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Wharton
Leadership Ventures: Himalayan Trek
WHARTON
LEADERSHIP TREK TO
KANGCHENJUNGA IN SIKKIM, INDIA
Click
Here for Forthcoming Wharton Leadership Trek to the Himalayas
Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania
April 26 – May 13, 2004
Organizers:
Edwin Bernbaum, Michael Useem, and Evan Wittenberg
Other
Wharton Leadership Ventures
Prior
Treks
Purpose
of the Leadership Trek
Leadership is a capacity that draws on all aspects of
yourself and your organization. Developing
a vision, articulating it, and inspiring others to achieve it require not only
careful analysis and technical knowledge but also a sense for what is important
for the organization and for the people in and around it.
Mastering these abilities is a lifelong endeavor, and the Leadership Trek
to Kangchenjunga in Sikkim provides an opportunity to continue your leadership
development, exercise your body and cross-train your mind, and reflect on your
leadership with fellow graduates of the Wharton MBA and Executive Education programs and others
amongst the awe-inspiring peaks of the Himalayas.
Images of mountains resonate deeply in cultures around the
world; they are symbols of patience and strength, effort and inspiration.
Mountain climbers, like the mountains they climb, hold a central place in
modern business and society, a paradigm for how individuals striving for a goal
can achieve what others label impossible. Reaching
a summit, however, is usually far more than a personal achievement, for it
almost always depends on collective effort, with the contribution of each
required for the success of all. As
the Japanese leader of a Mount Fuji society puts it, “The most important thing
in climbing is the inner strength to help each other, so that not just the
strongest but all the members of the group reach the goal.”“
The seminar trek uses mountains, mountaineering, and
trekking as powerful cross-cultural metaphors to expand and deepen our
understanding of leadership and teamwork:
·
How have expeditions to Everest, Kangchenjunga, K2, Annapurna and other Himalayan
peaks built the leadership and teamwork required to reach the summit – or to
retreat safely when good judgment suggests they should?
·
How do non-Western ways of approaching mountains reveal different
possibilities of leading and working together as a team?
·
Can the mysterious hidden valleys of Tibetan lore, some resembling
the fictional Shangri-La of James Hilton’s novel, Lost
Horizon, help us understand the underlying purpose of leadership and
teamwork?
·
What does it mean to reach a summit?
What have we achieved? What
should be next?
Sikkim, bounded by Tibet to the North, Bhutan to the East,
Nepal to the West and the plains of India to the South, was a Buddhist monarchy
until recently. Travel to Sikkim
became restricted soon after it was inducted into India in the early seventies
and only now is Sikkim slowly opening up for tourism. Ranging from 3000 feet to 28,000 feet, located in the monsoon
belt, Sikkim offers orchids of rain forest climate to majestic snow capped
mountains. The original inhabitants
were the Lepchas or Rong-pa, the ravine folk from Assam, who now live in harmony
with people who have come from Tibet and Nepal.
This
trek takes advantage of a new opportunity:
the Indian Government has started giving limited permission on a
previously closed trekking route right to the foot of Kangchenjunga in northern
Sikkim. Geographic Expeditions has secured a special permit that will
allow us to follow the approach march of all the early exploration (1852-1950s)
and recent mountaineering expeditions that have climbed the mountain from the
Sikkim side, going all the way to their base camp.
Our
trek route in Sikkim will be off the beaten Himalayan track and will take us
through pristine valleys and mountains festooned with some of the most beautiful
rhododendron forests in the world. The rhododendrons will be in full bloom when
we go, with masses of white and red blossoms all around us. We will emerge from
these forests to camp in alpine meadows and hike along glaciers beneath
magnificent peaks of snow and ice. One
of our camps will be near the base of Siniolchu, 22,600 feet, a peak regarded by
many as the most beautiful mountain in the world. Our high camp at Green Lake,
the base camp for mountaineering expeditions to Kangchenjunga, is surrounded by
Himalayan giants, with fabulous views of Siniolchu, Simvo (22,346 feet), the
Twins (24,114 feet), and Nepal peak (23,500. feet).
We will also have grand views of the half-mile ridge separating the Main
summit of Kangchenjunga (28,253 feet) from its South Summit (27,808 feet) and
the magnificent East face between the two summits.
From this camp we will go on to high points of more than 19,000 feet.
The
mountain that will stand as the symbol of our leadership goals, Kangchenjunga,
is one of the most majestic and spectacular peaks in the Himalayas. Ed Bernbaum
offers this description of Kangchenjunga in his book, Sacred Mountains of the
World:
"The mountain
rises through a series of ridges, faces, and peaks to culminate in a summit of
pristine snow, serene and silent in the first light of the morning sun. Despite
its incredible mass and bulk, spreading over several degrees of the northern
horizon, Kangchenjunga gives an overwhelming impression of lightness and
grace... It presents a vision not so much of a mountain as of another world
floating like a cloud above ours."
