Patagonia Trip Files or Patagonia in 7 Mins

In November 2016, I did a two-week trek through the wilds of Patagonia. We covered more than 100 miles completing the "W" trek in Torres del Paine, Chile and hiking up to Laguna De Los Tres and the base of Mount Fitzroy (the logo for the Patagonia clothing company) in Los Glaciares National Park in El Calafate, Argentina - home to the massive Perito Moreno Glacier.  We ice climbed on the glaciers, kayaked to the glaciers and piled into a rough-hewn Refugio every night exhausted, sore, bruised and spent.  And often wet and wind blown.  It was an amazing experience.  It is some of the most beautiful, wild and pristine land I have ever seen.  Conditions are ever changing but always challenging.  Patagonia is a treasure that needs to be preserved and cherished.  My 15-year-old daughter took my GoPro footage and made a short video as a Christmas present for me.  I am sharing it with you.  Please forgive her spelling mistake on the opening cut.  She is amazingly creative and a tech guru but spelling will be a lifelong journey for her.

Hope you enjoy it. https://youtu.be/7mqOwEoNxtI

 

Women Who Win

I am starting a new blog topic today.  One I have been planning and contemplating for some time.  A blog on the Women Who Win.  The women who take on big challenges, throw their hats into the arena of competition and fight for achievement, recognition, financial reward, fairness and/or some grand design.  Maybe even all of the above.  I have long been inspired by the stories of women who achieve greatly - often against the greatest of odds.  Odds made that much more daunting because they weren't supposed to compete, weren't supposed to have that job, weren't supposed to win or even to want to.  Unfortunately, the stories - while more common today - still stand out because women remain underrepresented in the ranks of the most recognized,most celebrated and most compensated.  Maybe it was the recent flap around "Still She Persisted" or seeing a more qualified leader lose to a clearly less qualified one that spurred me on to finally start this blog. I will start with a series of profiles - short vignettes - on the women who stories have inspired me along the way.

One thing for sure is that I agree with the woman whose profile will start us off, Pat Summitt, hall of fame coach for the Lady Volunteers of the University of Tennessee.  In describing her college days in the early 1970s she laid out her philosophy vis a vis the burgeoning women's movement.  She said, "Protesting and sign carrying wasn't me - and wasn't going to get it done.  But there was only one way could see that changed things: winning.  You changed things for women by winning."

I Train Like a Spartan...And What is VO2 Max Anyway?

Endurance races are grueling tests of grit, composure, mental toughness, ability to process fear and perhaps most importantly, of the hard word of preparation. They test your discipline and fortitude. The first one I did was in 2012 and it was a Spartan Super in Vernon, New Jersey. A 12 mile course at Mountain Creek (NJ's highest peak) with 35 obstacles including the 8 foot walls, Cargo Net climbs, Hercules Hoist, Tire Drag and on and on and on.  Although I certainly would describe myself as fit and athletic, I was perhaps a little overconfident going into the race. I didn’t vary my workouts much leading up to the race. And on race day, I strapped on my running shoes and took off.   I succeeded in finishing the race although not with the time my competitive self would have expected and with more pain and suffering along the way than was necessary.  Some of the obstacles were exceptionally difficult and let's just say I did a lot of Burpee's (the punishment when you fail to successfully complete an obstacle).  Although I completed most, I also became fairly proficient at Burpee's at that first race.  I walked away with my medal and banana determined to do better next time.  To come back stronger and better prepared the next time.

Of course this experience maps to the rest of my life – the times I have been the most successful and things have gone the easiest, are the times I worked the hardest in preparation. Winging it and relying on innate talent is not only cocky, it seldom leads to the best outcome in work or school.  So it's true for a Spartan race as well. Over the next nine months, I mapped the course, plotted the obstacles and changed my training program to account for each for each.  I increased my cardiovascular endurance from “above average” to “excellent” as measured by my VO2 Max units of mls of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml.kg-1.min-1). I evaluated the best gear and the best sports nutrition products to have on hand before during and after the race. And it worked.  The following year although the course was somewhat different, I reduced my time by 30% coming in the top five for my age class. My next challenge is an indoor tri. For that my focus is now on improving my swim technique.

Training began last week.

A Bright, Shiny New Year

As I was working on my annual plan for 2017, my daughter asked me why I spend so much thinking time on planning my commitments and aspirations (others call them resolutions) every year.  I told her if you don't set priorities, how do you know you're spending your time on the right things?

I love the feeling of a whole Bright Shiny New Year stretching out before me filled with possibilities and opportunities.  I love the luxurious feel of thinking about how best to use that wide expanse of time.  New Year's is my favorite holiday, in fact.  Not for the party scene but for the pleasure of this process.  I tend to start the process by setting a theme.  An overarching idea that encompasses and unifies the individual goals and aspirations.  

