The Digital Imaging Association’s annual Christmas lunch featured keynote speaker Jim Hayhurst. Jim is the founder and president of The Right Mountain Inc., a career centre and corporate consulting group that has helped thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations around the world define and achieve success. The company grew out of Jim’s own personal experiences – his Right Mountain. In 1988, at the age of 47, he became the oldest member of the Canadian Expedition to Mount Everest.
Jim’s story of The Right Mountain emanates from his Everest climb. But, more than an adventure story, The Right Mountain is a graphic illustration of what it means to be successful. Attendees heard about the expedition and the rigors of climbing the world’s highest mountain and were quickly able to understand the dynamics of success that come from teamwork, commitment and self-awareness in a stark new meaning through the face of adversity and even death. The metaphor that is The Right Mountain is a foundation for personal and professional success.
Your Definition of Success
Hayhurst challenged listeners to consider their own individual definition of success as well as the path toward that defined success. Just as you don’t just kinda go to Everest, you also don’t wake up one morning and decide today is the day you become a corporate or a personal success. What you do decide, says Hayhurst, is to gather all the facts – both positive and negative – then make a decision accompanied by a plan.
When deciding to join the expedition, which he did with his son, Jim quickly recognized there were clear parallels between this choice and life – and business-based decisions. Distinct elements of achievement are founded on assembling the following:
- People with technical skills
- People with a real passion for what they will ultimately do
- Team players
These core foundations are applicable on a mountain and applicable in life. Ultimately, they also require a strong commitment. And, says Hayhurst, it is not just an individual commitment. Any major decisions also impact others – family, friends, colleagues.
Preparing to Achieve
Any achievement is also grounded in training. Climbing Everest is an extreme example of the extent of that preparation. The Everest training programs include a core deliverable, but are as distinctive as the individuals who participate in them. And, with training it’s amazing what individuals and collective groups can do.
Another key component is goal setting and levels of acclimatization. The flight to Nepal passes over – or rather beside – Everest. On that flight, Jim was faced with a revelation – The Everest Expedition team was about to climb up to the level they were flying. The stark reality was that the climb was just too overwhelming. The only way to even conceive of making it to the top is to set goals. Not just faster, better, higher, but very specific goals and accompanying singular roles. The resulting productivity, achievement and satisfaction can be amazing. And be sure, says Hayhurst, to assimilate lessons learned along the way. You can learn a lot by looking back. What was in front is now behind you. Assess what you did and how you overcame obstacles. Then decide, collectively, what to do in the present and for the future.
Recognizing individual strengths and assigning tasks appropriately is yet another key element of success. Jim’s life-altering and very startling experience was when his son slipped and landed at the edge of a cliff. This is an extreme example of having one chance to make the right action. His son asked dad to throw him a rope. Jim’s astute awareness that he was not a good rope-thrower caused him to quickly call on someone who was. And, that rationale and responsive decision is what brought his son to safe ground. Is this not a determining and electrifying example of personal and professional decision-making?
The initial goal for anyone who decides to climb Everest – or any other mountain for that matter – is to make it to the top. Jim Hayhurst’s team was no different, at least until they were working toward their mission. As with any path to the top, it is important to continually review long-term objectives and short-term goals. The 1988 expedition team very quickly re-evaluated their definition of Everest success – it became for everyone to come home safely. It was no longer to make it to the top. And, they had the chance to walk the walk. Team members stopped their own climb at various levels. Two of the climbers were within 600 metres of the top. They thought they could get there, but not back. So they stopped. Their success was attainment of the purpose they had committed to – without compromise.
Lessons from Everest on the Real Meaning of Success
Today’s economic climate is a time for reflection. Everest teams manage change on the mountain. They often talk about what has happened, what might happen and how they should reprogram their actions accordingly. It’s all about figuring it out and climbing smarter.
It’s about being on the right mountain at the right time and with the right accumulative objectives. And it’s about figuring out who you are as an individual, your skills and values, and, ultimately, what the right vista is for you.
Jim Hayhurst’s Right Mountain was coined from his experience with someone who was on the wrong mountain. This was a climber who had scaled 4000 metres on other mountains and felt he could achieve 8000 metres on Everest by breaking his efforts into two 4000-metre climbs. But, what he neglected to factor in was that the second 4000 metres was at an altitude with very different oxygen levels than he had ever experienced before – and it killed him. This tragedy, says Hayhurst, delivers a hard-hitting message – figure out who you are and how you do things.
Jim Hayhurst’s story of his very personal and graphic life-enhancing adventure delivered a motivational experience to those who heard it. Are you or your company on the right mountain and do you have the right goals with the right plans to achieve them?