Kangchenjunga
is also the most sacred of the world's fourteen highest mountains that exceed
8000 meters (more than 26,000 feet) in altitude. When the expedition that
succeeded in making the first ascent sought to climb it in 1955, the people and
governments of Nepal, India, and Sikkim objected for fear that stepping on its
summit could provoke the wrath of the mountain deity, and a compromise was
worked out whereby the climbers agreed to stop 20 feet short of the summit,
which they did.
Sikkim
is very similar to Nepal, but more isolated and exotic, with a fascinating
history and culture. Tibetans
regard the entire principality as a legendary hidden valley similar to the
fictional Shangri-La of the novel Lost Horizon.
Sikkim was colonized in the 17th century by a party of Tibetans who were
following a lama prophesied to find the way to this hidden sanctuary, known in
Tibetan as the “Hidden Valley of Rice.” According to legend, the lama was
guided over the mountains from Tibet by the mountain deity of Kangchenjunga
itself. An actual historical
figure, he appointed a member of his party to be the first Chogyal or ruler of
Sikkim, and that ruler's lineage went down to the last Chogyal, who married an
American named Hope Cooke and was replaced two decades ago by the Indian
government. We will be visiting
sites having to do with this legend and history, including the capital of the
principality, Gangtok.
We fly from New Delhi to Bagdogra on the Indian plains and drive up to the
Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. From there we go to the start of our trek at Lachen and trek up through rhododendron forests to alpine meadows and
glaciers. Our destination is the
Kangchenjunga Base Camp and its neighboring peaks of 19,000 ft.
TREK LEADERS
Edwin
Bernbaum is author, lecturer, scholar, mountaineer, and experienced trek
leader. Ed holds a doctoral degree
in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where he is a
Research Associate. A member of the
World Conservation Union, he directs the Sacred Mountains Program at The
Mountain Institute with projects at Hawaiian Volcanoes, Mount Rainier, and Great
Smoky Mountains National Parks. He is the author of The
Way to Shambhala: A Search for the Mythical Kingdom Beyond the Himalayas
(Shambhala Publications, 2001), a study of Tibetan myths and legends of hidden
valleys, and of the award-winning Sacred
Mountains of the World (University of California Press, 1998), which was the
basis for an exhibit of his photographs at the Smithsonian Institution.
A past instructor at the Colorado Outward Bound School and a member of
the American Alpine Club, Ed has done extensive research on the role of mountain
metaphors in leadership and has climbed, trekked, and led groups in mountains
around the world. He consults and
lectures widely on mountains, creativity, leadership, and teamwork to
organizations such as the American Museum of Natural History, AACSB
(International Association for Management Education), the National
Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and Sprint Corporation.
Tel.: 510-527-1229. E-mail: bernbaum@socrates.berkeley.edu.
Michael
Useem is William and Jacalyn Egan Professor of Management and Director of
the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania. Mike is
co-editor and co-author with Paul
Asel and Jerry Useem of Upward
Bound: Nine
Original Accounts of How Leaders Reached Their Summits (Crown
Business/Random House, forthcoming, October, 2003), and author of Leading
Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win (Crown Books/Random House, 2001), The
Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons
for Us All (Random House, 1998), Investor
Capitalism: How Money Managers Are Changing the Face of Corporate America (Basic
Books/HarperCollins, 1996) and Executive
Defense: Shareholder Power and Corporate Reorganization (Harvard University
Press, 1993). He has consulted on
organizational development with companies and agencies in Latin America, Asia,
and Africa. His university teaching
includes MBA and executive-MBA courses on management and leadership, he offers
programs for managers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and he has
climbed in the Alps, Andes, Cascades, Sierras, Tetons, and East Africa.
Tel.: 215-898-7684. E-mail: useem@wharton.upenn.edu.
Evan
Wittenberg is the Director of the Wharton Leadership Program.
In this capacity he works with Mike Useem to run the Leadership Ventures
Program. He has responsibility for
the core MBA course Foundations of Leadership and Teamwork, and teaches in the
MBA program. Evan’s work focuses
on change management and leadership development.
An avid world traveler and outdoorsman, his most recent summits include
Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, 19,340 ft.) and Cotopaxi (Ecuador, 19,347 ft.).
Never shy of a good physical challenge, Evan is a black belt and
instructor in full contact karate, and plays rugby with the Wharton Wharthogs.
He is an MBA graduate of the Wharton School. Tel.: 215-573-0590.
E-mail: evanwitt@wharton.upenn.edu.
Keith
Ghezzi, MD,
is an Associate Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine and Surgery at the
George Washington University School of Medicine, and has been practicing
emergency medicine for over 20 years. Through
his own firm, Keith consults with the directors and senior executives of public
and private health care companies, serves as an interim executive, and is
currently leading a leveraged buy-out effort in the health care services sector.
He co-directed the trauma program at George Washington University and
served as Chief Operating Officer of Inova Fairfax Hospital, a nationally
recognized community teaching institution in suburban Washington, DC.