Last year the theme was "More" as I committed to finding ways to say "yes" to more things and enlarging my span of impact and influence.  This year the theme is "Integration."  By Integration I mean having seamless transitions and flow between all aspects of my life - removing all barriers that consume time and energy with no value.  

Once the theme is in place, I begin thinking about the individual Commitments, the things I am committed to accomplishing or doing and Aspirations, the results I will achieve through my Commitments.  I believe the reason Resolutions have a bad rap and a high failure rate, is because most people focus on the outcome first - I want to lose 10 pounds or save $10,000 or improve a relationship without thinking through the actual changes they will need to make to achieve them.  The first focus should be on the inputs - the things you are actually Committed to getting done.  Going to the gym 3x per week or cutting out the weekly Amazon purchases or spending 30 minutes every day with your spouse after dinner to reconnect.  The Commitments are what you are going to do.  The Aspirations are the whys.  

I think the other reason for the high failure rate is that most people make a big list without first having an Accountability system in place.  How do you know you are keeping on track if you aren't monitoring your progress?  People don't track out of the gate, get too far behind and give up before January is over.  Having your Accountability process ironed out starts before you even set your first Commitment.  I have found that this annual process has actually strengthened my ability to hold myself accountable in all areas of my life.  Discipline is like a muscle, you have to work it to make it strong.  Start small if you need to with a small number of Commitments.  You can add more once you have improved your ability to be disciplined in what you are setting out to do. Large Commitments should be broken up into daily or weekly goals.  If you can't break a goal up into smaller bite sizes to track, the likelihood of falling off plan is high.  

There are a lot of tools and techniques to use that can help with transparency and accountability.  These apps are great for transparency - the key to accountability. I have tried many.  The one I have settled on is Strides.  It is a great app - flexible enough to track all sorts of Commitments - time-based, numerical, etc. It is also easy to use with a beautiful UI.  I have it on the home page of my phone and iPad.  I start every morning by marking my performance against my Commitments.  

And 2017, this Bright, Shiny New Year is off to a great start.

Maybe too Much Empathy Isn't a Good Thing

Google "empathy" and "leadership" and here are just some of the first page links you will find.

"Why The Empathic Leader is the Best Leader"  Success
http://www.success.com/article/why-the-empathetic-leader-is-the-best-leader

"Empathy: A Critical Skills for Effective Leadership" Bounce Back Higher
http://bouncebackhigher.com/articles/empathy-a-critical-skill-for-effective-leadership/

"Why We Need More Compassionate and Empathetic Leaders" Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201608/why-we-need-more-empathetic-and-compassionate-leaders

"Why the Empathetic Leader is the Best Leader"  Lolly Daskal, Lead from Within
http://www.lollydaskal.com/leadership/whats-empathy-got-leadership/

"Empathy in Leadership: 10 Reasons Why it Matters" Tanveer Naseer

http://www.tanveernaseer.com/why-empathy-matters-in-leadership/

"Empathy is the Hottest Trend in Leadership" Time-Money

http://time.com/money/4376423/empathy-leadership-trend/

 The concept of empathy had been put forth as the answer to crime, violence of all sorts, political conflicts and all manner of ill.  Obama perhaps started the trend with his 2007 presidential campaign where he highlighted the "empathy deficit" as the most pressing problem facing America.  Some even attributed his re-election in 2012 to empathy, stating that  he one specifically because he and the Democratic Party were more successful at expressing empathy than Mitt Romney and the Republicans. (Barack Obama quotes about empathy - http://www.azquotes.com/author/11023-Barack_Obama/tag/empathy).

Whenever a concept or idea reaches such levels of hyperbole in the popular media - just look at the language in those titles to see it - Hottest trend, Best, Critical - I generally begin to ask "what if the opposite is true."  In our culture, it is usually just a moment in time until such powerful "no brainer" trends are met with opposing arguments and forceful backlash.  And so it was with the empathy movement.  One of the first salvos I read "Against Empathy, The Argument for Rationale Compassion" by Paul Bloom.  (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CY2LCZI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) is a witty "plane ride" read and is provocative with some powerful ideas sparking contemplation.

Bloom's thesis is that empathy is biased, innumerate, parochial and irrational. It leads us astray and foils our efforts to make rational moral decisions.  In fact he makes the case that some of the most important decisions made by individuals and nations—who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy can distort our judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage.  

