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Wharton Leadership Ventures:
Patagonian Alumni Trek
Click
here for Himalayan Leadership Trek
A Leadership and Teamwork Experience in
the Chilean National Park of Torres del Paine
January, 2006
Purpose of the
Leadership Trek
Trek Organizers and Staff
Trek Itinerary
Trek Cost and Equipment
Sign-Up for Trek
Other Wharton Leadership Ventures
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 Wharton Alumni
Leadership Trek to Patagonia builds on the experience of two previous
Wharton MBA student Leadership Ventures in Patagonia to provides an
opportunity to continue your leadership development, exercise your body
and cross-train your mind, and reflect on your leadership with fellow
Wharton graduates.
 
The venture is open to graduates of the
Wharton MBA and MBA Program for Executives.
One significant other, immediate
relative, work colleague, or close friend is invited to join the trek
with the Wharton MBA graduate. 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.
Through
a variety of
challenging activities on mountainous terrain, participants build their
capacities for self-discipline, decision making, and team direction.
This trip provides trekkers with an extended opportunity to explore
their core values and test their leadership skills. Space is
available for 24 participants.
Location
This trip takes us into the heart of Patagonia to the famous “Torres Del
Paine” in Chile. The trek follows the "W-Circuit" and includes an
afternoon of ice-climbing and walking on the Grey Glacier. The Torres
del Paine National Park is a world of snow-capped mountains, cascading
rivers, dramatic glaciers, and mirrored lakes with a huge variety of
plant and animal species. Click
here for a map of the "W-Circuit."
Conditioning
The trip entails much up and downhill movement on
mountain trails for six to seven hours per day. Participants should
follow a good aerobic and stair climbing program or engage in frequent
hiking in hilly country prior to the trip. Extreme conditioning is not
required, but a vigorous conditioning program should be followed to
ensure that you comfortably master the terrain, and you must not be
over-weight. For the sake of the group and your own enjoyment, it is
very important to be in good 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 historic expeditions, 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. We are sure to encounter a number of
unanticipated events on the trail. From time to time our group is
divided into sub-groups 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.
Rotating Leadership
Two trek participants take responsibility for each
day’s events. They lead the mid-day seminar and 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 organizers the day before their day of
responsibility to review plans and challenges for the following day, and
during the evening discussion prior to their day, they outline the next
day’s departure times, itinerary, and preparations. At the end of their
day, they describe the challenges in the day’s leadership experience.
Trek Organizers and Staff
 The
trip is organized by Mike Useem and Evan Wittenberg of the Wharton
School, and Rodrigo Jordan of Vertical S.A., and it supported by Penny
Bamber of the Wharton School.
 Rodrigo
Jordan (photo on left) is the founding director of Vertical S.A.
www.vertical.cl, a Chilean organization devoted to using mountains
as classroom for groups from company managers to school children. He
has ascended Mt. Everest by the difficult east face in 1992, and led a
Chilean team in 1996 in a successful ascent of K2. He is also the
author of Everest: The Challenge of a Dream; K2: The Ultimate
Challenge, and articles in the Wall Street Journal and
elsewhere. His climb of K2 was featured in 2001 in the National
Geographic Television series on the Quest for K2, and he is the
author of a new book on his recent crossing of an unexplored region of
Antarctica.
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