Keith graduated with distinction from the Wharton Executive MBA program
in 2001. He has lectured at the
university level on topics such as trauma care, cardiac arrest, environmental
emergencies (including hypothermia and lightning injuries), health insurance and
payment reform. Keith is an avid
sailor and yachtsman, and bicyclist; he has raced automobiles and worked as an
attending physician for the Indianapolis 500.
Tel: 703-893-4797. E-mail: keith.ghezzi@mindspring.com .
OUTFITTERS
Geographic
Expeditions, one of the leading American outfitters for treks of this kind, is
preparing and supporting the trip. Sanjay
Saxena is responsible for our trip
(800-777-8183, sanjay@geoex.com, vivi@geoex.com), and Herbert Fong (herbert@geoex.com)
helps arrange travel to India and Sikkim.
In India, Far Horizons Tours provides our trekking support.
Sanjay
Saxena, a native of New Delhi, is the Director for Geographic Expeditions’
India, Nepal and Tibet programs. The son of a Brigadier General in the
Indian Army, fluent in Hindi/Urdu, Nepali, and English, Sanjay has lived and
traveled all over the subcontinent. His insiders’ knowledge of his homeland
and his talent for creating handcrafted itineraries to traditional and
little-seen destinations make him one of the travel world’s ranking India
specialists. Sanjay began mountaineering and rock climbing in the high
Himalaya at age fifteen after successfully completing mountaineering courses
from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. A few of the many peaks he has
climbed are Mt. Kolahoi (18,000 feet) and Kang-Lha-Chen (20,300 feet). He
started guiding professionally in 1979.
Conditioning
The
trip entails much up and downhill movement on mountain trails for six to eight
hours per day. We begin at an
elevation of some 9,000 feet and may reach heights of 19,000 feet or more at our
high points. Extreme conditioning
is not required, but a vigorous conditioning program must be followed to ensure
that you comfortably master the terrain, and you must not be over-weight.
That conditioning may entail intense daily use of exercise machines or
running, and it is preferable to take several extended hikes in hilly country
prior to the trip. For the sake of
the group and your own enjoyment, it is essential to be in great shape at the
start. The trek involves no
technical mountaineering, and it does not use ropes, crampons or other climbing
equipment.
ORGANIZATION OF THE
TREK
We
emphasize continuous learning on the trail through daily pre-planned seminars
and many unanticipated events on the trail.
Most days have a noontime seminar on a topic related to leadership and
teamwork, and an evening discussion generally related to the day’s experience
and plans for the next day. We
devote time to considering leadership and team dynamics on the historic climbs
of Mt. Everest, Kangchenjunga and other peaks, across organizations and
cultures, and within our own trekking party,
and we draw out the lessons for leadership and teamwork in our work and personal
lives. Our group is divided
into teams for trekking and discussion during part of the day to provide more
opportunities for personal engagement, but we re-gather for all meals and
evening events.
The
leadership trek is open to Wharton MBA and Executive MBA students and graduates,
managers who have completed one or more programs in Wharton Executive Education,
and sponsors of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management.
One significant other, immediate relative, work colleague, or close friend is
invited to join the trek, and he or she should share a keen interest in
leadership issues and will be expected to participate in all of the leadership
learning seminars and exercises.
We
emphasize continuous learning on the trail. This includes daily leadership
exercises and seminar discussions based on pre-departure readings and emergent
topics. We devote time to
considering leadership, decision making, and team dynamics on the historic
climbs of Mt. Everest, Kangchenjunga, and other peaks, across organizations and
cultures, and within our own trekking party.
We
divide into three or four teams on the trail, and their leadership is rotated
daily. The day's three or four team
leaders also take overall responsibility for the entire trek that day.
They conduct the mid-day seminar and the evening
discussion, and they carry responsibilities for the day’s goal setting,
special challenges, logistical issues, teamwork concerns, organizational
dilemmas, and personal problems ranging from irritation to illness.
They meet with the trek's co-organizers on the evening before their day
of responsibility to review plans and challenges for the following day, and they
outline for their team the next day’s departure times, itinerary, and
preparations. During the evening
discussion of their day, they describe the challenges in the day’s leadership
experience.
Participants are encouraged to create
plans for entrepreneurial ventures and development projects for the region, and
awards for the best plans are presented at the trek’s final dinner and
celebration in Kathmandu on the final evening.
Among the projects proposed on past treks are the introduction of solar
power for the spinning of prayer wheels along the trail and an investment in the
development of athletic facilities of a primary school.
Past participants have supported the construction of a hostel for
students in the village of Sherpa village of Khumjung near Mt. Everest (http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/everest/Donations.shtm).
Additional information on prior Wharton Leadership Treks to
the Himalayas:
Photos and videos: http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/everest/photos_videos.shtml
Articles:
http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/everest/readings.shtml
Information
on Sikkim: http://www.sikkiminfo.net/index.html
TREK READINGS
Books and articles on leadership,
teamwork, trekking, mountaineering, Himalayan lore, and Indian and Sikkimese
culture are usefully read as preparation for the trek. Everybody should
independently purchase and read Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air: A Personal
Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Villard/Random House, 1997).
