about the ever present and ever important Brotherhood of the Rope.

Dr. Houston...thank you for the memories...for the inspiration...for the joy and the stories and the legacy you leave to all of us. You will be missed.

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

It's not about death...but about life, and how to live...

By now, many of you have probably heard of Dr. Randy Pausch and his amazing "The Last Lecture". But, if not, please take a few moments to watch the short video below of Dr. Pausch giving a snippet of "The Last Lecture" to the audience of Oprah.

In the video, you'll hear the inspiring words of a man who is about to die (when the video was shot) of pancreatic cancer...and yet is talking about how to live life well, fully, and with kindness, compassion, and passion.

It is a message I believe we all need to be reminded of when times get tough.

My words cannot - and should not - compete with those of Dr. Pausch, who sadly passed away just yesterday, losing his long, valiant battle with cancer.

So, please, watch the video below...listen to Dr. Pausch's words of wisdom. Take his messages...and see how you might apply them to your life, to your dreams. And, if you feel moved to do so, pass it along.

And if this short version only makes you want to hear more - as it did for me - click here to watch the full version as presented to Carnegie Mellon University.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Success through outside-the-box thinking: LG India

Nine years and 14 days ago, my teammates had an amazing day: we discovered the 75 year old remains of George Leigh Mallory at 27,000 feet on Mount Everest.

There were many things that happened during the expedition's prior 6 weeks that led to that amazing success: teamwork, planning, and of course some luck. But the most important thing was a team-wide ability to think outside of the box, to approach a huge task a little bit differently, and to empower each member of the team to do the same.

Take, for example, the genesis of the expedition as a whole. Eric Simonson, our team leader, had to think outside the box from the start. An experienced and successful commercial outfitter on Everest, Eric could have simply gone back to Everest with the same model: bring clients, get them up - or not, and cash a paycheck. But, instead, he had a vision - a vision that went against all the norms and standard practices of Everest climbing - and saw that vision through. True outside the box thinking and action.

Another example of both components is Eric's choice of team members. With the exception of Conrad Anker, none of us were regulars on the pages of Climbing Magazine. Dave Hahn, Andy Politz, Tap Richards, and I weren't out making bold first ascents in remote areas. But, we were passionate. We were dedicated. And, together, with Eric's and team historian Jochen Hemmleb's leadership and vision, we pulled off what to most seemed impossible.

Today in my inbox I found my weekly copy of Knowledge@Wharton, the weekly newsletter of the Wharton School of Business an the University of Pennsylvania. In this issue was a wonderful interview with YashoV. Verma, Director of Human Resources for LG India. Verma's interview and comments resonated with me, echoing much of what I mentioned above and know to be true harbingers of success from my years in the mountains. And, his comments rang even truer given the success LG India has seen through using these methods: the industry leader in India with control of 30% of the market share.

Verma began by affirming that LG India's business model has always been "absolutely non-traditional." He expanded, saying: "Anything that is not in the management book...we have done it." LG India's approach to business has always been outside the box, and has proven the most successful model in the field.

Verma also talked about what he and his team look for in recruits. Traditionally, a top manager would come from the ranks of other top managers; HR recruiters would look for a deep background of knowledge and experience. Verma, however, took the opposite track.

Instead of knowledge and experience, Verma and his team look first and foremost for passion, attitude, and the will to succeed. Says Verma:

Knowledge is something which can be learned. But it is passion, it is attitude and the will to succeed which is much more important. These are the 3 qualities we look for in recruits.

Passion. Attitude. The will to succeed. Simple, yet often forgotten as the essential fodder for success...in business or in the mountains.

What box do you need to think outside of?

Do you and your team have passion, attitude, and the will to succeed? Or just knowledge and experience?

Listen to Verma's interview with Knowledge@Wharton here:

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Brotherhood of the Rope

The term Brotherhood of the Rope is not a new one in mountaineering and climbing circles; it refers to the interdependence inherent amongst members of a climbing team, their reliance upon one another for safety, security, and success.

It is also the title of the biography of famed American climber Charles Houston, whose team's failed 1953 attempt on K2 in Pakistan - the world's second highest peak - remains one of the greatest stories of the Brotherhood of the Rope.

In a desperate rescue attempt to save the life of altitude-sick Ark Gilkey, the team - ropes together on a 45 degree slope - began a horrific fall on a blinding storm. Pete Schoening made a split-second, miraculous move, jamming his ice ax behind a sturdy rock and, holding it with everything he had, managed to stop the entire team from what would have been certain death. In Houston's book K2: The Savage Mountain, he describes the Brotherhood of the Rope perfectly:

...men banded together in a common effort of will and strength--not against this or that imagined foeman of the instant, but against their only true enemies: inertia, cowardice, greed, ignorance, and all weaknesses of the spirit.

Sadly, this amazing brotherhood of the rope, this banding together of teammates "in a common effort of will and strength" seems to have dissipated in the current climate on Mount Everest. We saw it last spring in the controversial death of David Sharp, but were inspired only days later at its rebirth with the successful rescue of Lincoln Hall.

The question of why people did not help David Sharp last spring is full of gray area: the realities of altitude, sickness, team objectives, etc. undoubtedly weighed heavily on decisions that day. But, what is obvious to me is that the tradition of the brotherhood of the rope has diminished in modern climbing.

In 2001, my teammates - John Race and Tap Richards - and I were struggling to drag two sick, Chinese glaciologists down the mountain. We needed all the help we could get, knowing full well these men had only hours of life left. We asked a passing team for assistance, but were put off with a shrug:

I've been on countless rescues, son, and can tell you your efforts are useless. These men will die. You'll have to get used to it.

Well, despite that climber's opinions to the contrary, the two Chinese glaciologists survived their ordeal. I ruined my knee - and the rest of my expedition - in the process, but never gave it a second thought. Simply put, no mountain is worth sacrificing our humanity.

In countless other rescues in the high peaks - Nevado Huascaran in 1998, Everest 1999, Everest 2001, Everest 2002, Everest 2003, Rainier, McKinley...the list goes on - I have always valued the brotherhood of the rope. Our goal on a mountain is the climb, to finish the route, to reach the summit.

But, occasionally an opportunity greater than any summit, a reward far bigger than any pioneering ascent, presents itself. Sometimes, we are faced with a difficult dilemma: Do we sacrifice our ultimate goals to fulfill an objective we know is right? In his blog, David Zinger put it thus:

[The Brotherhood of the Rope] is our willingness as leaders to recognize and assist others --- having a wide angle view rather than blinders only for results or personal peak performance.

And, author and professor of business at Wharton, Michael Useem, writes about this in his excellent leadership book, The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All. He has just described Roy Vagelos' revolutionary - and costly - decision to provide Merck's drug Mectizan - which cures river blindness or Onchocerciasis - for free to those in need throughout the world. It would cost Merck hundreds of millions of dollars, but Vagelos pushed on. As Useem writes:

Even in the absence of mutual gains, even without indirect advantages to offset tangible costs, some decisions require a transcending of self-interest, whether personal or organizational.

We can all ask ourselves what our Brotherhood of the Rope is.

• Who are your teammates?
• Will they be there for you when you fall? Will you be there for them?
• What are your goals, and when are you willing to sacrifice them to keep the brotherhood alive?

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.