Bloom argues that compassion instead of empathy (turns out there is a difference) leads to a much better decision making process.  Bloom defines emotional empathy—feeling another’s pain. vs. non-empathetic compassion which is a more distanced love and kindness and concern for others. Bloom is a big fan of compassion if not so much empathy. He makes the point that kindness and altruism are proven to be associated with all sorts of positive physical and psychological outcomes, including a boost in both short-term mood and long-term happiness. If you want to get happy, Bloom argues that helping others is an excellent way to do so.  Empathy, on the other hand, can be draining and lead to burn out and exhaustion.

But larger than the impact on the individual, Bloom argues that it makes the world overall a worse place.  Empathy in the moment blinds us the long-term consequences of our actions.  So where empathy is an emotional and knee-jerk response to a situation close at hand, compassion can be logically reasoned - taking into account future generations, cold calculation and cost:benefit analyses.

In his book, Bloom looks at this empathy vs. compassion comparison from the perspective of public policy, charitable giving and personal relationships.  He did not apply his logic to the professional environment or to leadership situations.  I would argue that it is just as applicable to think about the difference between "rationale compassion" vs. "empathy" as we lead our teams at work.  Bloom claims that "empathy distorts our moral judgments in much the same way the prejudice does," both are emotional reactions and both lead to sub-optimal decisions.  It is easy to see how leaders passionate about their teams, their companies and their colleagues could get caught up in an emotional response to a peer's failures or personal struggles or a customer's frustration.  Bloom argues that it would be better to apply the cool logic of reason in the service of dispassionate but real compassion - weighing the odds, running the numbers, assessing the ramifications, aiming for a greater good - rather than the heat of an emotional empathy seeking to provide relief in the near-term to ourselves and our colleagues with short-term solutions.

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion. Paul Bloom, 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CY2LCZI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Harper Collins

Learnings from a Patagonia Trek

 

There is no debate about climate change among those living closest to the glaciers. They see the affects everyday on a dominant part of their landscape - Gray Glacier, Glacier Petito Moreno, Viedma are all receding.  The local people see it happening my day by day and are afraid. The glaciers are a part of their lives, an important source of income, a driver of the weather and a definite point of pride. When we were hiking and climbing on Gray, the guides spoke almost lovingly of the glacier and its place in their day-to-day lives. They asked if their glaciers were noticed or known or cared about in America. Did we understand what is happening here?  Unfortunately, the honest answer was, for the most part, No. We talk about by the glaciers and their relentless shrinking in the abstract without much passion. The glaciers up close are anything but abstract. The glaciers are majestic, awe inspiring, dangerous and beautiful. They are a critical part of our ecosystem.  To be up on one is to be in another world. The quiet is complete, the colors intense.  One feels that one is in the presence of a raw, untamed part of our world. And that our fates are inextricably linked. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to experience them while they are still glorious. 

Conditions on the ground can change on a moment's notice. At the outset of the trip, we began each day by asking our guides about the weather. They would just smile and shake their heads. Didn't we understand, there was no predicting the weather? Changeable weather is a cliche for many areas. In Patagonia, it is flat out true. What starts out as sunny will soon be sleeting and then back again.  Temps can swing 20 degrees in the span of 20 minutes.  Gale-force winds can come out of nowhere at any time and swirl in any direction taking your breath away and knocking you off your stride (a potentially dangerous scenario on the narrow cliffs of Torre Del Paine).  Then just as quickly subside - or last for days.  If you aren't prepared for any contingency, you are potentially  at grave risk. By the end of the trip, we found ourselves scanning the skies frequently and on high alert for any shift of wind. Not a bad approach generally in today's complex world. 

One of the basic things that unite all of us is a willingness to pursue even a perilous search for beauty in all its forms. On the trails, I met people from every region and all walks of life. Class, race, gender, ethnicity all melted away in our shared quests for  base of the Three Towers or the look out on Mount Fitz Roy. We were exhausted, cold, some pushed beyond physical limits. We shared challenges and set backs and triumphs. 

Until we truly push beyond our limits, we can never know the boundaries of our strength. Most of us stay within narrow limits.  It is safe there. The risks are low and the outcomes predictable. We do not go to our limits because it is hard. Uncomfortable. Messy. Unpredictable.  And we may not like what we see. But, in my experience, when people truly push until they almost break, they are surprised, even shocked,  by what they can endure.  Seeing how far, how fast, how much, how many - only serves to build confidence in our strength and abilities. It is liberating.  The human spirit is truly indomitable. Our physical strength becomes a source of power, of pleasure as the world opens up and we begin to trust our ability to master any challenge. 

Traveling the world is best experienced fully curious and open-hearted. It is important to be generous with your interest and appreciation and sparing with your judgment and criticism. You can learn something from everywhere you go and everyone you meet. Actively seeking out different perspectives makes it easier to question your everyday assumptions. 