Preparing for the trek:
Michelle Coxall and Paul Greenway, Indian Himalaya: A Lonely Planet Survival
Kit. Hawthorn, Vic, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 1996, excerpts.
Rajesh
Verma, Sikkim, Darjeeeling, Bhutan: A Guide and Handbook.
Infoplease.com, The World’s 14 Highest Mountain Peaks.
Baiba
and Pat Morrow, Footsteps in the Clouds: Kangchenjunga A Century Later.
Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 1999, map of Kangchenjunga region.
Edwin
Bernbaum, “Lessons from the Top: Mount Fuji, Mount Sinai, and Other Peak
Paradigms,” in Upward Bound: Nine
Original Accounts of How Leaders Reached Their Summits, edited and written
by Mike Useem, Paul Asel, and Jerry Useem. New York: Crown Business/Random
House, 2003.
Michael
Useem, “Thinking Like a Guide: Making Grounded Decisions at All Altitudes, “
in Upward Bound: Nine Original Accounts of How Leaders Reached Their Summits,
edited and written by Michael Useem, Paul Asel, and Jerry Useem. New York:
Crown Business/Random House, 2003.
National Outdoor Leadership School, Leadership Education Toolbox.
Lander, Wyoming: National Outdoor Leadership School, 2000, pp. 30-32 and
40-42.
Edwin
Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. Berkeley, Ca.: University of
California Press, 1998, Introduction (pp. xiii-xxii) and Chapter 1, “The
Himalayas: Abode of the Sacred” (pp. 2-23).
Cases:
Rodrigo
Jordan, Mark Davidson, and Michael Useem, “Life and Death Decisions on ‘The
Savage Mountain’: Leadership at 28,000 Feet on K2.”
Eric
Byrne and Michael Useem, “Decision at Dzongri: Continuing Up or Retreating Down
on Kangchenjunga”
Bowen
McCoy, “The Parable of the Sadhu,” Harvard Business Review,
September-October, 1983, pp. 103-108.
Merck &
Co., Inc. (Business Enterprise Trust, 1991).
Trip
Gabriel, “Scaling Corporate Heights Without Going Over a Cliff,” New York
Times, June 1, 1997, p. F 10.
Mountaineering accounts:
Maurice
Herzog, Annapurna: First Conquest of an 8000-meter Peak. New York:
Dutton, 1997. Foreword; Ch. 1 “Preparations”; Ch. 13, “The Third of June”; Ch.
20, “There Are Other Annapurnas.”
Arlene
Blum, Annapurna: A Woman’s Place. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1998
(20th anniversary edition), Chapter 7, “The Mountain Gods,” pp.
96-108.
Thomas
F. Hornbein, Everest, The West Ridge. New York: Mountaineers Books, 1998,
excerpts.
Col.
Narindar Kumar, Kanchenjunga: First Ascent from the North-East Spur. New
Delhi: Vision Books, 1978, Ch. 3, “The Previous Attempts,” Ch. 10, “Back to the
Mountain,” and Ch. 13, “The North Ridge.”
David
Roberts, “Out of Thin Air: 75 Years Later, Everest Finally Gives up Mallory’s
Ghost,” Geographic Adventure, Fall, 1999, pp. 98 ff.
Myths, cultures, and traditions:
Edwin
Bernbaum, “Functions of Myths.”
Edwin
Bernbaum, The Way to Shambhala: The Search for the Mythical Kingdom Beyond
the Himalayas. Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 2001, Ch. 1, “Behind
the Ranges”; Ch. 5, “The Wheel of Time.”
Edwin
Bernbaum, compiler, Mountain Passages.
Excerpts from Buddhist Scriptures, Edward Conze, translator. New York:
Viking Press, 1959 reprint.
Excerpts from The Song of God: The Bhagavad Gita. Swami
Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, translators. New York: New American
Library, 1987.
Excerpts from The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, Witter Bynner,
translator. New York: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1986 reprint.
Christoph von Furer-Haimendorff, The Sherpas of Nepal: Buddhist Highlanders.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964, pp. 281-283.
We recommend reading John
Gardner’s On Leadership (Free Press, 1993), Michael Useem’s The
Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons
for Us All (Random House, 1998), and Michael Useem, Paul Asel and Jerry
Useem's Upward Bound: Nine Original Accounts of How Business Leaders Reached
Their Summits (Crown Business/Random House, 2003) as general foundations for
thinking about leadership. We also recommend, time permitting, the full books
by Arlene Blum, Maurice Herzog, and Thomas Hornbein cited above, and Joe
Simpson’s Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous
Survival (Perennial, 2004) or the film of the same title based on the book.
TREK
ITINERARY AND SEMINARS
Himal jane bela ayo!
Nepali: It’s time to go to the Himalayas.
