On Leadership...

Every one's read "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. Somewhere in that book, he says that when things go well in a company, a great leader looks through the "window" and when things go bad, (s)he looks into the "mirror". Such is the burden of leadership. Although this is quite a profound observation, I really only grasped the truth of it after attending a leadership class taught by Prof. Mike Useem, at Wharton.

To understand this concept better, we are going to go on a trip - travel thousands of miles in distance and about fifty or so years in time. Before the second world war, the Great Britain enjoyed a very special status in Tibet. They were th only foreigners allowed to survey and climb the mountains of the Himalayas. During one such expedition, a British surveyor came face to face with a mountain the locals called Chomolungma - Mother Goddess. He was sure that this was the tallest mountain he had yet seen. Indeed, it was confirmed so and later named after him. In the Western world, this mountain came to be known as Mt.Everest. Mt. Everest stands tall, five and a half miles above sea level. At 29,035 ft, Everest's summit indeed is the roof of the world.

North Face of Mt.Everest (from the Tibetan Side)

The British authorized several expeditions to climb Everest. Indeed, the most famous climber of the time was perhaps George Mallory who retorted with the now famous phrase - "Because it is there", when someone asked him why he wanted to climb Everest. On his third expedition, in 1924, Mallory and his partner Sandy Irvine set out for the summit, never to be heard from again. The pair was last sighted a few hundred meters from the top and for many years, climbing folklore was obsessed with finding out if indeed Mallory and Irvine had succeeded in summiting Everest that fateful year. Mallory's body was finally found in 1999, by the "Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition". Unfortunately they found no conclusive evidence of a successful summit.

In the 1940's the dominant climber in the scene was British climber Eric Shipton. He had been on a few Everest expeditions and had some quite a bit of recon in the Himalayas. Then came the Chinese invasion of Tibet, after which Tibet was closed to all foreigners. However, when one door closed, another opened. Nepal started opening up to foreigners. In 1951, Eric Shipton led a British team on an everest recon trip from the South (Napalese side). From the North, Mt. Everest stands alone. But from the South, it lies behind the massive Lhotse wall. While arial photographs showed that there might be a way, it was Shipton's charge to make sure. The 1951 expedition was significant for many reasons - first Shipton two New Zealanders climbing in the Himalayas to join his team. One of them, a lanky bee keeper from Aukland, did not know yet that in two years, he was going to make his way into climbing history. His name was Edmund Hillary.

Mt. Everest from Kala Pattar (Nepalese Side)

The 1951 team met with their biggest hurdle when they came to the Khumbu Icefall - a river of rock and ice, with seracs as high as ten storeyed buildings. Eventually they made it across the icefall. By the end of the expedition they had reached the Western CWM.

Khumbu Icefall - a river of Rock and Ice

The British team was eager to put up an "assault" in 1952 and was thoroughly disappointed when they found out that the Swiss had obtained the only two climbing permits for the year. The British offered the Swiss to form a joint expedition team, under the leadership of Shipton, which the Swiss promptly declined. The Swiss engaged a local Sherpa from Darjeeling to be the "sirdar" or head sherpa for their expedition. This man was Tenzing Norgay. The Swiss, who were used to guiding in the Alps, formed an instant bond with the Sherpas, who were mountain people themselves. They were in fact so impressed with Tenzing Norgay, that they appointed him a as a full member of the Climbing team. Tenzing and Raymond Lambert soon formed a very good friendship.

During the 1952 expedition, Lambert and Norgay had fate conspiring against them. High altitude mountaineering was still at infacny. Lambert and Tenzing spent a night at 8,400 meters with no stoves or sleeping bags, surviving only on trickle of water, by melting snow with a candle. As though this was not enough, their Oxygen apparatus was faulty - leaving them to practically climb without supplemental Oxygen on summit day. Despite a heroic effort, the team came to a grinding halt about 250 meters from the summit. It is often said that Lambert came to within 250 feet of immortality!!

Meanwhile, Shipton and team decide to contend with another 8,000 meter peak - Cho Oyu (about 2,000 feet smaller than Everest). They fail to summit.

The year is 1953. The British have secured this year's permit. The French have the 1954 permit. There would be other contenders for the 1955 permit. The last team has come to within 250 meters of the summit. If the British don't make it in 1953, they may very well lose the prestigious summit to some other country. Eric Shipton is once again picked as the leader. However the Himalayan Committee soon calls a meeting to discuss the leadership for the expedition.

In those days, Eric Shipton was regarded as Mr.Everest himself. Therefore it was surprising that the Himalayan Committee was looking at changing the leader. Although he was a great climber, the British felt that was was required was a leader with good planning and logistics skills - someone who could plan an assault with Military proficiency. Enter Col.John Hunt. Ed Hillary considered pulling out when he heard that Shipton had been replaced but both Shipton and Hunt convinced him to stay on. Tenzing Norgay was invited to be the Sirdar and a full climbing member. Tenzing was reluctant as well, but Lambert convinced him to take it up.

Ed Hillary was hoping to team up with long-time climbing partner George Lowe, but Hunt paired him up with Tenzing instead. the two had to therefore forge a friendship quickly. The first team comprising of Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans was experimenting with closed-circuit breathing appratus and had to discontinue their summit attempt at a mere 300 feet from the top. This paved the way for Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to waltz into history and climbing legend. On May 29th, 1953, the pair successfully stood at the top of the world!!

  Tenzing Norgay at the Summit of Mt.Everest

Fast forward to here and now. The chances are good, even if you are not a mountaineer, that you have heard of Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The changes are very slim though that you have heard of Col.John Hunt. Hunt was the leader of the expedition. He could have put himself in the summit team. There would be great fame and glory to be the first person to summit Mt.Everest. It would be a life changing event. Yet, he chose to send a beekeeper from New Zealand and a Sherpa from Darjeeling up the mountain. By putting the right team together, he met the collective objective - the summit of Mt.Everest. This is a wonderful lesson to keep in mind as you plan your company's expansion, IPO or any other major event.

1. Clearly articulate your vision.

2. Find the right team; get their complete buy in (get the right people on the bus; get the wrong people off it).

3. Empower your team to do the job.

I find that getting the right team is 50% of the work done right. In finding my subordinates, I make sure that the person I hire is better than me at the current job. That's the only way I can really scale up to the next job. It's worked for me. I am sure it will work for you. Best luck!!