You cannot fully experience and understand the world from behind glass. While I appreciate the need to provide transportation to the world's beautiful sights as a way of ensuring access to those with truly no other possibility to reach them; in certain parts of Patagonia (thankfully not Torre Del Paine or the Parque De Los Glaciares where there is simply no way to access the sites but by sheer effort and sweat and blood), I saw many climate-controlled tour buses and ferries filled with tourists being transported to a glacier or look out point.  And no doubt many of them could be out in the open air struggling with the terrain and weather with the rest of us but for a little training and work. This would significantly cut down on the number of tourist buses littering the landscape, exhaust fumes hitting the glaciers as well as ensure a more authentic experience for the people behind the glass. 

How "Mindset" Can Drive a Company Culture

Just finished reading "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck.  The implications of this research and perspective are broadly applicable - as individual contributors, as parents, as partners and as leaders.  The essential idea of the book is that a growth mindset is one that is open to challenges, to learning, to struggling to attain skills - it is the belief that there is no fixed state of being that growth and improvement can always be achieved with focused effort.  That is compared to a "fixed" mindset which believes that talent and capability are essentially immutable.  You are either a natural athlete or inherently smart or a gifted artist or you just aren't and no amount of work and effort can change that.  In fact, if you have to work at something; it means you will never be good at it.

"People may start with different temperaments and different aptitudes, but it is clear that experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way. Robert Sternberg, the present-day guru of intelligence, writes that the major factor in whether people achieve expertise “is not some fixed prior ability, but purposeful engagement.” Or ..... it’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest."

Or more simply stated, it isn't necessarily the people with the most "natural" talent who succeed but the people with the courage to take on big goals that may in fact lead to failure, people open to learning and people with perseverance and grit to do the hard work necessary to succeed. Not the show horses who grow frustrated at obstacles that are not supposed to be in their way but the work horses who see those obstacles as opportunities to prove themselves and learn.


Being told you are a "natural talent" and the "smartest in the room" may in fact lead one to avoid the stretch assignment or the risky goal because you become afraid of losing that aura of invincibility - that sense of being able to achieve effortlessly.  Being told that success is assured because everything "comes easy to them" may lead to a crumbling at the first inevitable struggle - a loss of identity.  

These concepts are as relevant for business leaders who want to cultivate talent as for parents who want to raise their kids to thrive on challenge and develop the resilience to succeed in the face of setbacks.

With a "fixed mindset," you believe that you have a fixed ability that needs to be proven again and again.  You either have it or you don't - and you need to keep proving that you have it by making it seem easy, by not appearing to struggle, by not ever failing.  So you don't take on things you aren't very sure that you can do.  Alternatively, people with a growth mindset do not lable themselves as immutable winners or losers and don't throw up their hands at the first sign of struggle believing that if it isn't easy, it is beyond their natural talents.  They believe that they can develop, can learn and although they feel distressed at failure; they are ready to take the risks, confront the challenges, and keep working at them.

The willingness (even passion) for stretching yourself and sticking to it, "even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset." The growth mindset is one that enables people to thrive during the most challenging times in their lives.

This concept - fixed versus growth mindset - has many implications for the leader of an organization. Firstly, do you hire only the "natural athletes" the ones who have glided through their career seemingly never faltering or do you hire those who have obviously had to struggle at times, had to presevere through challenges both personal and professional?   Do you hire the sort who wears his/her ego on their sleeve - one whose self worth is contingent on never breaking a sweat and always proving that they are the smartest in the room?  Or do you hire the person who knows that they will have to work hard at times to overcome obstacles, that their lot is to struggle and strive through challenges and persevere through setbacks?  Who see failure as not a challenge to their core being but as a call to action to double down on their efforts?

And then there is the question of how you deal with a failure of those in the organization.  Do you reward or punish those who take on risks and sometimes fail? Are people willing to take on the stretch assignments or do they play it safe by staying well within their base talents - padding timelines and budgets to ensure they don't mar their perfect record as a winner?  

And as a mentor and a coach - do you believe that people can grow and learn and improve through challenges and struggle or do you believe that people either have "it" or not.   Are you willing to give people stretch assignments that are likely to lead to stress and struggle?  Or only give people assignments and roles once they are "ready."

If people can have a fixed or a growth mindset, so can organizations.  Building an organization that celebrates grit and growth through hard work and effort may lead to more sustainable success through the inevitable ups and downs of a company's life cycle. An organization that accepts the occassional failure in the reach for the exceptional is more likely to achieve that quantum leap in performance or great innovation over time than the one who continually plays it safe - setting realistic timelines and projections.  And a company that encourages people to take on assignments and tasks that seem initially beyond them but that will lead to true growth and deepening of skills even in the face of painful uncertainty, will be a far more interesting place to be.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success