Tanda ngantso kangrila dro goyö.
Tibetan: Now we must go to the glacial snow mountains (the Himalayas).
April 26: depart
home
Travel: Depart your home city for Delhi.
APRIL 27: ARRIVE DELHI
Travel: All of today is spent flying toward India,
arriving in Delhi late April 27 or very early April 28.
April 28: GANGTOK
(5,800 feet)
Travel: Early morning flight for Bagdogra. Airport
check at Bagdogra, then drive 4-5 hours to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, with
one more passport check en route. Stay at Norkhill Hotel.
Discussion: Trekking, Leadership, and Teamwork
Self-introductions, the purpose of the trek, personal
reasons for joining the trek, and building a trekking team. Future prizes are
announced for participants who can name all of the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter
peaks and who know the names of all of our guides by dinner at Green Lake.
April 29: GANGTOK
Day: Relaxed morning with hike to Gangtok monastery
and bazaar. After lunch excursion to Rumtek Monastery, the seat of one of the
major Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist world. We may have the opportunity to meet
with Sikkimese government officials and a representative of an NGO working in
Sikkim. Overnight at Norkhill Hotel.
Lunch seminar and evening discussion: Mountain Lore
and Metaphor
Trekking and climbing provide natural metaphors for moving
through a corporate environment and attaining personal and organizational
goals. By examining the variety of ways people approach mountains, we can use
mountains as metaphors to help us find new and more creative ways of dealing
with problems in the office or at home. Discussion establishes a framework for
relating experiences on the trek to issues of leadership and teamwork in the
workplace. We look during the days that follow to identify a mountain that best
represents the work career and personal course that lie ahead for each of us.
Reading: Ed Bernbaum, “Lessons from the Top: Mount
Fuji, Mount Sinai, and Other Peak Paradigms,” Sacred Mountains of the World,
Introduction and Chapter 1, “The Himalayas”; Quotes on Mt. Everest.
april 30:
LACHEN (9000 feet)
Travel: We drive through Tashi View Point, Kavi
Lungtsok, Phodong Monastery, Mangan & Chungthang to the trail head at the
village of Lachen, a Bhutia (Tibetan) village with a unique local self-governing
body called the Zumsat. If time permits we visit the monastery above the
village. Overnight at lodge.
Lunch Seminar: Leadership, Teamwork, and
Responsibility When It Really Counts
What went right – and what went wrong – on the fateful day
of May 10, 1996 when three climbing expeditions, simultaneously nearing the
summit of Mt. Everest, are hit by a violent storm?
Readings: Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air; Trip
Gabriel, “Scaling Corporate Heights Without Going Over a Cliff”; Eric Byrne and
Michael Useem, "Decision at Dzongri"
Exercise: While riding
in the vehicles, we interview each other about our lives and interests. The
ground rule is that we talk about matters outside our jobs. You are not being
asked to reveal anything personal that you would feel uncomfortable discussing
with others. You may want to talk about spouses, children, hobbies, sports,
music, travel, places you have lived, etc. At dinner each person presents a
member of his or her vehicle to the entire group, and we discuss the pros and
cons of getting to know people personally in order to build teamwork and
leadership.
Evening discussion: Setting the stage: Debriefing
on the day, what lies ahead, a report on the day’s leadership experience, a
reporting by all on their physical and health conditions, and an introduction to
all of the members of the trekking staff (we present trek shirts to each).
Reading: National Outdoor Leadership School,
Leadership Education Toolbox, excerpts.
MAY 1:
TALLEM (10,500 feet)
Trek: Our trek starts with a hike to Tallem at the
confluence of the Lhonak Chu (flowing from the North) and the Zemu Chu (from
Kanchenjunga). The trail takes us into a rhododendron forest.
Lunch seminar: Leadership, Decisions, and Risk
We use excerpts Maurice Herzog’s and Arlene Blum’s books on
Annapurna and from Col. Kumar’s book on Kangchenjunga to discuss the extent to
which the leader should become directly engaged in the daily work of the
organization, and how they make decisions and manage risk.
Maurice Herzog’s climb of Annapurna is unusual in that it
offers one of the few examples of the leader of a large expedition actually
going to the top and making a first ascent. Given what happened to Herzog and
others on the way down, would they have been better off if he had stayed below
in a better command post where he could have communicated and coordinated
evacuation efforts more effectively? On the other hand, did his act of leading
to the top prove critical in motivating and guiding the team on the way up?
In Arlene Blum’s expedition, she does not go for the top
for herself, but four others do succeed in reaching it. Then, two others set
out for a second ascent despite Blum’s misgivings and her cautioning against
it. The two never return. Should – and could – Blum and others on the
expedition have prevented the twosome’s fateful decision to go for the summit?
On the Indian expedition to Kangchenjunga a climber is
killed and the leader, Col. Kumar, has to decide whether or not to continue and
whether to change the route because of snow conditions. What do you think of
how Kumar handled these decisions and criticisms of his choice of season to
climb the mountain? Under what circumstances would you choose to go on and
under what circumstances would you choose to call off an expedition – or a
business venture?
Finally, compare the ways in which Blum and Kumar choose
the summit teams on their respective expeditions. What in their criteria and
their ways of going about making these choices would apply in other situations?
Readings: Chapters from Maurice Herzog, Annapurna
and Arlene Blum, Annapurna:A Woman’s Place; Kumar, Kangchenjunga,
Chapter 10, “Back to the Mountain, ” and Chapter 13, “The North Ridge”
Exercise: Today the two leaders experiment with
walking at the front of the group, in the middle, and at the rear, focusing on
the pros and cons of each for team leadership, both on the trail and in the work
world. On succeeding days, the two leaders experiment with this and other
approaches, and the day’s experience becomes part of each evening’s discussion.
Evening discussion: Setting the Stage and Divergent
Participant Accounts of Shared Events
Why was Maurice Herzog’s account of his historic climb of
Annapurna different from the memories of some of the other expedition members?
More generally, what explains why participants in the same set of events often
have such different memories of them or create such different accounts of about
them?
Reading: David Roberts, “Rewriting Annapurna?”;
Rodrigo Jordan, Mark Davidson, and Michael Useem, "Life and Death Decisions on
'The Savage Mountain"
MAY 2:
YAKTHANG (12,000 feet)
Trek: Today's trail passes through at least twenty
different colors of rhododendron varying from white to the deepest red and in
height from trees of 20 feet to scrubs of not more than a foot. Sections of the
trail may be muddy and wet, and gaiters will be handy.
Lunch seminar and evening discussion: The Buddhist
Path to Awakening
A survey of the nature and history of Buddhism as a basis
for approaching Eastern conceptions of action and leadership.
Readings: Ed Bernbaum, The Way to
Shambhala, Chapter 5, “The Wheel of Time,” and selections from Buddhist
Scriptures
Exercise: We become acquainted with basic techniques
of relaxation and meditation and explore their possible applications and
benefits for those in stressful leadership positions. We also examine their
relevance for doing business in Asian cultures, such as Japan, China, and
India.
MAY 3:
YABUK (13,150 feet)
Trek: We wade through bushes at many places and
cross a small bridge over the Thomphyak Chu to emerge in alpine meadows above
treeline with views of snow peaks from our campsite at Yabuk.
Lunch seminar: Divergent Concepts of Mountains,
Money, and Responsibility
Westerners often view mountains as an objects to be
conquered, while many Sikkimese see mountains as sacred places not to be
disturbed. When the Western expedition that made the first ascent of
Kangchenjunga in 1955 got their permit, they agreed to stop just short of the
top out of respect for Nepali, Sikkimese and Indian fears that treading on the
summit would offend the deity and provoke calamities in the region. Can you
think of similar situations in the workplace where it makes more sense and is
more respectful of others’ values to stop just short of your goal or objective?
U.S. companies operate across national boundaries, and they
frequently encounter enormous disparities in wealth and wage rates. How well
should you compensate your factory or office workers in a third-world country?
Do you have an obligation to assist people who are destitute? Did Merck do the
right thing in committing itself to donating Mectizan for treating river
blindness forever?
Reading: Merck and River Blindness, and Kumar,
Kangchenjunga, Chapter 3, “Previous Attempts”
Exercise: We begin by focusing on our destination
ahead. During the next phase of the exercise, we focus on what is around us.
Finally, we imagine a place or activity where we would like to be or be doing if
we were not trekking into one of the great mountain landscapes on earth. With
this experience, our evening discussion also addresses issues of strategic
planning, goal setting, process, personal inspiration, and responding to
changing situations and evolving conditions.
Evening discussion: Reaching the Summit and Getting
Back.
Did George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reach the summit of
Mt. Everest on the afternoon of June 8, 1924? What accounts for the immense
interest in whether they did reach the summit? What defines reaching a summit,
and why is that so important in mountaineering – and in management? What are
the pitfalls and dangers of getting to the top and then down from it, both in
climbing and business? How can we better anticipate and plan for problems? Do
you consider the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in which the climbers didn’t
actually step on the summit to be a true first ascent? Under what
circumstances would it not have counted? How would you have felt personally
about not taking the final steps – on the mountain, in business?
Readings: David Roberts, “Out of Thin Air: 75 Years
Later, Everest Finally Gives up Mallory’s Ghost”
MAY 4: MARCOPOLO
CAMP (15,000 feet)
Trek: The trail climbs a steep slope and continues
along moraine fields beside the Zemu Glacier. From camp we will have excellent
view of Siniolchu peak (22,727 ft), one of most beautiful and technical peaks of
the world.
Lunch seminar: Obligations and Responsibilities
What is our obligation and responsibility for assisting
those who are faltering around us? Arlene Blum writes about her discomfort in
unloading tons of goods and expensive equipment in front of children with bare
feet. Is there an obligation of the fortunate to aid the less fortunate, and if
so when? Did Buzz McCoy do or not do the right thing when he encountered the
freezing Sadhu near the high pass not far from Annapurna? Did Anatoli Boukreev,
Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, and others take the right actions in assisting others
in distress as the storm enveloped Mt. Everest late on the afternoon of May 10,
1996? Should Simon Yates have cut the rope holding Joe Simpson on the Andean
face they were descending? What were his responsibilities to an injured
companion? Were the two of them irresponsible in attempting an extreme climb in
a remote place with only a two-man team and no backup?
Readings: Bowen McCoy, “The Parable of the Sadhu”;
Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air. Simon, Touching the Void (film or
book)
Exercise: Teams are formed for the day’s hike, and
each team creates a name, slogan, logo, theme, joke, and song for a dinner-time
presentation.
Evening Discussion: Each team presents its name,
slogan, logo, theme, joke and song to the entire group. We discuss applications
of this exercise to team building, branding, marketing, advertising, etc.
may 5: MARCOPOLO
CAMP (15,000 feet)
Acclimatization Day: Acclimatization and rest day,
with optional hikes to various viewpoints.
Lunch seminar: Divergent Conceptions of Leadership
and Teamwork.
Sherpas traditionally elect people to serve as village
heads only if they do not aggressively seek the position. Anybody who wants the
job for personal benefit is viewed as unfit to serve the community. This leads
to a more general examination of divergent conceptions of leadership in
non-Western cultures.
Readings: Christoph von Furer-Haimendorff, The
Sherpas of Nepal.
Exercise: Each of us selects an inspirational
passage from “Mountain Passages” in the reader – or a passage of our own
choosing – and goes off in the afternoon to a scenic spot to contemplate the
view in light of the chosen passage, going back and forth from mountains to
text.
Evening Discussion: We discuss our impressions of
the Mountain Passages exercise and relate the experience to the role of
inspiration and renewal in leadership. Prizes are presented to those who
identify all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks and all of our guides.
may 6:
GREEN LAKE (16,300 feet)
Trek: The trail follows gently rising terrain to our
highest camp at Green Lake. If the weather is clear, there are spectacular views
along the way of Siniolchu, Kangchenjunga, Twin Peak, Simvo, Nepal Peak, Tent
Peak, and Kabru North. We camp at the traditional base camp for the early
Kangchenjunga Expeditions (the other base camp is on the Nepal side).
Lunch seminar: Alternative Paths to the Top
In Thomas Hornbein’s Everest: The West Ridge, an
account of the first American ascent of Everest and the first-ever ascent of its
West Ridge in 1963, we see two objectives and two kinds of leadership and
teamwork at work: those who choose the unclimbed but less certain West Ridge and
those who choose the previously climbed but more certain regular route via the
South Col. The former is achieved by a small group in “alpine” style, the
latter through a large team effort in “siege” or “assault” manner. What are the
distinctive styles of leadership and teamwork required to make small teams and
large organizations successful?
Reading: Thomas Hornbein, Everest: The West
Ridge, excerpts.
Evening discussion: We plan our goals and logistics
for the next day. Some trekkers will aim for altitude, others for other
objectives. How can teams within your organization seek alternative route to
the same – or perhaps even different goals – without undermining the objectives
of one another or the whole?
may 7:
CLIMB TO HIGH POINT (up to 19,000 feet or higher)
Trek: There are many high points all around and
grand panoramas of Kangchenjunga. Some of us can go near the glacier (possibly
on the glacier) or one of the ridges. Others will chose to climb neighboring
peaks and ridges up to over 19,000 ft. From the peaks and ridges, one can see
as far as the sacred mountain of Chomolhari in Bhutan.
Evening discussion: Individuals and teams report on
their experiences of the day and the implications of those experiences for
leadership and teamwork issues, their personal lives, and work back home.
may 8:
MARCOPOLO CAMP (15,000 feet)
Trek: We retrace our steps to Marcopolo camp, taking
time to enjoy view along the way.
Lunch seminar and evening discussion: Leadership in
a Multi-Cultural World
Starting from our earlier of Sherpa conceptions of
leadership and teamwork, we go on to explore these issues in Indian, Chinese,
and Japanese cultures and how they influence the way we do business across
cultures in general. What relevance do the Bhagavad Gita’s conceptions
of selfless action and Lao Tzu’s ideal of invisible leadership have in today’s
world, both in our work and personal lives?
Col. Kumar supports a climber’s decision to go down and
pray before continuing on the climb, even though this holds back the
expedition’s progress on Kangchenjunga. When is it appropriate to give priority
to individual personal or religious considerations over organizational
objectives in Asian and in American cultures?
Readings: Excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita and
from The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu
may 9:
YAKTHANG (12,000 feet)
Trek: A long day takes us back to our camp at
Yakthang.
Lunch seminar: The Myths and Mysteries of Modern
Life
Beliefs and assumptions, both true and false, underlie
almost every facet of modern life, functioning for us as myths do for people in
traditional cultures. Elaborated in the form of stories, theories and ideas,
they shape the ways we think, feel and perceive ourselves and the world around
us. We explore Himalayan legends – including Hilton’s Shangri-La – and the
myths of our own work world to examine the ways they shape our behavior and the
ways in which they can be used to shape the behavior of others.
Reading: Ed Bernbaum, The Way to Shambhala,
excerpts; Ed Bernbaum, “Functions of Myths.”
Evening discussion: Conservation and Environmental
Leadership
We examine questions of sustainable development,
environmental protection, and the differing roles of national parks and
conservation efforts in developing countries and the U.S. We also consider the
role of culture in preserving the environment and how business leaders can
contribute.
may 10:
LACHEN (9000 feet)
Travel: Another long
day, but downhill, takes us back to our trailhead. If we arrive early enough,
we will drive to the town of Lachung to sleep in a lodge at the end of the trek.
Lunch seminar: We review our experiences during the
trek, focusing on the leadership and teamwork implications for our work and
careers back home.
Evening celebration: Most of our porters leave us
at Lachen, and we celebrate the end of our trip with them and our guides through
local songs and dance – and American songs and dance.
may 11: GANGTOK
Travel: We drive back to Gangtok, with stops at
interesting sites along the way. We may have the opportunity to meet with
government or other officials in Gangtok.
Evening celebration: Lasting lessons from the
Himalayas, and awards for the best entrepreneurial and development plans
prepared during the trek.
MAY 12: Delhi
and return Home
Travel: We depart early for Bagdogra airport, a 4-5
hour drive, for our mid-day flight back to Delhi.
We will be met at the airport and taken for a short
sightseeing tour of Delhi followed by a “traditional Indian” farewell dinner.
Depending upon your departure flight time you will be transferred to the airport
in time for your flight back to the USA.
MAY 13: EN ROUTE HOME
Travel: Depending upon your international carrier
you connect to the USA or other destination, arriving home late the same day.
SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READINGS
Most of the suggested books are
available through online booksellers.
Leadership,
Teamwork, and Mountaineering
Conrad Anker and
David Roberts, The Lost Explorer: Finding
Mallory on Mt. Everest.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing
Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration.
Reading, Ma.: Addison-Wesley, 1997.
Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World.
Berkeley, Ca.: University of California Press, 1998.
Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston
Dewalt, The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on
Everest. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld, Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory.
Washington: National Geographic Society, 1999.
Jim Collins, Good
to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t.
HarperBusiness, 2001.
Roger Frison-Roche and Sylvain Jouty, A History of Mountain Climbing. New York: Flammarion. Trans. Deke
Dusinberre, 1996.
Howard Gardner, Leading
Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership. New
York: Basic Books, 1995.
John Gardner, On
Leadership. New York:
Free Press, 1993.
Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson, and Eric R. Simonson, Ghosts
of Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine.
Seattle: The Mountaineers Books, 1999.
Thomas F. Hornbein, Everest,
The West Ridge. New York : Mountaineers Books, 1998.
Baiba and Pat Morrow, Footsteps in the Clouds:
Kangchenjunga a Century later. Vancouver,
B. C.: Raincoast Books, 1999.
Jamling Tenzing Norgay,
Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's
Journey to the Top of Everest. New York: Harper San Francisco, 2001.
Michael Useem, Leading
Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win.
New York: Crown Books/Random House, 2001.
Michael
Useem, Jerry Useem, and Paul Asel, Upward Bound: Nine
Original Accounts of How Business Leaders Reached Their Summits. New
York/Crown Business/Random House, forthcoming (September, 2003).
Culture
and History (in addition to those suggested by Geographic Expeditions)
Witter
Bynner, trans., The Way of Life According
to Lao Tzu. New York: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1986 reprint.
James
F. Fisher, Sherpas: Reflections on Change
in Himalayan Nepal. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California
Press, 1990.
Mary-Jo
O’Rourke and Bimal Shrestha, Lonely
Planet Nepali Phrasebook. Oakland,
Ca.: Lonely Planet Publications, 1996 (3rd edition).
Swami
Pradhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, translators, The Song of God: Bhagavad-Gita. New York: New American Library,
1993.
Philip Rawson,
Sacred Tibet. Thames & Hudson,
1991.
Stanley F. Stevens, Claiming
the High Ground: Sherpas, Subsistence and Environmental Change in the Highest
Himalaya. 1993, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Guide Books
Harish Kapadia, Trekking
and Climbing in the Indian Himalaya. Mechanicsburg,
Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2001.
Bradley Mayhew, Indian
Himalaya, 2nd Edition. Oakland,
Ca.: Lonely Planet Publications, 2000.
Garry Weare, Trekking
in the Indian Himalaya, 3rd Edition. Oakland, Ca.: Lonely Planet Publications, 1997.
©
Wharton Leadership Ventures, 1998-2004.
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